Quotable and Notable
?The reform train is moving. Districts aren't afraid of unions anymore.'' ?Emily Cohen, District Policy Director, National Council of Teacher Quality
What Finnish mathematicians think about PISA
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Finland gets high praise for doing well on PISA but apparently Finnish mathematicians don't think too highly of the test. Here's what they have to say:
Teachers: 'New contract higher priority than Race to the Top'
Emmy L. PartinThe teachers union in a suburban Columbus district has pulled out of Race to the Top, putting the district at risk of forfeiting almost a million dollars ($960,000) in RttT grant funding and many of the reforms that would come with it.??
Is a Democratic Congress good for school reform?
Michael J. Petrilli, Chester E. Finn, Jr.In a word: no
A charming contract?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Is Baltimore's approach to performance pay and teacher professionalism worth cheering?
High Schools, Civics, and Citizenship: What Social Studies Teachers Think and Do
Emmy L. Partin, Amanda OlbergSocial studies teachers love their country, too
The Charter School Experiment: Expectations, Evidence, and Implications
Janie ScullCharter skeptics find the evidence mixed
Someone Has to Fail: The Zero-Sum Game of Public Schooling
The clash between the public and private aims of education
Senator DeMint wants a teacher shortage
A problematic argument for "local control," big bucks for charters, and more
A new start for Head Start?if Congress doesn't get in the way
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Head Start program has needed a radical overhaul for the past forty-five years, i.e. ever since its founding and its near-immediate demonstration that it doesn't do much lasting good by way of readying poor kids to succeed in school.
Baltimore schools take tentative step in right direction
Chester E. Finn, Jr.If ratified by?union members on October 14, Baltimore's new?teacher contract will move the ?Charm City?
Education News Nuggets
The old saying ?D=Diploma? looks to be a thing of the past for these New Jersey students.
Quotable & Notable
?But even as heavyweight policy folks talked about improving community college outcomes yesterday, high school reforms that could help with that?such as increasing rigor and smoothing the transition to higher ed?didn't even make the radar.? ?Catherine Gewertz, Assistant Editor for Education Week
Discussing the education profession
Over on National Journal's Education Experts Blog, this week's?discussion?focused on the goals of education professionals and, among other things, cited Fordham Institute's latest study,
AEI's report on social studies teachers
Last week, our friends at the American Enterprise Institute released an interesting new report, High Schools, Civics and Citizenship, which surveyed public high school social studies teachers across the country.?We at Fordham also released a report recently,
How To Spend $100 million
Peter MeyerWhile I'm still fielding suggestions on how to spend $55,000 (I'm learning that it's probably best to call it $220,000 over four years), the NY Times is soliciting suggestions about how Cory Booker and Newark schools should spend $100 million.?
Education News Nuggets
What doesn't work when you're trying to save your schools from a budget crisis: buying golf courses and paying for
Quotable & Notable
?Movements need heroes and villains, and Weingarten has become an easy target for school reformers who seek to blame public school teachers for the ills of urban education and attack their unions.'' -Valerie Strauss, Correspondent, Washington Post
Lessons from China: Rethinking small class sizes
Everybody's making cuts. Tight finances are forcing states and districts to reconsider which items belong in the ?vital? category on the budget sheet and which ones can be pared away with little collateral damage. Among the emerging holdouts in the ?vital? column is small class size (in no small part because state law often mandates maximum class sizes).
What recession?
Peter MeyerOne of things New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner said yesterday in his RttT discussion was that ?we've never had so much money being devoted to innovation and so little money being available for basic services,?
Race to the Top: they're off?and crawling!
Peter MeyerDuring an interesting state-wide Public Television teleconference (and, if you click here, you can find it on the world wide web) yesterday, New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner and his Deputy John King offer an interesting preview?of the mechanics of Race to the Top.
Arne Duncan asks schools to find the cure for cancer
Michael J. PetrilliWell, not quite, but what he did say (in this excellent Columbus Dispatch article on school turnarounds) was almost as preposterous:
Education News Nuggets
Kids have lots of opinions about where they go to school these days (especially when there's a chance they could have Tony Danza as their teacher)?but if the current crop i
A Slow Saturday ? Revisit ?Contest Time?
Peter MeyerThere are some great suggestions coming in about my September 29 challenge to guess how my little district would (should?) spend $55,000 in RttT funds.? Keep ?em coming. ?Peter Meyer, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
Education News Nuggets
Having a boring Friday? Ready for the weekend? Well, you're probably not as bored as this kid.
Quotable & Notable
?Educational reform is one of the few issues in the galaxy that can bring the political agendas of President Obama, Gov. Chris Christie, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker into near-perfect alignment.? ?Star Ledger Editorial Board, New Jersey Star-Ledger
Getting?and giving?a good education: diversity is overrated; the code, underrated
Peter MeyerI have been stewing for more than a week about diversity and excellence?ever since Mike issued his Hubris alert!, warning those who claim they've ?cracked the code?