Second verse, same as the first
The Washington Post's V. Dion Haynes reports on a "new" People for the American Way "study" of the D.C. voucher program.
The Washington Post's V. Dion Haynes reports on a "new" People for the American Way "study" of the D.C. voucher program.
As recently as two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education reconfirmed in writing the message it had conveyed to North Dakota educators in December: the state's plan for designating elementary teachers as "highly qualified" does not meet NCLB requirements (click here for more).
In Duvall, Washington, parents are objecting to a "senior project" graduation requirement for high school seniors that requires a report, an oral presentation, and a "product" of some sort. Sounds reasonable enough to us, especially since everybody knows that big chunks of senior year are pretty much wasted.
Any long-term strategy for peace in the Middle East has to include dealing with the pernicious influence of radical madrassas, the Islamic schools used to spread a venomous version of Islam and to grow new extremists and terrorists.
Every few years comes some event that is supposed to herald a new era of bipartisan togetherness on education. Five years ago, it was the news that former labor secretary Robert Reich supported school vouchers (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/102900-02.htm).
Lisa Snell, Reason FoundationJanuary 2005
Commission for High School ImprovementJanuary 2005
This week, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed in writing the message it conveyed to North Dakota educators in December: that state's plan for designating elementary teachers as "highly qualified" does not meet NCLB requirements.
A local district administrator tells the Woonsocket (Rhode Island) Call that the district has cancelled the annual spelling bee because of . . . the No Child Left Behind act. You overlooked that NCLB spelling bee ban, huh?
Nothing is more challenging than opening a charter school except for closing it, which can be a public relations disaster.
Two related stories this week touch on issues of school leadership and reform, in particular, who's in charge of setting school policy and who should be. In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) school district, Superintendent James Pughsley wants principals to have the flexibility and autonomy to run their schools as they see fit.
Christopher T. Cross, editor, The National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform2004
Last summer, the National Endowment for the Arts released "Reading at Risk: A survey of literary reading in America," which, according to a Washington Post op-ed from Sandra Stotsky (author of our own State of State English Standards 2005) and Mark Bauerlein, showed that "from 1992 to 2002 the gender gap in reading by young adults widened considerably.
Passing rates on Advanced Placement tests are rising in every state and nationally, with 13 percent of all students earning a 3 or better on at least one test. New York leads the pack with more than 20 percent, while Maryland, Utah, Florida, and California are close behind. Since there is research suggesting that passing AP tests is a good predictor of college success, this is good news.
I think Gadfly misread Alison Gopnik's essay, "How we learn." She certainly is not denigrating "routinized learning," which she describes as, "Something already learned is made to be second nature, so as to perform a skill effortlessly and quickly." She does distinguish between the two kinds of le
The president's proposal to extend NCLB to high school may face rough sledding. Education Week runs through the various high school reform schemes being bandied about, including small schools, a common college-readiness curriculum, increased participation in AP and IB courses, and experimentation with the format of high schools.
The irreplaceable Peter Drucker, now 95 years old, wrote a brilliant piece in the December 30th Wall Street Journal about the singular roles and responsibilities of the American-style CEO. It set me to thinking about school leaders and wondering yet again why we don't view the principal as a CEO.
Six years ago, when Alan Bersin became superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, he began to implement his "Blueprint for Student Success," a series of reforms aimed at dramatically improving student achievement. The local teacher union promptly and predictably howled, but until November the school board backed Bersin (3-2).
Sol Stern has a great column reviewing the likely fallout from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case in New York City, which, if upheld in the courts and heeded by the legislature, will require the Empire State to increase funding for Gotham's public schools by more than $19 billion.
The Akron Beacon Journal ran an article on January 21st, subsequently picked up by many of the state's newspapers, that misleadingly suggests that Ohio's community school funding system harms traditional school districts and worsens inter-district inequities. This is inaccurate.
The goal of No Child Left Behind is clear from its title, but hundreds of Ohio students with special needs would be left in the dust if at least one state legislator and the head of America's largest teacher union have their way.
The education world is constantly bombarded with news, research, and opinions about school choice, while the average Ohioan knows very little about vouchers or charters (See Fordham study below).
Tom Luce and Lee Thompson, Ascent Education Press2005
United States Government Accountability OfficeDecember 2004
Institute of Education, University of LondonDecember 2004
Jay Greene & Marcus Winters, The Manhattan InstituteDecember 2004
Japan's ill-considered fling with progressive education could be coming to a close, though like every starred-crossed affair unfortunate consequences linger.
While No Child Left Behind requires states to issue school report cards, ostensibly to let parents know how their child's school is doing, we should observe our neighbors across the pond. "School league tables" were introduced a decade ago in Britain to offer an easy way to compare the academic achievement of different schools.
Gadfly does not try to note every expression of pedagogical silliness out there - otherwise, he'd do nothing else! But once in while you have to stop and smell the skunk cabbage. This week, Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and author of a book on learning styles, had a column in the New York Times so absurd as to be noteworthy. Dr.