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Do not pass go

Lawmakers, principals, teachers, and parents clearly find it hard to hold back struggling pupils, whether they're failing high school exit exams or elementary school grade-level tests.

False alarmism

Last month, the Washington Post's Jay Mathews mustered strong evidence and taut logic to contest some of the more questionable claims surrounding the prospects for America's economic competitiveness.

Not sharp at all

A lot of normally smart and generally sincere??people have just made the dreadful blunder of affiliating themselves with Al Sharpton, one of America's more unlovable figures, whose fingerprints can be found on an appalling list of divisive, racist, anti-Semitic, violent,??and often bloody episodes over the past quarter century.

Supa Dupa Fly

In this week's Gadfly, published mere moments ago, one can find a riveting examination by Checker of what we mean when we talk about "international benchmarking." We pull no punches regarding Eleanor Holmes Norton and the

Rift

Greg Toppo's story in??USA Today about the rift between two segments of left-leaning education types is noteworthy. Education has for some lengthy period been relegated to the outskirts of political conversation, and it's refreshing to see it command a little spotlight, however briefly.

Vouchers in LA

"In a major legislative success for Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Senate voted 25-12 Wednesday for a bill that would let up to 1,500 low- to middle-income students in New Orleans attend private schools at taxpayer expense." Article here.

John McCain takes my advice, and then some

I've been arguing lately that John McCain needs to distance himself from NCLB, because it's unpopular with his base and, increasingly, with the general public.

This Week's Fordham Factor: Manifestoes

Mike and Christina discuss a recent rash of education reform proposals. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKibmnVrC4M

The New York Narcissus

Regarding the news that Al Sharpton and Joel Klein will team up to bring fresh ideas into education, unions be damned, New York teachers union head Randi Weingarten had this to say:

The professionals

Teachers, we are told (mostly by teachers) are professionals--and they require treatment befitting such. Alas, the facts don't always support the claims.

What do we mean by "international benchmarking"?

You've heard it a hundred times: "We really need to benchmark our education standards to the best in the world," or words to that effect.

Norton hears a boo

"We have to protect the children, who are the truly innocent victims here." Absent context, one might guess that Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's non-voting congressional delegate, was decrying, say, the inadequacy of the nation's response to child abuse. Not so.

No small feat

More glum feedback for the Gates Foundation's pricey initiative to create and support small schools--and others enraptured with smallness per se as an education reform strategy.

Ben Franklin would cry

Another day, another state content to let its kids continue to earn meaningless high school diplomas.

Allocation Anatomy: How District Policies that Deploy Resources Can Support (or Undermine) District Reform Strategies

Marguerite Roza, School Finance Redesign Project, Center on Reinventing Public EducationMay 15, 2008

Many States Have Taken a "Backloaded" Approach to No Child Left Behind Goal of All Students Scoring Proficient

Naomi Chudowsky and Victor ChudowskyCenter on Education PolicyMay 2008

Debatable

When Gadfly wrote, "Despite what our good friend Jay Mathews tells you, AP is not for everyone," he didn't expect that the selfsame Jay Mathews would then challenge him to a duel. Only in words, mercifully.

History opens eyes

Bill Bennett's superb two-volume U.S. history, America: The Last Best Hope, is beginning to be adopted as a text by school systems and is now accompanied by all manner of useful educator tools and its own hefty, bumptious (like Bennett himself) history-education-makeover project.

No fans of Eleanor, these

The Wall Street Journal editors defend D.C.'s voucher program.

Salt in Booker's wounds

A few weeks ago at the NewSchools Venture Fund summit, Newark Mayor Cory Booker's jealousy about Washington mayor Adrian Fenty'

Progress toward what?

The last paragraph of Coby's latest post,??directly below,??contains this: "But once they're washed downriver by the unyielding tide of technological progress, they'll sound as quaint as Socrates' reminiscences about the days before writing." Progress has both a quantitative and qualitative definition, and one wonders if Coby doesn't concentrate overmuch on the former.

Change we can disagree in

It's true--it's tough to predict the future. Of course, that doesn't mean we should be content to let the progression of technology sweep us up and take us where it may.

Sounds promising

Some good news from Boston.

Hyperbole at its finest

Education Week reports today that data collected from the states by the U.S. Department of Education show the percentage of core classes in the nation taught by highly-qualified teachers is around 94 percent for 2006-2007.

Reverend Al's odd alliances

Thinking differently

I still don't like the snarky title of Mark Bauerlein's new bo

Re: Progress toward what?

I don't know, Liam, what will be the "quality" of the coming decades' progress. Nor, do I think, does Bauerlein.

Little bang for lots of buck

I was expecting a bit more from Eduwonk's $5 billion challenge. The winner, just announced, would use the money to

Research question

Kevin Carey expounds upon the reasons that research doesn't always or even often make it to policymakers and into their policies. His suggested remedies are fine, especially the appeal for better writing.

TMA in the WSJ

Washington, D.C.'s Thurgood Marshall Academy charter school is featured in today's Wall Street Journal.