Commentary
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Commentary
No More Islands: Family Involvement in 27 School and Youth Programs
Donna Walker James and Glenda Partee, American Youth Policy ForumSeptember 2003
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Reflections on 9/11
On this solemn anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, in lieu of a conventional editorial, we offer excerpts from five of the 29 thoughtful essays in Fordham's recent publication, Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know.
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From the Headlines to the Frontlines: The Teacher Shortage and its Implications for Recruitment Policy
Patrick J. Murphy and Michael M. DeArmond, Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington August 2003
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Preparing Teachers Around the World
Aubrey H. Wang et al., Educational Testing ServiceSeptember 2003
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China puts private schools on par
Over the past few years, the number of private schools in China has grown rapidly, numbering more than 54,000 by the end of 2000 and likely far more today. These private schools have sprung up in response to the increased demand for primary, secondary and higher education - a demand that the government cannot afford to meet, given the size of China's student population.
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MN sets the standards
Minnesota's current statewide social studies standards are, as education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke bluntly puts it, an "embarrassment." Encouraging, then, that this week Minnesota released a new set of draft standards in science and social studies that are, on their face, terrific.[For earlier coverage of the battle over pitching the Profiles, see
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NEA president supports vouchers for all
In a late-night vote Tuesday, the House of Representatives, by a razor-thin margin, approved the controversial bill to provide $10 million in private school tuition grants to at least 1,300 D.C. schoolchildren next year. As Gadfly reported last week, three prominent D.C. officials, all former voucher foes, came out strongly in favor of the new "scholarship" program.
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Bush launches NCLB website
President Bush this week announced a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the Broad Foundation-in conjunction with Standard & Poor's and the education data-crunching outfit Just for the Kids (JFTK) - to make disaggregated state student achievement data and other NCLB-related information readily available via the web for parents and policy makers.
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CA charter bills out of balance
A California bill that would strengthen state oversight of charter schools has come one step closer to becoming law, passing the California Senate and heading to the General Assembly, possibly within days.
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The Trials of NCLB
The No Child Left Behind rubber is hitting the education road, where it's producing a lot of screeching brakes, skid marks and, especially, honking. A flock of noisy Canadian geese makes less noise than American public education griping about NCLB, the changes it is forcing, the injustices it is said to be inflicting and the difficulties of implementing it as Congress intended.
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Back to school, back to the debate
This week marks the beginning not only of a new school year but also a new round of debate over vouchers. In a Washington Post op ed, D.C. school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz, along with D.C. mayor Anthony Williams and D.C.
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After a long summer, students need a break
In the last Gadfly, we reported (without pleasure) on a South Carolina school district that was promoting grade inflation by mandating that no student could receive less than a 62 (out of 100) in his or her first semester.
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Requiring highly qualified teachers: unfair and unwise?
As part of No Child Left Behind, states are now required to report what percentage of their teachers are "highly qualified" - in other words, what percentage has a bachelor's degree, state certification and clear knowledge of the subject they teach. It's that last clause that has many teachers and union officials up in arms.
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Pricey public schools
Around the country, the economic downturn and state and local budget shortfalls are forcing some schools to charge students to participate in activities that used to be open to all, free of charge.
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SAT scores up, compared to what?
So the news is good from the College Board: SAT scores are up sharply. That suggests that the strategies of recent years have been paying off, that students are taking more academic courses, and that they have greater incentive to prepare for tests like the SAT.
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Closing Achievement Gaps: Improving Educational Outcomes for Hispanic Children
Louis G. Tornatzky, Harry P. Pachon, and Celina Torres, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and the Tomas Rivera Policy InstituteAugust 2003
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California Education Report Card, Index of Leading Indicators, Third Edition
Lance T. Izumi with Matt Cox, Pacific Research InstituteAugust 2003
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Mayoral control: not all it's cracked up to be?
While many people hope that mayoral control will fix what ails big city school systems, reformers in New York City are beginning to realize that this Great Man approach may not, in fact, get the job done. Mayor Michael Bloomberg won control of the school system but what is he doing with it?
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Digging Deeper: Where Does the Public Stand on Standards-Based Education?
Bryan Goodwin, Mid-continent Research for Education and LearningJuly 2003
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The social studies mess
With schools re-opening, daily attacks in the middle east, and the second anniversary of 9/11 hard upon us, teachers can expect another round of nonsense from experts who think it's more important to boost children's self-esteem and tolerance than to instruct them in the history of their own and other countries, the wellsprings of citizenship, and the price of defending freedom.Worse, th
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Training sponsors for charter schools
A new Ohio law removes the state's Department of Education from the charter school authorizing business and allows school districts, county education service centers, public universities AND qualified nonprofits to sponsor charter schools in the Buckeye State.
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Florida u-turn on class size
Last fall, 52 percent of Florida voters supported a constitutional amendment that would cap class sizes in public schools throughout the state. Now, given the severe budget crunch and high cost of class-size reduction - more than $1 billion this year and next - Florida's State Board of Education has voted to join Governor Jeb Bush in an effort to roll back part of the amendment.
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Blaming NCLB
The New York Times recently published a two-part series on the newly discovered problem of "push-outs" in the New York City public schools. The articles charged that principals were pushing out low-performing students in order to protect their school's performance scores and attendance rates.
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Silliness in South Carolina
Please note, this is not our April's Fools edition. Officials in Beaufort County, South Carolina have decided to institutionalize grade inflation by mandating that no student receive less than a 62 (out of 100) in the first semester of any class, so that students will not be prevented from passing the class if they improve in the second semester.
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Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, Phi Delta Kappan and the Gallup OrganizationAugust 20, 2003
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When Schools Compete: The Effects of Vouchers on Florida Public School Achievement
Jay Greene and Marcus Winters, Manhattan InstituteAugust 2003
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State High School Exit Exams Put to the Test
Keith Gayler, Naomi Chudowsky, Nancy Kober, and Madlene Hamilton, Center on Education PolicyAugust 2003
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Learning for the 21st Century: A Report and MILE (Media and Information Literacy Exchange) Guide for 21st Century Skills
Partnership for 21st Century SkillsAugust 2003
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Governor: take your money elsewhere
At a time of budget crunching, why would teacher unions, legislators, and state education officials turn down free money? Yet under pressure from these groups, that is exactly what Michigan's governor is about to do. Governor Jennifer Granholm has vowed to veto a bill that would enable a local Detroit businessman to donate $200 million to build 15 new charter schools in the Motor City.