Commentary
Disingenuous Dems
As Alexander Russo rightly noted yesterday, many reformers (especially those of the Democratic persuasion) are struggling to figure out what to say about Wisconsin.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?Mastery is proving that restarts are not impossible.'' * - Justin Cohen, president of the ?school turnaround group? at Mass Insight
Commentary
Charter Schools
Catholic ethos, public education
That's the title of my new story in Education Next, about an experiment to take a successful religious school education model to the public sector. The subtitle of the story sums it up nicely:? ?How the Christian Brothers came to start two charter schools in Chicago.? Let the walls come tumbling down!
Commentary
Nuts'
While the New York Times headline was impressive ? Leader of Teachers' Union Urges Dismissal Overhaul ? Mike wasn't fooled.? ?In any other field,?
Commentary
Gold-plated benefits and teacher recruitment
Say you're a top-performing senior majoring in chemistry at Lawrence or Ripon. You're thinking about becoming a high school science teacher. Would you prefer a $35,000 salary with two pensions and health care benefits in retirement, or would you rather have a 25% higher salary and benefits similar to those your friends going into the private sector receive? Odds are you'd prefer the latter ?
Commentary
Memories
I'm reviewing a book by Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein, that will hit shelves on Thursday, March 3rd.
Commentary
Midwest unrest: The view from Washington
As union protests in Madison, Columbus, and elsewhere loop continuously on cable TV, it cannot be easy to be an education-reform-minded Democrat. They're honorable folks; their commitment to bold education reform seems genuine; and they've generally been willing to push for a host of promising changes in policy and practice that rub teacher unions the wrong way.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?The mere act of merging the two [majority-black & majority-white Memphis City Schools] really provides no education value, but not merging the two ... that provides educational harm for our students''* - Martavius Jones, Memphis School Board Member
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?One thing is clear: We will not reverse this trajectory or regain our global standing without the powerful work of America's great teachers.'' '*
Commentary
Hitting the airwaves to talk about U.S. history
Fordham folks have done a number of radio interviews recently to discuss our new study, The State of State U.S. History Standards 2011. I wanted to share just a few examples.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Our obsession with tests
Just when I thought we were making progress in devising a national core curriculum, everyone is already talking about tests based on the Common Core, which is still in its infancy.?
Commentary
One hand clapping
In an essay about the fracas in Wisconsin Jonah Goldberg argues in the L.A. Times that ?Public unions have been a 50-year mistake?.
Commentary
Commentary
Education news nuggets
As we emerge from a weekend of celebrating our founding fathers, we turn to Whoopi Goldberg for some answers on ways to view
Commentary
The 'Great Teacher' Trap
The theme of the recent Education Writers Association (EWA) event at the Carnegie Corporation (which I mentioned in my post on Saturday) was ?the promise and pitfalls of improving the teaching profession.??
Commentary
Commentary
In Wisconsin, a battle over "local control"
Education politics just got weirder: liberals are now for "local control," and Tea Party conservatives are against it. At least that one's way to read the situation in Madison. [quote]
Commentary
The unions' purpose
Richard Kahlenberg takes on Michelle Rhee, whose ?dramatic, often authoritarian, style is ill-suited for education.? He also takes on the ?elite press,? which has been far too uncritical of the former schools chancellor because she is ?a hard-working Ivy League graduate? who reporters simply ?respect?. . .?as one of their own.?
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?Most education researchers?recognize that Rhee's simple vision of heroic teachers saving American education is a fantasy, and that her dramatic, often authoritarian, style is ill-suited for education''* - Richard D. Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?[I am] reforming an education system that costs too much and does too little for our society today and our children's future?* - Chris Christie, Governor, New Jersey
Commentary
Charter Schools
Well done, Urban Prep
For the second year in a row, all the seniors at the all-male Urban Prep charter school in Chicago have been accepted?by a four-year college or university.?And to its credit, the school isn't just focused on getting its students accepted; it wants to ensure that every one of them earns a bachelor's degree.
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
The IMPACT of data beyond teacher assessments
D.C.'s classy new teacher-evaluation system, IMPACT, is just gaining traction (even as the new Mayor is hinting that he wants it redone). But the data generated through its process are already finding other uses.
Commentary
Media attention for our newest study
Well, I think it's safe to say that our new study, The State of State U.S. History Standards 2011, has folks talking. Just wanted to highlight some of the press attention it has received so far ?
Commentary
EVENT: Education leadership in Atlanta
Remember -- there's a?great education event in Atlanta on Monday, February 21 (Presidents' Day).
Commentary
If it bleeds it leads? That's not Denver
All right, so the mayhem in Madison (shut down those public-employee unions!) was all over the nightly news as well as this morning's headlines?and no doubt will continue to be America's answer to Tahrir Square, at least for today.
Commentary
Hot off the hard drive: This week's Education Gadfly
Loyal Flypaper readers?and even all you folks out there who stumbled onto our blog on this lazy Friday before a long weekend?have we got a treat for you! This week's Education Gadfly has it all.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Remembrances from the front line
It's been over two years since I stood in front of a class of high schoolers, explaining the formula for the area of a triangle and what pacifism looks like in practice (I taught at a pull-out special-education school, and my courseload was more varied than that of my students). It almost feels like another lifetime.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Texas history standards: Correcting for liberal bias, and then some