Commentary
After School Programs: Expanding Access and Ensuring Quality
Chrisanne L. Gayle, Progressive Policy InstituteJuly 2004
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Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance
Eric A. Hanushek and Margaret E. Raymond, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 24, No. 22005
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When the Census Bureau is wrong
What does it take to kill a damaging and misleading falsehood? For years, respectable researchers and advocacy groups from left and right have been trying to quash and correct the misleading high-school graduation rate figure put out annually by the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS).
Commentary
Yecke to American Experiment
Bloodied but unbowed, Cheri Pierson Yecke - whose nomination as Minnesota's education chief was defeated on a party line vote marked by the worst kind of partisan rancor (see Gadfly, Volume 4, Number 17) - has joined the Center of the American Ex
Commentary
You couldn't pay me to work there
We hear it again and again: Americans aren't learning the skills they need to compete in the 21st century. How to prove this theory? Well, follow the money, or in this case, the yen. Toyota, after months of speculation over the destination of its new plant, this week opted for Ontario, reportedly turning down hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies from several American states.
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Off with their poster contest!
In this month's American School Board Journal, Susan Black describes her tenure as director of curriculum and instruction for a Midwestern city school district.
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Tutors for tots
We're not sure whether to cheer or jeer. As the Wall Street Journal's June Kronholz reports, the tutoring industry is setting its sights on the Barney set. Sylvan expects to enroll four-year-olds in each of its learning centers by winter; Kaplan's SCORE! centers already teach over 15,000 children from ages four to six. It's a growth industry, but is it a good idea?
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Union abuses south of the border
According to the Washington Post, Mexico's largest teachers' union (also the largest union period in Latin America) has created "a monstrous system of perks and patronage" that has basically made it impossible for teachers to be fired, even if they rarely show up for work.
Commentary
Pay us more? No thanks!
Several years ago, the Florida Legislature created a mandatory merit pay policy for public school systems statewide. At the time, the legislature (naively) allowed districts to set their own eligibility requirements. The St.
Commentary
Protests and paranoia
One senses mounting desperation among the more vociferous opponents of No Child Left Behind. Consider, for example, the "protest songs" unveiled at the National Education Association's recent convention. What fun for all concerned. What a trip. Oh, for the heady days of revolution, when music could change the world!
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School reform moves to the suburbs
Despite all the talk about improving inner-city schools, the greatest promise of the No Child Left Behind Act was always in America's leafy suburbs. Unfortunately, that promise is in danger of being squandered.
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Can history be saved?
That was the question examined by last week's Senate hearing on "The American History Achievement Act," a bill proposed by Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Commentary
Studying Teacher Education
Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Kenneth M. Zeichner, eds., American Educational Research Association June 2005
Commentary
Cracks in the Education Pipeline: A Business Leader's Guide to Higher Education Reform
Committee for Economic Development2005
Commentary
Issue Brief: Qualifications of Public Secondary School Biology Teachers, 1999-2000
Daniel J. McGrath, Emily W. Holt, and Marilyn M. Seastrom, National Center for Education StatisticsJune 2005
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Will's right
Gadfly is certainly correct to be left cold by David Broder's (non)verdict on the differences between how teachers and the general public view education reform efforts. (See "Edu-commentary.") Broder's inconclusiveness is not, however, due to a paralyzingly subtle understanding of the issue.
Commentary
The show goes on, and on, and on. . . .
As always, the National Education Association convention, recently concluded in Los Angeles, was quite a circus.
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Ray Budde, definer of charters
Gadfly mourns the passing of Ray Budde, an education professor at the University of Massachusetts who defined the term "charter school" and helped to spark the movement that continues to this day.
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John Walton, 1946-2005
John Walton's tragic and untimely death earlier this week in a small-plane crash at the age of 58 deprives low-income American children of one of their best friends and most generous benefactors.
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Charter schools and district budget
In the past several weeks, as the Ohio legislature crafted the Buckeye State's biennial budget, each line item had its own constituency. Some of the most contentious debates were those centered on the state's system of funding public education.
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Edu-commentary
Last week, David Broder and George Will - high priests of the Washington fourth estate - published side-by-side columns on education in the Washington Post. Both say important and useful things without, finally, coming to any real conclusions or recommendations.
Commentary
How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools? Some Perspectives from Virginia and Maryland
Center on Education Policy June 2005
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Charter School Partnerships: Eight Key Lessons for Success
Center on Educational Governance, University of Southern California2005
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Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose
Daria Hall, Education TrustJune 2005
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A second try in Texas
The Texas House, called back into session by school funding issues, has passed a bill (HB 2) that increases teacher pay, lowers school property taxes, and allows districts to purchase digital technology instead of traditional textbooks.
Commentary
Are teachers underpaid?
Michael Podgursky, Lawrence Mishel, and Sean Corcoran, National Council on Teacher QualityJune 29, 2005
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Merit pay has merit
Teachers and staff at a Little Rock elementary school recently received bonuses totaling $134,800 after they improved student test scores by a whopping 17 percent in one year.
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Whistling past the graveyard?
A recent article in Education Week notes that NEA members will be celebrating growth in the union's membership rolls at the union's annual shindig, opening later this week in Los Angeles. After last year's drop in "active teacher" membership figures - the first such drop in 28 years - the NEA looks to gain members this year on the strength of a new recruitment campaign.
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Islam in the news
Islamic schools are in the news this week. Time profiles an Islamic pre-K-12 school in suburban Chicago that has a mainstream curriculum and typical after-school activities, but also maintains traditional Islamic practices like dress codes, separation of the sexes, and regular prayer and Koran studies.