There may be no Greek columns to back-drop these stump speeches, but they're still promising big change. In fact, the school corridors and cafeteria tables only serve to emphasize the issues of the day: class trips and cafeteria food. That's right, election fever has hit southern Florida elementary schools--election fever for school council elections.
Gary W. Phillips and John DosseyAmerican Institutes of ResearchOctober 2008
It's no secret that Gadfly and his friends harbor some doubts about the programs now popping up in various cities that pay students for improved attendance, behavior, and grades. But now that these initiatives are in motion, we might as well learn something from them.
Ending social promotion is a good idea, but merely forcing students to repeat grades--same stuff, same classrooms, often same teachers--has been shown to be an inadequate alternative. Which is why Jefferson Parish, Louisiana deserves kudos for devising a promising "third way": grade 4.5, the destination for fourth-graders who fail to pass the state's LEAP test.
Chapter 3, "Enhancing Educational Performance"Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOctober 10, 2008
School accountability is a hot button topic in Ohio and across the United States. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) made school accountability a federal matter when, in 2001, Congress and President Bush reached across the political divide to set ambitious goals and accountability standards for all schools and children.
When Deborah Delisle takes the reins at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) she will face a long list of challenges, not the least of which is getting to know a very large set of new bosses.
Charter-school supporters are calling a Toledo effort to require every new school to have a cafeteria, gym, and other facilities the latest skirmish in an on-going guerrilla war against charters.
The National Governors AssociationSeptember 2008
Two very important questions face educators in determining when an Ohio high-school senior should become an Ohio high-school graduate. First, how much does that student know? And, second, exactly how should that question be answered?
I had the honor of appearing on the Diane Rehm Show this morning, along with D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, Lisa Graham Keegan of the McCain campaign, Melody Barnes of the Obama campaign, Greg Toppo of USA Today, and Rick Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation.
My post about Obama surrogate Melody Barnes's embrace of student portfolios is causing concern within the edusphere.
Last Thursday, the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program unveiled a new paper by Sara Mead and Andrew Rotherham, Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21st Century Educational Innovation .
William Ayers may be getting a lot of attention these days, but the real education radical to keep your eye on is D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee .
Martin West and Ludger Woessmann have published a fascinating study in the winter edition of Education Next. Its conclusion--that there is a positive correlation between the prevalence of private schools and high test scores--is something that is widely argued but not so widely proven.
Sol Stern describes Bill Ayers thusly: "[A]s one of the leaders of a movement for bringing social-justice teaching into our public school classrooms, Mr. Ayers is not a school reformer. He is a school destroyer." Hard to argue with that.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the cram industry in India and asked a simple question: what will it take to get American students to start respecting education again?
As Campaign K-12 reports, last night's presidential debate was a bonanza for education. The candidates mentioned the word 21 times--which would look particularly impressive were it not for Joe the Plumber's 26 citations.
McCain claimed so last night, Obama disagreed, and now Fast Company's blog gets to the bottom of it (taking the analysis a step further than Marc Fisher in the
According to Joel Klein, former Wall Street execs have another option: the classroom. Guess, we'll have to wait and see math teacher alternative certification programs are overwhelmed with??Gordon Gekkos.
...is stupendous. I know we say this every week, but that's because we tend to routinely out-do ourselves. This week is no exception.
As the Holy Rabbi would say, it could always be worse. While Bob Schieffer told the nation last night that our education system trails "most of the countries of the world," surely he didn't have Mexico in mind.
Extra chores, withheld desserts, and grounding may be going the way of poodle skirts and cherry coke floats if the latest installments in the Nebraska safe-haven law saga are any indication.
Dan Lips and Matthew LadnerGoldwater InstituteSeptember 2008
