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Career/technical education: The solution to our dropout crisis?
Americans are becoming acutely aware of our high schools' failings.
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David v. Goliath
Might charter schools begin the downfall of teacher unions? David Kirkpatrick, Senior Education Fellow at the U.S. Freedom Foundation, thinks so. He outlines the difficulty unions have faced organizing charter schools, mainly because it's inefficient for six figure-earning union staff members to target individual schools. Here's why.
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Wonderful World
Mark McCaig-who has a beard, holds a master's degree from Harvard, and is purportedly an expert in birds, shark teeth, and shiatsu massage (it's unclear if that's an exhaustive list)-works for Fairhaven School, outside Washington, D.C. But though McCaig manages the institution, don't call him a school administrator. At Fairhaven, "adults teach but are not teachers.
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Two's company
Scott Montgomery Elementary School in Washington, D.C., is suffering from flagging enrollment. A new KIPP school, set to open in the District in July, is having trouble finding affordable real estate. The solution? Buddy up. In a first-of-its-kind move, the principals of Scott Montgomery and the newest KIPP Academy worked out a plan to share buildings and collaborate on teacher training.
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The Gangs of New York II: The Reading Wars
Few wonky education articles make good movie scripts, but this excellent New York Magazine piece by Robert Kolker might be the exception. It details the battle over the Big Apple's reading program; the stakes are high. In one corner is Lucy Calkins and her Balanced Literacy program, a whole language approach in sheep's clothing.
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Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center Report on Education Service Providers
American Institutes of ResearchApril 2006
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Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School Graduation Rates
Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. WintersManhattan Institute for Policy ResearchApril 2006
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Compounding Challenges: Student Achievement and the Distribution of Human and Fiscal Resources in Oregon's Rural School Districts
Jerry JohnsonThe Rural School and Community TrustApril 2006
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Be a Part of the GreatSchools Network
GreatSchools.net, the nation’s premier provider of online K-12 information, is embarking on an ambitious new project to provide quality educational information to Dayton parents.
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Teaching Rating Deadline Looms
The school year’s end approaches, and teachers in Ohio are scrambling to make sure they are “highly qualified” by the last day of class, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
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The Schools That Dare Not Speak Their Name
That Oprah has discovered school reform is probably a good thing, if only because she adds middlebrow legitimacy and an immense audience to most of the causes that she embraces, and because far too many Americans (middle-, high-, and low-brow alike) need reminding their schools, too, not just those across town, need a kick in the pants.
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A Consumer Guide for School Operators
In Ohio, educational management organizations (EMOs) play a significant role in educating children in charter schools. In fact, many charter schools in Ohio are operated by EMOs, and these serve an ever expanding percentage of the state’s charter students.
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Garden slate
Astute observers of urban political campaigns know better than to be surprised when candidates "play the race card"; but how often does this happen when both opponents are black? Cory Booker is the frontrunner to take the reins of Newark, New Jersey from longtime Mayor Sharpe James, but Booker's catching flack from his closest competitor, Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice.
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Idle minds build Maginot Lines
It seems that the cultivated Old Europe ennui of countries such as France and Italy has migrated from the continent, hitched a Chunnel ride, and taken a foothold in the land of Thatcher, Disraeli, and Burke. The Independent reports that British teachers are embracing boring lessons as "preparation for life" and have called for more of them.
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Arizona: When 500 charter schools are not enough
This is the first in an occasional series of articles about state-level education reform and its national implications. To write an essay on your state, please contact Liam Julian.
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A San Francisco feat
Weighted student funding isn't just a topic for wonkish debate anymore-regular citizens are starting to get interested, too. Reason's Lisa Snell profiles parents and students who have benefited from San Francisco's school funding program, which allocates public education dollars based on individual student needs.
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A hex on state flex
Once upon a time, most of us at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation enthusiastically supported the notion of devolving K-12 decisions to the states.
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The Peter principal
Soon enough, New York City's youngsters won't be the only ones receiving report cards. Starting September 2007, the Big Apple will track test scores of individual students year-by-year, and give schools A-F grades mainly based on their students' academic progress. The grades will count, too; schools that outperform others in their "peer groups" will receive extra money.
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Cutting Through the Hype: A Taxpayer's Guide to School Reforms
Jane L. David and Larry CubanEducation Week Press2006
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National Assessment of Title I: Interim Report: Volume I: Implementation
Institute of Education SciencesU.S. Department of EducationFebruary 2006
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MIA on SES
Imagine a world in which hundreds of thousands of low-income families experience educational freedom for the first time. Parents choose from a vibrant marketplace of educational providers: public schools, for-profit companies, faith-based groups, local charities, and even collections of innovative teachers.
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Baltimore bailout
Eleven schools in Baltimore managed to dodge the accountability bullet one more time this week. The city successfully beat back Maryland Superintendent Nancy Grasmick’s plans to take over its worst-performing schools after Martin O’Malley—Baltimore’s mayor—led a successful charge in the state legislature to postpone the action for one more year.
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You've got to know to grow
Two searing articles in the current edition of American Educator, one by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. and one by Daniel T. Willingham, lay to rest the notion that critical thinking is possible sans content.
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Protests 101
From Los Angeles to D.C., and from Phoenix to Chicago, students are taking to the streets in numbers not seen since the 1960s, in this case to voice their opinions about immigration. Such public demonstrations are central to democracy, but are they central to education?
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University accountability - Bring it on
Editor's Note: The author, Fordham President Chester E. Finn, Jr., is currently on sabbatical in California writing a memoir.
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Down and out
Time’s latest cover story (published in conjunction with a two-day series on the Oprah Winfrey Show) sheds light on what may be America’s toughest education problem—the fact that 30 percent of American high school students don’t graduate. What drives the mass exodus?
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Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youths
Nancy Martin and Samuel HalperinAmerican Youth Policy Forum2006
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Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job
Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. StaigerThe Hamilton Project, Brookings InstitutionApril 2006
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Dark Clouds Do Give Way to Sunshine
Ohio’s charter schools are under a cloud. Recent articles in some of Ohio’s major newspapers have challenged charter school efficacy and have provided fodder for opponents who want to regulate these public schools out of existence.