A sign of what's to come?

Boston charter school growth prompts desire to change funding formula

Fall Intern Molly Kennedy offers up this reading:

Halloween princesses at Fordham but alas, no Gadfly

(Left to right): Fordham staffers in costume: Alice takes a peek through the Looking Glass, Sleeping Beauty catches some Zs, Snow White hums to the birds, Concert Goer #1 chills and a Wake Forest track star stretches.

Apparently Margaret Spellings didn't get this memo*

???A Last Push to Deregulate: White House to Ease Many Rules???

Apparently Margaret Spellings didn't get this memo*

???A Last Push to Deregulate: White House to Ease Many Rules???

Get ready for the third Bush term

So says Jay Mathews in his

Apparently Margaret Spellings didn't get this memo*

???A Last Push to Deregulate: White House to Ease Many Rules???

Apparently Margaret Spellings didn't get this memo*

???A Last Push to Deregulate: White House to Ease Many Rules???

Gifted program enrollment down in NY

Fall Intern Molly Kennedy offers up this reading:

The little federal office that could

Ted Mitchell and Jonathan Schorr of the NewSc

Gadfly: hot off the press

This week, we start off with a double header on the education system's economic woes--and what to do about them. First Checker explains why districts have so much trouble cutting the fat. Enlightening, surely, but not too surprising.

H is for hummus...S is for salmon

You gotta love California. Seems the Golden State, worried that their wee toddlers' arms are too short for proper tree-huggery, will inculcate them with the prerequisite environmentalism another way: through their stomachs.

Why school systems cannot lose weight

There's plenty of evidence that state and municipal budgets are strapped these days, due to shrinking tax revenues from a faltering economy, declining property values, etc. It's also clear that a number of school systems are feeling the pinch.

Windbag city

Chi-town, home of deep dish pizza, The Band, and an education reform powerhouse? That's John Simmon's take.

The three R's (recession, reform, and results)

Dreading the pinch of a tight economy on your state's budget? You're not alone. According to the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, nearly every state experienced flat or declining revenues in the first half of 2008 compared to last year, and 39 states have developed "budget shortfalls"--gaps between expected revenue and planned expenditures. 

Red tape reprise

Remember those halcyon days of the late 1990s?

In the name of love

It's hard to miss the media firestorm over Chicago's latest educational innovation, the School for Social Justice Pride Campus. The school would cater to gay students who are teased and bullied at their current schools.

The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for School Reform

Frederick M. Hess, ed.Harvard Education PressSeptember 2008

The Carnegie Conversation on Catholic Education

John Staud, ed.Alliance for Catholic Education PressAugust 2008

Counting on Graduation: An Agenda for State Leadership

Anna HabashEducation TrustFall 2008

Can school districts be bribed to do the right thing?

There's been a lot of debate recently about the degree to which the feds can coerce states or school districts to do things they don't want to do (see here,

Quick and the Ed Watch: Lessons unlearned

Former Ed Truster Kevin Carey loves Education Trust's trusty new report on graduation rates (timed to coincide w

Strickland Roadmap for Academic Reforms--Translated by the Gadfly

Governor Strickland's office recently shared his "Roadmap for Academic Reforms," which appears to be the forerunner or prelude to the governor's long-awaited plan for renewing and strengthening K-12 education in Ohio. The present document, regrettably, is not only devoid of specifics but also brimming with catchy buzz phrases and trendy eduspeak nostrums.

Education Dept. steps in the right direction

I don't much cotton to this bloggish practice of holding internal conversations in public view, but this time I think Mike is over the top--and he didn't ask my advice before "publishing". He's right about NCLB's built-in flaws and the need to rethink the law??so as to set them right. A fair amount of that is statutory repair work; some, however,??is regulatory.

NCLB and Congressional races

Fall Intern Molly Kennedy offers up this reading:

The agony of a Gadfly

I'm not sure whether his analysis about the McCain campaign is spot-on, but how are we supposed to feel about Rich Lowry's depiction of us Gadflies?

Spellings: Rome is burning

On education, the Democrats are already in charge

Before the 2004 presidential election, it was obvious what the liberal advocacy group Education Trust thought about President George W. Bush.

What to do with NCLB?

Last week, Mike explained (in the Washington Times), that NCLB needs to be "flipped" on its head. What does he mean?

What's the deal?

Fordham's Mike Petrilli is participating in an online discussion where panelists--even as I type this--are attempting to answer the question "Do we need a new deal for teachers?" ??Moderator Steve Farkas, of the Farkas Duffett Research Group, kicked things off by