If the charter school movement has learned anything in the last fifteen-plus years, it's that passionate folks with good intentions often underestimate the challenges of starting and leading a school. A recent Salt Lake Tribune article drives this lesson home.
"Welcome to McQualifications." Thus read a Financial Times headline after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that McDonald's--the burger and fries joint--will have the power to bestow upon their employees nationally recognized diplomas (see here).
The President wasn't wrong when he said on Monday evening that the No Child Left Behind Act is "succeeding," though he cherry-picked the available evidence to document his claim.
Garrison Keillor, he of soothing baritone and dyed-in-the-wool liberal sensibilities, writes that it is not "Republican oligarchs in top hats and spats" who are failing the nation's public-school children. No. "Nice people are failing these kids, but when they are called on it, they get very huffy," he writes.
Gadfly was still a bit groggy from the holidays when this fine piece about Jonathan Kozol appeared in the Weekly Standard. The article traces Kozol's development, from failed novelist (an excerpt of his book Fume of Poppies: "The white of her belly was lovely and gay.
By almost every relevant measure, Massachusetts has the highest-performing public education system in the land, with praiseworthy NAEP results (at least compared to everywhere else), solid academic standards, an effective testing and accountability system, a well-regarded (if puny) charter-school sector, intelligent approaches to teacher licensure, and more.
Rumors that New York's state assessments are getting easier in the era of No Child Left Behind have repeatedly surfaced (see here and
Randi Weingarten--UFT president, AFT heir-apparent--must enjoy fighting losing battles. Her latest hopeless quest is to keep New York City schools from using "value-added" achievement data to evaluate teachers. "If one permitted this, it would be one of the worst decisions of my professional life," she told the New York Times.
At first I wasn't going to buy Liam Julian's latest article, ("How's your drink?"), but I think he makes a good point. On some level, what people want in education is not exclusively about learning.
Thomas Friedman decided in 2005 to overturn two millennia of astronomical wisdom by releasing a book called The World Is Flat, the crux of which is that the United States faces growing economic competition from countries such as China and India. The tome's title is cliché, but its omnipresence defies disregard.
What type of formal education makes great CEOs? According to Forbes magazine, chief executives earn shareholders similar returns whether they have a Ph.D., MBA, J.D., master's degree, or even just a bachelor's degree. What type of formal education makes great principals?
"Please," cry the teachers of Dallas, who are currently disallowed from giving their students any grade lower than a 50 percent, "let us bestow upon our pupils the grades that they in reality earn." Superintendent Michael Hinojosa scoffs at such pleas.
Paying teachers extra for serving in high-needs schools is one of the few ideas embraced by presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle this election year. And even lots of teachers like the notion, at least in theory.
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver caused a stir recently when he offed a chicken in front of a live, studio audience. The demonstration's point (buy ethically reared fowl), and perhaps the demonstration itself, would be right at home in the U.K.'s new curriculum.
When 45 percent of Pennsylvania's 127,000 high-school seniors fail basic reading and math exams, when close to 75 percent of Philadelphia's 2006 graduates don't pass them, what is to be done? The state's education secretary, Gerald Zahorchak, has an answer.
Andrew J. RotherhamEducation SectorJanuary 2008
The Statehouse is bustling with activity as the legislature ramps up for 2008. A slew of bills are being debated in the education committees. One proposes doing away with paddling, a longstanding tradition in some schools. Another bill would ban teacher strikes and a third would curtail some teacher collective-bargaining rights.
The spotlight has been shining brightly on the Cincinnati Public Schools' (CPS) reform efforts, including a segment January 15 on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight that highlighted the changes at Withrow University High School.
Kenneth K. Wong, Francis X. Shen, Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, Stacey RutledgeGeorgetown University Press2007
Two Wayne County school districts that have decided to stretch budgets by sharing a superintendent. Orrville City Schools and the neighboring Rittman Exempted Villiage Schools estimate that both districts will each save about $100,000 now and even more down the road by sharing Orrville Superintendent John Ritchie and several other officials.
Bringing long-term positive change to the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) and reversing the district's decades-long slide means not only beefing up test scores but also closing poorly performing schools while opening innovative new ones that will give the district the edge in pushing change.
Jane Shaw, of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, writes to let us know of a new report:
The market's ability to improve school quality has faced growing skepticism lately (see below). And now this.
Conventional wisdom tells us that the U.S. economy demands gobs more workers with bachelor's degrees. Veteran analyst and all-around-smart-guy Paul Barton thinks that this conventional wisdom is wrong and that the demand for college graduates is overstated.
It's official. Wyoming is adequate--or at least it adequately funds its public schools. The Cowboy State's Supreme Court ruled last week that the state's method of paying school districts is constitutional, thus putting an end to 14 years of judicial oversight of how primary-secondary education in Wyoming is financed.
Dallas has hit a rough patch. After their 13-3 season, the Cowboys' pitiable exit from the NFL playoffs has left the city despondent. And then there are Dallas's schools, which are so plagued by corruption that the district has created a 15-person investigative office just to crack down on such malfeasance.
As a veteran teacher in Georgia, a non-union state, I see Mike Petrilli's latest article ("Older teachers for Clinton, younger teachers for Obama?") has hit on one of the big facts about teacher salaries, unions, and retirement: they're all based on the fact that most young teachers won't make it.
Don't get me wrong. Mike Petrilli's much-needed analysis of teacher characteristics ("Why teachers like Mike") is on the mark. Teachers' political preferences reflect the make-up of their workforce (mostly white, middle-aged females).
