Will Obama have a mandate on education?

Let's assume for a moment that the current trajectory of the presidential election remains the same and Obama wins by a significant margin, maybe even a landslide.

Don't blame it all on the tests

Sam Dillon has a great article in today's New York Times which illustrates the wide variation in the number of schools making "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind. He writes,

Doug Mesecar and Kelly Scott: Please steal this idea

Richard Whitmire, who wrote this USA Today editorial in support of single sex schools, wants those of us at Fordham to send a video crew to the Excellence Charter S

From Brown to "Bong Hits": Assessing a Half-Century of Judicial Involvement in Education

With a title like that, we already know you RSVP'd (if you didn't, what are you waiting for?). More good news! The ten papers being presented at this stupendous conference are now posted online. Your weekend reading is all taken care of--you're welcome.

What's your Rheesoning?

Fordham staff received an email this afternoon from D.C. parent Jean Hoff and decided to post it (in part, and with her permission):

Re: Pity the $30,000 a year teacher

Readers are lighting up the comments section on this one regarding a comment made by "that one." (Note to John McCain: please try to remember your opponent's nam

Wherein I take a scalpel to my own blog post

A few weeks ago I introduced Barack Obama's scalpel to a list of what I referred to as "ineffective" Department of Education programs worthy of elimination.

The Gadfly is here

Stop what you're doing. Put down the casual over-lunch newspaper. The Gadfly is up. What do we have this week?

Let me tell you a bit about teamwork...

CER's Jeanne Allen writes an open letter to Jay Mathews at the Washington Post. Amber disagreed with his assessment that merit pay will undermine teamwork--and Jeanne does too.

Wherein an unobservant Jew prays for the salvation of Catholic Schools

On this Yom Kippur, Checker Finn atones for his Nixonian associations by highlighting the dire straits of America's urban parochial schools. Read it here.

Robert Reich: Short on facts

A friend pointed me to this New York Times column by Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, wherein he states:

Introducing the new director of Brookings's Brown Center

Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.

Introducing the new director of Brookings's Brown Center

Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.

Introducing the new director of Brookings's Brown Center

Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.

Introducing the new director of Brookings's Brown Center

Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.

Choosing the Right Educational Path for Your Child: What are the Options?

Paula J. Carreiro and Eileen Shields-West, eds.Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.2008

School Performance Will Fail to Meet Legislated Benchmarks

M.J. Bryant, K.A. Hammond, M.M. Bocian, M.F. Rettig, C.A. Miller, R.A. CardulloScience MagazineSeptember 2008

Game time

Video games might help kids develop more than overgrown thumb muscles, reports the New York Times. Increasingly, publishers and educators are using video games to bait students into opening that ancient relic known as a book. This is, to an extent, laudable: schools should prepare students for the (digital) future, and teachers should strive to make learning relevant and engaging.

Thanks but no thanks

Here's a quandary. All four elementary schools in New London, CT have failed to make adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years. Unable to offer intra-district school choice, the school system is required under NCLB to ask neighboring districts to offer inter-district choice. And so New London did--and got "no takers" from any of its eighteen surrounding districts.

Ed in '08, Federalist edition

Our favorite national initiative may be history, but education is alive and kicking in the good ole states. A whopping fifteen of them will have an array of legislative referendums, constitutional amendments, and citizen initiatives on their ballots this November.

Welcome to Michelle's neighborhood

Three cheers for DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. After a grueling attempt to bribe the Washington Teachers' Union into accepting a generous new pay scale accompanied by teacher accountability, she has decided unilaterally to remove ineffective teachers without waiting for the WTU to assent.

Preserving faith-based urban schools

Back in April, a trinity of events called attention to the worsening plight of America's faith-based urban schools: Pope Benedict's visit, particularly his Catholic University address; the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-based Schools; and, of course, the Fordham Institute's stellar publication,

Stepping over the line

The "judgment" of the presidential candidates has become a major issue in this year's campaign, perhaps because citizens are worried about the dearth of judgment on display in American society. Case in point: a Kansas City charter school teacher who recently posted a video to YouTube featuring his fatigues-clad students chanting in support of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Pity the $30,000 a year teacher

Join us: David Whitman bringing Sweating the Small Stuff to Dayton

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and University of Dayton, School of Education and Allied Professions are hosting a reception and discussion of the new book Sweating the Small Stuff (see here) by former U.S. News and World Report senior writer David Whitman.

Keynote Address to the Aspen Institute by Sir Michael Barber

The Aspen Institute's National Education Summit: An Urgent CallWashington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2008British education consultant (and long-time student and friend of the United States) Sir Michael Barber believes too many Americans still aren't worried enough about the dire state of education in America.

Charter-school foes dealt swift kick in court

It took a year, but common sense prevailed Sept.

Fixing Dayton's schools--nothing ventured, nothing gained

School reform is hard-as those working to improve Dayton's (and other urban centers') schools know all too well. By now, reformers know the challenges: high levels of poverty, children from broken homes, rapid student turnover, stubborn bureaucracies, unsettled leadership, financial challenges, and obdurate teacher unions.

Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, in brief

Before the local report cards for Ohio public schools had even been released last summer, districts were crying foul over one particular component, AYP (adequate yearly progress).

The Seven Outs: Strategic Planning Made Easy for Charter Schools

Brian L. CarpenterNational Charter Schools Institute2008