Legacy costs loom as significant problem for schools

Looking for leaders

K.i.d.s. is looking for a few leaders who believe that all children can learn and be successful. The Dayton-based school reform organization wants educators who can set ambitious, quantifiable goals for students, and use the best data available to measure the results.

Helping schools get better

When Robert Pohl visits a school, his aim is to look at all aspects of its operation, from finances to academics. But the first thing he looks for is a sense of urgency."It should permeate the entire school, from the principal to the secretary to the custodian," Pohl said.

Teaching kids to cheat

Educators in some districts throughout Ohio may be teaching more than reading, writing, and arithmetic to prepare students for state achievement tests. Some kids may also be getting a crash course in Cheating 101.

A scandal a day keeps good policy at bay

A three-day series in the Cleveland Plain Dealer argues that charter schools across Ohio, "despite notable exceptions," are sinking fast.

CEOs see the need for standards

National standards and tests are no longer desired by just a select group of policy wonks-some of the country's most powerful business leaders are on board, too.

Stretching Minds and Resources: 20 Years of Post Secondary Enrollment Options in Minnesota

Joe Nathan, Laura Accomando, and Debra Hare FitzpatrickCenter for School ChangeDecember 2005

How Bill Gates could really boost competitiveness

Memo to Bill Gates:

Test mess

The College Board, the Educational Testing Service, Pearson Educational Measurement, and the rest of them should be ashamed of-and held accountable for-the recent spate of screw-ups in SAT scoring, as well as the less-visible but recurrent delays and glitches in

Art class draws students

In response to "No Cartoon Controversy," Gadfly asks whether Higher Ground (HG), a St. Paul charter public school is challenging the common school ideal. The school adapted art lessons so that Muslim parents and students are more comfortable with them. HG is meeting Minnesota state standards in art.

A tale of three cities

Charismatic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is ready to shake up his city's beleaguered schools, and he's looking to Chicago and New York for lessons. He even took a field trip to the Big Apple this week, meeting with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to explore the potential and perils of mayoral control of schools.

Unschooled parents

There's more than one way to skin a Badger. So when the Wisconsin Education Association lost its initial legal battle to close the state's first cyberschool (the WEA said the school violated Wisconsin charter and open enrollment laws) it took another tack.

International lessons for the gulf coast

The Harvard Educational Review hit upon a novel idea recently when its editors proposed that America should look to the international community for guidance in delivering education to the roughly 370,000 students displaced by hur

Honk if you see me

Chicagoans love their car horns, and it's not just because the city's drivers are among the rudest in the nation. It's because they're scared to death of blind drivers. That's right-blind drivers.

The art of the possible

While some unimaginative sorts still argue that national standards and tests are politically infeasible, former John Kerry campaign aide Robert Gordon makes the case that a bipartisan coalition could turn the idea into re

Elite flyer

In many respects, the Charter School of Wilmington should make the charter school movement proud. It is considered the "flagship" of the Delaware public education system, and it posts the state's highest SAT scores and a nearly perfect college matriculation rate.

School & College

A Special Report from the Chronicle of Higher EducationMarch 10, 2006

In Defense Of Big Schools

Gotham Gazette March 2006

Why can't learning disabled students read?

Americans are generally supportive of "special education." Educating disabled children so they can live independent, satisfying lives appeals to our sense of fairness and shared responsibility.

Selection bias

Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Oregon just aren't what they used to be-at least in the eyes of the Oregon Education Association. The teachers union spent Saturday auditioning six likely contenders for the Governor's Mansion, but decided to delay its endorsement because none of the six made a match as the union's candidate.

Judicial smackdown

The tough-talking judge who decided a school funding case four years ago by ruling that North Carolina law requires high-quality public education, now says he's tired of waiting for consistently lagging high schools to improve.

My momma told me, you'd better shop around

Low-income African-American families are fleeing Minneapolis public schools en masse, reports Katherine Kersten on the Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal.

Counterinsurgency in California

Districts and charters disagree all the time, and the battles can often turn nasty. But a coup? Last Tuesday, district officials from Sacramento Unified (and their security guards) arrived at the campus of the city's Visual and Performing Arts Charter School (VAPAC) and placed the principal and office manager on administrative leave.

Damocles swordplay

Oh, Canada. Our northern neighbor's supreme court recently ruled that students may now carry swords to public schools-but only if those swords are called "kirpans" and the students are orthodox Sikhs.

The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts

Civic Enterprises John M. Bridgeland, John J. DiIulio, and Karen B. MorrisonMarch 2006

Primary Progress, Secondary Challenge: A State-by-State Look at Student Achievement Patterns

Daria Hall and Shana KennedyThe Education Trust March 2006

No vendor left behind

A Seussian circus descended on Sacramento last week, but center ring wasn't the state's infamously rancorous capitol building. It was the convention center, where more than 3,000 charter school leaders and supporters arrived for four days of panels, meet-and-greets, and keynote addresses-including one by The Terminator, who dropped by on Wednesday morning.

Obstacles on the route from high school to college

For most Americans, the transition from high school to college today is as chancy and vexing as crossing a bridge over a river where builders on one bank have ignored what those on the other are doing. Only the fortunate will be able to make it across.

Governor's Core Initiative Deserves Support

If our students are to be prepared for the rigors of college and the workplace, high school curricula must be toughened. That's Governor Taft's thought, and he has a plan (the Governor's Core Initiative) to do just that. You?d think all Buckeyes would agree.