Post columnists on the edu-beat

America needs independent education achievement "audit agency"

I'm reminded again and again of America's need for an independent education-achievement "audit agency" to sort out the claims and counterclaims about student performance and school achievement and when it has risen and when it has flat-lined or fallen--and why.

Checked out, or never checked in?

Ohio's governor and House of Representatives are supporting a state budget bill that would add billions of dollars in state spending on public education over the next decade and would mandate more decisions about public education at the state level.

The problem with "culture is the problem"

Pedro Noguera attacks David Whitman's book, published by Fordham last year, in

Man in the Arena

Arne Duncan speaks to the nation's education writers

Arne Duncan spoke to a packed room last night at the Education Writers Association conference, and got some chuckles by promising not to use his three favorite words during the speech: extraordinary, dramatic and incent.

Advanced Placement report in the news

Our Advanced Placement report has garnered quite a bit of national attention in the past two days as it addresses the question of whether the program's expansion is affecting its quality.

Re: The GOP on education: Where's the next big idea?

Mike Umphrey, an AP English Teacher in Polson, Montana, (and a loyal Flypaper reader!) offers??a great response to my post from a few days ago: My main reaction tends to be "Bah, humbug."

News from the Hill

This guest post was written by Fordham research intern Katie Wilczak. She attended the House hearing yesterday morning.

Postsecondary Preparation and Remediation: Examining the Effect of the Early Assessment Program at California State University

Jessica S. Howell, Michal Kurlaender, and Eric GrodskyCalifornia State University, SacramentoApril 2009

Weighted Student Formula Yearbook

Lisa SnellReason Foundation2009

Charter School Achievement: What We Know, 5th Edition

Anna NicoteraNational Alliance for Public Charter SchoolsApril 2009

Taxpayer chutzpah

Say you're a parent in a school district whose population is largely Haitian, African-American, and Hispanic. And say this district's board is dominated by Orthodox Jews who don't send their children to public schools and aren't happy about paying both high taxes and huge private school tuition bills. And say the board just voted to close an under-enrolled district school to curb costs.

Growing pains in the Advanced Placement program

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program is enjoying a growth spurt in the United States. Over the past five years, the number of high-school students taking at least one AP exam increased more than 50 percent. There's probably no education program in America that's been expanding faster.

Gun Control in the Wild West

What's the best way to improve a negative perception? Change the reality feeding it. That's the constructive tack being taken by the new leaders of the Arizona Charter Schools Association (ACSA) as they crack down on their state's surfeit of low-performing charters.

The world needs firefighters, too

Within the education establishment, it's taken as an article of faith that schools should face budget cuts only after all other options have been exhausted. How about public safety? That's the debate playing out in Prince George's County, Maryland, a big Washington suburb now facing a massive budget shortfall.

Growing Pains in the Advanced Placement Program: Do Tough Trade-offs Lie Ahead?

Fordham's latest report is out this morning; it focuses on the dramatic expansion of the Advancement Placement program in recent years. In 2002-2003, 1 million students participated in AP by taking at least one exam. Five years later, nearly 1.6 million did???a 50+ percent increase.

Randi Weingarten going to the "dark side"?

Certain segments of the edu-sphere like to call those of us at Fordham silly (though, I'll admit, colorful) names, like "

The 100th day

President Barack Obama's "first 100 days" come to an end today, as you may have noticed from the barrage of fawning press coverage (

Good news from NAEP

NAEP long-term trend scores were released yesterday, and the results are quite positive.

Scorching iron and convincing argument

Maybe the Obama administration has brought bipartisanship to Washington...just not the kind they had in mind. In this letter, a bipartisan group of US Senators chastises Secretary Duncan for denying DC scholarships to new students and urges ED to reconsider.

Topic of discussion: Our Advanced Placement report!

Read more about our new Advanced Placement Program report in this piece in the New York Times.

VIDEO: "Growing Pains in the Advanced Placement Program"

An interview with Steve Farkas, President of the Farkas Duffett Research Group . Fordham commissioned the FDR Group to research and write its latest report "Growing Pains in the Advanced Placement Program: Do Tough Trade-Offs Lie Ahead?"

Evidence of innovation in school funding?

Yesterday in the Ohio Senate Education Committee, school funding expert and Buckeye (OSU class of '66 and '72) Paul Hill offered testimony about how Ohio can go about reforming its system of school funding while at the same time raising student perf

The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools

McKinsey & CompanyApril 2009

Young essayists speak to their educational opportunity

Here are a few excerpts from award-winning School Choice Ohio (see here) essays written by students who received EdChoice scholarships this year. Students wrote concerning how their learning opportunities have helped them. The topic was "Voices of School Choice."

Chancellor Fingerhut laments teacher training

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut believes Ohio's teacher training system is not providing enough qualified teachers for Ohio's K-12 schools. Fingerhut shared his comments last week in a wide-ranging discussion with members of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum (see here).

Dayton charter senior awarded Gates millenium scholarship

A 16-year-old senior at the Dayton Early College Academy (DECA) has been selected as a Gates Millennium Scholar, a prestigious national scholarship award that will pay for his college education. Charles Wilkes is among 1,000 students selected for the award from more than 20,000 applicants.

Education doesn't have to cost more to be better, national expert says

One of the nation's foremost school-finance authorities said yesterday that Ohio can have a much better school system without paying vastly higher sums for education by getting smarter about how it spends education dollars.