Robert Costrell, currently the "endowed chair of education accountability" in the University of Arkansas's Department of Education Reform (Jay Greene's shop), and formerly an advisor to three Republican Massachusetts governors, weighs in on our ongoing de
I didn't. But the story's true and Steele himself tells it to students at H.D. Woodson Senior High School in his native D.C. as part of C-Span's "Students & Leaders" program. Ever the public speaker with his "hip" verbiage and unfortunate use of the verb "ain't," the chairman actually paints a compelling story about perseverance.
We've been lamenting the poor (literally) state of teachers' pension funds but what about the union-run health insurance plans? Alas here's a story that had me beat.
The Massachusetts Miracle debate is back for its sixth round! Sol Stern returns to comment on other debaters' points.
In March, President Obama told a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter that ???????the number of children going to the Cleveland Public Schools who are actually prepared to go to college (is) probably one out of seven or eight or ten. And that's just not acceptable. It's not acceptable for them.
Mike's post about teachers unions and education reform in Massachusetts really seems to have struck a nerve; we have run four follow-up posts, each highlighting other people's opinions on this issue. Missed the debate?
President Obama has pledged to spend $10 billion more a year on "zero to five" education, and his 2010 budget makes a $2 billion "down payment" on that commitment. (Billions more are already in the "stimulus" package.) Any number of congressional leaders want more preschool, as do dozens of governors.
Matthew Ladner, Mark S. Francis, and Gergory E. StoneThe Goldwater InstituteApril 2009
Eric A. Hanushek and Alfred A. LindsethPrinceton University Press2009
Greg Forster and Christian D'AndreaThe Friedman Foundation for Educational ChoiceMay 2009
Any good writer knows that rigorous editing is essential to a polished product. Graffiti artists, take note. English teacher Beth Biskobing has had enough of the (often) obscene graffiti in her neighborhood. What galls her most? The poor grammar employed by these artistic vandals.
Some charter school principals in New Orleans are making big bucks. Critics howl that no principal should get this kind of money--$200,000 a year in one case--from taxpayers.
It's no great secret that math is not the archetypal elementary teacher's forte. In fact, among the many subjects taught by all-in-one primary instructors, math is usually their weakest. Massachusetts, following in its laudable tradition of rigorous standards, is taking matters into its own hands and separately grading the beefed-up math portion of the elementary teacher licensure exam.
Perhaps the only confection to make it from campfire to laboratory, the marshmallow is an intellectual giant of the candy aisle. Stanford psychology professor Walter Mischel has been using this squishy sugary treat to study the correlation between delayed gratification and future success.
The debate continues. I started it with this post arguing that Diane Ravitch is wrong to say that the Massachusetts Miracle proves teachers unions to not be such the bad guys after all when it comes to education improvement.
It all started with a post of mine that argued that??Diane Ravitch is wrong to say that Massachusetts's situation proves teachers unions to be a non-factor in education reform.
The bi-annual survey of federal workplaces, which evaluates the quality of support, leadership, and the like, shows that the Department of Education comes in the bottom of the pack--the bottom five, to be exact. The Washington Post explains:
Please see our previous posts about the Massachusetts Miracle and related issues -- Part 1, Part 2,
Yesterday I argued that Diane Ravitch is wrong to say that Massachusetts proves teachers unions to be a non-factor in education reform.
Sadly, new data from NCES shows the loss of faith-based urban schools continues.
Guest blogger Diane Ravitch responds to Mike Petrilli's recent post, "The Massachusetts Miracle and the Teachers Union"
Two fifth-grade students work on math in the common area (filled with desks for testing) at KIPP Journey Academy , a charter school sponsored by Fordham in Columbus.
That's what President Obama called for yesterday, in relation to the emotionally heated abortion debate. But it's a good principle for the education "war of ideas" too. Both opponents and proponents of "school reform" tend to vilify the other side with caricatures.
A few weeks ago I was at a conference when Diane Ravitch made the point that if teachers unions are such obstacles to reform, how can we explain Massachusetts, a "strong uni
Sara Mead's thoughtful blog post responding to my Washington Post op ed is several hundred words longer than my original piece.??Mead is smart and perceptive, however, in addition to wor
There was a time during my government days when we were working on the budget and trying to navigate a sticky situation regarding DC's education funding and the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Representing DC in the talks was Dan Tangherlini, DC's city administrator. He turned out to be extremely smart and cagey, the????savviest????negotiator I had ever come across.
A week ago (i.e., in a timely fashion), Andy commented on President Obama's budget request for education. I'm still catching up on the old Reform-o-Meter front, so let's get to work.
Secretary Duncan visits Detroit, calls it Ground Zero for education reform, and pushes for mayoral control and major change. ????Kudos to Mr. Duncan.
I've already expressed concern about how much reform we're likely to get out of the ARRA--possibly not much at all because of problems with the law. ????Stay tuned for more on this.
