Linda Darling-Hammond strikes back

In a letter to the New York Times, LDH takes issue with David Brooks' (and others') depiction of her as a non-reformer:

Is NCLB-style education reform liberal, centrist, or conservative?

What a confluence of events when Alfie Kohn, Matthew Yglesias, and Rick Hess take up that question all on the same day.

Questions for Linda Darling-Hammond, part two

Yesterday we launched our new feature, Questions for Linda Darling-Hammond.

Learning from Louisiana

A new value-added study in Louisiana has found that teachers certified under non-traditional programs, The New Teacher Project's training program in particular, are more likely to be effective.

Great Education Debate: A 'Broader/Bolder' Education Reform Strategy

New Feature! Questions for Linda Darling-Hammond

Last week's spate of articles and

The Bennet surge

Denver schools superintendent Michael Bennet* is racing ahead of his competitors for the Arne-alternative spot in our pick-the-next-education-secretary daily tracking poll of education insiders.

Coming soon: Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate!

This afternoon at 4:30 Fordham is hosting our second "Great Debate," this one on the "Broader/Bolder" manifesto. (Video of our first Great Debate is here.) Combatants (I mean participants) include:

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: Talking points

The debate is about to begin. What to watch for? Will Mike Smith and Peter Edelman make it clear that they support test-based accountability? Or will they argue that since "schools alone" can't close the achievement gap, "schools alone" shouldn't be held accountable?

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: For the affirmative

Mike Smith got it started by asking how many audience members had health insurance, had brought their kids to the pediatrician or the dentist, etc. And he said that just miles from here, kids die "every day" from complications from cavities. (OK, that's hyperbole, but we'll let it pass.)

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: For the negative

It's Gene Hickok's turn. (Nice professorial glasses and sweater vest, Gene!) Of course, he says, there's a relationship between all of these social factors and achievement. That's why we were so focused on No Child Left Behind. "Disadvantaged kids are at a disadvantage," he admits.??(What's the opposite of hyperbole?)

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: Rebuttal time

Peter Edelman just had the best line so far: "I go home every night to a household where the term "leave no child behind" originated." (Referring, of course, to his wife Marian Wright Edelman and her work??leading the Children's Defense Fund.) Edelman: Our society hasn't been living up to our ideals for the past forty years in terms of reaching??out to the neediest.

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: Let's talk about sex

Doug Besharov is flummoxed. He was going to rebut the broader/bolder manifesto by going left...but Edelman just went SO FAR LEFT that it's going to be tough! His question: In a stimulus package, or in the federal budget, where does the last dollar go? Should it go to the schools or to these other social services?

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: The accountability question

The "affirmative" team insists that the broader/bolder manifesto signers are completely committed to holding schools accountable. And the "negative" team didn't disagree. Darn.

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: The so-so debate

So some friends of mine asked me why we didn't pit the "broader/bolder" folks against the "educational equity" folks. You know, an intra-Democratic party brawl? The real answer was that we were worried that it would turn into a non-debate. Everyone would agree that we should both fight the war on poverty AND work on school reform.

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: Lefties infiltrating charter schools

Mike Smith just mentioned that his wife is the principal of a high-poverty charter school. Peter Edelman already mentioned that his son* works on charter school issues for Arne Duncan. Is it just me or is working in a charter school the new badge of a true progressive? Hooray for charter schools!

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: We have a new ed sec contender!

Mike Smith and Peter Edelman have announced that they are going to be the next education secretary. (They plan to job-share.)

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: The asthma question

Joel Packer of the NEA wants to know if we should expand the idea of accountability under NCLB. For example, should schools and social services agencies be held accountable for making sure kids get their asthma medicine?

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: Closing statements

Peter Edelman urges us to fight poverty. We're a wealthy nation, after all. Doug Besharov points out that the best way to fight poverty is through better education. And we ought to learn what works best under what conditions. So if there's not enough money for everything, let's spend money wisely, do solid research,??and learn something from it. And that's a wrap.

Live blogging Fordham's Great Debate: And the winner is...

Neither team. By audience applause, and Checker's verdict, it's declared a tie.

Outrage!

Kevin Carey spent a whole week writing about the Finns, and never once mentioned Checker Finn. Kevin, what's up with that?

Stats stud's return

Stats stud Mark Schneider of the American Institutes for Research graced our studio for the latest Education Gadfly Show podcast episode, now available here.

Checker on India's education system, now on Forbes.com

Checker recently visited schools in the slums of Hyderabad, India, where low-budget private schools are educating kids--and doing a pretty good job.

Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2008

Robin J. Lake, Ed.,National Charter School Research ProjectCenter on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington at BothellDecember 2008

Core Problems: Out-of-Field Teaching Persists in Key Academic Courses and High-Poverty Schools

Richard IngersollThe Education TrustNovember 2008

Buckeye Institute puts teacher and administrator salaries online

As part of its effort to promote transparency and accountability in government, the Buckeye Institute has created a searchable, online database of Ohio public school district teacher and administrator salaries (which account for roughly 80 percent of school budgets).

The last word

As the Bush Administration rounds the bend, officials from the President on down are working overtime to cement their "legacy." Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told Education Week that she wants to be remembered as a "practical implementer of the law." (The law being the No Child Left Behind act whi

Permanent detention

Ever wish you could be paid to do nothing? That's right, the Teacher Reserve Pool saga continues. It's too bad, too, since we were pleased to learn last week of the reasonable reforms concerning New York City's notorious excessed teachers.

School for $6 a month

It's not that I didn't believe James Tooley's books and articles asserting that an astonishing number of poor children in developing countries are being decently (and sometimes superbly)

Highlights from TIMSS 2007: Mathematics and Science Achievement of U.S. Fourth- and Eighth-Grade Students in an International Context

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 results were released Tuesday (see here) and they show American kids are making progress against their international peers. TIMSS is a rigorous international comparison of fourth- and eighth-grade students' math and science test scores across countries.