Brooks: Obama is "the most determined education reformer in the modern presidency"

Today's David Brooks column is worth reading; he sizes up President Obama and argues that he's "a center-left pragmatic reformer."

A "reform realist's" guide to ESEA reauthorization

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="469" caption="Caption: Too tight - like some recent education reform proposals."][/caption]

Sector agnosticism in Detroit

The last time I wrote about "sector agnosticism" (in a post about Denver), I got lots of supportive emails. The concept is simple and seems to resonate with people: stop focusing on and fighting about who runs a school (i.e.

Education news nuggets

Just because Michigan wasn't a Race to the Top??

Quotable and notable

???I think we need to challenge Chancellor Rhee and say, ???What are you thinking?'??? ???Tommy Wells, D.C. Council Member (D-Ward 6)

Some states prefer their own academic standards and that's OK - for now

Several governors are signaling that their states like their own academic standards better than the Common Core drafts and aren't going to make the change. This, actually, is a good thing, at least for now.

Is a backlash to national education reforms brewing in the states?

In the Buckeye State there is serious worry about the state's health and future well-being???? ????????

Common Core standards: Let the commenting begin!

As Checker wrote yesterday, the Common Core folks did a heckuva job with the draft K-12 standards in reading and math. But that doesn't mean they are perfect.

And you wonder why state and local officials fear the Dept. of Ed's Inspector General?

"Education Department buying 27 shotguns"

Arne get your gun

OK, that's my favorite. -Mike Petrilli

EWA awards

Over the last year, as I've been following the RTT and other big issues affecting states and districts, I've read literally thousands of articles from magazines, blogs, and local, state, regional, and national newspapers.

The return of "From the To-Read Pile"!

After absolutely zero popular demand, the occasional series "From the To-Read Pile" is making its triumphant return! This is where I plug articles, books, or reports that I should've read long ago but didn't. This installment covers four reports that address a single broad issue--managing a city's portfolio of schools--from different angles.

Memories of a frog, a spider and a tesseract

Here at the Fordham office, the draft Common Core standards has not only brought an air of excitement, but also a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Checker talks Common Core standards on NBC

Education Gadfly Show podcast: Don't point!

This week, Mike and Rick discuss the Race to the Top finalists (we're a bit late, but this is a weekly show!), the Department of Education's new push for ???civil rights,???

Education news nuggets

Need some help assessing the Sweet Sixteen of RTT finalists???

Hess: The mix-up over the purpose of choice and accountability

Most of the Fordham office was over at the AEI-Fordham event yesterday for Diane Ravitch's new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. (If you missed our live tweeting, you can watch the event video here.) The event's moderator, Rick Hess, has (as promised) now posted hi

Check it out: This week's Gadfly

From Checker's Desk "Common Core" education standards: Impressive, balanced, serious (Checker's take on the new draft standards, released this week)

Quotable and notable

???What is different about mathematics in Maine from California??? I don't believe there is a difference.?? You will see far more states adopt the standards than not.??? ???Susan Gendron, Maine Commissioner of Education

Fighting for Opportunity: School Choice Yearbook 2009-2010

Andrew Campanella and Ashley EhrenreichAlliance for School Choice2010

It's the Classroom, Stupid: A Plan to Save America's Schoolchildren

Kalman R. HettlemanRowman & Littlefield Publishers2010 

Stuck Schools: A Framework for Identifying Schools Where Students Need Change--Now!

Natasha Ushomirsky and Daria HallThe Education TrustFebruary 2010

Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Case for National Curriculum Standards

Neal McCluskeyCATOFebruary 2010

The saga of scarcity

Petula Dvorak, a staff writer at the Washington Post, desperately wanted to enroll her sons in a public school outside her up-and-coming D.C. neighborhood. So, like thousands of other parents, she entered the District’s “out-of-boundary” lottery.

Rhee redux

Gadfly got bored with the deluge of Michelle Rhee coverage last year. But she’s back, this time (or should we say, again) squaring off against AFT prez Randi Weingarten, in an article that offers some insight into the personalities of two power women.

"Common Core" education standards: Impressive, balanced, serious

I haven't closely examined the new draft "Common Core" math standards (and am in any case shy about judging them, having myself forgotten the difference between cosines and tangents), but the draft "reading/language arts/literacy" standards are pretty darned impressive.

Four is the new five

What’s the easiest way to cut school spending? To cut schooling, of course--and districts across the land are turning to this boneheaded solution as they contemplate their dismal financial situations.

Learning the art of teaching

Good news: Teaching and learning are back in vogue. This brilliant article by GothamSchools’ Elizabeth Green is the latest in a series of prominent pieces that begin to pry open the “black box” of the classroom, a topic that has been largely ignored in the policy sphere in favor of structural reforms.

A charter grows in Harlem

Aren’t elected officials supposed to represent the interests of their constituents? Not according to Harlem’s State Senator Bill Perkins, who insists that charters are just “hype.” Really?

Arne Duncan's troubling civil rights crusade

On Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that his department will expand its efforts in civil rights enforcement. Its civil rights division will monitor racial disparities in enrollment in college prep classes, school discipline, and teacher assignment.