While we're used to stories about government spending millions, billions, and now trillions, this story is about how just a little more state money could make a big difference in rural Ohio schools like South Point High School.
Charter-school operators are finishing up the details of their five-year operating budgets, a tough task given that lawmakers are still wrangling over exactly what kind of school-funding charters are to receive over the next two years (see here).
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional AssistanceMay 2009
We've heard much about "zombie banks," institutions that are fundamentally insolvent but stay open because they are propped up by government intervention. But finance isn't the only field trod by the walking dead. In Dayton, and indeed across Ohio, we are also witnessing zombie schools. Many are operated by public school systems.
All good things must come to an end, including our illuminating, sometimes raucous, usually respectful debate about whether the Massachusetts Miracle proves teachers unions to be not such a barrier to school reform that some reformers claim.
The NYT raises questions about the New York City Leadership Academy, the much-publicized principal training programs.
And this is definitely one of them. NY Times Magazine reports that in many southern states, proms are still segregated. Yes, you read that correctly.
This has to be the biggest head-scratcher in the ongoing saga of the ARRA (hence this nudge from ED).
Robert Costrell, currently the "endowed chair of education accountability" in the University of Arkansas's Department of Education Reform (Jay Greene's shop), and formerly an advisor to three Republican Massachusetts governors, weighs in on our ongoing de
I didn't. But the story's true and Steele himself tells it to students at H.D. Woodson Senior High School in his native D.C. as part of C-Span's "Students & Leaders" program. Ever the public speaker with his "hip" verbiage and unfortunate use of the verb "ain't," the chairman actually paints a compelling story about perseverance.
We've been lamenting the poor (literally) state of teachers' pension funds but what about the union-run health insurance plans? Alas here's a story that had me beat.
The Massachusetts Miracle debate is back for its sixth round! Sol Stern returns to comment on other debaters' points.
In March, President Obama told a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter that ???????the number of children going to the Cleveland Public Schools who are actually prepared to go to college (is) probably one out of seven or eight or ten. And that's just not acceptable. It's not acceptable for them.
Mike's post about teachers unions and education reform in Massachusetts really seems to have struck a nerve; we have run four follow-up posts, each highlighting other people's opinions on this issue. Missed the debate?
Perhaps the only confection to make it from campfire to laboratory, the marshmallow is an intellectual giant of the candy aisle. Stanford psychology professor Walter Mischel has been using this squishy sugary treat to study the correlation between delayed gratification and future success.
Eric A. Hanushek and Alfred A. LindsethPrinceton University Press2009
Matthew Ladner, Mark S. Francis, and Gergory E. StoneThe Goldwater InstituteApril 2009
Greg Forster and Christian D'AndreaThe Friedman Foundation for Educational ChoiceMay 2009
President Obama has pledged to spend $10 billion more a year on "zero to five" education, and his 2010 budget makes a $2 billion "down payment" on that commitment. (Billions more are already in the "stimulus" package.) Any number of congressional leaders want more preschool, as do dozens of governors.
It's no great secret that math is not the archetypal elementary teacher's forte. In fact, among the many subjects taught by all-in-one primary instructors, math is usually their weakest. Massachusetts, following in its laudable tradition of rigorous standards, is taking matters into its own hands and separately grading the beefed-up math portion of the elementary teacher licensure exam.
Some charter school principals in New Orleans are making big bucks. Critics howl that no principal should get this kind of money--$200,000 a year in one case--from taxpayers.
Any good writer knows that rigorous editing is essential to a polished product. Graffiti artists, take note. English teacher Beth Biskobing has had enough of the (often) obscene graffiti in her neighborhood. What galls her most? The poor grammar employed by these artistic vandals.
The debate continues. I started it with this post arguing that Diane Ravitch is wrong to say that the Massachusetts Miracle proves teachers unions to not be such the bad guys after all when it comes to education improvement.
It all started with a post of mine that argued that??Diane Ravitch is wrong to say that Massachusetts's situation proves teachers unions to be a non-factor in education reform.
The bi-annual survey of federal workplaces, which evaluates the quality of support, leadership, and the like, shows that the Department of Education comes in the bottom of the pack--the bottom five, to be exact. The Washington Post explains:
Please see our previous posts about the Massachusetts Miracle and related issues -- Part 1, Part 2,
