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Commentary
2.19.2002

America vs. Singapore

If you feel amused or provoked by anything you read in the Education Gadfly, write us at [email protected]. From time to time we will publish correspondence that we think might interest other readers.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Undoing bilingual education reform in California

The California State Board of Education has proposed new regulations that would undo the reform of bilingual education enacted by the state in 1998 after voters passed Proposition 227. That ballot measure limited native language instruction in public schools to a single year, unless parents requested a waiver.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Education in Singapore: Part II

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

In last week's Gadfly, I described a bit about modern Singapore and how its world-beating education system is structured. Today I offer ten observations based on what struck me most during a brief visit. First, ethnicity is indeed powerful, but a country's education culture and standards can trump ethnic differences.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Jerry Brown's military charter school moves to double time

The Oakland Military Institute, the charter school opened by Mayor Jerry Brown last August, is having a tough first year. The seventh-grade curriculum chosen by the school has turned out to be too difficult for the students; nearly one-third of them scored D averages and wound up on academic probation.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Kudos to New York Times reporter

Diane Ravitch

In a recent editorial in the Gadfly, I criticized New York Times reporter Diana Jean Schemo for her hostile coverage of reading instruction. In two articles, she managed to convey her misunderstanding of the phonics/whole language issue and to cite researchers with an axe to grind against any kind of phonetic instruction.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Surge in career-changers entering teaching

A front-page story in The New York Times this week described a big increase in the number of people seeking jobs as teachers nationwide, prompted by the sinking economy and a wave of soul-searching after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Commentary
2.13.2002

Good news: Teachers College prexy endorses canon

Diane Ravitch

Until now, most of us believed that ed school professors were in principle opposed to the concept of a "canon" of great books. It turns out that this is not so, at least not if we consider the recent statements of Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College, Columbia University.

Commentary
2.6.2002

Using whole school reform to turn around struggling schools

Is installing a "whole school" reform model the best way to turn around a struggling school? Since 1997, Uncle Sam has given U.S. public schools over $480 million to put school-wide reform designs in place through the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program (also known as Obey-Porter).

Commentary
2.6.2002

Florida union urges power outage to punish donation to scholarship fund

After learning of a $5 million donation made by Florida Power to a private school scholarship program under the Sunshine State's new education tax credit law, the teachers union in Pinellas County, Florida has urged the local school board to shut off all power in county schools for a day as payback for the utility company.

Commentary
2.6.2002

Education in Singapore: Part I

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

At the risk of falling into the trap of instant expertise, let me offer some impressions-brought home from a recent trip-about why Singapore keeps coming in at the top on international tests of student achievement, at least in science and math. This week, I sketch the basic structure of that small but vibrant country's education system.

Commentary
2.6.2002

Effective principals show bad teachers the door

Principals are under increasing pressure to raise student test scores. The vast majority of their teachers are committed and competent, principals say, but an unknown number stifle learning. Given the extreme difficulty of terminating a tenured teacher, what's a principal to do once she has tried without success to help the teacher improve? According to Dr.

Commentary
2.6.2002

Will No Child Truly Be Left Behind? reports ask

Seven provocative new papers examining key challenges of implementing the new federal education law-particularly its testing and accountability provisions-and strategies for meeting them will be available tomorrow on the Fordham Foundation website (www.edexcellence.net).

Commentary
2.6.2002

Tomorrow's Teachers

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

edited by Herbert J. Walberg and Margaret C. Lang2001

Report
2.1.2002
Accountability & Testing

No Child Left Behind: What Will it Take?

Mark D. Reckase, Billie J. Orr, Matthew Gandal, Lisa Graham Keegan

Just one month after President Bush signed the politics-governance Act into law, a provocative set of expert papers commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation explores the legislation's key features: it's testing and accountability provisions. The papers identify the questions left unresolved by Congress and the many hurdles facing the U.S. Education Department and states, districts, and schools as they try to make this ambitious law a reality. The papers also offer suggestions for clearing those hurdles.

Commentary
1.29.2002

Preschool as the next frontier for Bush and Kennedy

As they flew back to Washington earlier this month after celebrating their joint education bill, the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush and Senator Edward M. Kennedy held an extended conversation about the need to boost early childhood education, and that conversation may soon lead to legislation, according to reporter Anne Kornblut of The Boston Globe.

Commentary
1.29.2002

Who Says It's a Good School?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Important education insights sometimes arise from developments in other fields. This happened to me twice in recent weeks. Both episodes bear on results-based accountability, how it works, what can go awry-and what's wrong with the usual substitutes.First, a new study of hospital accreditation looked into whether it makes any difference for the quality of patient care.

Commentary
1.29.2002

2001 Education Freedom Index

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Jay P. Greene, Center for Civic Innovation at the Manhattan InstituteJanuary 2002