Commentary
The Dissenting Tradition in American Education
James C. Carper and Thomas C. HuntPeter Lang Publishing, Inc. 2007
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Cash only
Maryland has taken a profound and laudable step. At least the judiciary has. The state's Court of Appeals ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that charter schools should receive as much money per pupil as regular public schools.
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Clearing out the rubbish
When Gadfly did graduate work in Britain, he was subjected to English teaching strategies ostensibly suited to his personality, lifestyle, and compound eyes.
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"Buying in" with Obama
Two weeks ago, I escaped from Washington's oppressive humidity and headed with my wife's family to New Hampshire's Lake Sunapee. Like any Granite State vacationer I hoped for sunny days, cool, relaxing nights, and, of course, a visit from a major presidential candidate.
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New York City Charter Schools
Caroline M. Hoxby and Sonali MurarkaNational Bureau of Economic ResearchJuly 2007
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Artful accountability
Was it a furtive trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a secret love affair with the way Cézanne depicts apples and pears, that caused New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to hold principals accountable for the
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Aggor's odyssey
When engineer Nicholas Aggor's sons Samuel (14) and Joshua (13) brought home bad grades in math, he didn't just help them with their homework or call their teachers for a conference. No, he decided to rewrite their textbooks. Now, the two boys are in advanced math classes and Dad's textbooks--14 of them--have caught the eye of several school districts and publishing companies.
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Spiritual teachers, secular schools
The extremes to which public schools will go to keep faith outside their doors are well known--no nativity scenes or menorahs at Christmas or Hanukkah, no public prayer, and a reluctance to teach the Bible or Quran. But does this mean that schools are free of religion? What about the people who teach in public schools? Do they check their religious beliefs at the schoolhouse door?
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??Si, senora!
Reg Weaver thought he had a cunning strategy for cornering elected officials (read about his cell-phone attack here). But his wiles are no match for his counterpart to the south.
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Creating a Successful Performance Compensation System for Educators
National Institute for Excellence in TeachingJuly 2007
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NCLB watch: Will the center rise again?
Once upon a time, Rick Hess and I argued that a Washington Consensus birthed the No Child Left Behind Act, and that this centrist coalition remained firmly entrenched, at least at the elite level of policymaking.
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Google it
Reformers face a Catch-22: they want to try new approaches, which by definition haven't yet been proven. But a skeptical public wants assurances that doing something differently will yield better results.
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You Bet Your Life
The National Education Association isn't getting much love these days from Washington, D.C., or Washington State. Last month, the union's Evergreen State affiliate, the W.E.A., was told by a unanimous U.S.
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Down but not out
Speaking of throwing: "The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day." So said Jim "Catfish" Hunter, one of baseball's greatest closers, after giving up a home-run to lose a World Series game in 1974. And it appears, sadly, that the sun has finally set on KIPP Harbor Academy in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
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Abstinence comes with a price
Lesson to kids: Chastity can cost you $24,000. That's about how much 16-year-old Lydia Playfoot (or her parents) will have to pay in court costs, now that she's lost a case against school administrators who made her remove her chastity ring. Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, claims that wearing the ring violated its dress code; Lydia claims that Millais School violated her human rights.
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Separate but constitutional
Ohio's ACLU has been slamming the Cleveland School District for its plan to open five new same-sex schools this fall. But will the threatened lawsuit hold constitutional water? Doubtful. The U.S.
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She wants answers
Detroit's new superintendent, Connie Calloway, garnered cheers from the crowd at a school board meeting last week when she said, "Charter schools mean suicide for public schools." It's an odd statement.
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Left Behind By Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability
Derek Neal and Diane Whitmore SchanzenbachNational Bureau of Economic ResearchJuly 2007
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There they go again
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled against the Louisville and Seattle school districts, race-based student assignment policies are mostly illegal. Superintendents around the nation are now seeking other ways to maintain social diversity in their hallways and classrooms.
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The Learning Season: The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement and Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap
Beth M. MillerNellie Mae Education FoundationJune 2007and Karl L. Alexander, Doris R. Entwisle, and Linda Steffel OlsonAmerican Sociological ReviewApril 2007
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Gadfly's emanations and penumbras
In "Pleasure, beauty, and wonder" (July 12), Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, states, "We need a system that grounds all students in pleasure, beauty, and wonder." Missing is any definition of the terms pleasure, beauty, and wonder.
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Beyond the Battle Lines: Lessons from New York's Charter Caps Fight
Lisa M. StulbergCenter on Reinventing Public EducationJune 2007
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Reading First round-up
The latest Weekly Standard features the Reading First "scandal" on its cover and asks (appropriately enough) "why does Congress hate the one part of No Child Left Behind that works?" Author Charlotte Allen's answer is that members of Congress in general, and Democrats in particular, are cozy with whole language advocates who argue tha
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Pleasure, beauty, and wonder
This week, the Fordham Institute issued Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children, arising from our December 12, 2006, conference on the same topic, at which National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia--one of 18 contributors to the work--delivered a stirring talk on the role of the arts in li
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School choice by other means
Legendary voucher advocate Howard Fuller has long argued that school choice is prevalent--if you're wealthy. Affluent parents exercise "public school choice" when they shop for homes, of course, plus they can opt for private schools if public offerings aren't up to par.
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Heating up Down Under
Gadfly endured lots of taunting as a larva ("88 eyes," "bug-brain"). But his heart truly goes out to 5-year-old Max Hell of Australia. As if the ribbing from his peers wasn't enough--"Max Hell smells!" or "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!"-- officials at St.