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Displaying 31-60 of 319 results
Report
12.1.2001
Charter Schools

Autonomy and Innovation: How Do Massachusetts Charter School Principals Use Their Freedom?

Bill Triant

Charter schools grant significant autonomy to their principals, but do their principals make decisions that would not be possible in ordinary schools? Are they creating schools that are truly different from (and potentially better than) regular district schools? For this report, Bill Triant conducted extended interviews with eight charter school principals in Massachusetts on five dimensions of school operations (teacher hiring, budgetary control, instruction and curriculum, organizational design, and accountability) to shed light on how they use their autonomy. He finds that when charter school principals are given the opportunity to innovate, they do so.

Commentary
11.28.2001

Whole language reading instruction alive and kicking

While the "whole language" approach to teaching reading has been widely discredited, that didn't stop the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) from organizing a series of seminars called "A Day of Whole Language" during its annual convention in Baltimore last week.

Commentary
11.28.2001

Microsoft offers false hope to disadvantaged schools

Software giant Microsoft has proposed settling the myriad class-action lawsuits it faces by contributing a billion-plus dollars worth of software, computer equipment, technology training and cash to schools attended by low-income youngsters.  Yesterday's Wall Street Journal featured an op-ed by Checker Finn explaining why the software giant's offer - if approved by the plaintiffs an

Commentary
11.13.2001

Edison overstates failings of Philadelphia's schools

The report submitted by Edison Schools on Philadelphia's public education system paints a somewhat misleading picture of the condition that city's schools are in, writes Mike Casserly of the Council of the Great City Schools in an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer.  While agreeing that schools in the City of Brotherly Love need dramatic improvement, Casserly complains that t

Commentary
11.13.2001

Ratings without substance

Raymond Domanico

Last month, much to my surprise, both the Education Gadfly and The Wall Street Journal touted the new Standard and Poor's School Evaluation Service. Such praise is premature.

Commentary
11.13.2001

State of the art accountability system proposed in Florida

Under a new accountability system being proposed by the Florida Department of Education, the progress of individual students will be tracked from year to year and this information will be used to determine letter grades for schools.  An accountability system based on annual learning gains has been a major goal of Governor Jeb Bush.

Commentary
11.7.2001

Training program for nontraditional superintendents

A program aiming to place talented leaders from government, business, non-profits, higher ed, and the military as superintendents in urban school districts has been launched by the Broad Center for Superintendents, an organization established by the Broad Foundation and Michigan Governor John Engler.

Commentary
11.7.2001

Appraising state standards, tests & accountability systems

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

On November 2, the American Federation of Teachers released a hefty (235-page) report entitled Making Standards Matter 2001. It's an ambitious effort to appraise academic standards, curriculum, assessments and accountability arrangements in each of the fifty states and for the country as a whole.

Commentary
11.7.2001

A radical experiment: tuition-free private schools

Thanks to a black minister and a retired marine, roughly 450 students in St. Louis are attending private schools financed by public dollars this fall - without vouchers.  Determined to do something about the number of kids they encountered who couldn't read or write, Bishop Laurence Wooten and Marine Lt. Col.

Commentary
11.7.2001

Will Edison be able to turn around Philadelphia's schools?

With Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker on the verge of transferring control of the Philadelphia's school system from local officials to his own appointees, who would then put its management in the hands of Edison Schools, a pair of articles in The Philadelphia Inquirer examines two questions: Do state takeovers of school systems work?