If there's one idea that unifies education analysts on the left, right, and center, it's the almost-religious belief that "improving teacher quality" is the surest way to boost student achievement. So it was music to many reformers' ears when, in 2007, McKinsey & Co.
Political conventions, it must be said, have lost their brio. (Nielsen reports that television ratings for them have declined unremittingly since 1980.) Which is not to say nothing interesting will happen this week in Denver; indeed, something already has.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd seems to have learned a lesson or two from the education policies of his conservative predecessor, John Howard. Rudd is moving toward a transparent accountability system that will show parents how their children are faring academically and show the state how schools that enroll similar student populations fare against one another.
Woe to the Maori pupil in Louisiana's St. John the Baptist Parish, the school board of which is embroiled in a bit of a tattoo controversy. It all began when Principal Patricia Triche banned (visible) tattoos in her high school, East St. John.
It's been more than twelve months since Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty named a relative unknown as the city's schools chancellor. Hard to believe, considering the tremendous amount of change that Michelle Rhee has wrought in that time.
The story goes like this. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev hands his successor two letters and tells him to open them when he, the successor, encounters a tough situation. The first such situation arises, the first letter is opened, and it reads, "Blame everything on me." Works like a charm.
If this sort of empty rhetoric is the most we can expect to hear about education for the rest of the campaign, it's time to declare the
I suppose we'd been warned, weeks ago, that the New York City Department of Education was watching us.
Check out his ednews.org interview here, and get a quick and helpful overview of his book,
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