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Selected comments from our readers
Jane Shaw, of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, writes to let us know of a new report:
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How's your drink?
The market's ability to improve school quality has faced growing skepticism lately (see below). And now this.
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It's not just the economy, stupid
Conventional wisdom tells us that the U.S. economy demands gobs more workers with bachelor's degrees. Veteran analyst and all-around-smart-guy Paul Barton thinks that this conventional wisdom is wrong and that the demand for college graduates is overstated.
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Winds of change from Wyoming
It's official. Wyoming is adequate--or at least it adequately funds its public schools. The Cowboy State's Supreme Court ruled last week that the state's method of paying school districts is constitutional, thus putting an end to 14 years of judicial oversight of how primary-secondary education in Wyoming is financed.
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Scandal squad
Dallas has hit a rough patch. After their 13-3 season, the Cowboys' pitiable exit from the NFL playoffs has left the city despondent. And then there are Dallas's schools, which are so plagued by corruption that the district has created a 15-person investigative office just to crack down on such malfeasance.
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What if I do janitorial overtime?
As a veteran teacher in Georgia, a non-union state, I see Mike Petrilli's latest article ("Older teachers for Clinton, younger teachers for Obama?") has hit on one of the big facts about teacher salaries, unions, and retirement: they're all based on the fact that most young teachers won't make it.
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Endorsements aren't everything
Don't get me wrong. Mike Petrilli's much-needed analysis of teacher characteristics ("Why teachers like Mike") is on the mark. Teachers' political preferences reflect the make-up of their workforce (mostly white, middle-aged females).
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Enough
Sol Stern no longer walks hand-in-hand with the invisible hand. In an article in the Winter 2008 City Journal, he reconsiders his once staunch belief that educational choice will cure ailing public-school systems.
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California Cassino
The Golden State is anything but. Yet again, California is in a budget crisis--this time it faces a $14 billion deficit. "For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Small classes, big problems
In November 2002, Florida voters amended the state constitution to mandate that classes from pre-k through third-grade have no more than 18 kids, grades four through eight no more than 22, and grades nine through 12 no more than 25. These targets didn't have to be met class-by-class until fall 2008. It ain't gonna be easy. Republican State Senator Don Gaetz predicts "a lot of meetings ...
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Stick to the recipe
Has any commentator yet compared the No Child Left Behind act to a stew, one into which cooks dump whatever odds and ends and leftover bits they find in the kitchen, keeping the pot bubbling forever on the back of the stove? If not, allow us to be the first.
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Albany is no exception
In his commentary on the Dayton experience, "Sources of Charter School Mediocrity," Checker Finn provides one of the choice movement's rare admissions of error. His analysis is trenchant and honestly refreshing.
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Older teachers for Clinton, younger teachers for Obama?
Senator Barack Obama sees a post-partisan future for America, but that doesn't mean all divisions will disappear. Already the Democratic primary is shaping up to be a generational battle royale. In Iowa, Senator Hillary Clinton beat Obama by 20 points among voters over 50; by New Hampshire that margin grew to 30.
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Parking lout
Calvin Trillin--veteran New Yorker writer and author of, among other swell books, Tepper Isn't Going Out, which revolves around a New York City man's parking habits--harbors intense feelings about vehicular placement.
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Quality Counts. Or does it?
This week brought the twelfth edition of the yearly Quality Counts report, which evaluates public education in the states and nation. Each of those political entities is graded in six areas, and those six grades are then combined to yield for every state (and the country and D.C.) an overall grade.
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Charter School Law Deskbook
Paul T. O'NeillLexisNexis and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools2007
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Charter school accountability--progress has been made, but more to do
Since 2005, Ohio has ramped up its charter school accountability. The General Assembly took the lead here with legislation like H.B. 66 in 2005 and H.B. 79 in late 2006.
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Gadfly's take on 2008...
It's probably no surprise for those of you intimate with gadflies that they have, prominently, the ability to clearly and accurately predict the future. So, after many long hours in front of the crystal ball over the holidays, the Ohio Education Gadfly is blessing readers with eight insightful predictions for the Buckeye State in 2008:
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Buckeye State: Better than average
Education Week released its Quality Counts 2008 report today. This influential and objective annual report gives Ohio another B-minus. Here are some key takeaway points:Ohio's children start school less prepared for school success than their peers across the country;The state's assessment and accountability system is one of the nation's best;
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Plant a SEED in Cincinnati
The SEED Foundation-created in 1997 to establish college-prep, urban boarding schools-is seeking to open a new school in Ohio's Queen City and is hiring a Director of New Schools Development for Ohio to lead the efforts.
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The OEA needs to take a long look in the mirror
Fordham president Checker Finn's December 11, 2007, Columbus Dispatch op-ed (see here) about how to better Ohio's charter school program generated a predictable letter to the editor from Ohio Education Association (OEA).
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Capital offense
Washington, D.C., parents could not have been pleased after reading about the haphazard way that curriculum decisions are made in their city. Two recent Washington Post articles paint a story of administrative incompetence and misplaced power.
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Subcontinent envy
Some of the best food to be found in England has its origins in Delhi and Puducherry. Now, it seems, some of the best education to be found in Japan has its home in India, too.
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Intervene smarter
No serious person thinks students who require special education should not get it. It's undeniable, however, that public schools have a history of shunting into special education classes many students who suffer from no learning disability but who may simply lag academically for one reason or another, or who have trouble behaving.
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It's not about the kids
Can Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa catch a break? Not only does he have to battle with hardnosed politicians in Sacramento, intransigent school board members, tough union types, and angry parents--now he's catching flak from the kids!
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Jumping through hoops a plus
I thoroughly enjoyed Liam Julian's piece "Check yourself before you wreck yourself." As the director of a teacher training initiative at Haskins Laboratories, practicing teachers, particularly the "big-hearted 22 year-olds," tell me they don't know how to teach children to read.
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Broccoli for your brain
We hear often about the decline of reading and what a nasty harbinger it is. But seldom do we hear the case made as convincingly as Caleb Crain puts it in the December 24th New Yorker.
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Staving off Spicolis
Boys will be boys. But not if Ana Homayoun has anything to say about it. Homayoun is one of a burgeoning number of tutors who have realized that many of boys' school difficulties stem from lack of organization.