?Maybe charter schools, merit pay, and vouchers won't instantly turn every American child into a test-taking dynamo. But if they ?only? create a more cost-effective system that makes parents and students happier with their schools?well, that would be no small feat, and well worth fighting for.?
Who wants to read more commentary about Waiting for ?Superman?? Not me. But if you do, the latest New Yorker has a review. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
The Cato Institute's Neal McCluskey writes that President Obama is attempting to scare Americans by claiming that Republicans will cut education funding by 20 percent. ?Liam Julian, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
Ross Douthat, in his New York Times column, highlights Rick Hess's essay from the latest issue of National Affairs.
Two education-related articles appeared in the Outlook section of yesterday's Washington Post. One is worth reading. In ?Why aren't our teachers the best and brightest,?
Though nothing that most educators didn't know, Jennifer Medina's front-page story in the New York Times this morning is worth reading?if you like reviewing, in slow motion, the tape of a train wreck.
In 2004, Douglas B. Reeves published The Case Against the Zero, an article decried by classroom teachers as a tool to manipulate classroom grades.?
There was?nothing surprising in Obama's pitch for the Skills for America's Future initiative in today's weekly spee
It's the 21st century and our K-12 schools still aren't up to par with computer science classes? What will we fall behind in next?
?Ensuring kids are prepared for college by the time they leave high school is the single most important thing we can do to improve college-completion rates.? ?Cynthia B. Schmeiser, President of ACT's education division
Note: This article by Checker and me ran this morning in National Review Online.
?The reform train is moving. Districts aren't afraid of unions anymore.'' ?Emily Cohen, District Policy Director, National Council of Teacher Quality
Finland gets high praise for doing well on PISA but apparently Finnish mathematicians don't think too highly of the test. Here's what they have to say:
The teachers union in a suburban Columbus district has pulled out of Race to the Top, putting the district at risk of forfeiting almost a million dollars ($960,000) in RttT grant funding and many of the reforms that would come with it.??
Is Baltimore's approach to performance pay and teacher professionalism worth cheering?
Social studies teachers love their country, too
Charter skeptics find the evidence mixed
The clash between the public and private aims of education
A problematic argument for "local control," big bucks for charters, and more
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.
If ratified by?union members on October 14, Baltimore's new?teacher contract will move the ?Charm City?
The old saying ?D=Diploma? looks to be a thing of the past for these New Jersey students.
?But even as heavyweight policy folks talked about improving community college outcomes yesterday, high school reforms that could help with that?such as increasing rigor and smoothing the transition to higher ed?didn't even make the radar.? ?Catherine Gewertz, Assistant Editor for Education Week
Over on National Journal's Education Experts Blog, this week's?discussion?focused on the goals of education professionals and, among other things, cited Fordham Institute's latest study,
Last week, our friends at the American Enterprise Institute released an interesting new report, High Schools, Civics and Citizenship, which surveyed public high school social studies teachers across the country.?We at Fordham also released a report recently,
While I'm still fielding suggestions on how to spend $55,000 (I'm learning that it's probably best to call it $220,000 over four years), the NY Times is soliciting suggestions about how Cory Booker and Newark schools should spend $100 million.?
