My son Nico was born in 2007, and he wasn't alone. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (and reported by the Times), more babies were born in 2007 than any other year in U.S. history. The 4.3 million births were even more than the number in 1957, which was the height of the Baby Boom.
According to a new report by RAND, charter schools don't produce substantially different academic results than their district peers.
The creative team over at C. Murray Consulting, a web technology company in Rhode Island, has highlighted us on their blog.
Larissa Campuzano, Mark Dynarski, Roberto Agodini, and Kristina RallMathematica Policy Research for the Institute of Education SciencesFebruary 2009
MetLife FoundationFebruary 2009
These are heady times in education policy. The $110 billion in education stimulus spending and tens of billions more in the omnibus budget have launched a frenzy of activity.
We've long known that "last hired, first fired" rules cost districts cash and undermine teacher quality to boot. It's taken him his fifteen-year tenure, but Rhode Island education commissioner Peter McWalters finally agrees.
High school students who are newly arrived from another country, sans English skills, present a time crunch dilemma for educators. "High schools have to make a pragmatic choice when it comes to these kids," explains Peter B. Bedford, a history teacher at Cecil D. Hylton School in Woodbridge, Virginia. "Are you going to focus on educating them, or socially integrating them?
Reselling a couple of $60,000 classroom trailers should bring in a nice chunk of change, right? So thought district officials in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Enter anonymous district bureaucrat, charged with selling the costly portable learning spaces on eBay.
Philadelphia superintendent Arlene Ackerman hopes to reform the city's most troubled schools by converting them into charters--and KIPP's on the short list to help.
With the economy headed south, it should probably come as no surprise that teaching has turned into one desirable profession--especially for mid-life career changers who may or may not have been recently laid off. The trend, however, dates further back than Lehman Brothers' implosion.
Even on a faraway beach, Gadfly turned gleeful at word of the president's speech last week, what with its clear call for states to "adopt world-class standards" and "stop low-balling expectations for our kids." In a recent interview with Newsweek's George Will, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan picked u
On a scale of one to unlikely, this set of bedfellows deserves at least an honorable mention. The National Education Association has joined the U.S.
George Will sits down with Arne Duncan and comes away impressed. Though Will's major takeaway is that "time and talent" are needed to turn around schools, this quote caught my eye: By closing failing schools and opening replacements, Chicago is ensuring that the portfolio of schools is churned and improved.
That's the title of a longish piece on merit pay in the latest Christian Science Monitor. This article, part 1 of 2, takes a look at Denver's ProComp and the difficulty of figuring out two things: how to use merit pay systems to get rid of bad teachers and how to tie bonuses to the results of individual teachers.
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional AssistanceMarch 2009This report analyzes how state education agencies in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermon,t and the territory of Puerto Rico identify and support low-performing schools and districts under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
According to a new report, charter schools don't produce substantially different academic results than their district peers.
Perhaps the only thing related to K-12 education that Ohio's governor and lawmakers aren't talking about "fixing" is the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) (see here). That's odd, as few things are more out-dated, cost-laden and in need of reform than public pension systems.
The House Finance and Appropriations Primary and Secondary Education subcommittee will wrap up public hearings this week on Gov. Strickland's education reform plan, despite disagreement about whether a Finance subcommittee is the appropriate group to consider massive changes to state education policy.
Frank Stoy of the Lucas County Educational Service Center Office of Community Schools took issue with a March 4 piece concerning troubles in the Summit Academies.
Bill Wilken, a retired businessman and educational finance expert, responded to a February 18 Ohio Gadfly editorial (and newspaper op-ed) concerning Gov. Ted Strickland's education proposals.
There's very little real evidence in Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed "evidence-based" education proposals, according to a review by the Ohio Academy of Science.The Academy, which is particularly interested in science, technology, and engineering education, including STEM, examined the bibliography on which Gov. Strickland's education proposals are based.
ED Senior Advisor Mike Smith voiced some contrarian views????on national or "common" standards yesterday.
Check out this story and interactive spread by Libby Quaid/Associated Press about teaching as a second career and alternate certification.
Ohio's congressional delegation has been boasting about the infusion of money the Buckeye State's public schools would receive from the federal stimulus package.
Amidst all of our adult arguments about the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, we seem to forget that there are 1,700 living, breathing children involved. Here's a reminder video from the Heritage Foundation:
On Saturday, the Washington Post's editorial page????again????wrote in favor of the threatened DC Opportunity Scholarship (voucher) Program.
This morning, NYT columnist David Brooks turns in an uneven????analysis????of President Obama's education speech. ????His opening hook (the president's anecdote about studying early in the morning with his mother) takes him off the rails a bit.
