A Matter of Principals: The Kindergarten to Grade 12 Public School Leaders Maryland Needs, and How to Get Them
Carolyn ConnerFrederick Hess and Andrew Kelly, The Abell ReportJanuary 2004
Inspiring Vision, Disappointing Results: Four Studies on Implementing the No Child Left Behind Act
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Gail L. Sunderman and Jimmy Kim, Harvard Civil Rights ProjectsFebruary, 2004
The homework delusion
David SkinnerAmerican students are being overworked, says an alarmed chorus of newspapers, magazines, and books. As described by the popular media and even some academics, the crisis is reminiscent of Sister Carrie and Industrial era child-labor scandals. "Overbooked: Four Hours of Homework for a Third Grader" blared a recent cover of People magazine.
Gadfly may have missed some points
It is surprising and disappointing to have a couple thousand-word article dismissed in less than a sentence, as "focusing on ancillary issues." That is what happened in last week's Gadfly. Perhaps, after a brief review offered below, some readers will find more of value than did Mr.
Dirty tricks in anti-charter campaign?
While it doesn't have quite the shock value of accusations of terrorist leanings, the battle over three proposed Massachusetts charter schools lacks little for controversy.
Money ill spent
In a diverse suburb just outside Chicago, Evanston Township High School officials are thinking about pulling out of NCLB, "saying that the financial benefits might not be worth the trouble." Though the school would still be held accountable to Illinois' "less stringent penalties if students do not meet standards," it would likely not be required to disaggregate student scores as NCLB requires,
Name that union!
True, Rod Paige should not have called the National Education Association "a terrorist organization." Given the times in which we live, the middle word in that phrase might have been better chosen. (How about "hostile"? "Disgraceful"?
Where to go from Locke?
Does the Supreme Court's decision in Locke v. Davey - concerning a college scholarship for underprivileged students that was denied to a divinity student attending an evangelical college - have implications for the debate about vouchers and the effort to roll back Blaine Amendments in 32 states?
The Education Pipeline in the United States 1970-2000
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Walt Haney, George Madaus, Lisa Abrams, Anne Wheelock, Jing Miao, and Ileana GruiaBoston CollegeJanuary 2004
Bolick to School Choice Alliance
We have only one concern at the news that litigator Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice will shortly leave that group to head the new School Choice Alliance (formed by the merger of the American Education Reform Council, the American Education Reform Foundation, and Children First America) - that the school choice movement may lose his incisive lawyerly mind in future court battles.
NCLB Under A Microscope
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Meave O'Marah, Kenneth Klau, Theodor Rebarber, AccountabilityWorks and the Education Leaders CouncilFebruary 2004
What Is Public About Public Schools?
Eric OsbergArticles by Frederick M. Hess, Linda Nathan, Joe Nathan, Ray Bacchetti, and Evans Clinchy, Phi Delta KappanFebruary 2004
The freedom to teach in the Peach State
Good news and bad from Georgia, where the state's Professional Standards Commission recently announced that teachers needn't earn an education degree but can be certified if they pass both the state's certification exam and a standardized content knowledge test called the "principles of learning and teaching." While teachers certified through this alternative process will still have to undergo
Our ears are burning&
The New York State Council for the Social Studies recently released the agenda for its annual conference, to be held in balmy Rochester in March.
Good penpersonship is essential
In The Language Police, Diane Ravitch lifted the veil on the way "bias committees" at major publishing houses sanitize and censor the information presented in student tests and textbooks.
Dust-up over new NYC plan
Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools chief Joel Klein (two men who've been at the point of Gadfly's rapier wit more than once) declared that they would hold back third-graders who fail the state's standardized exam. But only after the second failure, and only after the students take summer school for six weeks - and an appeals process will be built in to the plan.
NCLB debate on the left
A small intellectual brush fire has broken out among American liberals concerning the No Child Left Behind act.
A special ed focus on people, not process
A notice in the Federal Register seldom elicits more than a yawn from anyone but a few affected bureaucrats and the special interests organized to hound them. But the Department of Education's regulations for educating and testing disabled students under NCLB deserve much wider attention.
Value-added assessment in jeopardy
Two bills now before the Tennessee General Assembly question the reliability and worth of the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS), which was implemented 14 years ago in a trailblazing effort to track student progress, measure whether students were making suitable yearly academic gains, and estimate the effectiveness of their teachers.
2003 State Special Education Outcomes: Marching On
Eric OsbergSandra Thompson and Martha Thurlow, National Center on Educational OutcomesDecember 2003
Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Achieve, Inc., The Education Trust, and The Thomas B. Fordham FoundationFebruary 2004
Higher Education Funding - International Comparisons
Carolyn ConnerDepartment for Education and Skills, United KingdomFebruary 2004
The budget ritual
The federal budget process is something of a kabuki drama, with affected special interests acting out their ritualized poor-mouthing on cue. This is especially the case for Fiscal 2005, in which the White House gave the Department of Education a $1.7 billion increase in a very tight fiscal environment.
The chancellor is coming - look busy
Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner once said, "Never confuse activity with results." New York City Deputy Schools Chancellor Diana Lam could do well to learn that lesson. Unfortunately, rather than judging schools by results, Lam and her team have focused on mandating superficial activity for teachers - apparently assuming that teachers, left to their own devices, could never do right by students.
Not up to the test
Jake Bogdanovich, an Ohio senior randomly chosen to take a standardized test to gauge his district's progress toward meeting the goals of a school reform program, decided to engage in a little sabotage. As he observed, no "scholarship opportunities" were connected to the test, nor would its outcome be reflected on his report card.
State-adjusted merit scholars?
In an editorial, USA Today notes that the 15,000 National Merit Scholars are not just chosen on the basis of, well, merit, but also geography. That is, scholarships are apportioned to each state based on the number of graduating seniors in that state relative to the number nationwide.
Is NCLB an "unfunded mandate"?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Education and political circles are buzzing with talk of the unfair burdens that Congress has allegedly heaped upon states and districts via the No Child Left Behind Act.