Ask Americans if they support “public schools,” and you will get a resounding “yes.” At the heart of our abiding commitment to the idea of public education is Horace Mann’s ideal of the “common school”: a place whose doors are open to everybody, and where all children, regardless of social class, race or ethnic
A daylong conference at the American Enterprise Institute about turning around failing schools, featuring accomplished and engaging panelists too numerous to name, is planned for Tuesday, March 11th. Find here all the information you could ever want.
The AmeriCorps national service program seeks to fill four critical jobs: the directorships of the three programs that make up AmeriCorps (AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps, AmeriCorps*VISTA, and AmeriCorps*State and National) and the director of recruitment.
Editor’s note: Chester E. “Checker” Finn, Jr. is currently enjoying a brief sabbatical, hanging out at the Calvin Coolidge Institute on the campus of W. Averell Harriman III University and slaving over a memoir of his 40 years in education reform. Here are a few excerpts from the first draft.
My jaw did the proverbial drop when I read this opening sentence in a front page story in Sunday’s Albany Times Union: “Albany’s charter schools have created a second school system that is almost entirely segregated.”…Now that nearly a quarter of Albany&
Education Pioneers is expanding its analyst fellowship program from the Bay Area to Boston this year, and is accepting applications. Learn more about the program here.
This week, Mike and Rick discuss private charter schools that teach religion and screw over poor kids, why the Pope is demanding school uniforms, and the Wall Street Journal's incompetence. Art Levine chats about his new study on teacher education, and Education News of the Weird knows that good things come in small packages.
Such inattention to detail, such malicious slander, I can not tolerate. Your recent report, The Leadership Bimbo, incorrectly depicts me on its front cover as at least 30 or 40 pounds heavier than I actually am.
The Policy Innovators in Education Network (PIE-Net) is on the hunt for a Director of Communications and Public Affairs. This individual would ideally have media and public relations experience and work with the Executive Director to improve the Network’s internal communications and expand PIE-Net’s membership and visibility.
This week, Mike and Rick discuss Hillary Clinton, dropouts, and impotent mayors. Sheila Byrd flies in to chat about Fordham's new AP/IB report, and Education News of the Weird is tracking you. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
It’s all ESEA all the time this week, as Andy and Mike square off in debate over the Obama Administration’s reauthorization blueprint. Then Amber tells us about charter-school teacher evaluations and Stafford wants to know is it Conn-ec-ti-cut?
Join us as we bid farewell to New Jersey’s new Deputy Commissioner of Education, Andy Smarick. First, he and Mike discuss how to educate the severely disabled, then Andy gives us his final thoughts on Race to the Top, School Improvement Grants, and turnarounds.
Spectrum Academy--the catchy if slightly off-putting name for Utah’s K-8 charter school for students with autism (or “on the spectrum”--get it?)--will expand its offerings to high school in fall 2010. What’s more interesting is how the school’s very existence reminds us of two contentious issues.
Fordham is pleased to welcome Jeff Kuhner, our new communications director. Jeff formerly worked at the Washington Times as editor of Insight Magazine. We're thrilled to have him on board.
The Head Start program has needed a radical overhaul for the past forty-five years, i.e. ever since its founding and its near-immediate demonstration that it doesn’t do much lasting good by way of readying poor kids to succeed in school.
This week, Mike and Rick discuss the finer points of French pronunciation, the treasures of the Canadian frontier, and Eddie Murphy's lessons for closing the achievement gap.
No, it's not Petraeus Week at National Review Online--it's Education Week! Check it out here.
The Detroit Glee Repress reported this week that the 2007 graduation rate in the city's public schools was zero percent-not a single student received a diploma last year. Reporters and grief counselors spent weeks combing Motor City for a high-school graduate but found none.
There’s still time to sign up for the joint Fordham-AEI conference “A Penny Saved: How Schools and Districts Can Tighten Their Belts While Serving Students Better.” It runs all day on January 11, 2009 at the Mayflower Hotel--that bastion of fiscal responsibility and moderation--in downtown Washingto
This week, Mike and Rick talk about Arizona, Atlanta, Checker Finn, and Diane Ravitch. Professor Stefanie DeLuca, of Johns Hopkins, chats about why moving poor kids won't help them learn, and Education News of the Weird is bombastic. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
Though recent developments in Iraq take some of the sting out of this mistake, it was wrong of me (in a Gadfly editorial on March 27) to analogize American teacher unions and ed schools to "Republican Guards," who were, at the time, battling brave U.S. servicemen and women. My point, of course, was that we, too, have institutions devoted to discredited regimes.
There was a terrific editorial in Saturday’s Dayton Daily News about the storied twelve-year charter school history in Fordham’s hometown and why we can be optimistic about the future of charters there. As DDN notes, until New Orleans began r
Or are they more amenable to change than conventional wisdom suggests? We’ll be discussing these very questions on December 2 from 3:30 to 5:00 PM, and we’d be pleased if you’d care to join us. Learn more or RSVP here.
With this week’s NCATE report, and our own Cracks in the Ivory Tower?, the role that education schools can—and want to—play in reforming K-12 schooling is under s
With football on the brain, Mike and Rick offer up a play-by-play of the Joel Klein-Cathie Black saga in New York City, and sack NCATE’s reform report. Amber reveals an interesting Education Next survey to the hosts, and Chris decries a camp-out.
District of Columbia Public Schools are currently looking for spring interns for their Urban Education Leaders Internship Program (UELIP). This internship is fast-paced, elbow-deep in research and policy, and focused on turning around local government and local schools.
Having made a splash in DC education, Michelle Rhee is now seeking talented interns for summer 2009 to help fulfill her and DCPS' challenging mission. Unlike a run-of-the-mill internship, the Urban Education Leadership Internship Program with DCPS allows students to immerse themselves in the vital activities of the district's Central Office.
Longtime Flypaper readers might remember the old Reform-o-Meter, in which I would rate the Obama Administration’s efforts on school reform, from ice-cold to red-hot.
If you missed the event and webcast of “National Education Standards circa 2009” yesterday, don’t fret. You will be able to find the archived video on our homepage tomorrow.
