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Report
7.11.2007
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Diane Ravitch

America's true competitive edge over the long haul is not its technical prowess but its creativity, its imagination, its inventiveness. And those attributes are best inculcated not by skill-drill or 'STEM' but through liberal arts and sciences, liberally defined. Thus argues this new Fordham volume, edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Diane Ravitch, which also explores what policymakers and educators at all levels can to do sustain liberal learning and sketches an unlovely future if we fail.

Commentary
6.27.2007

Bad news 4 school leaders

It's amusing to find phrases such as "BONG HITS 4 JESUS" amidst the stiff legalese of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion. But unfortunately, the recent ruling in Morse v. Frederick has turned Gadfly's laughter to disappointment.

Commentary
6.27.2007

Exasperated

Yale computer scientist David Gelernter is, like many parents, tired of public schools declaring war on deeply held moral and religious values, not to mention common sense. So he wants to abolish them. Gelernter is one of the smartest people alive and what he writes deserves to be read.

Commentary
6.27.2007

Reflections on the year now ending

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

With so many schools in session well into June and others starting early in August, it sometimes feels like July is all that remains of yesteryear's three-month "summer vacation." Heading into the 7th month, therefore, and with Gadfly looking forward to an Independence Day break, some reflections on the 2006-7 school year seem fitting. Here are ten such:

Commentary
6.27.2007

Memphis jazz, Boston blues

Incoming Boston school chief Carol Johnson boasts an impressive track record. But will she be able to translate her Memphis victories into a Beantown success story? Not if the local teachers union has anything to say about it.

Commentary
6.27.2007

Going upscale

In the introduction to his book Crash Course, Chris Whittle calls himself "a renovation man." He's done a lot of renovating, too: "a Depression-era two-room log cabin," a "rambling apartment in one of New York's oldest apartment buildings." Now, it seems, he has moved on to mansions.

Commentary
6.20.2007

Young guns

Martin A. Davis, Jr.

America is a youth-worshipping nation. Except, it seems, in the field of education, where gray hair and experience are frequently valued above all else. Hence the backlash against Michelle Rhee, who, at age 37, is seen by some as too young and green to head Washington's 55,000-student district.

Commentary
6.20.2007

Federalism in the Land of Oz

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The United States isn't the only land where primary-secondary schooling was traditionally the responsibility of the states or provinces, while the national government played a minor, even peripheral role.

Commentary
6.20.2007

Breaking up is hard to do

The relationship between Philadelphia's former superintendent, Paul Vallas, and the district's School Reform Commission (SRC) survived a bit of a rough patch about this time last year.

Commentary
6.20.2007

Can't touch this

Is it some new form of abstinence education? Or does the principal of Kilmer Middle School have a Howard Hughes-like aversion to touch? No one knows for sure, because no one can get close enough to Deborah Hernandez to find out why she won't permit physical contact of any kind on school grounds.

Commentary
6.20.2007

Church and charter

Can states fund religious charter schools without stepping all over the Constitution's anti-establishment clause? We think it's possible. And in the current issue of Education Week, Lawrence Weinberg and Bruce Cooper show how it's happening near Minneapolis.

Commentary
6.13.2007

We're shaken and stirred

Maybe it's because of the Queen's recent visit, or the steely blue gaze of the newest James Bond, but gin is experiencing something of an American renaissance these days.

Commentary
6.13.2007

A public school by any other name

United Teachers Los Angeles has decided that instead of fighting charter schools they'd rather chase their teachers. "We have come to the realization that we need to look at organizing teachers at charter schools," said UTLA President A.J. Duffy.

Commentary
6.13.2007

"Earned autonomy" comes to Washington

Michael J. Petrilli, Chester E. Finn, Jr.

"Earned autonomy" is an education-reform idea whose time has come--and should come to federal policy. Increasingly, superintendents (in places like Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, etc.) are allowing schools with a track record of improving student achievement to gain more freedom from central office control.

Commentary
6.13.2007

Rheeclaiming D.C. schools

After an arduous process, it finally happened: Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty took control of the city's schools. And his first act was ousting Superintendent Clifford Janey and appointing Michelle Rhee, founder of the New Teacher Project.

Commentary
6.13.2007

How to spell 'illogical'? S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-s

Michael J. Petrilli

In left-wing enclaves such as my current home of Takoma Park, Maryland, ridiculing the illogic of the Bush Administration (on Iraq, on global warming, etc.) is something of an official sport.

Commentary
6.13.2007

Impoverished thinking

Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine was devoted to the income gap, the monetary expanse that separates the have-a-lots from the have-nots. One article in particular caught our eye: "The Poverty Platform." It was a detailed examination of John Edwards's current presidential campaign and its focus on eliminating poverty in America.

Commentary
6.12.2007

Weeds Have STEMs, Too

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Terry Ryan, Quentin Suffren

Ohio's education system has reached a crossroads--at which it can either transition to a dramatically different and more productive model (as outlined in the recent McKinsey/ACHIEVE report here), or it can continue to tinker with incremental adjustments that render the system more complex and costly without producing substantial i

Commentary
6.12.2007

Slipping Standards, Serious Consequences

Quentin Suffren

The growing number of students scoring "proficient" on Ohio's battery of K-12 state assessments (and a slew of tests in other states) may, in part, be attributed to some weak-kneed tests and low cut scores for passage. A new report from the U.S.

Commentary
6.12.2007

Survey Do's and Survey Don'ts

Steve Farkas

Last month, Fordham published its biennial survey of Ohioans' views on education (see here). Who knew it would be the start of a trend?