The Road to Nowhere: The Illusion and Broken Promises of Special Education in the Baltimore City and Other Public School Systems
Kalman R. Hettleman, The Abell FoundationOctober 2004
The future of high school reform
In this month's American School Board Journal, Kathleen Vail articulates the need for a dramatic transformation of the American high school.
Yearning for choice
Chester E. Finn, Jr.On October 16, the New York Daily News reported that "Parents of students in failing city schools filed a class action lawsuit against the Education Department yesterday, arguing the city plans to illegally deny transfers." The suit "seeks to stop the city from denying transfers under the federal No Child Left Behind law." Said one mother (of five-year-old twins) who is party to the cl
Election wrap re-wrap
Last week, we highlighted three races with education implications (click here). Here's what happened. In Florida, former state superintendent and university president Betty Castor was narrowly defeated by former Cabinet Secretary Mel Martinez.
Looking forward on NCLB
With the President re-elected and the Senate and the House still firmly in Republican hands, it seems unlikely that No Child Left Behind will be subjected to substantial revision through legislation, as many opponents and critics (and some friends and admirers) had hoped. So send in the lawyers!
More charter news
Despite an upbeat Education Week story highlighting the support of big-city mayors - including D.C.'s Anthony Williams - for charter schools as a way of transforming urban education, the charter movement continues to hit road blocks in the form of moratoria, caps, budget restrictions, and referendum defeats (see "Educa
The Fourth-Grade Reading Classroom
Richard J. Coley and Ashaki B. Coleman, Educational Testing Service Policy Information Center, September 2004
Making School Reform Work: New Partnerships for Real Change
Eric OsbergPaul T. Hill and James Harvey, editors, The Brookings Institution2004
A New Framework for Assessing the Benefits of Early Education; and Developmental Education: The Value of High Quality Preschool Investments as Economic Tools
Ev Ehrlich and Tracy Kornblatt, Committee for Economic DevelopmentSeptember 2004
The disappearance of ugliness, suspense, surprise and wonder
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Modernity and its technologies bring many pluses. We can, more or less, learn everything we want to know about everything whenever we want to know it. Thanks to the Internet, 24-hour news, blogs and e-mail, we are awash in information and communication options.We don't have to wait until the morning paper arrives to learn what happened in the world yesterday.
The Idaho charter debate
John T. WendersYou lament that Idaho's charter schools are funded at only 60-70 percent of the per-pupil cost of the state's traditional public schools and suggest their funding be raised toward parity ("New Idaho charter rules a start").
The real meaning of NCLB
Just in time for Halloween, an update from the spook file. The blogger Bellaciao (motto: "To rebel is right, to disobey is a duty, to act is necessary!") has apparently unraveled the mystical meaning behind the No Child Left Behind act: it's a reference to the Apocalypse.
Capping vouchers in Milwaukee
In 1998, the state of Wisconsin decided that only 15 percent of Milwaukee school children, or about 15,000 students, could receive a voucher under the city's school choice program. Now, as the city is just 100 students away from reaching this limit, a simmering debate over the merit of the voucher cap is coming to a boil.
Compromising for votes in NYC?
In a bid to better position himself going into what will be a tough election year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg "is getting ready to trade away the education of New York City's children for a deal with Gotham's most powerful union boss, Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers." So says Ryan Sager in two recent Op-Eds in the New York Post.
Times to charters: know your place
This is the New York Times' idea of a balanced story on charter schooling? We'd hate to see the biased story . . . oh, wait, we already did (click here).
Are L.A.'s Children Ready for School?
Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, Anne R. Pebley, Mary E. Vaiana, Elizabeth Maggio, RAND Labor and Population2004
Closing Low-performing Schools and Reopening Them as Charter Schools: The Role of the State
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Todd Ziebarth, Education Commission of the States2004
Stimulating the Supply of New Choice for Families in Light of NCLB
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Bryan Hassel and Lucy Steiner, Education Commission of the States2004
Teacher test, 20 years and counting
In Alabama, a long and tortuous saga of teacher testing has gotten even more complicated. In 1981, the state began requiring new teachers to pass content tests in the subjects they teach. That law was challenged on grounds that it was racially discriminatory, and in 1985 the state dropped the test, though the lawsuit continued to wend its way through various courts for 15 years.
The British Diploma Project?
This week, former chief inspector of schools in England, Mike Tomlinson, released a report proposing sweeping changes to the nation's secondary-school accountability system, which currently requires students to pass achievement tests (A-levels) if they want to continue on to university. The changes would transform the A-levels into a new diploma system over the next decade.
The power of one percent
In the midst of the ongoing debate over charter schools, this week's New Yorker includes a profile of one highly successful Boston charter school - the Pacific Rim Academy - that serves as a reminder that charters, while not a panacea, offer hope that the hardest-to-teach students don't have to be left behind.
Not all parents are fools
The Washington Post reported on October 19 that PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) membership nationwide has fallen from 12.1 million four decades ago to fewer than six million today. Not even one in four U.S. public schools now has a PTA chapter.
Mr. Smith goes to Washington
The charter movement has long needed a national voice, a gap the new Charter School Leadership Council is looking to fill. And now the new voice has an old hand to lead it: Nelson Smith. We can't think of a better choice. Nelson has worked with New American Schools for several years, has experience as a federal, state, and local policy maker, is a crack researcher, and a helluva nice guy.
New Idaho charter rules a start
Out in Idaho, which came late to the charter school party (the state's charter school law was only passed in 1998), the public is being invited to comment on proposed new regulations that will significantly alter the charter scene there. They're a mixed bag.
No Child Left Behind Act: Improvements Needed in Education's Process for Tracking States' Implementation of Key Provisions
Chester E. Finn, Jr.United States Government Accountability OfficeSeptember 2004
Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Teaching and Educational Practice
Eric OsbergDennis Evans, Editor, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.2005
The new education philanthropy
There's new Europe and old Europe, and now there's the new education philanthropy and the old education philanthropy, according to Rick Hess in Philanthropy magazine. The old version focused on working within the system and making nice with school districts and assorted education interest groups - and much of it expired with Walter Annenberg's failed challenge.