Special Education Accountability: Structural Reform to Help Charter Schools Make the Grade
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Lisa Snell, Reason Public Policy Institute July 2004
Add and Subtract: Dual Enrollment as a State Strategy to Increase Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students
Michael J. PetrilliNancy Hoffman, Jobs for the FutureApril 2005 Remaking Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century: What Role for High School Programs?Richard Kazis, Jobs for the FutureApril 2005
After School Programs: Expanding Access and Ensuring Quality
Eric OsbergChrisanne L. Gayle, Progressive Policy InstituteJuly 2004
Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance
Eric OsbergEric A. Hanushek and Margaret E. Raymond, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 24, No. 22005
Yecke to American Experiment
Bloodied but unbowed, Cheri Pierson Yecke - whose nomination as Minnesota's education chief was defeated on a party line vote marked by the worst kind of partisan rancor (see Gadfly, Volume 4, Number 17) - has joined the Center of the American Ex
You couldn't pay me to work there
We hear it again and again: Americans aren't learning the skills they need to compete in the 21st century. How to prove this theory? Well, follow the money, or in this case, the yen. Toyota, after months of speculation over the destination of its new plant, this week opted for Ontario, reportedly turning down hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies from several American states.
Off with their poster contest!
In this month's American School Board Journal, Susan Black describes her tenure as director of curriculum and instruction for a Midwestern city school district.
Pay us more? No thanks!
Several years ago, the Florida Legislature created a mandatory merit pay policy for public school systems statewide. At the time, the legislature (naively) allowed districts to set their own eligibility requirements. The St.
Protests and paranoia
One senses mounting desperation among the more vociferous opponents of No Child Left Behind. Consider, for example, the "protest songs" unveiled at the National Education Association's recent convention. What fun for all concerned. What a trip. Oh, for the heady days of revolution, when music could change the world!
School reform moves to the suburbs
Michael J. PetrilliDespite all the talk about improving inner-city schools, the greatest promise of the No Child Left Behind Act was always in America's leafy suburbs. Unfortunately, that promise is in danger of being squandered.
GA standards - real reform or smoke and mirrors?
This year, the Georgia State Board of Education has revised its academic standards in reading, math, science, and social studies - the first major curriculum overhaul in the Peach State in nearly two decades. And last week, the board voted to adopt the new standards for K-12 science, middle school English, and K-8 math.
Ensuring quality
Let's call it failing upward: This year, a South Carolina middle school teacher charged with helping students cheat on the state's standardized test was inadvertently rewarded for her actions with a new job (and $5,000 stipend) teaching other educators how to be effective math instructors.
First thoughts about the NAEP
It won't do to be churlish about today's NAEP long-term trend results. But neither should we be gaga. Here are Gadfly's first reflections, with more to come in later editions.
It's the children, stupid!
In today's Wall Street Journal, Education Secretary Rod Paige gives a blistering critique of the NAACP leadership, accusing Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume of taking "a proud, effective organization in a totally new direction: naked partisan politics, pure and simple." Specifically, Paige accuses the NAACP leaders of attacking NCLB - whose go
Tutors for tots
We're not sure whether to cheer or jeer. As the Wall Street Journal's June Kronholz reports, the tutoring industry is setting its sights on the Barney set. Sylvan expects to enroll four-year-olds in each of its learning centers by winter; Kaplan's SCORE! centers already teach over 15,000 children from ages four to six. It's a growth industry, but is it a good idea?
Union abuses south of the border
According to the Washington Post, Mexico's largest teachers' union (also the largest union period in Latin America) has created "a monstrous system of perks and patronage" that has basically made it impossible for teachers to be fired, even if they rarely show up for work.
When the Census Bureau is wrong
Greg ForsterWhat does it take to kill a damaging and misleading falsehood? For years, respectable researchers and advocacy groups from left and right have been trying to quash and correct the misleading high-school graduation rate figure put out annually by the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS).
Preparing LAUSD High School Students for the 21st Century Economy
Eric OsbergEducation Trust-WestJune 2005
Studying Teacher Education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Kenneth M. Zeichner, eds., American Educational Research Association June 2005
Cracks in the Education Pipeline: A Business Leader's Guide to Higher Education Reform
Committee for Economic Development2005
Issue Brief: Qualifications of Public Secondary School Biology Teachers, 1999-2000
Michael J. PetrilliDaniel J. McGrath, Emily W. Holt, and Marilyn M. Seastrom, National Center for Education StatisticsJune 2005
The show goes on, and on, and on. . . .
As always, the National Education Association convention, recently concluded in Los Angeles, was quite a circus.
Ray Budde, definer of charters
Gadfly mourns the passing of Ray Budde, an education professor at the University of Massachusetts who defined the term "charter school" and helped to spark the movement that continues to this day.
Can history be saved?
That was the question examined by last week's Senate hearing on "The American History Achievement Act," a bill proposed by Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Will's right
Gadfly is certainly correct to be left cold by David Broder's (non)verdict on the differences between how teachers and the general public view education reform efforts. (See "Edu-commentary.") Broder's inconclusiveness is not, however, due to a paralyzingly subtle understanding of the issue.
Are teachers underpaid?
Michael Podgursky, Lawrence Mishel, and Sean Corcoran, National Council on Teacher QualityJune 29, 2005
How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools? Some Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Center on Education Policy June 2005
Charter School Partnerships: Eight Key Lessons for Success
Jonathan BurnsCenter on Educational Governance, University of Southern California2005
Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Daria Hall, Education TrustJune 2005