In a guest editorial here last week, Sol Stern observed that New York State had significantly raised the bar for meeting proficiency requirements on state tests and that fewer students are meeting the new standard (“The testing mess,” August 5, 2010).
They say boys are from Mars, and girls are from Venus, and Imagine Southeast Public Charter School in D.C. couldn't agree more. Part of a growing experiment in single-sex education, Imagine is a "dual academy," which means it serves both boys and girls, but keeps them separated in different classrooms except for special occasions.
There's a movement afoot in Hawaii to do away with the elected school board. That according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:
What is the biggest challenge in education? For these colleges, it's not the race gap.
?One of the nice things about single-gender classes is that we require more training in general for these teachers. And there is more buy-in from teachers this way. ?Try some of these things and see what happens,' we tell them, and then they'll listen to more substantial training about classroom effectiveness.''
Yesterday I noted that the most exciting efforts to improve school food are occurring locally, not nationally. A tip-top example is the goings-on in Washington, D.C., where a fresh D.C.
Spend time in education-policy circles and you will hear it, that most uninspiring phrase: The devil is in the details. When uttered, heads nod. Everyone gets it. The devil is in the details, which means, I have no clue how in the devil's dwelling this idea will work. Occasionally, a substitute is called in?e.g., it's all about the implementation?yet the denotation is unchanged.
Have you ever wanted to grow your ?emotional intelligence including managing your gremlin,? while receiving training in ?resilience? or ?creativity??
Think your college student is holed up in the library, studying away for dozens of hours? Think again. According to a recent policy brief by AEI there has been a dramatic decrease in student study time since the 1960s. In 1961 the average student at a four-year university studied about twenty hours a week. Fast forward fifty years and students are studying only fourteen hours a week!
Fordham’s hometown of Dayton is famous not only for the Wright Brothers but also for being a school choice mecca.
Sam Sperry, Center on Reinventing Public Education July 2010 This working paper by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) discusses the diverse needs of three “portfolio” school districts – Denver, New York, and New Orleans – when it comes to communications and marketing practices.
Ohio’s faces an unprecedented $8 billion budget deficit next year. With 40 percent of state revenue invested in K-12 education, Ohio’s public schools will surely have to endure a fair share of the cuts. To his credit, Governor Strickland has taken action, asking the Cincinnati-based KnowledgeWorks Foundation to investigate options for cost-savings and efficiencies in education.
Ohio charter schools could face funding cuts of 10 percent, 15 percent, or more in the next biennial budget. But the state budget crisis also will give charters an opportunity to talk about the current financial inequities between them and district schools.
Heather Zavadsky, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)July 2010
Annie E. Casey FoundationJuly 2010The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its annual Kids Count Data Book, an analysis of various indicators related to child/youth wellbeing, such as infant mortality rates, teen birth rates, and the number of teens not enrolled in high school.
That's one upshot of a fascinating new Education Next article out today. It examines whether respondents are right when they tell pollsters that their local schools are worthy of an A, B, C, D, or F grade.
Longtime Flypaper readers may remember the early days of the blog, when Liam Julian would send up five or six penetrating posts in a single 24-hour period.
So begins a mass e-mail from Organizing for America: When teachers demand job protections, generous benefits, and salary increases in the midst of a recession...well, that's expecting special treatment, indeed. Michael ?
At first I thought it was my imagination. Could the New York Times be covering education again?? I mean, really covering. Not just David Herszenhorn putting out regular education stories about Congress; or Sam Dillon and Tamar Lewin following Arne Duncan and Barack Obama to their million-and-one-speeches.
These days it seems some schools are trying everything to serve up some student gains.
?This is like the aftermath of the Civil War, with all the carpetbaggers and charlatans.'' ?Rudy Crew, Former New York City Schools Chancellor
Tony Judt died last week, at age 62. Readers of the New York Review of Books, especially, will miss his recurrent and beautiful essays, which had appeared in every issue of that publication since January. His final NYRB piece, ?Meritocrats,?
Ms. Kagan might be the newest member of the supreme court, but her high school's judgment may not be as sound as her own. My advice?
?We may be able to do some things with assessments we have never been able to afford in Oklahoma. We should also have better curriculum and professional development materials because of pooling funds and resources.'' ? Kerri White of the state Department of Education's Office of Standards and Curriculum
Lots of education news out of New York the last few weeks, stemming from a large proficiency illusion on state elementary reading assessments.
Sol Stern's Testing Mess story in the new Gadfly is not to be missed, as Stern documents the incompetence and cynicism of New York state's former education leaders, who shamelessly dumbed down the standards to satisfy narrow and sh
As a farm boy from Oregon, I have always been aware of city people who try to do country things ? and look, well, ungainly in the process.? I think of Bill Clinton and Al Gore pounding nails at a Habitat for Humanity event. (The word sissy came to mind.) ?And last summer it was Michelle Obama, Southside Chicago city girl, gardening on the South Lawn of the White House.
It now takes a majority of college students more than four years to finish their degrees; maybe it's because of all that party
?There is a big push right now in online credit recovery?It seems to be a real focus in California. It's a way to salvage kids who have fallen behind.? ?John Fleischman, Assistant Superintendent of Sacramento County
