Commentary
Ravitch explains
Read this week’s editorial and find your curiosity piqued? Don’t worry, you’re not out of luck.
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Commentary
Ravitch takes AEI by storm, on video
Watch Diane Ravitch, Bill Galston, Mark Schneider, Dennis Van Roekel, and Rick Hess debate Diane’s new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, here.
Commentary
Reader contest: name that education secretary
Think you know your who's who in education policy? Well here's your chance to prove it. Test your wonkdom erudition with a contest to name the next education secretary. Don't wait! The deadline is 6 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, November 7). Send your best guess to [email protected]. The winner will be announced when a nomination is made.
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Reader contest redux: name that education secretary
Gadfly apologizes for some unfortunate technical difficulties. If you proved your wonky mettle last week, kindly resend us your best guess. If you forgot (the horror!) here's your second chance! The deadline is again Friday at 6 p.m. (November 14). Email [email protected].
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Reading First, OII second
Gadfly is charmed that Secretary Margaret Spellings has appointed the very able Christopher Doherty to serve as the "acting" head of the Office of Innovation and Improvement, replacing (at least temporarily) Nina (see here).
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Ready the popcorn
On Tuesday, April 17, from 8 to 9 p.m., the U.S. Department of Education will air, on its well-reviewed television program Education News Parents Can Use, a show called "Charters and School Choice." More information is available here.
Commentary
Ready to think outside the box?
On November 30, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM, Rick Hess, joined by an all-star line-up, will discuss education in the 21st century as it relates to his new book about previous centuries, The Same Thing Over and Over. Learn more and register here.
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Rebuild the Big Easy
New Schools for New Orleans is recruiting a talented and diverse team of passionate people willing to do whatever it takes to build and sustain great schools. Current openings on the NSNO team include the following: Director of School Operations, Director of Instructional Quality, School Support Managers, and Director of School Investments.
Commentary
Recommended reading from CGCS
To the Editor:Eric Osberg rightly noted in his excellent Education Gadfly editorial ("A byte at the apple," November 20, 2008) that--
Commentary
Redneck granola
Since the advent of the “Whole Foods Republican” (Mike Petrilli’s Green Tea Movement—hawkish on spending, dovish on the environment), Whole Foods stores across the land have turned into political battlefields.
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Refinancing education's personnel
Human capital discussions in education nowadays typically start with the problem of “incompetent” teachers and what to do about them.
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Reform waits for no (super)man!
If Waiting for ‘Superman’ has you ready to demolish the education status quo, head to Donewaiting.org to pick up a sledgehammer—or, at least, a pencil with which to sign their petition.
Commentary
Register now for the April 9th NCLB Policy Forum!
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, together with the National Center for Education and the Economy and the Progressive Policy Institute, will be holding a policy forum to explore ways to help local, state and federal education officials meet the expectations of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Commentary
Reg Weaver: Visionary
This week, Mike and Rick talk new Fordham reports, Baltimore, and résumé-building teachers. John Cronin stops by to talk about The Proficiency Illusion, and Education News of the Weird is under the gun. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
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Represent the richest man on earth
*/ table.MsoNormalTable { } --> The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's National Initiatives team will be incomplete until it hires a Policy Officer for Federal Advocacy. That person will work to construct and manage a diverse portfolio of the foundation's federal education policy work.
Commentary
Republic of Scarsdale?
It's no new news that Scarsdale, NY has long disdained tests and suffered from an inflated ego on this topic as well. Its latest ploy to distinguish itself from the pack?
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Researchers and data analysts sought by DC
The District of Columbia's State Education Office (SEO) has two openings in its Policy Research and Analysis Division.
Commentary
Researchers sought for government think tank on volunteering and the nonprofit sector
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps service program, VISTA, and other programs, and will work closely with President Bush on the new USA Freedom Corps, is creating an in-house think tank to evaluate its programs and improve research related to volunteering, civic engagement, and the nonprofit sector.
Commentary
Rewriting history saves money
In a rare cease-fire in education's long-running war of ideas, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation announced this week that it has reached a negotiated settlement with the major publishers of history textbooks and state textbook adoption agencies.
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Rheejoice! Our savior has come!
Michelle Rhee's recent firing of Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty and the entire workforce of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has not gone without notice. Predictably, the usual suspects have found much about which to complain. "Why is the schools chancellor dismissing Metro employees?
Commentary
Richard Lee Colvin, in the house
This week, Mike and Rick discuss the ascent of Representative Kline to ranking minority leader on the House Committee on Education and Labor, Detroit Public Schools' dance with bankruptcy, and Duncan's emphasis on structural reforms.
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Rick can't read
This week, Mike and Rick discuss Rick's stunning confession that he can't read a word of the 37 books he's published, debate Ed Thrust's new "Highly Qualified Bus Driver" proposal, and decide education is an economically dead field.
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Rick dons a meat dress
Mike and Rick get serious about the D.C. and DE elections, and then dissect school suspension rates. Amber tackles high school reading programs and Rate that Reform transforms into a 3-D optical illusion.
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Rick goes green(field)
He might wear Tevas, but Rick hasn’t left education for environmental policy. Instead, he’s presenting his new book, Education Unbound, which is about greenfield schooling, a.k.a., how to create more opportunities for education entrepreneurs.
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Rick Hess, cave dweller
Mike and Rick talk social promotion, portfolios, and closing down schools on Election Day. Then Amber tells about a new report from AIR and Stafford goes raw on Rate that Reform. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
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Rick Hess, non-voter
This week, Mike and Rick discuss the new NCLB regs, coupling collective bargaining with cutting district fat, and the controversial proposal for a gay high school in Chicago. Amber then enlightens us with her thoughts on the School Finance Redesign Project's new report and Rate that Reform talks Mustangs-motorized, not four-legged.
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Rick Hess: Olympian
This week, Mike and Rick talk teachers, Crew, and food theft. Amber tells us about where stand charter schools in 2008, and Education News of the Weird is fighting against the power. Click here to listen through our website and peruse past editions.
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Rick Hess, over-exposed
This week, it’s all Rick all the time in his new Rick-only segment, “Bent Sideways with Rick Hess.” Hear him read aloud the last ten 1500-word “Straight Up” blog posts, which feature the word “I” a mere ninety-three times, in under twenty minutes.
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Rick Hess sings the National Charter Schools Week Blues
This week, Mike and Rick debate the finer points of Maine constitutional law, pontificate on why Baltimore's school leaders refuse to learn from success stories in their midst, and put under the microscope PEN's new report about public opinion of NCLB. Nelson Smith discusses National Charter Schools Week, and News of the Weird has a serious case of Stockholm syndrome.
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Rick loves Gwen Stefani
Mike and Rick discuss Obama's inaugural address, the stimulus package, and charter school costs. Then Amber updates us on the latest tracking of alternative teacher routes and Rate That Reform takes a week off to recover from inaugural ball hopping.