One of the hottest slogans in education today is "21st Century Skills." Though it certainly sounds compelling--who could be against teaching our students the skills they need in this budding century?--this is much more than a feel-good, everyone-jump-onboard valence issue.
I am in no way keen on the "research" produced by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) but I have to admit that they have raised an important issue in their latest report that merits attention--that is, if you can stomach the rhetoric it's clothed in.
Just wanted to echo/add to what Andy wrote earlier. Led by Common Core, nearly 30 leaders (including Checker) signed onto a statement today that strongly criticizes the program put forth to states by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, known as P21.
One frequently hears arguments that redirect blame from failing schools (and their teachers and principals) to ubiquitous social monsters that are bigger and hairier (poverty, broken families, crime) but also impossible to hold accountable. I get this. There are undeniable correlations between student achievement and socioeconomic status.
Primary-secondary education is obviously not the only realm of increased litigation in American life and intense court involvement in social policy. It's most definitely not the only field in which the fruits of such litigation have sometimes turned out to be mushy if not rotten.
Over at the Education Next blog, Martha Derthick laments the decline of “stately” schools. Derthick specifically highlights the turn-of-the-twentieth-century school buildings in Ohio’s Queen City (which are also featured in 2001’s An Expression of the Community: Cincinnati Public Schools’ Legacy of Art and Architecture).
Two years ago the Thomas B. Fordham Institute issued a report critical of the financial sustainability of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and the adverse effects the system’s benefits policy has on recruiting young teachers.
Two recently released studies have the potential to influence policy related to teacher mentoring programs and school staffing. These studies are especially poignant for Ohio as it moves to restructure its new teacher induction programs (see here).
Andy Rotherham is moving on, so reported????Ed Week and now confirmed with this press release..
Diane Ravitch, Mike Petrilli, and others have been raising questions about state test scores for some time, especially in New York.
The latest on the DC teacher contract battle. (I still find it hard to believe that the union doesn't want its teachers to have the chance to make $130,000/year.)
Heal for America? William Healy argues in this weekend's Wall Street Journal that healthcare could benefit from a Teach for America-esque program.
There was some concern (and maybe a few I-told-you-so's) when DCPS counted only 37,000 students on the first day of school. But now, only three weeks later, enrollment has??boomed up to 44,397.
That's the title of a rather bold speech Checker gave at Rice University's Educational Entrepreneurship Program on Sept. 9.
My sister teaches first grade and, like so many students, her class obviously has no firsthand ??knowledge of Sept. 11 or what it meant for our country. For them and so many others, knowledge of that day will come entirely from what people tell them and what they read.
I'm writing quarterly reports for AEI on the implementation and influence of the education provisions of the ARRA (the federal stimulus legislation). The second report was just released; you can find it here and a brief description here. Major takeaways:
NewSchools Venture Fund, consistently a valuable contributor to education reform, is hosting a smallish meeting today in DC on turnarounds (apparently with an appearance by Secretary Duncan). By all accounts, this is an effort to get charter school operators interested and involved in turnarounds.
Some interesting news this week. Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, is the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The post had been vacant due to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Read more about it here.
This week, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute (along with co-publisher, Brookings Institution Press) released From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary's Role in American Education, a timely and important book that examines the role of the courts in modern American K-12 education.
Center on Reinventing Public EducationRobin J. Lake & Paul T. HillAugust 2009
National Bureau of Economic Research (Working Paper Series) Scott Imberman, Adriana Kugler, and Bruce Sacerdote August 2009
Woe to British teachers imbibing alcohol in their downtime. The General Teacher Council, a government regulatory body for state-school (in American-speak, public-school) teachers, has approved a new code of conduct for educators. Translation? No boozing and partying on the weekends.
When it comes to charter schools, Albany, New York is one heck of a role model. It's not just that that small city (not quite 100,000 people) has eight top notch charters; it's also that those schools serve about a quarter of the city's students and serve them well-earning top marks on state assessments, far superior to those of district schools enrolling similar youngsters.
Can dangerous schools be great schools? According to New York City's annual progress reports, the answer is yes. Not only did an astounding 97 percent of the Big Apple's schools receive A or B ratings on their 2008-2009 report cards, six of them also appear on the state's "most violent" list. Go figure.
Where does "compassionate conservatism" fit into the political conversation? Steven Teles explains its intellectual and political past, present, and future in this piece for National Affairs, a promising new policy journal. The idea is much misunderstood, possibly because of its association with Bush 43, but it lurks behind many areas of domestic policy.
The Chicago Public Schools see approximately 30 students killed and many more involved in some kind of school violence each year; that's why they've embarked on a $30 million initiative to lower those numbers, particularly the toll of fatalities.
There's a lot to chew over in yesterday's New York Times article by Sam Dillon, "Schools Aided by Stimulus Money Still Facing Cuts," (including the implications for our home st
By this point everyone has weighed in on President Obama's speech to America's students (the Fordham team included; see????here, here,
Ohioans of every background and political inclination agree that our state needs a system of public education that attains three critical goals: 1) maximizes the talent of every child; 2) is as strong as any in the world in overall achievement; and 3) closes the persistent performance gaps between rich and poor, black and white and brown.
