Commentary
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Commentary
Charter Schools and Strange Bedfellows
Who knew that National Charter Schools Week could bring President George W. Bush and Senator Hillary Clinton together? President Bush issued an official proclamation designating April 29 - May 5, 2007 as National Charter Schools Week.
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Innovation in Indianapolis
In spite of the contentious debate over charter schools in Columbus, there are emerging opportunities for cities in the Buckeye State to pursue and implement innovative strategies and practices made available by the charter option (see above).
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The parents' party
For decades, Republicans have had trouble figuring out what they're for in K-12 education, especially at the national level. Until about twenty years ago, they were far more adept at saying what they opposed: a bigger federal role.
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Education, the new healthcare
The Gates and Broad Foundations are pumping $60 million into a campaign called "Strong American Schools," designed to boost consciousness and foster debate about three big education reform ideas during the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, and more fundamentally, make sure that candidates don't ignore the issue (see
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Where's the evidence on "autonomy"?
When the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation issued a manifesto about principals a few years ago, I was asked to sign it and I declined. I did so because I don't believe that anyone from any field can be "trained" to be a good principal, and I thought that this was a logical outcome of the views expressed in the manifesto about opening up the job to outsiders.
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Expressing International Educational Achievement in Terms of U.S. Performance Standards: Linking NAEP Achievement Levels to TIMSS
Gary W. Phillips American Institutes for ResearchApril 24, 2007
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Kindergarten flop
There was Ahnold, on the cover of the April 16th Newsweek, expertly balancing a photo-shopped globe on his right index finger, a knowing smile on his face. And why wouldn't he smile? In climate change, Schwarzenegger has found an issue that he can attack with impunity, and one that will garner him significant praise from all corners.
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Counting heads
According to the Indianapolis Public School system, 94 percent of its students are in class each day. Sounds pretty good, right? But a four-part report this week by the Indianapolis Star, while not exactly disputing that number, tells a very different story.
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Performance-Pay for Teachers: Designing a System that Students Deserve
Center for Teaching QualityApril 2007
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Viva la school trip!
Manhattan's Upper West Side may be the most liberal neighborhood in the United States. So who's surprised that a public school there wanted to show kids real Communism, up close and in-person? In 2004 and 2005, students from the area's Beacon School took school-led field trips to Cuba, in violation of federal law.
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Ravitch gets it wrong
Diane Ravitch uses selective data to tarnish the achievement of New York City students under the Bloomberg administration ("Progress report on mayoral control in NYC," March 22). At the heart of Ms. Ravitch's argument is a claim that Mr.
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Ravitch responds
David Cantor's response only goes to show how bad things are in New York City these days, and demonstrates the need for an independent assessment agency to evaluate test scores and graduation data.
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Rescue 911
Education reformers have long argued that school choice is already widespread--among the well-to-do. Foes counter that choice programs are nothing but a "life raft" to save a few while letting the ship sink. Here's a new twist: St. Louis firefighters--union members all--are steamed that state law requires them to reside in the city of their employ.
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Beating the Odds VII, An Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments, Results from the 2005-2006 School Year
Council of the Great City SchoolsApril 2007
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How to improve Reading First
Tomorrow, the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to consider the future of the much-discussed Reading First program, a key component of NCLB.
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Have mercy!
A couple months ago, it looked like the Boston Archdiocese was actively cooperating with charter schools. No more. With enrollment in Catholic schools flagging (in part because charters are tuition free), Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley decided to take off the gloves.
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Go clean
Noam Scheiber, senior editor at The New Republic, is none too pleased about what he calls the "cleverness problem" bedeviling top economic graduate schools.
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America, The Last Best Hope
Volume II, From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom William J. BennettThomas Nelson Publishers2007
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The power of rigorous teacher tests
Most elementary teachers seem to require intensive, expensive, and continuous professional development in mathematics. Even if current federal and state initiatives to train experienced teachers are successful, their costs are staggering.
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The autonomy gap
Four years back, Fordham teamed up with The Broad Foundation to publish Better Leaders for America's Schools: A Manifesto. This call to action depicted a role for the public school principal akin to that of a CEO.
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Fit to print?
The American way of life changed last Monday when intrepid New York Times columnist Bob Herbert traveled to Avon Park, Florida (a "backward city," he writes), population 8,872, to document an emerging national pandemic. That's how Herbert would tell it, at least.
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School Reform in Philadelphia: A Comparison of Student Achievement at Privately-Managed Schools with Student Achievement in Other District Schools
Paul E. PetersonKennedy School of Government, Harvard UniversityApril 2007
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Casting for culprits
It would be easy to berate 2nd grade teacher David Keyes for his recent op-ed in the Washington Post (as blogger Kevin Carey did here).
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Loosening the grip
China is making headlines for more than trafficking pirated Lost DVDs. Some U.S. educators and employers envy that nation's success in teaching math and science (at least in producing scads of engineers and suchlike) but now China seems to be showing greater curiosity about American schools.
Report
Governance
The Autonomy Gap
Though most public school principals believe that effective leadership of their schools requires authority over personnel decisions (e.g., staff selection, deployment, dismissal), they report having little such authority in practice. Based on a series of interviews with a small sample of district and charter-school principals, the report shows that most district principals encounter a sizable gap between the extent and kinds of authority that leaders need to be effective and the authority that they actually have.
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Voices of Students on Engagement: A Report on the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement
The latest report on the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement tells a somewhat predictable, not to mention disheartening, story about how teenagers approach their education and school environment.