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Sweden robs the cradle
Think your child is going to school too young? Don’t move to Sweden. In Mother Svea, children enter preschool as young as twelve months.
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Friends don't let friends campaign for them
This week, we welcome guest co-host Andy Smarick. He and Mike discuss the DC voucher program's slow death, Obama's overseas mea culpas, and Tucson's plans to ditch principals. Then, Amber tells us about the updated Calder study on high school TFA teachers and Rate that Reform talks old-school poisoning.
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From Iceland with love
This week, Mike and Rick debate school discipline in Las Vegas, firing teachers in Iowa, and academic freedom in Florida. Jeff Kuhner is outraged about students who punch their teachers, and Education News of the Weird investigates a local retail area. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
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From sunset to sunrise
Sometimes you have to take one step backward to go two steps forward. That's more or less what happened in New York State when the clock struck midnight on July 1, the long-scheduled date for "sunset" of mayoral control of Gotham's schools.
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From the Gladfly
The Education Gladfly is published once a year by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. It ordinarily appears on April 1, but may never appear again if this issue is poorly received.
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From the trenches
For information on Fordham's first year of experience as a charter sponsor in Ohio, there's no better source than the Foundation's brand-new Sponsorship Accountability Report 2005-06.
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Fulbright opportunities for American education scholars
Are you a K-12 administrator or teacher? Or an education researcher? The Fulbright Scholar Program (one of the many Fulbright programs) invites you to apply for 2010-2011 academic year grants. The program, sponsored by the State Department, is geared towards academics and scholars looking to participate in international intellectual exchange. The deadline is August 1, 2009.
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Full stop or U-turn?
Do school turnarounds work? Come learn more at Fordham on January 28, 2010 from 2pm-3:30pm.
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Full-time research assistant sought by Jay Greene
The Manhattan Institute seeks a Research Assistant on Education Policy to support Senior Fellow Jay Greene in the Institute's new office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is a full-time position with health insurance and other fringe benefits.
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Fund your chartering
The National Association for Charter School Authorizers’ Fund for Charter Authorizing Excellence is currently accepting grant applications in three categories: Authorizer Evaluation (up to $7,500), Strategic Planning (up to $50,000 with 15 percent funding match), and Implementation (up to $125,000 with 25 percent funding match).
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Gadflies in arms
This week, Stafford and Mike contemplate the impact of public school cuts on private school enrollments, paying students to attend Saturday tutoring, and the merits of celebrity high school graduation speakers. Then Amber tells us about a new evaluation of the Chicago performance-pay system, and Janie bans cell phones.
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Gadfly editor ready to be bought
Fordham research director Unjust Toro announced this week that his hard-hitting editorials are officially for sale. Toro, sick of writing clever puns and anecdotes and receiving only one paycheck, said, "Listen, no one writes anything for free anymore.
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Gadfly Reader Survey
Note: Gadfly needs feedback. Tomorrow, your favorite education-reform insect will e-mail you a link to a short reader survey. This is your chance to send him all the bouquets and brickbats you've been storing up. Please help us out and spend two minutes answering our multiple-choice questions.
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Gates 2.0
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation summoned 130 or so education heavies (many of them grantees) to Seattle this week to attend the foundation's gala unveiling of its long-awaited education strategy, the culmination of an intense rethinking process spearheaded by new education director
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Gates is great
Diane Ravitch, usually a critic of the Gates Foundation’s approach to education reform, has radically changed course.
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Gates mates
Encouraged by Warren Buffett's recent decision to pledge the bulk of his assets to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, last week in Dubai Bill and Melinda convened the world's 100-richest for five days of indoor skiing; sunbathing on artificial islands; and philanthropic, education chat.
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Gauging the states' impact
West Wind Education Policy is putting on a May conference in Washington, D.C., that will examine the influence states have had on federal education policy. Email [email protected] for more information.
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Get hired at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools seeks a Vice President of Finance and Operations, and a Director of Field Services. Prospective VP candidates should be accomplished finance executives, have significant management experience, and be interested in and supportive of the charter school movement.
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Get in step on math prep
The National Council on Teacher Quality has already pointed out the poor quality of teacher preparation in reading instruction. But what about the math preparation of elementary school teachers? NCTQ is launching next week a report about that, too.
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Get schooled
Can’t get enough of Jay Greene? The University of Arkansas’ Department of Education Reform is now accepting applications for its 2011 Education Policy Ph.D. cohort. Head over to the department’s website for more information on how to apply.
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Getting back to black
Think your district has already “cut to the bone” in order to close budget gaps? Think again. Join Fordham on October 26, 2010 from 12:30 to 2:00PM for our event: “Cost-Cutting Strategies and Opportunities for Schools and Districts.” RSVP here. Interested but can’t attend?
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Getting to the core of Common Core
Curious about the draft K-12 Common Core standards? We can help you with that. Next Thursday, we’ll host Jason Zimba, member of the CCSSI mathematics work team, and David Coleman, member of the CCSSI English language arts work team, to explain the content, organization, and focus of the standards. Fordham’s Chester Finn will moderate. Join us from 10 to 11:30 on April 22.
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Getting up at 8, it's crazy
This week, Mike and Rick chat about Washington, D.C., Saudi Arabia, and Miley Cyrus (who, if she ever entered Saudi Arabia, would be stoned within seconds). Amber brings us a lonely Research Minute, and Education News of the Weird is dope.
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Get your SABIS on
International education management organization SABIS is looking for a new Business Development Specialist. This person should strongly believe in the charter school movement, and be a self-starter, organized, and motivated; they would join the U.S. team as it helps expand SABIS-affiliated schools on our shores.
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Get yourself a copy
Now out from Columbia University Press is Rick Kahlenberg's long-awaited biography of Al Shanker, Tough Liberal. It's a fine, thoughtful, balanced, and readable work that serves as the first major appraisal of the late union leader's remarkable place in 20th-century American history--and not only in education.
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Gingrich-Winkler 2012
Mike and Rick talk shop about The Pledge to America, Mark Zuckerberg, and Arne’s quixotic quest to hire more teachers. Amber takes a closer look at the Vanderbilt merit pay and Stafford votes to fine truants for her final Rate that Reform.
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Give some love to the Buckeyes
The SEED Foundation is looking for a Director of New Schools Development who will lay the groundwork for SEED's efforts to establish a school in Ohio. Click here to learn more.
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Glamour girl
Gladfly was stunned by all the puff pieces written on the occasion of Secretary Spellings’s first anniversary in office (see here, for instance). But we almost fainted when we walked by a newsstand the other day and glimpsed her picture on the cover of Yoga Journal.
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Global education
Ohio Governor Fred Lenientland, still high from accolades for his bold state-of-the-state address ("Free Buckeye Tix for All Senior Citizens!"), has upped the ante again. His latest initiative? Educating young slum-dwellers in Bangladesh and China.
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Global grades for U.S. states
How much more "international benchmarking" does American education actually need? Gary W. Phillips's inspired new study of how U.S. states and (some) districts are doing vis-à-vis the rest of the world suggests that we already have a heckuva lot of performance information available right under our noses.