What's in a name?

Britain's schools minister is Lord Adonis. Its schools secretary is Mr. Balls.

What's in a name?

Britain's schools minister is Lord Adonis. Its schools secretary is Mr. Balls.

In my backyard

The NEA is gathering in Washington--some "10,000 delegates and a few thousand other union members and guests," according to the Washington Post. The union is going to decide whether to offer its presidential endorsement to Barack Obama or to John McCain.

More for the Fourth

Furthermore...

Nice, Christina. And then there are these problems. First, none of the arguments he points out is reductio ad absurdum (one must never forget the ad). Second,??if one was, what the heck??would be??so wrong??with that? Third, who's Leo Casey?

Fine Rheesoning

From the Washington Post:

Changes to FL accountability

Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed this week a bill that lessens the emphasis of the state's high-stakes test, the FCAT.

Burnish or blemish?

A label by any other name is not as sweet...

The USDOE announced a couple days ago the six states approved for "differentiated accountability" plans (Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, and Ohio).

From classroom to cubicle

In today's Wall Street Journal, we hear from college graduates who recognized a crummy job market and decided to channel their energies into service programs, like Teach for America. Great idea, right?

It's reductio ad absurdum

I'll ignore the rest of Leo Casey's EdWize post this morning in favor of this one comment:

Abortive argument

You may remember that both Amber and Liam first alerted us to, and then wrote on, what's now being called the Gloucester pregnancy pact--that a group of sophomore girls in Gloucester, MA decided to get pregn

Bias is out, numbers are in

The baby boomers are on the way out of the nation's colleges and universities. The New York Times reports that liberal professors birthed into academia in the 1960s and 70s are retiring--and being replaced by younger and more politically moderate academics.

La Raza in 'zona

Evidently fearless in the face of controversy, Liam writes today on the touchy subject of so-called "Raza Studies" in Arizona on National Review Online.

Bloomberg gets it

Even as he announced an initiative yesterday to educate more mathematicians and scientists, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thought it necessary to point out that anti-immigration policies pose a grave threat to our economy.

Pretty sad

"3 of 4 City Students Say They Took No Art Class This Year" Update: NYC Department of Ed press secretary David Cantor writes in the comments section:

No bottom line

New York City's experiences in the last couple weeks reinforce my belief that the notion that we can "hold public schools accountable for results" is questionable.

Happy birthday

At Fordham, we normally avoid the paparazzi and gossip columns by donning dark sunglasses and entering buildings only by tunnel or back alley, but still, Checker couldn't avoid the New York Sun's "Out and About" blog, which caught him and others in New York last month celebrating Fordham tr

300 million citizens can't be wrong

We've been accused at times of union-bashing (as distinct from the teacher-bashing attributed to Liam, yesterday and today), but perhaps we can cede that mantle to Thomas Sowell.

Obama breaks with Dems on education, according to Obama

NPR's Morning Edition aired today a segment on which presidential candidate, John McCain or Barack Obama, is actually the most bi-partisan or post-partisan or something like that. Frankly, I couldn't care less, mostly because these glorified labels are hooey.

Principal: Pact is fact

The Gloucester, Massachusetts, principal who told Time that several students made a "pact" to get pregnant stands by his remarks. (Last week, Amber wrote a sharp Gadfly piece related to this subject.)

More on martyrdom

Julie Greenberg wrote about the "Mantle of Martyrdom" in a past edition of??NCTQ's TQ Bulletin.

Is higher education for everyone?

That's what they're talking about at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Ross Douthat moderates.

Straight from the horse's mouth

While my esteemed colleague may not be buying the numbers coming out of the Big Apple, parents and students are.

Mr. Janey goes to Newark

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Exciting stuff

KIPP schools mostly serve the middle grades and thus spend much of their time plugging the gaps in knowledge and skills that students picked up early on in traditional public schools. But imagine if the youngsters entering KIPP middle schools came from KIPP elementary schools .

Race against reality

The National Council of La Raza is headquartered one block from our office. Despite what their spokesmen may or may not tell you, "La Raza" means "The Race," and it's a term that has gained an impressive toehold in some k-12 public schools as "Raza studies." (It's on college campuses, too, of course. One can earn a B.A.

Walk the walk?

An attack weathered by all education-policy pundits who have not??taught in dreadful, moldy,??urban schools where classes are dismissed to the sound of gunfire is this: "Ah ha! But you haven't spent time in the classroom and therefore have no grounds for opining." How silly, though, if our legislators, staring at their 18.5 percent approval ratings, took to CSPAN and said, "Foolish Americans.

Decisions, decisions

Iowa debates whether to disallow the use of chokeholds in public schools. (Wikipedia provides a handy list of common chokeholds, including the anaconda choke and gogoplata.)

The martyrs

Clearly, it's struck a chord and it's worth unpacking: Why do so many teachers lean so heavily, when criticized, on the "you've never yourself been a teacher" argument? As I noted here, it's logically baseless. Imagine lawyers, doctors, oil-company executives mounting such a defense.