Commentary
Fordham scoops Harvard!
Today in Education Week: "NCLB Testing Said to Give 'Illusions of Progress'" Last October from Fordham: "No Child Left Behind's ???Proficiency Illusion'"
Commentary
Cruel and unusual or just brilliant?
"Stand-up desks provide a firm footing for fidgety students" "Teachers report improved focus, behavior"
Commentary
Holes in the rolls
Enrollment continues to decline in a number of big-city school systems. In Washington, DC , the student population is down 8 percent from last year, in large part because of charter school expansion.
Commentary
Cover-up!
Fraud! Misleading information! A huge price tag for America! I'm not talking about the mortgage-backed securities meltdown. I'm referring to the new TOM LOVELESS ALGEBRA STUDY.
Commentary
This should do wonders for the 'damaged brand' that is NCLB
"Polygamous community school gets NCLB honors"
Commentary
Educational defeatism is just as bad as educational romanticism
Or so Liam argues in the Weekly Standard. With his usual panache, Liam reviews Charles Murray's new book, Real Education.
Commentary
Gadfly has landed (a late notice)
Arrival was on time; blog notification was not. Nevertheless, the issue is spectacular. Lesson from this week?
Commentary
A hard line on the bottom line
National Review Online must have been a fan of Fordham's Education Olympics, for this week it has articles by not one, but two of its stars, Roy Romer and our own Mike Petrilli.
Commentary
Commentary
From NRO's mouth to Governor Granholm's ears?
I didn't expect my call for Michigan to declare Detroit Public Schools bankrupt to lead to action so quickly. But it doesn't sound like the state is willing to go far enough.
Commentary
The search is over
David Hoff has found the 10,000 pound gorilla that is NCLB, and the "Washington Consensus" to boot.
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
Batty lawsuits
What do safe sex, reading, and proper admonition of Mexican free-tailed bats have in common? They're just a few of the topics people think schools should teach. The latter, free-tailed bats (so named because a bit of their tails project beyond their uropatagia, of course), have taken up residence in some Salt Lake City schools that lie along the mammals' migratory route.
Commentary
Obama vs. Strickland?
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's head-turning education speech in Ohio last week was notable for stepping away from several planks in his party's traditional platform. The national audience surely paid attention-but did his fellow Democrats in Ohio?
Commentary
Positive energy
Senators McCain and Obama might momentarily suspend their energy-policy and economic-policy bickering and pay a visit to Michigan Technical Academy, where students have converted used cooking oil from a nearby tortilla factory into biodiesel. The school's automotive technology teacher, Marty Depowski, is a master certified automotive technician who once worked for Ford.
Commentary
Commentary
From the Lehman board to the board of ed
How refreshing to watch Wall Street reintroduced to "market discipline" this weekend, and how depressing to see "moral hazard" return by Tuesday night. The government's refusal to rescue Lehman Brothers seemed to indicate that financiers would have to face the consequences of their own risky actions. But then AIG was deemed "too big to fail."
Commentary
Diploma troubles
Should policymakers force students with cognitive disabilities to take high-stakes tests? This is one of the core controversies of the No Child Left Behind act, and states are wrestling with it, too. In California, for example, critics are crusading against a state law requiring students with disabilities to pass the high school exit exam if they wish to receive a diploma.
Commentary
Mass exodus
Beantown is experiencing a talent migration. As go Pedro and Damon, so go the educational leaders?
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
Whitman in the flesh
On Wed. September 3, Fordham hosted a lively panel discussion of the David Whitman's new book, "Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism." On hand were Jay Mathews of The Washington Post, and Charles Adams, head of school at the SEED School in D.C. For your viewing pleasure, we've posted a video of their discussion online.
Commentary
Experience matters for cabinet secretaries, too
I've been musing for days (here and here ) about who should be the next Secretary of Education.
Commentary
Head shake for the morning
It's stories like these that just make you shake your head . Sorry Springfield, no new school options for you until your district schools completely tank.
Commentary
Hard road to hoe
There's a lot of political lip-service of late given to ridding schools of bad teachers. But be aware if you're looking to do so in Dallas.
Commentary
Commentary
The market meltdown and the public schools
It's hard not to be shaken by the financial news emanating from Wall Street these days. I can't help but wish I'd studied more economics in college (or that I'd sold our house and started renting a few years ago). But I also can't help but wish that dysfunctional urban school systems could experience some of the "market discipline" that Lehman Brothers is enjoying right now.
Commentary
Re: Education Secretary Watch: Who will lead 400 Maryland Avenue?
About this post , several smart reporters have written in to ask, don't I know that Arne Duncan will be the pick as Secretary of Education if Barack Obama is elected president?