Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2009

National Center for Education StatisticsMarch 2009

Happenings in Newark

Very encouraging article out of Newark, NJ about the growth of high-quality charters in that city and other urban areas in the state.

What's in a name?

Simpatico

Fred Hiatt pens a very good piece in today's Post about Bill Gates' priorities for K-12 education reform and how these align with the positions of the president, secretary of education, and DC schools chancellor.

Parents and great urban schools

When I talk to friends or suburban audiences about urban education, the conversation nearly always turns to the role of parents. ????The consensus is that disinterested, disengaged parents are to blame for the discouraging results of inner-city public schools. ????From this, they typically infer that these schools will never turn around until parents shape up.

The education stimulus: The result of amnesia, the cause of schizophrenia

Friday's good-news story

During my time at the Alliance, I got to know and greatly respect the work of ConnCAN, a nonprofit education research and advocacy organization in Connecticut.

P21-palooza

Lynne Munson of Common Core offers the inside scoop on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills's pep rally held at the NEA yesterday.

Proximity breeds obesity?

The NYT reports on a new study finding that if a school is within a block of a fast-food restaurant, its students are more likely to be obese. ????I've been fascinated by obesity studies since I read that 100 years ago the wealthiest quartile in America was the heaviest but today the poorest quartile is.

Obama's virtual town hall

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This week's Gadfly...

...is here.??First up, take a closer look at our new voucher and accountability paper.

Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition

Ron Zimmer, Brian Gill, Kevin Booker, Stephane Lavertu, Tim Sass, and John WitteRAND EducationMarch 2009

Big, fast, and stupid

When the federal government starts talking in billions, is it too much to ask that the money be well spent? Apparently so. In the rush to get funds out to states and districts ASAP, education stimulus dollars are being dispersed via a tangle of federal formulae.

The Role of Research in Educational Improvement

John D. Bransford, Deborah J. Stipek, Nancy J. Vye, Louis M. Gomez, and Diana Lam, eds.Harvard Education PressFebruary 2009

Successful Single-Sex Classrooms: A Practical Guide to Teaching Boys & Girls Separately

Michael Gurian, Kathy Stevens, and Peggy DanielsJossey-Bass Publishing2009

Tattled-on teachers

If it's sensational, it'll sell papers. That's the motto of most periodicals and the tack the New York Post was surely taking with this subhead: "Teachers watched porn on work computers, falsified records to pad their pockets, faked doctors' notes to go on vacation." The New York Department of Education received 2,886 misconduct accusations last year--the most ever.

No need for a voucher vigil

The Washington Post's Jay Mathews is ready to close the book on vouchers. While he supports them himself, he thinks "[t]his nation of public school backers just won't go for vouchers." But hold the eulogizing for just a sec. Simply because D.C.'s program is on the block doesn't mean there's not hope beyond the Beltway.

Comprehending reading comp

What do outer space and Appalachia have in common? They're both topics that students could encounter in reading comprehension passages on typical state tests. And they illustrate E.D. Hirsch's big beef with such assessments: they mean to test students' reading abilities, but they really test students' knowledge on randomly-chosen topics.

New Mexico offers new hope for pension reform

Conventional wisdom says that most states and school districts will make budget cuts in the most boneheaded manner possible: lay off their young teachers, eliminate art and music classes, decimate sports programs, and so forth. And evidence from the current recession indicates that this conventional wisdom is usually right.

Vouchers and accountability, a sliding scale

As we write, the fate of the District of Columbia voucher initiative (a.k.a. Opportunity Scholarship Program) hangs in the balance. Ambiguous, ambivalent remarks from President Obama's camp and Secretary Duncan certainly haven't helped to secure its future and its Congressional and interest-group enemies seem bent on ending it--with a possible reprieve for current beneficiaries.

Arne Duncan's teacher union hires: Hot or not?

The trusty Reform-o-Meter has become a little rusty lately; that's because there hasn't been a lot of action at the U.S. Department of Education worth rating. This is particularly true since we still don't know who the picks for Deputy Secretary, Undersecretary, or Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education will be.

The Dave Grohl of educational entrepreneurialism?

The best and brightest among educational entrepreneurs are often called rock stars. Though I can hardly imagine two things more different than, say, a ???????no excuses???????

Shared sacrifices are for losers

During last night's prime-time press conference, President Obama was asked about shared sacrifices during these tough times. The president noted that these are indeed difficult times for many Americans.

New Fordham paper on accountability in school voucher programs

Washington's "Opportunity Scholarship Program" has gotten a lot of attention lately, what with Democrats in Congress moving to kill it and the Obama Administration seeking

A commonsense approach to accountability for the EdChoice Scholarship program

Private schools that enroll students through the Ohio EdChoice Program (the state's school voucher program) should be held accountable for their academic results on a sliding scale, according to a report issued today by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

The wrong way to narrow the achievement gap

There was a time when I was generally skeptical, even hostile, towards the views of Charles Murray, at least as they pertained to education.

All fun and gains?

This weekend's Washington Post offered an anecdotal look at DC's Capital Gains Program, aka Washington's own pay kids for performance system. The program has its logistical issues, but one of great significance has cropped up: theft.

Where's the beef? At this point we'd settle for a little gristle

The Ohio Academy of Science has provided a little reality check to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's evidence-based education proposals and found them lacking--actually, way lacking.

More from the to-read pile

As I continue to make my way through the gigantic stack of articles and reports I should've read over the last year and a half or so, I keep finding interesting and timely stuff.