Wondering what the future holds for public education? Then check out Education|Evolving's predictions and proposals in "The Other Half of the Strategy: Following up on System Reform by Innovating with School and Schooling."
Robert A. Douglas of the Richard Allen Schools responded to an editorial Checker Finn wrote laying out his 10 factors of charter-school mediocrity in the December 12 Gadfly.You laid out 10 factors that you said contributed to charter school mediocrity. You didn't say anything what part the curriculum plays.
Colleen D. Grady, of the State Board of Education, responds to Terry Ryan's opinions concerning high-school reform:I agree with your list of five keys to high-school reform but felt you stopped short of a couple of crucial ideas.
In June, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a study of Ohio's teacher pension system entitled Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs: Rethinking Ohio's Teacher Pension System (see here). In the report's introduction the institute's president, Chester E.
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Princeton University Press2008
WAUSEON, Ohio--New members of a school's staff sometimes can take some time to work in, although it's easier when a new staffer has four legs, like Kramer, the new counselor at Burr Road Middle School.
Thomas Toch and Robert RothmanEducation SectorJanuary 2008
Gary Ritter, Marc Holley, Nathan Jensen, Brent Riffel, Marcus Winters, Joshua Barnett, and Jay GreeneJanuary 2008
In his December 13th editorial ("Sources of charter-school mediocrity"), Checker Finn laid out ten factors that contributed to charter-school mediocrity. He didn't say anything about what part the curriculum plays.
Boosting Ohio's economy, expanding health care for families and children, and retooling the Buckeye State's manufacturing and technological base for the 21st century have clear ties to education and Governor Ted Strickland deserves praise for vision in these areas.
In 1965, then British Education Secretary Anthony Crosland said, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every f***ing grammar school in England." He didn't, but his heirs are still trying. English grammar schools are selective state-run schools; students must pass an exam to attend them.
It's gratifying to publish one's memoirs but also a little scary. People keep asking if this is the end. Am I retiring? Dying, maybe? Will there be anything more?
President George W. Bush released his 2009 budget on Monday, and Gadfly is struggling to summon the energy to care. By the time Congress acts on these proposals, it will probably be December and the President will be the lamest duck since Daffy. Said differently, this budget is dead on arrival. Which is a shame, because it's actually a decent statement of Uncle Sam's proper priorities.
Washington, D.C., council member Marion Barry just doesn't get it. The District, under the capable stewardship of young leaders such as Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, is rejecting the wasted potential of its past for the promise of the future.
If the charter school movement has learned anything in the last fifteen-plus years, it's that passionate folks with good intentions often underestimate the challenges of starting and leading a school. A recent Salt Lake Tribune article drives this lesson home.
"Welcome to McQualifications." Thus read a Financial Times headline after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that McDonald's--the burger and fries joint--will have the power to bestow upon their employees nationally recognized diplomas (see here).
The President wasn't wrong when he said on Monday evening that the No Child Left Behind Act is "succeeding," though he cherry-picked the available evidence to document his claim.
Garrison Keillor, he of soothing baritone and dyed-in-the-wool liberal sensibilities, writes that it is not "Republican oligarchs in top hats and spats" who are failing the nation's public-school children. No. "Nice people are failing these kids, but when they are called on it, they get very huffy," he writes.
Gadfly was still a bit groggy from the holidays when this fine piece about Jonathan Kozol appeared in the Weekly Standard. The article traces Kozol's development, from failed novelist (an excerpt of his book Fume of Poppies: "The white of her belly was lovely and gay.
By almost every relevant measure, Massachusetts has the highest-performing public education system in the land, with praiseworthy NAEP results (at least compared to everywhere else), solid academic standards, an effective testing and accountability system, a well-regarded (if puny) charter-school sector, intelligent approaches to teacher licensure, and more.
Rumors that New York's state assessments are getting easier in the era of No Child Left Behind have repeatedly surfaced (see here and
Andrew J. RotherhamEducation SectorJanuary 2008
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver caused a stir recently when he offed a chicken in front of a live, studio audience. The demonstration's point (buy ethically reared fowl), and perhaps the demonstration itself, would be right at home in the U.K.'s new curriculum.
Paying teachers extra for serving in high-needs schools is one of the few ideas embraced by presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle this election year. And even lots of teachers like the notion, at least in theory.
"Please," cry the teachers of Dallas, who are currently disallowed from giving their students any grade lower than a 50 percent, "let us bestow upon our pupils the grades that they in reality earn." Superintendent Michael Hinojosa scoffs at such pleas.
Thomas Friedman decided in 2005 to overturn two millennia of astronomical wisdom by releasing a book called The World Is Flat, the crux of which is that the United States faces growing economic competition from countries such as China and India. The tome's title is cliché, but its omnipresence defies disregard.
What type of formal education makes great CEOs? According to Forbes magazine, chief executives earn shareholders similar returns whether they have a Ph.D., MBA, J.D., master's degree, or even just a bachelor's degree. What type of formal education makes great principals?
Randi Weingarten--UFT president, AFT heir-apparent--must enjoy fighting losing battles. Her latest hopeless quest is to keep New York City schools from using "value-added" achievement data to evaluate teachers. "If one permitted this, it would be one of the worst decisions of my professional life," she told the New York Times.
