Too often for our taste, articles in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's magazine Educational Leadership reflect the status quo. But sense shone through in a recent issue on "The Challenges of Accountability," especially in articles by Craig Jerald and Frederick Hess.
The New York Times has lowered the boom on the "Texas Miracle," claiming that its own analysis of SAT-9 test scores of Houston ISD students from 1999-2002 shows that the district made at best modest gains in reading and math, despite claims (based on the now-defunct TAAS assessment) that Houston schools had dramatically increased scores and closed the minority achievement gap.
Yesterday, the Maryland state board of education voted 9-2 to make the state's high school assessment tests a requirement for graduation beginning with the class of 2009. The move makes Maryland one of 19 states that have mandated graduation exit exams. According to the proposal, by 2009 all students would be required to pass at minimum the state's "functional tests" in reading, math,
This year, Colorado became the first state to pass a statewide voucher program after last year's landmark Zelman ruling. A legal challenge to the program was inevitable, but we were truly astonished to hear that a district judge has barred the Colorado school voucher program on the grounds that it violates "local control" of schools.
A remarkable two-part story in the Post-Gazette questions the need for and usefulness of school boards, those dinosaurs of progressive politics.
According to Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise clauses are the "constitutional equivalent of Ernie's relationship to Bert - in that no one really wa
Paul E. Barton, Educational Testing ServiceNovember 2003
Sandra S. Ruppert, Education Commission of the StatesOctober 2003
Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson, and Ann Duffett, Public AgendaNovember 2003
