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Commentary
10.17.2001

Is National Board certification worth the $200 million that's been invested in it?

In this month's issue of Philanthropy, Michael Poliakoff asks some pointed questions about the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the nonprofit organization created in 1987 to identify and reward "master teachers."  First, do the students of board-certified teachers achieve more than students whose teachers have not achieved this "distinction"?  Second,

Commentary
10.17.2001

Newest Bracey Report full of rotten apples

If you're a serious education reformer and want to make yourself angry, have a look at the "11th Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education" written by none other than Gerald W. Bracey. You'll probably agree with nothing in it. It's mostly an anti-testing rant leavened by ad hominem attacks.

Commentary
10.17.2001

Summits are for mountaineers

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Last week's 24-hour National Education Summit was surely pleasant. IBM's Lew Gerstner is a fine host and his company's conference facility is exceptionally comfortable.

Commentary
10.10.2001

The new age of individualized education

In a new book, Free Agent Nation, Daniel Pink explores how self-employed knowledge workers are increasingly transforming the American workplace as they abandon traditional jobs and reinvent themselves as freelancers, independent contractors, and proprietors of home-based businesses.

Commentary
10.10.2001

The case against Alfie Kohn

Richard Nadler deconstructs Alfie Kohn in this week's National Review.  While many others embrace the same pedagogical ideas that he does, what distinguishes Kohn, the author argues, is his single-minded struggle to place the elements of that pedagogy beyond criticism.

Commentary
10.10.2001

Four Observations

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

(1) In praise of public education. You may think I'm no fan of public education, and it's true that the U.S. version often exasperates me. But recent world news has underscored society's obligation to see that its young get educated, acculturated and socialized.

Commentary
10.10.2001

Putting teacher certification under a microscope

Every state wants to ensure that its public schools are staffed by excellent teachers, and to this end, most require that teachers complete a state-approved course of study at a school of education before receiving a teaching license.  Defenders of these systems of certification (and those who would add to their requirements) contend that studies show that certified teachers are more effec

Commentary
10.10.2001

Launching 50 new Latino charter schools

Without fanfare, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the country's largest constituency-based Hispanic organization, is embarking on a $25 million project to open 50 new Latino charter schools over the next five years. Behind the effort is Anthony Colon, who worked for 20 years in the bureaucracy of the New York City school system before becoming principal of a charter school in Oakland.

Commentary
10.3.2001

Teaching history in a time of terrorism

Diane Ravitch

Some educators have reacted to the mass murders in New York City and Washington, D.C. by calling for changes in the curriculum. Their immediate response to September 11 was that "we have to change the curriculum to make our students more tolerant," as if our students were the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.

Commentary
10.3.2001

A liberal case for vouchers

 A long essay in this week's New Republic reviewing Terry Moe's new book, Schools, Vouchers and the American Public, Diane Ravitch explains why liberals should be pro-choice.

Commentary
10.3.2001

Patriotism revisited

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Leo Casey must be beside himself. Just a few miles from his office at the United Federation of Teachers on lower Park Avenue, The New York Times was publishing an article about surges of patriotism in American classrooms (Kevin Sack, "School Colors Become Red, White and Blue," 9/28/01).

Commentary
10.3.2001

National credential for teachers who master their subjects and help students learn

The National Council on Teacher Quality and the Education Leaders Council have teamed up to launch a new project which will offer credentials to expert teachers and able would-be teachers.  The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence will award a beginning teacher credential to highly skilled individuals just entering teaching who have mastered an academic subject and can de

Commentary
10.3.2001

New research on merit pay

The London-based Centre for the Economics of Education held a conference on teacher pay and incentives last week and several new research papers are available from the conference website.  "Paying Teachers for Performance: Incentives and Selection," by Edward Lazear of Stanford University explores arguments about the effect of incentives on teacher behavior, discusses different ways of def

Report
10.1.2001
Governance

Dayton Education in 2001: The Views of Citizens and Parents

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Jacqueline Howell Luksic

This unique survey compares the views of parents with children in private, public and charter schools on the quality of their own schools as well as a range of education reform issues. Conducted in Dayton, Ohio, home to one of the nation's fastest growing charter school programs as well as a strong private voucher program, the data show that, while public school parents are generally less satisfied with their children's present schools, the overwhelming majority of parents and non-parents support bold reform in the public school system. The survey also shows strong support among all groups for publicly funded vouchers, higher academic standards and performance pay for teachers.

Report
10.1.2001
Governance

Evolution of the New American Schools: From Revolution to Mainstream

Jeffrey Mirel

This report traces an initiative that was launched a decade ago by business and government leaders seeking to spark a transformation of K-12 education in American. The New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC) vowed to cast aside traditional ideas about schools and apply a no-nonsense, business-savvy approach to the design and deployment of "break-the-mold" schools. Ten years later, New American Schools (as the organization is now named) looks a lot more like a member of the education establishment. Mirel's fascinating report shows how this happened.

Commentary
9.25.2001

The Absence of Atonement: Professor William Ayers

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

It's the eve of Yom Kippur, when many people of the Jewish faith reflect on their transgressions, atone for their misdeeds, and try to get right with God and their fellow men. Not Bill Ayers. His new book - which I confess I cannot bring myself to purchase - seeks instead to justify the heinous acts of his youth.