You can call him "Arne"

Arne Duncan is hitting all the right notes, at least when it comes to building a strong working relationship with the Department of Education's career civil servants.

Introducing the Obama Administration Education Reform-o-Meter!

Tweaking schools instead of fixing them

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Could the recession be good for the charter school movement?

The other day, Checker explained how charter school opponents are using the current budget-cutting environment as an excuse to clobber charter schools and to keep new ones from opening. ???We can't afford them,??? goes the argument.

Ideas from GreatSchools about how to create great parents

How to encourage parents to take their responsibilities seriously has been a major theme this week.

Obama and test performance

Clearly President Barack Obama has a lot on his plate right now. But he should take heart ??? some are saying he may have already boosted test scores!

Getting higher ed involved in the charter school movement

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Karl Rove: Please go away

Many conservative commentators blame the dismal state of the Republican Party on the talk-show crowd: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and the other blowhards who play on people's fears for a living.

Re: Karl Rove: Please go away

Mike may be right about the many ways Karl Rove gets it wrong

How to help parents seize this "new era of responsibility"

My post from yesterday about President Obama's call for a "New Era of Responsibility" sought ideas from readers about how policymakers and sch

Get your Gadfly

It's here and it's hot. In the top spot, you'll find Mike's ideas on how we should couple responsibility with accountability.

Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum: Reviewing the Moral Case for Geography

Alex StandishRoutledge PublishersOctober 2008

The Beautiful Tree

James TooleyCATO InstituteApril 2009

Alternative Routes to Teaching: Mapping the New Landscape of Teacher Education

Pam Grossman and Susanna Loeb, eds.Harvard Education Press2008

The terminator

If the recent past is prologue, we have reason to be hopeful about Arne Duncan. As he prepared to leave his post as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools last week, Duncan proposed to close or consolidate 25 under-performing or under-enrolled schools.

Slip of the quill

In last week's short review of "National Assessment of Adult Literacy: Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003," Gadfly has discovered a rather small typo.

Going-away gift

Will President Bush get a last education laugh? That's what Richard Whitmire, president of the National Education Writers Association and founder of the Why Boys Fail blog, predicts.

Bush bashing unfair and untrue

To the editor: 

Catholic schools have a prayer

After much poking and prodding, supporters of Catholic schools may finally be springing into action.

What Obama's 'Era of Responsibility' could mean for education

For an education watcher, the most striking parts of President Barack Obama's sober, yet stirring, inaugural address weren't the oblique references to our schools (which "fail too many" and will be "transformed" to "meet the demands of a new age").

What does Obama's "Era of Responsibility" mean for education?

For a day of celebration and catharsis, President Barack Obama's inaugural address struck tones both somber and sober.

Oklahoma!

Yesterday, Barack Obama said that "those of us who manage the public's dollars will...do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between and people and their government." So maybe he'd like a

Time to grow up

Hey, Dayton schools are cool, and a lot more than just about education!

The Dayton Public Schools has decided on one way to handle the problem of low test scores and declining enrollment.They've hired a flack.

Fordham's Flypaper blog

Catch Ohio angles on the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's Flypaper blog (see here). Last week Mike Lafferty commented on U.S. Sen. George Voinovich's decision to retire on Jan. 12; Emmy Partin blogged about the Ohio Board of Regents plan to streamline computer software and technology services to save money on Jan.

"We got ours, good luck in getting yours"

The public schools in Dayton have been struggling academically for years, battling Cleveland most years for the dubious distinction of worst school system in the state. But the city has been blessed to have three truly outstanding high schools. The Dayton Public Schools' Stivers School for the Arts and the Dayton Early College Academy charter school were both honored by U.S.

Bush's post-presidency

The Washington Post reported Sunday on Bush's plans to start a new think tank, the Freedom Institute, which will include an education component:

Using the recession to clobber charter schools

Around the country, school districts are urging officials to crack down on charter school growth--and on existing charter schools--because, they assert, there isn't enough money in strapped state budgets to pay for this sector--and of course the districts must come first.

If not now, when?

I've heard from several friends, particularly those on the left, who are perplexed by the arguments made by me and

A wrong, partially righted

It's great news that Tom Nida, chair of the D.C.