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The Green machine
The Heritage Foundation's Dan Lips does not approve of the "21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act," just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Virtual debate
The Miami Herald reports that Florida is ready to expand online education. But Education Sector's Bill Tucker, part of the virtual??schools cognoscenti, doesn't like what he sees.
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Forever young (and obtuse and obnoxious)
Joseph Epstein is incisive; his writing eschews faddish notions and also goes for the jugular. He won't dance around a topic. His latest Weekly Standard piece, "The Kindergarchy," is a fine example.
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Success: Over the meadow and through the woods?
The newest Atlantic (not yet online) contains an article about Memphis's experience with shutting down its noxious projects and offering housing vouchers to their low-income inhabitants, who use the vouchers to move to other areas of the city. The concept has been applied across the country.
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Cultivating responsibility
About my earlier post, commenter Carol writes: Liam, you had me all the way until the end when you failed to mention students culpability (as well as teachers and admins) when it comes to academic achievement.
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A great American
The American--a "magazine of ideas" published by the American Enterprise Institute--has the latest review of Checker's book,
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Do teacher tests keep talented people out of the classroom?
A study to appear in October by MIT economist Joshua Angrist and University of Chicago business school professor Jonathan Guryan apparently says yes, according to this article.
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Why Flypaper accepts no advertising
Surf over to one of the Ed Week blogs, such as Campaign K12 or NCLB: Act II, and see if Joel P
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Finn-a-palooza
Can't get enough Checker Finn? Well, he has two longish pieces in this week's Gadfly, hot off the virtual press. His first article??is about why teachers deserve both respect and sympathy.
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Restoring Reading First funding, one district at a time
Here's a twist. We're used to reading about state and local officials who bellyache about No Child Left Behind's requirements but aren't courageous enough to live by their principles and forfeit the federal bucks.
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Farewell, but not goodbye
Some sad news: Jeff Kuhner, our fearless communications director, is leaving us for the Washington Times, where he will produce his own, daily, nationally syndicated radio show and write a Sunday column. We've grown accustomed to having Jeff around the office, mostly in the bathroom, actually, where he can be found shaving at 12:30 p.m.
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The remorseful Joel Klein
I just got back from Joel Klein's address at the American Enterprise Institute (carried live on C-SPAN).
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The wealth of other nations
Yesterday I attended an informal event at Education Sector where Marc Tucker from NCEE spoke about international education.
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The Condition of Education 2008
Michael Planty, William Hussar, Thomas Snyder, Stephen Provasnik National Center for Education StatisticsJune 2008
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Teachers want autonomy, too
Freedom's scent wafts through the thin air of the Mile High City. Montclair Elementary School is the third public school in Denver to petition the district for autonomy on budgeting, hiring, and scheduling decisions. Teachers at Montclair voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plan in April and the Denver Public Schools approved it in May.
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Seattle's common sense
Good news out of Seattle: It seems to have foresworn the social engineering of diversity in its public schools. In the 1970s, Seattle was leading the voluntary desegregation efforts of big cities.
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In praise of (and sympathy for) teachers
June has come, the school year is ending, and it's time for a word in appreciation of teachers.
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ESRA mischief
If, like most Americans, you haven't the faintest idea what ESRA is, don't feel bad. The Education Sciences Reform Act is a classic inside-the-beltway statute best known by the smallish number of people and institutions directly affected by it.
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This week is getting better and better
It's not just that Leo Casey noticed that I lost a few pounds, or that
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Shocker
The NEA is finally moving to endorse Senator Barack Obama for president, reports Mike Antonucci. Well I'm glad they cleared that up!
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What world is this?
I read stuff like this and think it's some kind of joke. That teachers in Los Angeles??are required to spend one hour of the school day protesting outside school, or else, according to union president A.J. Duffy, they "will be crossing a picket line," is just anachronistic and ridiculous.
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There they go again, again
Race-based school integration is on the way out. But Richard Kahlenberg thinks, and hopes, that economic integration is on the way in.
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