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One size fits all?

"Senator wants all schools to open on same day" According to the AP article:

Self-righteous

Kevin Carey treats Charles Murray unfairly. Carey, reviewing Murray's new book Real Education, writes:

Better

Ben Wildavsky's Wall Street Journal review of Real Education is much better than this.

Not exactly brain food

Washington Post misses bigger picture

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Mission accomplished

There's a lot for conservatives to dislike about the Bush Administration when it comes to education and the No Child Left Behind Act. But they should give the President some credit: he certainly split the Democratic Party on the issue.

Paternalismo: Si se puede!

"Cuando los progres no quieren paternalism," por George Will

Pot calls kettle black

CATO's Neil McCluskey, at the end of a long post arguing against my call for national standards and tests, says of the idea that "harsh reality just seems to??eclipse impossible dreams."

Has NCLB generated a new breed of education leader?

I'm working on a piece about the Bush education legacy, and I'm thinking about the notion that these years have seen a flourishing of reform efforts and leaders.

No more 'breaded bread with bread sauce"

The website of one of the leading education trade journals, Gourmet magazine, has a feature on Tony Geraci, who's been charged with making Baltimore's school lunches more nourishing. Replacing sugary snacks and processed entrees will be whole grains and fresh fruits and veggies.

Re: Waterloo sounds rough. Can we just attack the Irish?

Liam implicitly made a point in his post yesterday that's worth making explicit.

Murray reviewed

The Kauffman Foundation's Ben Wildavsky reviews the new Charles Murray book in today's Wall Street Jour

Final day of the 2008 Education Olympics!

They waited until the last second, but the Americans finally won a medal in this year's games--and a gold, no less. Pandemonium ensued on the set of Education Olympics Today. Get the full story at edolympics.net.

A lesson simply not learned

Just when New York says its cash incentives program for good grades isn't working (original article here), DC decides to go ahead

George Will: "Paternalistic" is Right

George Will, the nation's most widely syndicated columnist, weighs in today on

The people want answers

CATO's Neal McLuskey and Eduwonk Andy Rotherham are strange bedfellows, but they both have the same burning question on their minds: Why would national standards and tests be any better than state

It's Thursday. You know what that means.

This week's Gadfly is now available for all the world to see.

Waterloo sounds rough. Can we just attack the Irish?

The evidence, as always, is mixed. Yesterday, the New York Times noted that the Big Apple's dollars-for-high-test-scores program hasn't worked.

Day Ten of the 2008 Education Olympics

The Americans didn't win a medal on the penultimate day of the 2008 Education Olympics, leaving them just one more chance for a top-three finish. A special guest joins us, sort of, to size up their chances. Full coverage at edolympics.net.

Getting back to what matters

With the most glorious moments of the 2008 Summer Olympics for Team USA now mostly behind us, commentators are finally turning their attention to the slightly less sexy, but surely more significant Education Olympics.

Looking up the word "transformative"

More on Debbie Phelps

We discovered last week that not only is Debbie Phelps the principal of Windsor Mill Middle School in Maryland, but that Windsor Mill didn't make AYP last year.

Bad career move

Since the blog has taken a more serious turn as of late, I proffer you this: "Ga. Schools superintendent to appear on ???5th grader'"

Naming names: Paternalism, meet political correctness

David Whitman writes about the coverage of his new book, Sweating the Small Stuff.

Education Olympics: The games in review

With the 2008 Summer Olympic Games nearing its endpoint, there's consternation in the air about the likelihood that China will best the United States in the gold medal count, and might catch the U.S. in medals overall.

Big D gets a big F

The Dallas school district has decided it cannot grade students by academic benchmarks because, evaluated thusly, the pupils have a tendency to fail.

Snug as a teacher in tenure

The Associated Press, which has been a little blue of late, tells us that the nation's trepidatious economy is affecting youngsters in the worst ways: "Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks, even wear last year's clothes. Field trips?

Save the World on Your Own Time

Stanley FishOxford University Press2008

Just as sweet, by any other name

David Whitman's new book, which George Will wrote about today in his Washington Post column (see above), contains the word paternalism. Whitman uses it to describe a particular type of urban school that succeeds in teaching its poor and minority students largely because it focuses on discipline and hard work (and takes pride in both).