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Education really is a state issue, at least this year
Education??may not??be making the national political scene (whatever??Palin's personal opinions) but it's far from off the
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Ed in 08's $24 million payday?
What can it be called other than an October surprise? As last night's vice presidential debate was nearing its close, none other than Governor Sarah Palin steered an unrelated question??to education--and even managed to mention No Child Left Behind in the process.
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Governance
The Red Tape Report: An Exploratory Study of the Regulatory Interference Faced by School Leaders in Five States
In public education today, individual schools are accountable under the federal No Child Left Behind Act as well as myriad state and local policy regimens for their students achievement and other vital outcomes. Increasingly, school leaders find their own job tenure and compensation tied to those outcomes as well. But do they possess the authority they need to lead their schools to heightened performance? Numerous surveys (conducted by Public Agenda, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and others) suggest that many school leaders feel they do not. Thus an important public policy question arises: what factors help or hinder school leaders in exercising their authority and in which areas?
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David Axelrod's axe
To:?????????????????????? Andrew Rotherham, Jonathan Schnur, Michael Johnston, ???????????????????????????????? Robert Gordon From:?????????????? Mike Petrilli Re:????????????????????????David Axelrod's statements about Reading First
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What would Churchill think?
"Pupils 'distressed over spelling'" Whitminster Endowed Church of England Primary, near Stroud, no longer gives children spelling lists for homework. Parents found out about the plan in a letter, saying many pupils found the activity "unnecessarily distressing".
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Rhee goes for Plan B
So the Washington Post reports . (Thanks to Fordham Fellow Ben Hoffman for the HT .
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Of Total Student Loads
UCLA professor Bill Ouchi argues in today's New York Post??for giving principals autonomy--a point about which we surely agree--based on his forthcoming research that, when given control, principals can get great results by manipulating the school vari
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Priceless
It is only once in a rare blue moon that we get news like this. The irony is almost palpable. Detractors jump up and down with glee. Latent metaphors abound. It's simply... beautiful. What has me roaring with laughter before lunch?
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Riding into the Sunrise: Al Quie, A Life of Faith, Service & Civility
Mitch PearlsteinPogo Press2008
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Report of the Commission on the Use of Standardized Tests in Undergraduate Admission
National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)September 2008
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Smell test
There's a fishy odeur emanating from the Bayou these days. The source? A "re-routing" plan that would count the scores of gifted students at magnet schools towards the results of their "home school" (the school they would attend based on school catchment areas).
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Inflatable LA
LAUSD may have lost six percent of its students from 2001 to 2007 but you'd never know it down at headquarters. That fashionable office--replete with flat screen TVs and on-site dry-cleaning service--has in fact grown by 20 percent during the same period.
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It now takes more to pass in Mass
How we love Massachusetts: its patriotic history, wind-swept shores, and, of course, sky-high standards. While other states take cues from NCLB to walk to the middle, Massachusetts keeps raising the bar.
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Knuckle abrasions
Faculty bathroom graffiti. That's what some are calling teachers' latest past time. Unlike its aerosol cousin though, this graffiti is of the digital variety and something Gadfly sure knows a thing or two about. But unlike our blog's ideas that stick, these educator scribbles are slimy and slick.
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Wanted: Smart feedback on smart regulation
Last spring, when we released our Catholic schools study just days before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, it was a case of good timing.
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What's in a grade?
The red pen. In our still largely decentralized public school system, it's no big surprise that this old-fashioned instrument of ill repute gets starkly different treatment from district to district and state to state.
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Both ends against the middle: That's NCLB's problem, too
Now that the financial markets have steadied themselves a bit, and Congressional leaders have started putting Humpty-Dumpty together again, it's easier to look at the demise of the bailout bill on Monday with cool detachment. And what's clear is that three factions were responsible for the bill's defeat: liberals, conservatives, and members from swing districts, particularly freshmen.
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Is Sarah Palin channeling Fordham?
Last night: "Science should be taught in science class."--Sarah Palin August 2005: "Science class is for science"--The Education Gadfly
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Calling for independent research
Economist Roland Fryer's Educational Innovation Laboratory is off to the races, thanks to the Broad Foundation, experimenting with new ways of incentivizing kids to learn in three big cities (New York , Chicago,
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A look at the numbers: non-traditional supes and innovation
Today on Forbes.com , Checker explains why he finds reforms in LA, NY and Denver promising instances of thinking outside the box. It's all about the numbers--of the test score and dollar variety. When the old ways aren't working, shouldn't we try something new? Absolutely.
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The cram-dustry: how does education gain respect?
Cram schools seem to be popping up everywhere. Korea has them as does Flushing, Queens. The newest market?
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Broken government
No, I refer not to the failed bailout, but to the extension bill or "continuing resolution" needed now that Congress has failed to pass a 2009 budget prior to the end of the 2008 fiscal year (today).
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Un- "sharp" priorities
It still makes me gag to see people I think well of--Roy Romer, J.C. Watts, Joel Klein--sharing a letterhead with the lamentable and reprehensible Al Sharpton.
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Catholic schools redux
Looks like Catholic schools are taking on a new role in urban France. (We've written on the importance of Catholic schools in the US, too.)
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Of Jerry Maguire and perverse incentives
This blog has seen various commentary on why Michelle Rhee's plan, "Capital Gains," to pay students for good behavior and good grades was a bad idea (try here to see the ongoing conversation). Liam, in particular, was vehemently opposed to it in its New York City and Washington DC manifestations.
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Re: Don't get queasy about John Deasy
Mike may catch the attention of governors and superintendents, but school boards are deaf.
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Isolationism: school edition
Oklahoma is trying an education venture some say will help kids stay in school and do better: removing one or perhaps two critical grades and creating separate schools for them. Ninth-graders in Coweta this year are the first to occupy a campus that's just for freshmen and Cache Public Schools plans something similar.