UCLA professor Bill Ouchi argues in today's New York Post??for giving principals autonomy--a point about which we surely agree--based on his forthcoming research that, when given control, principals can get great results by manipulating the school vari
It is only once in a rare blue moon that we get news like this. The irony is almost palpable. Detractors jump up and down with glee. Latent metaphors abound. It's simply... beautiful. What has me roaring with laughter before lunch?
Last spring, when we released our Catholic schools study just days before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, it was a case of good timing.
The red pen. In our still largely decentralized public school system, it's no big surprise that this old-fashioned instrument of ill repute gets starkly different treatment from district to district and state to state.
There's a fishy odeur emanating from the Bayou these days. The source? A "re-routing" plan that would count the scores of gifted students at magnet schools towards the results of their "home school" (the school they would attend based on school catchment areas).
Mitch PearlsteinPogo Press2008
National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)September 2008
How we love Massachusetts: its patriotic history, wind-swept shores, and, of course, sky-high standards. While other states take cues from NCLB to walk to the middle, Massachusetts keeps raising the bar.
Faculty bathroom graffiti. That's what some are calling teachers' latest past time. Unlike its aerosol cousin though, this graffiti is of the digital variety and something Gadfly sure knows a thing or two about. But unlike our blog's ideas that stick, these educator scribbles are slimy and slick.
LAUSD may have lost six percent of its students from 2001 to 2007 but you'd never know it down at headquarters. That fashionable office--replete with flat screen TVs and on-site dry-cleaning service--has in fact grown by 20 percent during the same period.
Now that the financial markets have steadied themselves a bit, and Congressional leaders have started putting Humpty-Dumpty together again, it's easier to look at the demise of the bailout bill on Monday with cool detachment. And what's clear is that three factions were responsible for the bill's defeat: liberals, conservatives, and members from swing districts, particularly freshmen.
Last night: "Science should be taught in science class."--Sarah Palin August 2005: "Science class is for science"--The Education Gadfly
Economist Roland Fryer's Educational Innovation Laboratory is off to the races, thanks to the Broad Foundation, experimenting with new ways of incentivizing kids to learn in three big cities (New York , Chicago,
Today on Forbes.com , Checker explains why he finds reforms in LA, NY and Denver promising instances of thinking outside the box. It's all about the numbers--of the test score and dollar variety. When the old ways aren't working, shouldn't we try something new? Absolutely.
Cram schools seem to be popping up everywhere. Korea has them as does Flushing, Queens. The newest market?
No, I refer not to the failed bailout, but to the extension bill or "continuing resolution" needed now that Congress has failed to pass a 2009 budget prior to the end of the 2008 fiscal year (today).
Looks like Catholic schools are taking on a new role in urban France. (We've written on the importance of Catholic schools in the US, too.)
This blog has seen various commentary on why Michelle Rhee's plan, "Capital Gains," to pay students for good behavior and good grades was a bad idea (try here to see the ongoing conversation). Liam, in particular, was vehemently opposed to it in its New York City and Washington DC manifestations.
Mike may catch the attention of governors and superintendents, but school boards are deaf.
Oklahoma is trying an education venture some say will help kids stay in school and do better: removing one or perhaps two critical grades and creating separate schools for them. Ninth-graders in Coweta this year are the first to occupy a campus that's just for freshmen and Cache Public Schools plans something similar.
It still makes me gag to see people I think well of--Roy Romer, J.C. Watts, Joel Klein--sharing a letterhead with the lamentable and reprehensible Al Sharpton.
In the debate Friday night, Barack Obama responded to John McCain's idea of freezing federal spending by arguing that "the problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel." Then, on Face the Natio
Check out the latest battle over school choice in the comments section here .
Alyson Klein at Education Week 's Campaign K-12 picks up on my "scalpel " post to dig into the likely candidates for Barack Obama's knife, were he to win the pr
I don't always agree with Jay Mathews, but he has written an excellent column this morning. The crux of his argument is particularly well put:
