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Negative correlation
This post by my Ohio colleagues is very important. It forecasts a major challenge for Race to the Top (RTT) scoring.
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Margaret Spellings, still defending No Child Left Behind
Former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings gave a speech at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club last week and -- no surprise here -- she is still defending No Child Left Behind. According to this Naples Daily News story, she told a luncheon crowd of 300 people that:
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Today's Quotable and Notable
Quotable: "To maintain the union and the trade, we need young men and women. So we thought maybe we should start our own charter school." - Armand E. Sabitoni, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Laborers' International Union of North America
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Time to think bigger on teacher prep
If you haven't seen it already, this article in this month's??Atlantic is well worth a read, and will certainly get a lot of attention from people on all sides of the education debate.
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A Penny Saved conference
The Fordham/AEI "Penny Saved" conference has been great so far! (A Penny Saved: How Schools and Districts Can Tighten Their Belts While Serving Students Better).
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Today's Quotable and Notable
Quotable: "Everybody's trying to teach preschoolers how to read and nobody is trying to teach them how to do math." - Cyma Zarghami, President of Nichelodeon
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The real RTT battles
The complexities and challenges of ensuring the Race to the Top's success are expanding rapidly, and I'm hoping the Department is prepared for what lies ahead. I'm concerned that, because so many of us have been focussed on the policy changes states have been adopting, two entirely more pressing issues have been given insufficient attention.
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Buckeye Education in Review: 1999 to 2009
When the new millennium rang in on January 1, 2000, Ohio was marching down the path of education reform. The state was seeking improvements to its K-12 education system particularly in the areas of school funding, academic content standards, school choice, and accountability.
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More articles
I'l be back to regular blogging soon. This battle between unions and the Race to the Top is heating up. Very interesting article and map on racial diversity among students by states
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The hype, the reality
Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert C. Bobb has garnered much national publicity as he struggles to save what is arguably the most troubled big-city school system in America from both financial bankruptcy and academic ruin.
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Understanding homeschooling: A better approach to regulation
This sane and constructive piece by Indiana University education professor Robert Kunzman says that many states are following the wrong approach when it comes to "regulating" home-schoolers, trying to control the "credentials" of home-schooling parents, to decree what curriculum they should teach and more. This doesn't work, he says, and fosters unnecessary controversy and political conflict.
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More catch-up!
The article deluge continues. CA's RTT chances are improving Ed Week on NCLB and Dodd's retirement
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STOP THE PRESSES Watch
Per #8 on this list, this year, I'm keeping track of the prolific ed reformer Whitney Tilson's use of the uber-emphatic "STOP THE PRESSES!!!" in his mass emails.
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Charter Schools
Another gold star for NYC charters
The now famous (or infamous) CREDO charter study from last June generated a ton of hype. (See our analysis here.) The results were largely mixed, seemly putting numbers behind the assertion that putting "charter" in front of (or after) a school name does not guarantee success.
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Today's Quotable and Notable
Quotable: "There is a recognition we can't do everything. We really need all hands on deck from the private sector and the philanthropic sector because the government can't foot the whole bill for this." - John P. Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
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Catching up
If you're like me, you're still trying to dig out of the massive article pile that Google Reader collected over the holidays. Ugh. So apologies in advance if these stories are old hat by now.
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Today's Quotable and Notable
Quotable "New York's charter school experiment has led to some promising innovations, but as a group New York City charter schools have become a separate and unequal branch of public education." -Michael Mulgrew, President, United Federation of Teachers
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Racing to the top, every year?
Kevin Huffman, winner of the WaPo's America's Next Great Pundit contest and a VP at TFA, has a looking-ahead themed piece on Saturday's opinion page. One part stuck out in particular (my emphasis):
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Expanding choice in Baltimore
If you're interested in the expansion and development of the portfolio approach in urban districts, check out this great article about Baltimore. Lots of choices within the system and a growing number of charters. --Andy Smarick
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Top tens of 2010
Tom Vander Ark, former head of the Gates Foundation's education efforts and now leader of innumerable intriguing initiatives, has put together two interesting and compelling education reform top ten lists for 2010--one on the individuals likeliest to have a big impact and one on reformers to watch.