Commentary
Who Is Teaching California's Children?
Camille Esch and Patrick Shields, Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning2002
Commentary
The OERI bill: a marginal improvement
The Gadfly has buzzed repeatedly about pending legislation to reorganize the federal government's education research, statistics, assessment and evaluation functions. This week, the U.S. Senate put the finishing legislative touches on H.R.
Commentary
Measuring Up 2002: The State-by-State Report Card for Higher Education
National Center for Public Policy and Higher EducationOctober 2002
Commentary
Commentary
Teacher Training Programs: Activities Underway to Improve Teacher Training, but Information Collected To Assess Accountability Has Limitations
Statement of Cornelia M. AshbyOctober 2002
Commentary
California charter schools create accreditation system
Earlier this week, the California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC) unveiled a new accreditation program in an attempt to introduce a measure of self-evaluation and -regulation among the network's 300 charter schools.
Commentary
Challenging the NYC schools chancellor to support charter schools
On Saturday, Diane Ravitch challenged chancellor Joel Klein to "bust the monopoly" of New York City's mammoth school system, noting that Klein has thus far dismissed the idea of school choice despite his reputation as a trustbuster.
Commentary
Charter schools and urban education
Everyone agrees that the weak performance of U.S. urban education poses a national crisis. Far too many low income and minority youngsters attend bad schools where they learn too little, are sometimes in danger and are understandably inclined to drop out.Yet not everyone appreciates the contribution that charter schools can make to easing the urban-education crisis. To the contrary.
Commentary
More implementation challenges for the No Child Left Behind Act
A long article by Diana Schemo in Monday's New York Times outlined some of the ways in which the No Child Left Behind Act is being weakened or skirted by federal, state, and local officials. Several states are moving to ease their standards for academic proficiency to ensure that more children are able to reach them.
Commentary
The MetLife Survey of The American Teacher 2002: Student Life: School, Home, and Community
Dana Markow and Marc Scheer, MetLife2002
Commentary
Educating Teachers: The Best Minds Speak Out
edited by George C. Leef, The American Council of Trustees and AlumniJune 2002
Commentary
Edison explains its finances
I write to clarify four issues regarding Edison Schools in a recent Gadfly article written by Allison Cole, "Edison's Year has a Rocky Start" [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=38#546]:
Commentary
Ballot initiatives on class size, after-school programs before voters this fall
No states have voucher initiatives on the ballot this November, but a range of other education issues will be presented directly to voters this fall in different states.
Commentary
No Child Left Behind: Meeting Challenges, Seizing Opportunities, Improving Achievement
Achieve, Inc.Summer 2002
Commentary
Education Reform Through Standards: What Does it Mean for Youth in Alternative Education Settings
American Youth Policy ForumDecember 12, 2001
Commentary
"Fresh" offerings from the anti-reform camp
The current issue of Phi Delta Kappan contains both a screed by the infamous Alfie Kohn on the subject of corporate involvement in education and the latest of Gerald Bracey's annual rants about who he likes and who he doesn't like in American education. Just about everyone who wants to boost standards or foster choice manages to land in the latter category.
Commentary
9/11 lessons for educators
Writing this time in Educational Leadership, Diane Ravitch offers seven lessons for educators in the aftermath of September 11th. The first of these: it's okay to be patriotic.
Commentary
Schools try out report cards based on state academic standards
While the Manhattan Institute survey described above presents discouraging evidence that many teachers have not bought into standards-based reform, there are some points of light out there. In Illinois, two elementary schools are testing new report cards that replace A's, B's, and C's with indications of whether the student exceeds, meets, or has not met certain state academic standards.
Commentary
Commentary
Visions 2020: Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies, Technology Administration
U.S. Department of CommerceSeptember 2002
Commentary
Chicago teachers caught helping students cheat on state tests
In the most elaborate cheating scandal in the history of Chicago's public schools, teachers were caught giving tips, erasing incorrect answers, pointing to correct answers, and filling in the answers to questions left blank on students' Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, which were administered in May to students in grades 3 through 8.
Commentary
National Merit scholarship program lowers the bar in low-achieving states
States with high academic standards have protested that the No Child Left Behind Act punishes them for setting high expectations for their students. But NCLB is not the only program that allows standards to vary for students in different states.
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
Civic Engagement and Urban School Improvement: Hard-to-Learn Lessons from Philadelphia
Jolley Bruce Christman and Amy Rhodes, Consortium for Policy Research in Education and Research for ActionJune 2002
Commentary
Do teachers believe in standards-based reform?
Standards-based reform has become America's main strategy for boosting student achievement, strengthening school effectiveness and renewing our education system.
Commentary
Edison's year has rocky start
When Edison Schools filed its 2002 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 30, the world learned two things: that the firm's financial situation was unsteady and that there have been changes to its board of directors.
Commentary
Education entrepreneurship: the new career path for young professionals
Disillusioned with the corporate world, discouraged by the dot-com bust and idealistic about making a difference in the world, some of today's most motivated and ambitious young professionals are joining the battle to better our nation's education system, often by creating companies and organizations that aim to help schools improve.
Commentary
Giving parents vouchers could revitalize poor neighborhoods
The strongest argument for vouchers is moral, Jonathan Rauch writes in the October Atlantic Monthly. It's wrong for rich, white liberals to insist that poor children attend dysfunctional schools that they'd never allow their own children to set foot in.
Commentary
Houston takes home $500,000 Broad Prize for Urban Education
To hardly anyone's surprise, the Houston Independent School District won the first $500,000 Broad Prize for Urban Education. Funded by Los Angeles billionaire education reformer Eli Broad, the prize recognized Houston for improving student achievement and narrowing its achievement gaps, gains achieved largely through the leadership of then-superintendent Rod Paige.