Yes, they are! No, they aren't!

Boys are being left behind, the Economist tells us.

Vouchers for NOLA

Worth keeping an eye on this, especially because "the Senate plan would require schools to administer state tests to voucher students."

Friday funnies

The pressure high school students face to get into top colleges has intensified to the point that it's susceptible to some hilarious satirizing.

Jesus loves No Child Left Behind

Or at least compassionate conservatism, of which NCLB is a cornerstone. So implieth Michael Gerson in this morning's Washington Post.

Higher-ed education

John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, writes in National Review a solid, sweeping article about higher education. It's currently available only to subscribers (they, and hackers, may read it here). Some good parts:

Cliche

The problem here elicited is a problem--at??least because it engenders a lot of boring writing--and I'm convinced that it's getting worse. (No, I don't have data to support that.) Today's k-12 system generally ignores writing and today's colleges demand lousy writing, so there you go.

Re: Vouchers for NOLA

It's entirely appropriate that the Louisiana Senate would require schools participating in a possible New Orleans voucher program to "administer state tests to voucher students." That's hardly out of line for other voucher programs.

Re: Vouchers for NOLA

Mike and I can disagree all day, during normal business hours, about the level of transparency we should demand from voucher schools. But in the NOLA case, the issue is "contentious" and might stall the $10 million proposal (although the city's Catholic schools will accept standardized testing--they're desperate).

Extreme Makeover: Ed policy think tank website edition

This Week's Fordham Factor: Health care costs and obese teachers

Mike and Liam discuss Mike's controversial Gadfly article on the burdensome health care costs associated with teacher obesity. httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=fOux-s2t0Xo

Obese teachers: K-12 education's $2.5 billion problem

Wondering why all that extra federal money for "teacher quality" just seems to get absorbed by the system? Maybe this is why.

On wimps

Books like this are fine, but it's incorrect (title of book in question notwithstanding) to see them as diagnosing a "national problem." The temptation exists, of course, to find in their stories reflections of a country in which high school students don't eat lunch (no time!), in which parents w

Everyone's special

I'm not a special education (SPED) expert nor will I ever claim to be one. But I do know that it happens to have one of the most mobilized and vocal constituencies in education. And that's no surprise--understandably, parents of special needs children want their kids to receive the services that they need.

"Jimmy Hoffa in a Dress"

Obama 1, McCain 0

One of Senator John McCain's most attractive virtues is his willingness to stand on principle even in the face of adversity. He promoted comprehensive immigration reform even though his own party's base hated it. He continues to support the Iraq War even though the public wants the troops out.

David Hoff strikes back

Not happy that the McCain campaign is using an Ed Week article he wrote last year to demonstrate Obama's thin record on educatio

Gadfly's got game

That's right, it does. This week's issue is out. Don't miss Mike's feature article, which argues that we need fewer chunky teachers in our public schools.

Hat trick

Reports the BBC: "A university has asked students to refrain from throwing their mortar board hats in the air to celebrate graduation in case someone gets hurt." Smart. Hat-related injuries can and do occur.

Wake update

We've documented how Wake County (Raleigh) is making a real mess of its public schools.

2008 Spelling Bee

It's on. And with ESPN360, you don't have to miss a moment. A moment like this. Update: Or this!

Asteroid killers

TO: [email protected]

The gift that stopped giving

As part of its effort to trim $200 million from its budget, the New York City Department of Ed will take down a notch its plan to expand screening programs for gifted and talented pupils.

Wikipedia 101

Back at ya, Bauerlein

From Newsweek, this article provides a well-argued and sorely-needed counterpoint to Mark Bauerlein's recent youth-bashing book, The Dumbest Generation. Some choice bits:

Cut-score cacophony

Yet another example of a state backing away from high standards. A committee, composed largely of Georgia teachers, included challenging new questions in the state's sixth- and seventh-grade social studies exams. Then, Georgia's Board of Education raised by nine points the score needed to pass those tests.

Good grammar

Capping off a debate described by one politician as "contaminated and a circus," the Texas Education Board last week endorsed a back-to-basics approach to reading comprehension and grammar in the English standards for the Lone Star State.

More blood on China's hands

It is wrong to condemn children to bad schools. But it is dastardly to teach them in unsafe, shoddily-constructed buildings. The Chinese authorities are, it seems, quite guilty of the latter offense. Of the 61,000 people whose lives were ended by the recent earthquakes in Sichuan Province, over 10,000 were children crushed while attending class.

Obama on offense

Yesterday, Barack Obama decided to capitalize on John McCain's total, no-caveats embrace of No Child Left Behind. The Illinois Senator, speaking at the Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts: "I believe it's time to lead a new era of mutual responsibility in education...

Rheewind on school funding

Why is District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, the darling of education reformers (usually including us), eliminating one of the few promising features that greeted her in the D.C. public school system? Is she a control freak, even when she shouldn't be?

A drag on standards Down Under

The drive to lower standards can take on ridiculous guises. See, for example, the case of 18-year-old Australian Nicholas Benjamin Siiankoski, who recently pleaded guilty to possession of Ecstasy. Justice George Fryberg sentenced him to three years' probation and 100 hours of community service. But the judge also added an interesting twist to the punishment.