Commentary
New NAEP, mostly old news
As almost everybody knows, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) last week released - faster than ever before
Commentary
Supes in support of NCLB
Trying to out-sing the chorus of negativism surrounding No Child Left Behind, the Hartford Courant reports that 100 minority superintendents have signed a letter expressing support for the law. "We need to be held accountable. We should not be making excuses like, 'Oh, this kid is from a poor neighborhood,'" said Hartford school chief Robert Henry.
Commentary
Limited consensus on school choice
Two years ago, the Gates and Casey foundations made grants to Brookings to host a group called the National Working Commission on School Choice, chaired by the University of Washington's Paul Hill and consisting of 13 other members, mainly academics, deemed to represent a reasonably wide spectrum of the informed school-choice debate.
Commentary
Apathy in D.C.: It gets worse
In a surprise announcement given after a "hastily called" school board meeting, D.C. school superintendent Paul Vance announced his resignation. When pressed for details about why he was leaving so abruptly, he cited several reasons, including the move by D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams to try to gain control over the beleaguered school system, the system's financial problems, and the D.C.
Commentary
Affirmative action: the sequel
After the Supreme Court's recent ruling in two Michigan affirmative action cases, Gratz and Grutter, legal scholars predicted that a flurry of suits would seek to round out the Court's somewhat confusing jurisprudence on this topic. One of these cases, Doe v.
Commentary
Public schools under pressure in India
An "educational revolution is under way" in India, writes the New York Times, as millions of low-income parents dig deep to furnish private schooling for their children, a luxury once reserved for the well-to-do.
Commentary
The strong-arm of the law
This week, a New York City Council hearing intended to be a debate about the contentious, union-mandated teacher "work rules" (which limit, among other things, how long a teacher can work each day, how schools set faculty meeting agendas, and how teachers are hired and fired) devolved into a heated argument between council member Eva Moskowitz and NYC teachers' union president Randi Weingarten.
Commentary
Meeting NCLB Goals for Highly Qualified Teachers: Estimates by State from Survey Data
Rolf K. Blank, Council of Chief State School OfficersNovember 2003
Commentary
Having Their Say: The Views of Dayton-Area Parents on Education
The Thomas B. Fordham FoundationNovember 2003
Commentary
Seizing the Day: Massachusetts' At-Risk High School Students Speak Out on Their Experiences at the Front Lines of Education Reform
MassInsight EducationOctober 2003
Commentary
Education and Capitalism: How Overcoming Our Fear of Markets and Economics Can Improve America's Schools
Herbert J. Walberg and Joseph L. Bast, Hoover Institution PressNovember 2003