Though nothing that most educators didn't know, Jennifer Medina's front-page story in the New York Times this morning is worth reading?if you like reviewing, in slow motion, the tape of a train wreck.
In 2004, Douglas B. Reeves published The Case Against the Zero, an article decried by classroom teachers as a tool to manipulate classroom grades.?
?Maybe charter schools, merit pay, and vouchers won't instantly turn every American child into a test-taking dynamo. But if they ?only? create a more cost-effective system that makes parents and students happier with their schools?well, that would be no small feat, and well worth fighting for.?
There was?nothing surprising in Obama's pitch for the Skills for America's Future initiative in today's weekly spee
It's the 21st century and our K-12 schools still aren't up to par with computer science classes? What will we fall behind in next?
?Ensuring kids are prepared for college by the time they leave high school is the single most important thing we can do to improve college-completion rates.? ?Cynthia B. Schmeiser, President of ACT's education division
Note: This article by Checker and me ran this morning in National Review Online.
The teachers union in a suburban Columbus district has pulled out of Race to the Top, putting the district at risk of forfeiting almost a million dollars ($960,000) in RttT grant funding and many of the reforms that would come with it.??
?The reform train is moving. Districts aren't afraid of unions anymore.'' ?Emily Cohen, District Policy Director, National Council of Teacher Quality
Finland gets high praise for doing well on PISA but apparently Finnish mathematicians don't think too highly of the test. Here's what they have to say:
A problematic argument for "local control," big bucks for charters, and more
The clash between the public and private aims of education
Is Baltimore's approach to performance pay and teacher professionalism worth cheering?
Social studies teachers love their country, too
Charter skeptics find the evidence mixed
If ratified by?union members on October 14, Baltimore's new?teacher contract will move the ?Charm City?
The Head Start program has needed a radical overhaul for the past forty-five years, i.e. ever since its founding and its near-immediate demonstration that it doesn't do much lasting good by way of readying poor kids to succeed in school.
The old saying ?D=Diploma? looks to be a thing of the past for these New Jersey students.
While I'm still fielding suggestions on how to spend $55,000 (I'm learning that it's probably best to call it $220,000 over four years), the NY Times is soliciting suggestions about how Cory Booker and Newark schools should spend $100 million.?
?But even as heavyweight policy folks talked about improving community college outcomes yesterday, high school reforms that could help with that?such as increasing rigor and smoothing the transition to higher ed?didn't even make the radar.? ?Catherine Gewertz, Assistant Editor for Education Week
Over on National Journal's Education Experts Blog, this week's?discussion?focused on the goals of education professionals and, among other things, cited Fordham Institute's latest study,
Last week, our friends at the American Enterprise Institute released an interesting new report, High Schools, Civics and Citizenship, which surveyed public high school social studies teachers across the country.?We at Fordham also released a report recently,
What doesn't work when you're trying to save your schools from a budget crisis: buying golf courses and paying for
One of things New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner said yesterday in his RttT discussion was that ?we've never had so much money being devoted to innovation and so little money being available for basic services,?
During an interesting state-wide Public Television teleconference (and, if you click here, you can find it on the world wide web) yesterday, New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner and his Deputy John King offer an interesting preview?of the mechanics of Race to the Top.
?Movements need heroes and villains, and Weingarten has become an easy target for school reformers who seek to blame public school teachers for the ills of urban education and attack their unions.'' -Valerie Strauss, Correspondent, Washington Post
