A month ago, I wondered what Sonia Sotomayor might think about teacher tests, as the more rigorous ones typically have a "disparate impact" on minorities; African-American and Hispanic candidates fail them at much higher rates than whites do.
As this brief explained, it's unlikely we'll get much reform out of most of the stimulus legislation's education funds. But Secretary Duncan could squeeze some more reform out of the law if he's willing to be bold.
I got deeply involved in the closure/new start vs. turnaround debate because it has a major bearing on the basic argument of my book project. So I started thinking through and researching the various angles several months ago when this was still a relatively sleepy, back-burner issue.
The Fordham Institute is unique in the school reform sector in that we have offices in both Washington, DC and Ohio
Our own Checker Finn is opining for National Journal's just-launched Education Expert Blog, which poses a question every week to a panel of education heavyweights.
Do you miss reading the work of Liam Julian, who until he left Fordham last year was one of Flypaper's most prolific and talented writers? Then get your fix with this New Atlantis piece on virtual schooling.
??????? In Baltimore, the teachers union's contract demands are forcing unwanted changes in the city's highest performing school.
Feeling blue about school reform? This riveting no-nonsense address by Howard Fuller at last week's National Charter School Conference will relieve your doldrums.
This post, written by Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel of Public Impact, is a response to Andy Smarick's June 25 post about turnarounds.
Quotable "I've gotta sit here sucking my thumb because I can't get reforms?" ??--Boston Mayor Tom Menino
After an onslaught of anger from Wisconsonites about his Green Bay Post-Gazette piece blasting the state's testing and accountability system, our own Mike Petrilli
The White House Fellowship program, arguably America's best career-development opportunity for those interested in public service, today announced members of the 2009-2010 class.
Well, well, well. Looks like our Mike Petrilli is unstoppable. This week he burst onto the scene in the land of cheese and football. The land of the Green Bay Packers! That's right. Mike wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Just to let you know: the National Journal is launching the Education Expert Blog on Monday, June 29. Nat Journal folks will pose a different question at the beginning of each week to a group of education experts--including our own Checker Finn--and these connoisseurs will respond throughout the week.
David Whitman, fresh off of being honored by the American Independent Writers, has now done an interview with EducationNews.org about his book, Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City S
As I wrote in today's Education Gadfly, this new policy paper by the Broader Bolder coalition on school accountability is "eminently sensible."
One of the planks I use in my arguments against using turnarounds as the primary strategy for improving urban districts is this IES study. Researchers went looking for successful turnaround tactics that have a robust research base and came up empty.
Center on Education PolicyJune 2009
Corinne Herlihy, James Kemple, Howard Bloom, Pei Zhu, and Gordon BerlinMDRCJune 2009
A perennial question: How does the performance of students in charter schools and students in traditional schools compare? CREDO set out to answer this question in a longitudinal analysis of roughly 2,400 charter schools, operating in 16 states and comprising roughly 70 percent of the US charter school population. Let's break it down. Fundamental study design: Sound. Findings: Mixed.
Teachers from myriad Philadelphia high schools are complaining of palpable pressure to pass undeserving students on to the next grade. It comes in the form of memos, meetings, and even personal phone calls. "We have to give fake grades," revealed one teacher. "We're not asked to educate our kids. We're asked to pass them," explained another.
There's some consternation within the education establishment right now with what it sees as Arne Duncan's obsession with charter schools. There he is, warning states that they will lose out on "race to the top" funds if they don't eliminate their charter school caps. There he is, arm-twisting legislators in Tennessee to pass a stronger charter law.
A school in Orlando, Florida, is giving new meaning to the adage "visualize your success." For Mollie Rae Elementary, which went from a F to an A on the state rating system in just one year, focusing on pupil achievement was just one part of the winning formula. Turns out the school needed actual visual help, too, in the form of prescription eyeglasses for many of its pupils' pupils.
While their large neighbor to the south shrinks the teacher pool, Connecticut legislators look to expand it, by creating more paths to get teachers into the classroom.
I hear from friends in Tennessee that the main reason the state legislature strengthened its charter school law recently was the arm-twisting of Democratic legislators by Arne Duncan and the arm-twisting of Republican legislators by Lamar Alexander.
