This Sunday's New York Times Magazine includes a spellbinding account of Geoffrey Canada and his extraordinary effort to change the lives of all of the children who live in one Harlem community.
Many states are currently embroiled in court battles arising from lawsuits that challenge them, usually on constitutional grounds, to provide "adequate" funding for their public schools.
Linda Seebach reports that a Colorado teacher hit upon a strange and potentially destructive way of teaching Othello to her students. The teacher divided her students up in groups, those who had blue cards and those who had yellow cards. Blue-carded students were required to smile ingratiatingly, bow their heads, and beg people to tie their shoes.
Maria McCarthy and Ellen Guiney, Boston Plan for Excellence in the Public SchoolsApril 2004
The U.S. Department of Education: Office of Innovation and Improvement2004
Paul T. Decker, Daniel P. Mayer, Steven Glazerman, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.June 2004
We're pleased to note the publication of a new installment of the Education Department's Innovations in Education book series (see below for our review of some earlier iterations), this one entitled Successful Charter Schools.
Bryan C. Hassel and Michelle Godard Terrell, Progressive Policy Institute June 3, 2004
The Christian Science Monitor is a somewhat unlikely source for this story, but it recently ran a fascinating account of the continuing debate over medicati
During a recent visit, I was, frankly, wowed by the comprehensiveness and courage of Florida's education reforms, and depressed by the crummy coverage they're getting in both state and national press, not least the heat they are now taking for holding their schools to high standards under NCLB and accepting the sanctions meted out to schools for not meeting adequate yearly progress.
The Malaysian government has recently undertaken a voucher experiment aimed at leveling the education playing field between wealthy and underprivileged students. According to the New Straits Times, the plan's goal is creation of a "social market" in which "parents will be empowered by choice . . .
I know that authors are never quite satisfied with reviews, even ones as respectful and careful as yours, so permit me to respond to some points you make in a recent Gadfly (http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=151#1853).
Is the new D.C. voucher program half full or half empty? Depends on where one turns for information. According to the Washington Post, "the D.C.
Robin Jacobowitz, Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University, Jonathan S. Gyurko, Office of New Schools Development, New York City Department of EducationMarch 2004
Achieve, Inc.June 10, 2004
This week, the SEED school (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development) in Washington, D.C. - America's only urban charter boarding school (click here for more) - is celebrating the success stories of its first graduating class.
Back in January, Todd Oppenheimer published a devastating article on eRate, the federal tax on phone service that funds wiring schools for and to the Internet.
Anyone who's ever lived through a tornado knows the provenance of the phrase "calm before the storm." There's that eerie, pregnant moment before the wind picks up, when the sky turns pea-green, the wind dies down, and everything seems muffled, almost pleasant. Then all hell breaks loose.
In recent weeks, David Steiner, a professor at Boston University, has roiled the ed school world with his article, "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers: An Analysis of Syllabi from a Sample of America's Sc
Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute 2004
Robert Holland and Don Soifer, Lexington Institute April 2004
Every teacher has a story about a smart kid who failed because she just refused to do even the bare minimum to pass. Well-intentioned teachers also learn the hard way that lowering expectations and letting shoddy work slide by only makes things worse. The moral is apparently lost, though, on some school districts.
According to the Independent, surveys consistently show that more than 50 percent of British families would like to send their kids to private schools, which cost on average ??7,000 per year, but fewer than 7 percent can actually afford to do so. Does a quality education have to be so expensive?
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an important article on pushback from the education research community concerning the use of randomized studies of education interventions.
Three bills before the California legislature would reform that state's infamous textbook adoption process. Assembly Bill 2455 aims to curb the ever-escalating cost of textbooks.
Gadfly caused a stir in Nebraska when it criticized the state for "doing just enough to keep its federal funds while skirting the spirit of the accountability provisions" of NCLB - and the U.S. Department of Education for playing along.
Cynthia G. Brown, Citizens??? Commission on Civil RightsMay 2004
