A new analysis of U.S. performance on the international PISA exam in mathematics shows significant declines for students at the top and middle of the achievement distribution from 2003 to 2006.* This is the strongest evidence to date that the performance of America’s highest-achieving students dropped during the early years of No Child Left Behind’s implementation.
From the Washington Post: "In his quest to transform American education, President Obama appeared yesterday to put his faith in pledges from some of the interest groups that helped scuttle reform in years past, but the industry's promises fell well short of the White House's expansive claims."...Oh wait, just kidding...Read it
There's a lot of buzz in the policy community right now around scaling up high-performing charter schools and turning around low-performing public schools.
In the brouhaha over last week’s UCLA Civil Rights Project report on charter school “segregation,” one talking point seems unimpeachab
"This over-the-top, the sky-is-falling article from the Boston Globe is yet more evidence that the concept of 'standards' has taken a beating in public discourse. At issue is the MATCH public charter school, one of the nation's best, according to Newsweek...." Read it here.
"You know, it's tough to ask a teacher who's making $30,000 or $35,000 a year to tighten her belt when people who are making much more than her (sic) are living pretty high on the hog." --Senator Barack Obama, October 7th presidential debate.
There's a lot of talk about bipartisanship right now, what with the stimulus bill making its way through Congress and President Obama obviously yearning for Republican support.
The No Child Left Behind hard-liners are striking back at President Obama’s call to move beyond the goal of getting 100 percent of American students to “proficiency” by 2014, and working instead to get most students “college and career-ready” by the time they graduate. Sandy Kress
Earlier this month, the Institute of Education Sciences released a major charter school study…But an important caveat…got mostly overlooked: charters serving lots of poor or low-performing kids made a significant positive impact on math achievement, while “middle class” charter schools had a negative
It's hard not to root for Michelle Rhee, the butt-kicking, straight-talking, no-nonsense Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools.
In the debate Friday night, Barack Obama responded to John McCain's idea of freezing federal spending by arguing that "the problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel." Then, on Face th
Candidate Obama gave one heckuva speech in the Mile High City once upon a time; ask him to deliver another one as President Obama this coming June.
As a few smart guys predicted fifteen months ago, the budget crisis is putting serious pressure on teacher seniority as a
"Sol Stern offers a wise suggestion in this City Journal Online piece: create an independent agency in New York to verify student achievement results...." Read it here.
"Now that Sol Stern has completely ruffled the feathers of the 'whatever works' crowd, he's turned his sights to one of the most visible leaders of the 'what works' movement, Institute for Educational Sciences director Russ Whitehurst...." Read it here.
President Obama has selected federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the Supreme Court. Education Week's School Law blog has a nice quick summary of her background.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did the country a big favor yesterday by announcing his intention to freeze the salaries of all of his teachers and administrators–and in one fell swoop eliminate the need to lay off any instructors.
President Barack Obama's "first 100 days" come to an end today, as you may have noticed from the barrage of fawning press coverage (not all of it on the editorial
I'm currently on the Amtrak back from Philly, where I spoke before the education committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. I decided to be provocative, purposely trying to raise their blood pressure a bit. And I knew my talk wouldn't be popular. But you know the old adage about knowing your audience?
That's what it's starting to look like, at least if the rumors swirling around Washington have any merit.
Get out that trusty Reform-o-Meter because Team Obama is finally showing some heat.
For two weeks now I’ve been meaning to write about this provocative Washington Post column by Montgomery County (MD) school board member Laura Berthiaume.
Yesterday, ED released its “proposed priorities” for the Investing in Innovation (or i3) fund, a $650 million program embedded in the federal stimulus legislation. I give the document a full treatment here, but here’s a quick and dirty explana
"Most ed reformers are drawn to their calling by one, or sometimes both, of two considerations: civil rights and economics. The first concern addresses the achievement gap between mostly white, upper-class students and their mostly minority, low-income peers. That this gap exists--and that it's shameful and unacceptable--is undeniable.
"Unions are wrong about a lot of things, but it probably is indeed the case that some principals value loyalty over competence and consequently make stupid personnel decisions.
"Clearly, it's struck a chord and it's worth unpacking: Why do so many teachers lean so heavily, when criticized, on the ‘you've never yourself been a teacher' argument?..." Read it here.
Don’t let the title of this blog post confuse you: I still think the Obey amendment is an abomination…[But] what if there is a silver lining for cutting RTT’s funds?…Read it here.
"A few weeks ago, we commented on L.A.'s less-than-tactful capital expansion plan. It's only getting worse...." Read it here.
I spent yesterday guest-lecturing at a reputable education school about the role of the federal government in education. These last-semester teaching candidates appeared bright and interested, yet I walked away feeling as if they knew far too little about the policy issues surrounding the profession they were about to enter.
"Once in awhile, I take the time to sniff around and find an education study worth talking about in this blog.
