Taking Spanish, French, or German is so 20th century: today's savvy students are all about learning Mandarin Chinese, one of the most difficult foreign languages to master. With China poised to dominate tomorrow's market (and many of Ohio's manufacturing jobs already departed for the Asian superpower), the U.S.
Remember when we reported that, despite major budget concerns, Columbus Public Schools planned to keep its closed school buildings rather than sell them to charter schools? (See here.) It seems that sentiment has reached Cincinnati, too.
Are A.P. courses gateways to college and a better life, or roadblocks to high-level learning? Maybe it depends. For many school districts, especially those serving middle-class communities, A.P. classes are the pinnacle of their academic offerings, as well as something of a status symbol. So they vigorously promote A.P.
This week, the Wall Street Journal published an essay by a Nobel-laureate economist - and it wasn't Milton Friedman espousing the benefits of vouchers! Indeed, it was a column undercutting the school reform movement that Friedman helped spawn. James J.
Michigan's West Ottawa Public Schools has instituted a no-tolerance policy that's stunning in its immediacy, breadth, and severity. Because of safety and allergy concerns, every furry classroom pet will be summarily removed from schools. Assistant Superintendent David Zimmer justified the decision by citing a "need to be sensitive to the concerns of the whole community....
It's not often that Ohio education makes national news for positive items, so when Gadfly found this article detailing the methods Shaker Heights school district - just outside of Cleveland - is using to close the achievement gap, we had to share it.
Ohio's education reforms have received a generally favorable review from Quality Counts at 10, the Education Week annual report released last week, but there is still significant room for improvement. Ohio received an overall reform grade of B-.
Governor Taft's most recent education advisory commission (his fifth) is looking to make Ohio's high school graduates better prepared for college and the 21st century workforce.
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
Now that the Florida Supreme Court has struck down the state's Opportunity Scholarship Program (which provided students in repeatedly failing public schools vouchers for use at private schools), it's important to evaluate that decision's implications for education in the Sunshine State and beyond.
With the start of the new year, several of Ohio's biggest school districts are facing change. Cincinnati is adding two new board members who hope to bring peace to that fractious board. In Columbus, controversial veteran board President Stephanie Hightower is on her way out.
The National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers UniversityW. Steven Barnett, Cynthia Lamy, and Kwanghee JungDecember 2005
Jolley Bruce Christman, Eva Gold, and Benjamin HerodResearch for ActionDecember 2005
Just before the holiday season, some 5,500 Birmingham middle school students received an early gift: the option to leave their failing schools. The city's school system was planning to offer students in its 17 low-performing middle schools voluntary tutoring, rather than the option of transferring to one of the district's better-performing schools. A community group complained to the U.S.
It's that time once again. Education Week has released its major (and as always, a bit unwieldy) annual Quality Counts report.
This past November, school violence again made headlines. The latest federal data was released in Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005, which tallied and analyzed the incidence of theft, violent crime, and teacher victimization in 2003.
It's better late than never; the thousands of children who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina are about to get federal assistance with their educations. While Congress took its time finalizing the package, the result is fair and reasonable. Importantly, it does not discriminate against parents who chose a non-public school for their displaced children.
As if the NEA's pretending to care about helping schools and students wasn't bad enough, we now know it doesn't really care that much about helping teachers, either.
The Education TrustNovember 2005
Michael J. Petrilli's editorial, "What if competition doesn't work?" garnered some response:From John Merrifield, Professor of Economics, University of Texas at San Antonio
Donald R. McAdamsTeachers College PressJanuary 2006
American Institutes for ResearchNovember 2005
