Commentary
Quotable & notable
?NAACP is on the wrong side of history''* ?Ny Whitaker, charter school parent Advancing coloured people? The Economist
Topics
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Charter Schools
Charter school pensions: The sum of teacher unions' fears
As if the teachers unions need another reason to hate charter s
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Major omission in Ravitch article
Washington City Paper has published a lengthy article about Diane Ravitch.
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Honors Classes For All?
I have been an avid follower of Jay Mathews' work since starting here at Fordham, but his recent argument with a Fairfax County parent over Fairfax's decision to get rid of honors courses across the district caused me to panic.
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Maintenance of effort madness in SC
South Carolina is in hot water with the Education Department over the state's failure to meet federal maintenance of effort requirements for special education spending. ED is threatening to dock South Carolina $111 million in federal aid after rejecting a waiver request.
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PODCAST: Mike and Richard play cops and robbers
Mike sits down with guest host Richard (Lee) Colvin of Ed Sector to hash out what Michigan's new reform efforts may mean for Detroit, what the CCSSO accountability blueprint may mean for the feds, and what NAEP history scores may mean for the country. Amber puts a magnifying glass on teacher pensions in charter schools and Chris crosses the pond to play Cowboys and Indians.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?What difference does it make how the parents feel about school performance when by almost all objective measures they are not good?'' ?Anonymous Washington Post Reader
Commentary
Education news nuggets
If you are a physics professor who has trouble finding a date, you should not resort to flirting or crude jokes.
Report
School Finance, Charter Schools
Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions
In this "Ed Short" from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Amanda Olberg and Michael Podgursky examine how public charter schools handle pensions for their teachers. Some states give these schools the freedom to opt out of the traditional teacher-pension system; when given that option, how many charter schools take it? Olberg and Podgursky examine data from six charter-heavy states and find that charter participation rates in traditional pension systems vary greatly from state to state. When charter schools do not participate in state systems, they most often provide their teachers with defined-contribution plans (401(k) or 403(b)). But some opt-out charters offer no alternative retirement plans at all for their teachers. Read on to learn more.
Commentary
Charter schools & teacher pensions
We asked a few experts to share their thoughts on our newly published paper, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions"?an online forum of sorts.
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Charter Schools
Charting a new course to retirement
Today, Fordham released our latest, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions." Authors Amanda Olberg and Michael Podgursky explain the report's findings here.
Commentary
Government unions: Are the patients running the asylum?
Don't miss this morning's front-page New York Times story on public unions. ?Writer Charles Duhigg offers a comprehensive report on the mess we've gotten ourselves into by giving away public money, we now don't have, to public unions, which want more.?
Commentary
Checker Finn: It's time to scrap our calamitous edu-governance model
2011 may already be a banner year for education reform (in part thanks to the foundation laid in 2010). Policymakers and education activists in many states (and in D.C.) have just cause to smile?and to soak in the victories that have been won.
Commentary
Education news nuggets
Would you be caught wearing mandals? How about voting for a Mormon candidate? Careful:?
Commentary
How do charter schools handle teacher pensions?
The Fordham Institute has published a new paper today that readers might find quite interesting.
Commentary
Learning from charters
We asked a few experts to share their thoughts on our newly published paper, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions"?an online forum of sorts.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?People don't want to take a chance. That's the problem D.C. schools face. You don't want to experiment on your own children.'' ?Bruce Lehman, Lawyer
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The no-pension 'innovation'
We asked a few experts to share their thoughts on our newly published paper, "Charting a New Course to Retirement: How Charter Schools Handle Teacher Pensions"?an online forum of sorts.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Creating motivated parents
Leave it to Rick Hess to find the current lightening rod issue.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
? Basic numeracy skills are a greater predictor of later success in life than basic literacy skills.'' * ? Daniel Ansari, one of the pioneers in the neuroscience of dyscalculia
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Commentary
Higher spending associated with higher rates of special-education identification
A few weeks ago, we at Fordham released a short analysis, Shifting Trends in Special Education. We noticed that some states, like Massachusetts and New York, identified almost twice as many students as needing special education as those in other states, like Texas and California.
Commentary
Low NAEP scores: Cause for celebration
It's refreshing to hear that NPR is alert to the ?education crisis? rhetoric peddled seemingly nonstop.
Commentary
When you actually know the topic about which The Economist writes
Stop me when this sounds unfamiliar: You flip through the pages of the latest Economist (or parse through the articles online), looking for interesting material, chuckling to yourself over the risible article titles and amusing photo captions. Then you settle on a number of pieces to read?the majority of which are on topics you know little about.
Commentary
The cost of fringe benefits and pensions: one quarter of your kid's education
If you live in New York City, a quarter of the money ostensibly spent on your child's education goes to fringe benefits and pension costs, according to the New York Post: Why have costs continued to skyrocket while performance lags?
Commentary
Quotable & notable
? We're too concentrated on having our children learn the answers. I would teach them how to ask questions?because that's how you learn.'' * ?David McCullough, Historian
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Curriculum & Instruction
Recommended reading: A great essay & a history test
There are two stories in today's New York Times that merit some consideration.
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A federal policy proposal that won't change the world
Note: These were my opening comments during Wednesday's Fordham Institute panel, "Is it Time to Turn the Page on Federal Accountability in Education?" Video of the event is available here.
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?While there is still much work to be done, we have succeeded in one critical and monumental task. We have changed the expectations that people have for D.C. public schools.'' * ?Kaya Henderson, D.C. Acting Schools Chancellor