Our new report, International Lessons about National Standards, authored by William Schmidt, Richard Houang, and Sharif Shakrani of Michigan State University, is out today.
Recently, Mike Petrilli shared his thoughts on year-round school with folks at NBC. But apparently they liked Mike so much that they also posted a full 2-minute version of his interview, which you can watch below! Check out both of these great clips.....
The following is a guest post from Fordham Staff Assistant Mickey Muldoon.
Remember that first scary day of kindergarten? A five-year-old in Van Buren, Arkansas came up with an ingenious way to calm his butterflies: Skip right to first grade. Was this self-social promotion? A gifted student testing into first-grade honors? Nope, just a story of friendship--or peer pressure, if you're cynical.
It's once in a blue moon that an erratum calls for its own erratum; the moon tonight will surely be a lovely shade of aqua.
Albert Einstein once remarked that "Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work." He and Jonathan Keiler, a social studies teacher from Prince George's County Maryland, would get along swimmingly. This week, Jay Mathews narrates the story of Keiler's attempt to get his entitled pay upgrade.
Los Angeles must have Folgers in its cup this week, finally waking up to the woeful state of that city's schools. On Tuesday, the LAUSD board passed a resolution that would open 50 new and 200 underperforming schools to external operators.
The College Board, as always, hung a smiley face on it, but the latest SAT results are a real bummer.
Theodore Hershberg and Claire Robertson-Kraft, eds.Harvard Education PressAugust 2009
Like comets, elections, Olympics, and the moon, education policy ideas come and go in cycles. Consider America's on-again, off-again enthusiasm for national standards and tests. Way back in 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for "national goals" in education, including "standards." A decade later, President Richard M.
Andrew Porter, Morgan Polikoff, and John SmithsonEducational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSeptember 2009
"Who's The Boss" of sophomore English at Northeast High this year? That'd be Tony Danza, he of boxing and 70s-sitcom fame. He was recently approved to teach in that Philly school as part of a new A&E series, Teach. Move over Jon & Kate Plus 8, it's Tony Danza... Plus 30.
Two weeks ago, we reported that Florida was going to stop awarding regular four-year diplomas to students who graduate through its GED Exit Option program. But the announcement came through garbled; administrators, parents, and teachers believed the GED EX OP program was simply being abolished.
Late last Friday, when it would attract little or no news coverage, the National Education Association offered its detailed feedback on Arne Duncan's "Race to the Top" plans. 26 pages worth.
More than anyone else who comes to mind in American public life, Edward M. Kennedy ascended from reprobate to icon, from??an object of criticism, even ridicule, to??statesman. He made many lasting marks on??our policies and politics and just about everyone came??to admire and like him. Generations of devoted and able staffers. Fellow??Senators and Presidents of both parties.
Yesterday was the first day of school in our nation's capital and only 37,000 students showed up for the big day.
The College Board, as always, hung a smiley face on it, but the latest SAT results are a real bummer.??Overall scores flat or down. Almost every sub-group flat or down. Gaps widening a bit by race, income, parental education.
Checker Finn answers this question in the latest National Journal Education Experts blog :
I finally had a chance to take a look at The New Teacher Project's brief overview of the Race to the Top application, which, among other things, handicaps the states' chances at winning the money. (The key analysis is shown below.)
FUN FACT FRIDAY! You wait all week... and you won't be disappointed. In our FINAL Fun Fact Friday video, we use data from a recent Fordham report, The Accountability Illusion, to show you how some states set the bar high for their students--and some don't. Watch our Play-Doh men do the Twizzler high jump in this first ever education track meet.
Writing in the Baltimore Sun earlier this week, the Lexington Institute's Robert Holland and Don Soifer reject the idea of national education standards on three grounds: that they're not truly voluntary, that they'll inevitably lead to a much-feared "national curriculum, and that part of
We give a warm welcome to Education Next's new website and blog, which already features a post by our own Mike Petrilli. The redesigned EdNext online has archived journal articles, videos and a podcast.
Anyone who's been paying attention knows that Diane Ravitch has taken an increasingly contrarian position on education reform, and sees a lot not to like in George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama's Race to the Top.
Greg Forster has nice things to say on Jaypgreene.com about our Friday Fun Fact video series.
This morning Secretary Duncan and Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton gave a preview of the $650 million "Investing in Innovation Fund" (or "I3"), the companion to the Race to the Top.
(Above) Susan Zelman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
