Plan Would Put Flexibility in School Funding

Quality Control?

Schools routinely blame socio-economic factors when their charges under-perform. And too many critics nod in agreement. Not those at The Education Trust, whose new study Teaching Inequality points the finger at districts that routinely pair economically disadvantaged students with inexperienced or out-of-field teachers. 

School Facilities for Children, Not Districts

Setting the Record Straight: Quality Charter School Sponsorship Costs Money

Diplomas Count: An Essential Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates

The Graduation Project 2006Education Week/ Editorial Projects in EducationJune 22, 2006

A National Dialogue: Commission Report: Draft

The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher EducationJune 22, 2006

Charter schoolyard politics

New York has seen much mud-slinging and blame-shifting this week as the charter crowd seeks to explain why the legislature had the chutzpah to complete work on the state budget without raising the statewide charter-school cap from 100 to 150 schools, as urged by both Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki.

Coleman crackles

When buying fireworks this weekend, don't forget to throw a box of birthday candles into your shopping basket. It's the 40th anniversary of the Coleman Report, which was released Fourth of July weekend 1966 to "deafening silence." Why the tepid initial response?

More on Gore

Thank you for your thoughts on Al Gore's film and the lack of multimedia tools in education.

Facing backward on his horse, Kozol rides again

Once upon a time, Jonathan Kozol played a formative and constructive role in my career.

For school equality, try mobility

Dumb liberal ideas in education are a dime a dozen, and during my time as superintendent of Houston's schools and as the United States secretary of education I battled against all sorts of progressivist lunacy, from whole-language reading to fuzzy math to lifetime teacher tenure.

High cut scores

While chattering education reformers bicker about standards, accountability, and how to spend Warren Buffet's billions, Japanologist Boyé Lafayette De Mente is busy attacking the achievement gap the old fashioned way: by cutting off its head with a Samurai sword.

Voucher villains - or vitriol?

Listen to Ohio's media and we'll forgive you for thinking the Buckeye State's new voucher program is going down in flames. After all, newspapers are giving lots of ink to low initial student sign-ups for the program-so far 2,600 of the 14,000 available vouchers have been spoken for (there will be another sign-up period in late July and early August).

High School Reform and Work: Facing Labor Market Realities

Paul E. BartonEducational Testing ServiceJune 2006

Why Kids Can't Read: Challenging the Status Quo in Education

Rowman & Littlefield EducationEdited by Phyllis Blaunstein and Reid Lyon2006

D.C. coopetition

Gadfly's hometown has suddenly turned into education reform nirvana. Last week we reported that competition from charter schools spurred the District of Columbia Public Schools and its teachers union to sign a reform-minded contract. Now comes news that the D.C.

Fluff piece

When third-grader Nathaniel Barrios asked at home for a Fluffernutter sandwich (a sandwich of peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff), his father, Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, was flabbergasted.

Hawkeye hijinks

The U.S. Department of Education recently laid the smack down on Iowa, threatening to severely limit its federal funding if it didn't make new elementary school teachers pass a standardized test, as required by NCLB's "highly qualified teachers" provision. Pinned to the mat, state education officials will require all teacher candidates to take and pass the Praxis II beginning in 2007.

Accountability stew

Governor Jeb Bush is breaking out the fricasseed alligator tail to celebrate the recent announcement that a record 75 percent of Florida schools received As or Bs under the state's "A+" accountability system. Hold on, say the feds-NCLB data show that nearly three-quarters of Sunshine State schools didn't make AYP, including 1,233 that earned As or Bs according to the state's rating system.

Bombing history in the Beehive State

After reading your latest report, The State of State World History Standards 2006, I was disheartened but not surprised by the failing grade my state, Utah, received. Our youngest child just graduated with honors from high school.

Al Gore, master teacher

As hurricanes spawn tornadoes so has An Inconvenient Truth spawned articles about Al Gore: his political ambitions, his resilience, his newfound charisma, his biomass.

Who's Proficient Now?

According to preliminary test results for the 2005–06 school year, more Ohio students are reaching “proficiency” on state exams than ever before. So schools are doing a better job, right? Wrong.

Tougher Diploma Requirements Marching Down the Aisle

Even as 2006’s high school graduates donned cap and gown this spring, school officials and teachers were wondering how many fewer outfits would be required next year.

Parents Vouch for Better Education

Many Ohio newspapers are reporting that the state’s new voucher program, EdChoice, which students begin benefiting from this fall, is faring poorly.

Challenged Index: Why Newsweek's List of America's 100 Best High Schools Doesn't Make the Grade

Andrew J. Rotherham and Sara MeadEducation Sector, February, 2006 This report takes a hard look at what it means to make Newsweek’s recent list of best high schools in America.

Charter School of Hard Knocks

The state’s first “conversion” charter school, Dayton’s World of Wonder (WOW), apparently decided it had been out in the cold for too long.

From One Librarian to Another

On June 5, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries announced grant awards of up to $5,000 for 206 schools across the nation to develop or expand their library collections. Two of the seven charter school recipients were Ohio’s very own Dayton View Academy and the Early Childhood Development Center in Cleveland.

Test tubes

Education Week recently reported that, though the 2005 Science NAEP exam showed more low-achieving 4th grade students scoring at the "basic" level, results are stagnant or worse in all grades at the "proficient" and "advanced" levels. What does that mean?

Spicy Chile

Chile's country-wide education protests are now over. The fallout from the three-week crucible that saw nearly 800,000 students take to Chile's streets (sometimes violently), however, will not be soon forgotten. The walkouts began innocently enough, with students asking the government to provide free bus passes and to waive university entrance exam fees.

Why American Students Do Not Learn to Read Very Well: The Unintended Consequences of Title II and Teacher Testing

Sandra StotskyThird Education Group ReviewVol. 2, No. 2, 2006