High school reform redux
Chester E. Finn, Jr.At their mid-summer meeting last month, the governors rededicated themselves to high school reform - and sought to demonstrate that commitment by asserting near-consensus on a uniform definition of completion rates, one that, properly done, could go a distance toward standardizing America's miserably uneven and often dishonest data on high school graduates and dropouts (see Gadfly comm
An obit for ed schools
Gadfly can only imagine the expressions of shock and awe as ed school profs and deans awoke at their favorite summering spots to find the Grey Lady of Times Square asking, "Who Needs Education Schools?" The answer, according to this expansive and mostly astute article by Anemona Hartacollis, is pretty much nobody.
Time un-muddles the middle
Last week's Time was all about "being 13." Its conclusion: "Today's 13-year-olds, growing up in a world more connected, more competitive, more complex than the one their parents had to navigate as kids, so far show every sign of rising to the challenge." Perhaps, but are their schools "rising to the challenge," too?
Making Progress Toward Graduation: Evidence from the Talent Development High School Model
Michael J. PetrilliJames J. Kemple, Corinne M. Herlihy, and Thomas J. Smith, MDRCMay 2005
Parental Choice as an Education Reform Catalyst: Global Lessons
Christy CusterJohn Merrifield, Cato InstituteJune 2005
Success has a handful of admirers
Two weeks ago we noted, "Success has a thousand fathers and many will try to claim credit" for the good news about rising NAEP scores (see here).
Getting "The Mission"
In the latest City Journal, Kay Hymowitz discusses Bill Cosby's parenting-power crusade among poor African-Americans and links it to the failure of government social welfare programs to close the education and economic gaps. A typical Cosby rant: "Proper education has to begin at home. . . .
Mayhem in the middle
Middle schools, like middle children, are just plain misunderstood. There is pretty clear evidence from the recent NAEP results that middle schools are where academic achievement in America falters and begins its accelerating decline, as the Los Angeles Times argues in a cracker-jack editorial this week.
Merit pay: Not so fast, governors!
Kate WalshMerit pay for teachers has gotten a lot of play recently (for examples, see here). Without a doubt, the principle that some teachers ought to get paid more than others has gained political currency around the country.
Fwd: It's All About the Kids
Martin A. Davis, Jr.In just more than five years, Mary Anne Stanton has led 13 Catholic schools from high-poverty Washington, D.C. neighborhoods into a consortium that has not only strengthened each school's financial health, but has also greatly improved the academic performance of the children the schools are charged with educating. To get there, she's installed a new standards-based curriculum, shaken up old bureaucratic approaches, and streamlined operations. In its latest Fwd: Arresting Insights in Education, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation presents a compelling story of just how much change can be made by one determined school leader with a vision.
The Quest for Quality: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Philadelphia
Michael J. PetrilliRuth Curran Neild, Elizabeth Useem, and Elizabeth Farley, Research for Action2005
Profile of Alternative Route Teachers
Emily C. Feistritzer, National Center for Education InformationJuly 2005
Still swimming in Lake Wobegon
Chester E. Finn, Jr.It's not easy today even to recall the stir created in 1987 when an obscure West Virginia physician and his never-heard-from-before one-man advocacy organization called "Friends for Education" released a little study titled "Nationally Normed Elementary Achievement Testing in America's Public Schools: How All 50 States Are Above the National Average." Swiftly dubbed the "Lake Wobegon report" af
Success has a thousand fathers
Last week, offering up some "First thoughts on the NAEP" (see here), we noted that "Success has a thousand fathers and many will try to claim credit" for the good news about achievement gains amongst 9-year-olds.
Good news on grad rates
No, the percentage of kids graduating hasn't gone up, but after years of prodding by reformers on the left and right - especially Jay Greene, the Education Trust, and the Urban Institute - 45 governors have committed to a common formula for calculating the rates themselves. Worth celebrating, yes, but turning their promise into reality will be no small task.
How about "deferred intelligence"?
Even the hard-knock Brits are sometimes subjected to the touchy-feely politics of their own education establishment. At next week's annual conference of the Professional Association of Teachers, Liz Beattie, a retired school teacher, will recommend that the word "fail" be abolished from classrooms and replaced with the less offensive "deferred success." Ms.
Less Dewey, more Shakespeare
In the newest edition of MassINC's CommonWealth magazine, Sandra Stotsky elucidates the well-known problems of teacher education (see Arthur Levine's highly-critical piece, "Educating School Leaders") and offers pragmatic advice for Massachusetts policy makers.
Live free and die
It was a bad omen for the Free State when the Old Man of the Mountain fell off, but this is even worse: New Hampshire's very first charter school, Franklin Career Academy, is closing for want of state funding. The state commissioner of education, Lyonel Tracy, explained that there was nothing wrong with the school: "The students were doing well.
Student Voice: West Virginia Students Speak Out About the Achievement Gap
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Education Alliance July 2004
Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Joyce E. King, editor, Educational Research Association???s Commission on Research in Black Education, 2005
No Child Left Behind: Where Do We Go From Here?
Eric OsbergKrista Kafer, Heritage FoundationJuly 6, 2004
Special Education Accountability: Structural Reform to Help Charter Schools Make the Grade
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Lisa Snell, Reason Public Policy Institute July 2004
Add and Subtract: Dual Enrollment as a State Strategy to Increase Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students
Michael J. PetrilliNancy Hoffman, Jobs for the FutureApril 2005 Remaking Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century: What Role for High School Programs?Richard Kazis, Jobs for the FutureApril 2005
After School Programs: Expanding Access and Ensuring Quality
Eric OsbergChrisanne L. Gayle, Progressive Policy InstituteJuly 2004
Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance
Eric OsbergEric A. Hanushek and Margaret E. Raymond, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 24, No. 22005
Yecke to American Experiment
Bloodied but unbowed, Cheri Pierson Yecke - whose nomination as Minnesota's education chief was defeated on a party line vote marked by the worst kind of partisan rancor (see Gadfly, Volume 4, Number 17) - has joined the Center of the American Ex