Crew cut
Seems that Miami's superintendent, Rudy Crew, who starred on the cover of our Leadership Limbo report (though I've long suspected that Crew, second from left, is actually flouting limbo rules and bolstering himself with Arne Duncan-obscured hands),
Poor Rheesoning
I'm told that Michelle Rhee, who moments ago wrapped up a "Reporter Roundtable" here at the Fordham offices (I knew I noticed a soft glow emanating from our conference room), defended her plan to pay students for right behavior by pulling out the KIPP Card.
Re: Poor Rheesoning
Stafford PalmieriPerhaps we can shed light on Rhee's obvious confusion of KIPP and American dollars with the following factoid, also revealed this morning at the Reporter Roundtable: Michelle Rhee pays her children to do their chores .
Teachers union bashing, a bipartisan sport
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Greedy Kevin Carey
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Gadfly is here
This week's Gadfly is ready to be read. In the top slot, I write about why paying students (bribing them, really--let's call it what it is) to study and attend class is a terrible idea. Some say, "Why not try it out?
Actually, Palin did talk about education
Stafford PalmieriShe wasn't forthcoming on the policy side, but she did say something, at least. Talking about her newest child, Trig, who has Down Syndrome, she opined: And children with special needs inspire a special love.
You are not alone
In his latest editorial, "What to do about mediocre teachers?," Mike Petrilli writes that he cannot think of any national foundations that are experimenting with using technology to turn average K-12 faculty into effective teachers.
Zelman reviews a near-decade as top school super
Mike LaffertyState Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman announced this week that she will become the senior vice president for education and children's programming at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting beginning Nov. 3.
No vote for you
It is indeed disappointing that Floridians will not have the opportunity to vote this November for educational choice in their state.
Palinism
We've learned much, much over the past week about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (is she really the reason compasses point North?). But Gadfly was left wondering: What have been her stands on education? Thanks to the crack reporters at Education Week, he now knows.
Poop plan eyed to pay for scholarships
Mike LaffertyAKRON, Ohio - Voters will decide Nov. 4 if leasing the city sewage system to a private contractor and using the money to finance college and technical-school scholarships for Akron public high-school grads is a good idea (see here).
Internal combustion?
As far as Gadfly knows and as of this writing, not one major orator at the Republican convention has uttered the phrase "No Child Left Behind" or any anagram thereof (e.g., flinched in the bold).
Categorically imperative?
Students in Philadelphia's public schools need not bother slogging through Kant. School system employees are less lucky. Arlene Ackerman, the city's new superintendent, has already made clear that she intends to break with her predecessor's approach to management.
Fordham teams with Whitman to explore inner-city achievement
The most exciting innovation in education policy in the last decade is the emergence of highly effective schools in our nation's inner cities, schools where disadvantaged teens make enormous gains in academic achievement. In his new book, Sweating the Small Stuff (published by Fordham), freelance journalist David Whitman, a former senior writer for U.S.
Johnny says: Show me the money!
Michelle Rhee, the still-newish, no-nonsense, hard-charging, and usually savvy schools chancellor of Washington, D.C., has succumbed to a dubious idea.
Arrested development
Michael J. PetrilliEveryone knows that the internet is changing the way the world works, plays, and connects. Yet its most powerful applications only seem obvious after some entrepreneur (Amazon, Netflix) has brought them to life.
A tale of two cities: student achievement in Dayton and Columbus
Terry Ryan"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." Charles Dickens' line about Paris and London in the 18th century applies aptly to the state of public education in Columbus and Dayton in 2008.
August 6 Editorial
In our August 6 issue we misstated some requirements of the Ohio Core curriculum. Ohio high school students entering ninth grade after July 2010 will be required, among other things, to take four years of math, including Algebra II, and three years of lab-based science, including an upper-level course like chemistry or physics.
Title I reformers aren't "naive"
I must take issue with Mike Petrilli's comment--from his thoughtful editorial, "What if improving teacher quality isn't THE answer"--about those like me who advocate closing the "comparability loophole" in ESEA/NCLB Title I.
No No Child Left Behind
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Ed Week 2.0
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Reader contest: Help Mike Lach develop a social sciences curriculum for Chicago
Michael J. PetrilliMike Lach is one of the most dynamic reformers you'll ever meet, and has been working inside Chicago Public Schools for several years, helping to build its capacity around curriculum and instruction. Now he's set his sights on history and the rest of the social sciences. But he needs a hand.
The law that dare not speak its name
Mike, first lady Laura Bush mentioned No Child Left Behind last night at the Republican Convention--although, if memory serves, she never actually uttered the phrase "No Child Left Behind."
Tech support 2.0?
I don't know whether Ed Week can "survive the downturn in the journalism business." But I do know that it can't survive the evermore frequent downturns??of its own website, which appears to be improperly functioning, yet again.
Strange bedfellows
Michael J. PetrilliSo the Democratic convention played host to lots of teacher union-bashing, but this week's GOP affair will feature an event
For the love of learning
Michael J. PetrilliLiam went after Michelle Rhee's pay-for-performance plan (the one for the kids, not the