Commentary
Commentary
The Hijacking of Teacher Reform
In a recent Gadfly (http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=13#305), I sketched the main findings of Hoover's Koret Task Force in Our Schools & Our Future: Are We Still at Risk?, a reflection on what's happened to American education in the two decades since A Nation at Risk was issued in
Commentary
Intelligent design vs. evolution: the battle continues
In several publications, the Fordham Foundation has helped to expose some of the suspect claims made by "intelligent design" advocates as they've tried to insert their neo-creationist perspective on evolution into science instruction in K-12 schools. Readers interested in this controversy may want to check out this month's issue of Commentary magazine.
Commentary
Edison Schools and the politics of school reform
Why is Edison Schools, a start-up firm that advanced a great idea to address a pressing need, an outfit with many talented people and lots of investor capital, still struggling to succeed in its core business of managing schools?
Commentary
New Fordham report aimed at invigorating the study of geography
We learn from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, from surveys by the National Geographic Society, and from a hundred other sources that American students' knowledge of history and geography is lamentably thin, that their understanding of their nation's past is weak, and that their comprehension of the world outside U.S. borders is skimpy indeed.
Commentary
Top provider of tutoring services changing hands
Sylvan Learning Systems, the nation's top K-12 tutoring company, announced last week that it will sell its tutoring centers and focus entirely on higher education (operating colleges overseas and on the internet), an area which the company believes has greater long-term potential for growth.
Commentary
Veteran teachers enjoying paid sabbaticals while district struggles to meet budget
The cash-stressed New York City school system is spending about $70 million this year on paid sabbaticals for 1000 veteran teachers, the New York Post reported last week. The teachers are on six- and twelve-month leaves of absences, taking college courses part-time.
Commentary
Voucher leader faces tough fight in Milwaukee school board election
First elected to the Milwaukee school board in 1995, independent labor organizer John Gardner is best known for his passionate support of Milwaukee's voucher experiment.
Commentary
Miles to Go& Reflections on Mid-Course Corrections For Standards-Based Reform
Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform2002
Commentary
Capitalization under School Choice Programs: Are the Winners Really the Losers?
Randall Reback, University of MichiganNational Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teacher's College, Columbia UniversityDecember 3, 2002
Commentary
At the Starting Line: Early childhood education programs in the 50 states
The American Federation of Teachers December 2002
Commentary
Achieving More: Quality Teaching, School Leadership, Student Success
The Governor's Commission on Teaching Success, OhioFebruary 20, 2003
Commentary
Budget shortfalls fuel the anti-charter fire
With many states being forced to slash education budgets because of the overall economic downturn, opponents of charter schools are trying to seize the opportunity to kill new charter laws, to put a moratorium on the granting of new charters, and to reduce funding for already cash-strapped existing charter schools.
Commentary
Getting it Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget
Kieran Egan, Yale University PressSeptember 2002
Commentary
True Private Choice. A Practical Guide to School Choice after Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
Marie Gryphon, The Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 466February 4, 2003
Commentary
Big City School Boards: Problems and Options
Paul T. Hill, Kelly Warner-King, Christine Campbell, Meaghan McElroy, Isabel Mu??oz-Col??n, The Center on Reinventing Public Education, The University of WashingtonDecember 2002
Commentary
Teachers union may dominate L.A. school board again
In 1999 Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and billionaire Eli Broad helped elect a new reform-minded school board for the L.A Unified school district. The teachers unions have fought back, though, and on March 4, two union-backed candidates defeated reformist incumbents supported by Riordan and Broad (and their political action committee, the Coalition for Kids) for seats on the school board.
Commentary
Save Everyday Math for another day
New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein has been getting a lot of grief from reading experts about Month by Month Phonics, the reading curriculum he has selected for all but the top 200 of New York City's elementary schools. Now he's beginning to hear from math experts about problems with Everyday Math, the math curriculum he has mandated for all but the top schools in the system.
Commentary
Standards-based reform leads to gains in Virginia
Since Virginia introduced its Standards of Learning (SOL) curriculum and exams in 1995 and 1998, respectively, not only have pass rates on the state exams risen steadily for all ethnic groups, but students in the state have scored higher on several national achievement tests, according to a study conducted by StandardsWork.
Commentary
Is Alternative Certification Perishing?
You might have thought that alternative certification of teachers was more vibrant, robust and widespread than ever, considering how many states now claim to have some form of it--45 of them plus D.C., reports alt-cert watcher Emily Feistritzer--and its warm embrace last June by Education Secretary Rod Paige. Think again.
Commentary
Colorado legislators ready to approve K-12 voucher program
Two school voucher bills have won approval in the Colorado Legislature, one each in the House and the Senate. Both bills would make publicly-funded vouchers available to low-income, low-achieving students trapped in failing public schools who would like to switch to private school, including religious schools.
Commentary
Linking elementary and secondary education to college
Today, 88 percent of 8th graders expect to attend college, but many of these students will either not qualify for admission, not be permitted to enroll in credit-bearing courses, or never complete a degree. Why are so many high school graduates unprepared for college- level work?
Commentary
New online college for teachers offers certification and degrees
Teachers (or prospective teachers) wishing to earn certification or degrees can now take advantage of an online program offered by Western Governors University (WGU) and partially financed by the U.S. Department of Education. The Teachers College at WGU, a virtual university that received accreditation last month, will offer associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees in education.
Commentary
Commentary
Who Controls Teachers' Work? Power and Accountability in America's Schools
Richard Ingersoll, Harvard University PressFebruary 2003
Commentary
Financial Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on the State of New Hampshire
The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, The Business Roundtable, AccountabilityWorksFebruary 2003
Commentary
Breaking News: Ed School Profs Endorse Phonics and Mandated Curricula!
How well I recall a day in 1987 when Teachers College, Columbia University, was celebrating its centennial as our nation's premier school of pedagogy. One of the events marking this grand occasion was a panel discussion of the topic: "Do we need a national curriculum?" On one side, arguing the affirmative, was Checker Finn and a Teachers College faculty member.
Commentary
The Civic Mission of Schools
Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & EngagementFebruary 2003
Commentary
Our Schools & Our Future: Are We Still at Risk?
Two decades after the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its celebrated "A Nation at Risk" report, how much progress has the U.S. made in averting that risk and bringing excellence to its schools? Not much, says the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, one of whose eleven members I am.
Commentary
Should homework be abolished or expanded?
Intrigued by a report on CBS suggesting that today's kids are burdened with too much homework, ace Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews did some digging.