Mississippi walks to the middle

A digital conversation

The NCLB conversation has gone digital--at NewTalk.Org, a fancy shmancy blog that allows big thinkers to "talk" via posting for a set time period.

Subversive activity (of the good kind)

I have to admit that I had been hoping for a while someone would do this. A new advocacy group founded this past spring, Strong Schools DC , has fomented a grassroots revolution and the D.C.

What does a degree mean?

The Gadfly briefly addressed this issue a few weeks ago and the editors at Newsday have taken it up in

Black males still far behind whites in high-school graduation

Black males trail white males in high-school graduation by an average of 28 percent nationally and in Ohio by 30 percent, according to a new report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

Study says fairer accountability system means more tests

An Ohio State University sociology professor says the state's new value-added method for measuring student academic progress is an improvement to the accountability system but still doesn't go far enough.

New report provides hints on how to improve a school district's staff

Far too often, educational policymakers have high demands and expectations for students but roll the dice on the skills and competence of instructors and school administrators. While we might like to believe that charter schools rarely, if ever, sin like this, the fact of the matter is that they falter the most, according to a new report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education.

Districts already working to discredit pending state report cards

The state's new round of local report cards detailing last year's performance for Ohio public schools won't be made public until the last week of August, but district school officials are already scrambling to discredit the reports.

Measuring Up: What Education Testing Really Tells Us

Daniel KoretzHarvard University Press2008

about "innovation schools"

State Board of Education member Colleen Grady comments on Emmy L. Partin's recent piece concerning a board recommendation that school districts be allowed to create so-called innovation schools. Essentially, these would be copies of charter schools, which districts are already allowed to sponsor.

A conversation with the governor

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is in the midst of a 12-city "Conversation on Education" that he says will inform his long-awaited education plan, currently expected in early 2009. I attended his invitation-only event in Dayton and the governor came across as charming, caring, even grandfatherly. He was patient with everyone and showed a real sense of humor.

Where teachers' money goes

The Wall Street Journal highlights how the NEA spends its members' money. Mike Antonucci has more.

Work from home

Even in??middle school, even in the summer.

Quality schmaulity

Teacher quality in Texas is "inequitable" (poorly??constructed headline, Houston Chronicle).??Mike says: Who cares?

Warning: Children working too hard

Quick and the Ed Watch 4

Kevin Carey's latest post is about affirmative action, and most of it is sensible. I'm unsure if what you'll read here are positions that Carey has previously espoused on this topic, and I'm not going to traipse off on some fishing expedition to find out.

Edulit

Andrew Ferguson reviews in today's Wall Street Journal a book that goes behind the scenes at Harvard Business School--and seemingly reveals what one might expect to find behind the scenes at Harvard Business School.

Choice down south

Vouchers will stay on??Florida's November 4th ballot... for now.

From the archives

From time to time, while digging up material for forthcoming Fordham reports, op-eds, or blog posts, I stumble upon an unrelated article that catches my interest and causes me to pause and read. Here's one such, written by Checker, entitled "An Open Letter to Lawrence H. Summers." It was published six years ago.

A one stop charter school shop

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has announced a new job board on its website.

Resentment

The Washington Post believes that D.C. officials resent charter schools, and it tells them: "Get over it."

Finn 2.0

Checker talks about his new book, Troublemaker, in a very chic-looking, new media-ish video interview.

Is education, like politics, a "devalued category"?

I was reading the Washington Post on Saturday when I came across this little piece by Democratic strategist Carter Eskew about the presidential campaign and its suddenly negative to

Intern at Fordham

Fordham is seeking a fall intern. What's it like to spend a semester with us? Our summer intern, Amy, has approved the following message, which I wrote:

Washington's most influential school reform advocate

No, it's not Kati Haycock or George Miller or even Margaret Spellings. It's Jo-Ann Armao, the education writer for the Washington Post editorial page.

Where's the beef?

Doesn't appear that student performance is a part of this new proposed pay structure by the teachers' union in Australia. A hundred indicators and not a one on how the students are performing?

Quality versus quantity

This would-be second-career teacher in California says that proving "highly-qualified" status is a hoop-jumping endeavor: "The standards to which I'm being held here are no

Rudy and the crew

Quite the fight going on right now in Miami, as the Miami-Dade school board weighs the fate of superintendent Rudy Crew.?? Some board members are trying to oust him with accusations of gross negligence, incompetence, and the like.??

Reaping what we sow

The archaic agrarian school calendar is just one more reminder of how education is not keeping up with the times, argues Arthur Rothkopf.

Spread the word! Support America's mathletes! The 2008 Education Olympics start August 8th!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d_4taq75Q A week from today, America's team of finely-tuned physical specimens will start piling up medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.