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Interesting state news

Inflated graduation rates in AL More on the CA firewall issue

Re: The placid world of American education

The debate in education at the local and state level is far from placid (as Mike recently described it), and is sometimes incredibly toxic because the issues affect our children and our collective future.

The placid world of American education

I'm just back from vacation, and while Checker spent his holiday reading about how the founders brought our country together, I dug into how "The Big Sort

Debunking the demonizers of student testing

An op-ed by Cleveland State University education professor Karl Wheatley in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer argues that the pursuit of improved student achievement in our public schools is l

Today's 'Quotable and Notable'

Quotable:

Finn on American education competitiveness

Checker writes at Forbes.com on the role that both quality and quantity must play in American education.

Friday news

Jay Mathews on the amazing Rafe Esquith MA charter advocates aim to put cap lift on the ballot

Eating our young

During these tough economic times, one expects to hear news of budget shortfalls, such as Ohio's South-western school district's $5 million budget hole

Video: Fun Fact Friday! - Not as hot

The fifth video in our Fun Fact Friday! series looks at how information affects peoples' support for teacher pay increases. Don't miss our first , second , third and fourth videos.

Good articles

It's August but some interesting stories are still out there... Ed Week's Klein with info on the Innovation Fund

Learning from the locals

Although the decentralized nature of public education in this country has its drawbacks--i.e.

A conflict of interest

Two editorials in the past week point to a widening realization across the political spectrum that U.S. teacher unions serve their members, not students. The Wall Street Journal illustrates this point with a piece about two episodes that clearly place union demands at odds with school quality.

A constitutional moment for American education?

Vacation gave me the opportunity to catch up with a bit of early American history, particularly the eventful last two decades of the 18th Century.

Advising Steiner

The New York State Regents shenanigans will be just one of the big issues with which newly minted State Chancellor of Education David Steiner needs to contend.

Regents wake-up call

When you get 30 out of 50 questions wrong on a test, you're supposed to fail. But not on the this year's American History portion of the New York State Regents Exam. According to Marc Epstein, the once-revered but now "hopelessly manipulated" Regents tests are plagued by a host of problems that make their results meaningless at best and fraudulent at worst--and the U.S.

Separation of Degrees: State-By-State Analysis of Teacher Compensation for Master's Degrees

Marguerite Roza and Raegen MillerCenter for American ProgressJuly 2009

Help wanted

When recently released graduation rate statistics were greeted by the business community with a hefty dose of skepticism, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott decided to call on employers, and the Texas Association of Business in particular, to voluntarily stop hiring folks who haven't made it through that teenage rodeo--high school.

Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity

Christopher T. Cross, Taniesha A. Woods, and Heidi Schweingruber, eds.Center for Education, National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences2009

Adding to the tab of already cash-strapped schools

Earlier this summer, Terry wrote about the disconnect between DC and the states when it comes to education policy.????

Today's 'Quotable and Notable'

Quotable "If we could Twitter Julius Caesar, we'd be good." --Terisa King, teacher at Richard Milburn Academy, talking about the need to make difficult language in literature more understandable for students.

The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools

Celeste K. Carruthers, Urban Institute & National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education ResearchJune 2009

Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow

Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic AdvisersJuly 2009

It's deja vu for Bob Taft

Ohio's budget problems and efforts to reformulate education policy reminded former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft of his days as the state's chief executive from 1999 to 2007. Like Gov. Ted Strickland, Taft had his own economic and education pains that included disagreements with members of the Ohio General Assembly.

National charter alliance unveils model charter school law

In June 2009, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) released A New Model Law For Supporting The Growth of High-Quality Public Charter Schools.

Grad-rate debate and the Buckeye State

President Obama put the graduation-rate debate front and center in March, when he noted that the nation's high-school dropout rate had tripled since the 1970s (see here). The media and education community scrambled to react to the president's claim.

School Turnaround in Queen City

The banks of the Ohio river don't initially seem to be a hotbed of education reform.??

Video: An introduction to "The Great Graduation-Rate Debate"

From over the weekend

Very good Post editorial on saving the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. Eduwonk on getting new duds and contributing to a good cause.

No Offense, Frank McCourt

Why do unsubstantiated remedies-like smaller class sizes-gain such traction in the world of education? Rather than adhering to rigorous research standards, we resort to sweeping generalizations and sentimental stories about children's lives. Not that there is anything wrong with sentiment.

Today's 'Quotable and Notable'

Quotable "It was one area [where] we didn't do enough and failed our children. I give myself an 'F' on that one. As a city, as a state, as a country, we need to protect our children and have them be safe." --Arne Duncan, on the violence in Chicago's public schools.