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Gadfly is back

We know it was tough to be Gadfly-less through Thanksgiving (although we hope our sumptuous video menu helped tide you over). Good news: we're baaaack.

Spellings meets Duncan, who has "no idea" when ed secretary post to be announced

The AP reports that Arne Duncan, Chicago Public Schools chief,

No thanks, says Kaine

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Breaking down the brewing battle...

David Whitman, author of "Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism," wrote

A piece of the pie

Seems wishful thinking is Miami-Dade schools' chief Alberto Carvalho's forte. His latest? Bailout the public school system. With myriad companies going hat-in-hand to the feds, Carvalho thinks schools should be given a slice of the bailout pie, too.

"21st century skills" shenanigans in the Bay State

Last spring, Paul Reville, who was then chair of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and is now the Commonwealth's Secretary of Education, created the 21st Century Skills Task Force.

Pilloried pilgrims

Thanksgiving meals don't often deteriorate into altercations requiring police intervention--unless you're the parent of a kindergartner in Claremont, CA, that is. For four decades, tots from two schools in this typically peaceful town have taken turns dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans (OK, we'll say it: Indians) and hosting a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast. But not this year.

Sink or swim

The party's over for members of New York City's teacher reserve pool. Chancellor Joel Klein and UFT President Randi Weingarten have reached a rather sensible accord that sounds likely to provide some long awaited answers to this question: Why are so many teachers in the reserve pool unable to land classroom jobs?

Can You Recognize an Effective Teacher When You Recruit One?

Jonah Rockoff, Brian Jacob, Thomas Kane, and Douglas StaigerNational Bureau of Economic ResearchNovember 2008

Honestly disturbing

Disturbing news from our nation's classrooms: cheating is running rampant. A recent study from the Josephson Institute found that in the past year a whopping 64 percent of high school students have cheated on a test--and 38 percent had done it more than once. The news gets worse.

Senator Jeb?

Jeb Bush must be tiring of the grueling hours and thankless hard work of life in an education think tank, as Politico reports that he may seek a Senate seat.

Re: Some mates are seeing red!

I'm not siding with those who fear the red pen, but colors can matter ???

Caroline Kennedy moves up

Arne Duncan loses 7 percentage points today, but it hardly matters given his substantial lead. Caroline Kennedy scoots up the big chart today, inching past Ray Mabus, whose support is increasing ever so slightly. Word on the street is Freeman Hrabowski doesn't want the job .

Some mates are seeing red!

Duncan donuts and coffee with Spellings?

AG Rogers: Admit it, you just don't have a case

There's a good chance-logically speaking-that Attorney General Nancy Rogers will not appeal the latest rejection of the state's claim that a poorly performing charter school violates the Ohio charitable trust law (see here).

Charter School Authorizers in SREB States: A Call for Accountability

Southern Regional Education BoardNovember 2008The Southern Regional Education Board has identified key elements to gauge the success of charter schools (see here).

Study says school finance system prevents education reform

A six-year, $6-million study of the American school-finance system has determined what many education experts conclude every day-that the system is broken and must be reformed before any true long-term education fix can be fashioned.

Coming soon: Fordham probes the brain drain

When 30 Ohio college students were interviewed in November at three of the state's top universities, they were asked to play what researcher Steve Farkas calls the "finish the sentence game."

Grappling with weighted student funding in a billion-dollar ed. plan

The State Board of Education will vote next week on a new method of allocating and spending education dollars as well as a call to boost state K-12 spending by $1 billion.

Is Spellings rolling the dice with federal student loans?

In light of the current financial calamity, was this really the best location for this speech? From Education Daily: Spellings to speak today in Las Vegas

Joel Klein, staying alive

The daily tracking poll grinds on, as our Washington Insiders* beg for President-Elect Obama to announce his domestic policy team, and in a hurry.

Fordham in the news...

In a City Journal review of the new Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Laura Vanderkam praises his prose and calls it an "engaging" read.

Roland Fryer on Colbert Report

Harvard economist Roland Fryer made an appearance on The Colbert Report last night to discuss his new system of incentivizing students to learn more by paying them for good grades

Lou Gerstner: Nationalize education

Former IBM head Lou Gerstner, no doubt building off his appearance at the

Rhee's moment in TIME

It's hard not to root for Michelle Rhee, the butt-kicking, straight-talking, no-nonsense Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

Chances are, the next education secretary will be from Chicago

It's week four of Fordham's name-the-next-education-secretary-daily-tracking poll, and yes, Arne Duncan is still in the lead. By a lot. Which means, according to one colleague of mine, that he probably won't get the job. If not, maybe another Chicagoan will: Oprah Winfrey.

Arne Duncan soars in ed secretary poll

Arne Duncan carries nearly 40% of our Insiders' votes, soaring high above even his closest competition - Klein, Sebelius, Canada, and Darling-Hammond. But which one of these contenders will dare to pluck his wings? It might be Klein, given that our Insiders increased their support for him today, changing his percentage from 6.3% to 9.8%.

Walking the walk: Fordham's charter school sponsorship report

From Emmy Partin, Fordham's writer and researcher in the Ohio office:

Happy Thanksgiving from Fordham!

The Thomas B.