LDH: muse or monster of education reform?

Well, Mike ain't gonna be getting a Christmas card from Linda this year.

Maybe it's Mabus

Ray Mabus has picked up quite a head of steam over the past week or so, putting him fairly high up on the rungs of the ladder in our latest education secretary poll. But, some are certain it's Sebelius, who has risen to the number two spot, knocking Klein out of his armchair.

Surprise in store?

All of the votes aren't in yet for today's pick-the-next-education-secretary-daily-tracking-poll, but two new names have surfaced.

Bill Gates ??? charter schools

Diane Ravitch to Lou Gerstner: Stop lecturing and start listening

The former IBM CEO gets no support for his proposal to eliminate the nation's 1

More than "Lips" service for broad-based reform

Dan Lips of The Heritage Foundation argues that there's much more to the conservative education agenda than just choice--that "the pundits who are pushing for the Republican Party to develop new ide

Close, but no cigar

Kathleen Sebelius almost beat out Joel Klein in our poll today, falling short of Klein's 9.7% of the vote, with just 9.5%. Not too much else has changed, so we are sitting tight. What might start to change insider opinion is a new story released by the Associated Press about Gov.

Gadfly is back

We know it was tough to be Gadfly-less through Thanksgiving (although we hope our sumptuous video menu helped tide you over). Good news: we're baaaack.

Spellings meets Duncan, who has "no idea" when ed secretary post to be announced

The AP reports that Arne Duncan, Chicago Public Schools chief,

No thanks, says Kaine

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Breaking down the brewing battle...

David Whitman, author of "Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism," wrote

Can You Recognize an Effective Teacher When You Recruit One?

Jonah Rockoff, Brian Jacob, Thomas Kane, and Douglas StaigerNational Bureau of Economic ResearchNovember 2008

Pilloried pilgrims

Thanksgiving meals don't often deteriorate into altercations requiring police intervention--unless you're the parent of a kindergartner in Claremont, CA, that is. For four decades, tots from two schools in this typically peaceful town have taken turns dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans (OK, we'll say it: Indians) and hosting a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast. But not this year.

Sink or swim

The party's over for members of New York City's teacher reserve pool. Chancellor Joel Klein and UFT President Randi Weingarten have reached a rather sensible accord that sounds likely to provide some long awaited answers to this question: Why are so many teachers in the reserve pool unable to land classroom jobs?

Honestly disturbing

Disturbing news from our nation's classrooms: cheating is running rampant. A recent study from the Josephson Institute found that in the past year a whopping 64 percent of high school students have cheated on a test--and 38 percent had done it more than once. The news gets worse.

"21st century skills" shenanigans in the Bay State

Last spring, Paul Reville, who was then chair of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and is now the Commonwealth's Secretary of Education, created the 21st Century Skills Task Force.

A piece of the pie

Seems wishful thinking is Miami-Dade schools' chief Alberto Carvalho's forte. His latest? Bailout the public school system. With myriad companies going hat-in-hand to the feds, Carvalho thinks schools should be given a slice of the bailout pie, too.

Senator Jeb?

Jeb Bush must be tiring of the grueling hours and thankless hard work of life in an education think tank, as Politico reports that he may seek a Senate seat.

Re: Some mates are seeing red!

I'm not siding with those who fear the red pen, but colors can matter ???

Caroline Kennedy moves up

Arne Duncan loses 7 percentage points today, but it hardly matters given his substantial lead. Caroline Kennedy scoots up the big chart today, inching past Ray Mabus, whose support is increasing ever so slightly. Word on the street is Freeman Hrabowski doesn't want the job .

Some mates are seeing red!

Duncan donuts and coffee with Spellings?

Study says school finance system prevents education reform

A six-year, $6-million study of the American school-finance system has determined what many education experts conclude every day-that the system is broken and must be reformed before any true long-term education fix can be fashioned.

Grappling with weighted student funding in a billion-dollar ed. plan

The State Board of Education will vote next week on a new method of allocating and spending education dollars as well as a call to boost state K-12 spending by $1 billion.

Coming soon: Fordham probes the brain drain

When 30 Ohio college students were interviewed in November at three of the state's top universities, they were asked to play what researcher Steve Farkas calls the "finish the sentence game."

AG Rogers: Admit it, you just don't have a case

There's a good chance-logically speaking-that Attorney General Nancy Rogers will not appeal the latest rejection of the state's claim that a poorly performing charter school violates the Ohio charitable trust law (see here).

Charter School Authorizers in SREB States: A Call for Accountability

Southern Regional Education BoardNovember 2008The Southern Regional Education Board has identified key elements to gauge the success of charter schools (see here).

Is Spellings rolling the dice with federal student loans?

In light of the current financial calamity, was this really the best location for this speech? From Education Daily: Spellings to speak today in Las Vegas

Joel Klein, staying alive

The daily tracking poll grinds on, as our Washington Insiders* beg for President-Elect Obama to announce his domestic policy team, and in a hurry.

Fordham in the news...

In a City Journal review of the new Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Laura Vanderkam praises his prose and calls it an "engaging" read.