?If we can do that work together through education, it actually might help to lessen some of those tensions in other areas as well.'' [in reference to overhauling the nation's public education system in the post-election political landscape] Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
I realize this is a bit last minute, but tonight, our research director, Amber Winkler, is going to be a panelist at an interesting event that I wanted to flag. The topic is: ?Re-Imagining Urban Education:?How Do We Improve Our Schools??
EducationNews.org?interviewed Kathleen Porter-Magee, who of course, heads up our High Quality Standards Program here at Fordham. Among other things, Kathleen says that there are a lot of interventions that, when implemented properly, will improve student achievement.
The murkiness of religious charter schools
The low-down on teacher pensions
Heads up, ESEA reauthorizers!
I've already explained what last night's election results will mean for federal education policy. But what about education writ large? It's pretty simple: a new era of budget austerity is upon us, and it won't be popular at all. Republicans: congratulations?
Leadership of the House of Representatives is tendered to the Republicans, and Capitol Hill soothsayers foretell gridlock galore.
Election Day has come and gone, but there's still plenty up in the air?and some states will be waiting for absentee ballots and
Review: Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: How Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching
?What is fairly clear at this point is that the next Congress will be interested in a more humble approach to federal policy. What's less well understood is that Obama's Blueprint for ESEA Reauthorization suits the current political climate remarkably well.'' Chad Aldeman, Policy Analyst, Education Sector
There were a number of education-related ballot initiatives that either?survived or went down in defeat?yesterday (not many survivors, actually). A few are described below and Education Week did a roundup story.
Everyone wants to know what a Republican-controlled House of Representatives will mean for ESEA reauthorization. Here's my take: it will mean less money, and less reform. And on the whole, that will be a good thing.
First, the good news: The Wall Street Journal reports that ?two national education groups? have spent some $3.5 million in local, political campaigns ?in an effort to challenge teachers unions' longstanding clout in the political arena.?
David Lazarus, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, feels an understandable?duty to educate his young son and prepare him ?for whatever life may throw at him.?
After much anticipation, Election Day is finally here?and we've got the photos to prove it.?
You may have seen today's piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer about proposed salary caps for school district administrators in New Jersey.
With a financial squeeze (?strangle hold? might actually be more accurate) on the horizon for Ohio,?voters are eager to hear how soon-to-be elected officials will handle the state's mammoth budget hole. Not surprisingly, many fear the budget saw (see photo below for a special Fordham interpretation of ?budget saw?) will fall on K-12 education as it represents 40 percent of the state's budget.
Stop the presses! We have a winner of the Who Said It? contest ? two, actually.? (That was fast. Too easy, I guess.) ?Though I like Jamie's entry, which was close ? ?an artist formerly known as Prince? ? ?commenters known as Hmmmmmmmm and Eric (hmmm?) both got it right:
I went to bed last night reading the latest issue of the New York Review of Books and, as some of you know, I woke up this morning ? it is morning, isn't it? ?
I realize that in the Google Age nothing can stay unknown for long, but I have noticed, of late, an awful lot of merging of education reform roads; at least, there seem to be more blurred lines about more topics than ever.? So, in the interests of ?continuous improvement,? I'm wondering if there could be a new parlor game:??Who Said It??
On Oklahoma's ballot today, voters find eleven questions, one of which asks them whether per-pupil funding in the OK should be increased to match the expenditures of neighboring states.
Phase One of Mark Zuckerberg's cool $100 million grant to Newark Public Schools has commenced?and it's taking place outside the schools. Volunteers and paid canvassers are hitting the streets (and the phones) to find out parents' opinions on what does and doesn't work for their children's education.
Review: International Benchmarking: State Education Performance Standards
?Once you put authorizers in the position of being at once a regulator and a support agency, you've put the authorizer in the game too much.'' ?Andrew J. Rotherham, Co-Founder and Partner at Bellwether Education Partners
