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Governance
Shifting Trends in Special Education
In this Fordham Institute paper, analysts examine public data and find that the proportion of students with disabilities peaked in 2004-05 and has been declining since. At the state level, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts have the highest rates of disability identification, while Texas, Idaho, and Colorado have the lowest. Read on to learn more.
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Curriculum & Instruction
Bill Bennett, James Madison, and national curricular materials
The big fuss about "national curriculum" has lately slid into an argument about whether the federal government may?and should?have anything to do with "curriculum." Actually, it's an argument?limited to the Education Department, which has in its founding legislation a specific prohibition on "controlling or directing" curriculum.
Commentary
Reject college, make $100,000
Peter Thiel founded PayPal and was an initial investor in Facebook (cha-ching), and last September he announced creation of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program through which twenty people under the age of twenty are awarded $100,000 and?introduced into a network of tech entrepreneurs and innovators. Each?awardee?is to spend his two-year fellowship?developing?his own startup or project.
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Common Core + Bungee Jumping Barbie = Epic Fail
Last year, many marveled at how quickly states moved to adopt the Common Core State Standards. Just over a month after the final draft of the standards were released, more than half of the states had adopted them. Barely five months later, 43 states and the District of Columbia had adopted the standards. (Most state standards adoption processes take far longer and incite much more debate.)
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Pulling back the special-ed data mask
Last summer, New Jersey's Star-Ledger ran a hard-hitting piece about the condition of education finance in the Garden State. It bemoaned a dismal school-system budget in which teachers had been laid off, extracurricular activities scrapped, and free transportation curtailed. But one budgetary category had been spared: special education.
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The Iliad, Beowulf, and the epic tale of Wake County schools
The saga of Wake County, NC continues. This week, district superintendent Anthony Tata (formerly of the U.S. Army and then of DCPS) released two plans for Wake's new school-assignment policy.
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Quotable & notable
?Students have to realize, as our country is realizing, that you can't have everything. We all have to make tough choices.'' * ?Randy Stepp, Superintendent, Medina City School District
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Education news nuggets
Did you actually think prom was meant to be a fun tradition? Well, prom pat-downs may change your mind.
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First, kill all the textbooks
William Shakespeare penned the famous line in Henry the Sixth: ?The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,? setting off a wave of lawyer jokes that continues 400 years later. Had Shakespeare had the opportunity to witness the infighting and special interest politics of state textbook adoption processes, he might have found a better target for his ire.
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Field notes: Round 2 goes to the public
I'm not sure how many of the 200-plus people who packed our cafeteria last night had read Rick Hess' How Supes and P
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Truthiness, adequacy, and the New Jersey way
New Jersey's Supreme Court ordered Chris Christie to cough up another $500 million in funding for the state's schools in a 3-2 ruling today.
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Quotable & notable
?A number of people are frustrated at the pace of change for improving education for low income families. There's more support from Republicans of public funds going to private schools.'' * ?Joe Nathan, Director, Center for School Change
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Education news nuggets
Even if you've had a breakfast for champions, be wary of being too spontaneous because your best practices may fly ou
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Curriculum & Instruction
The South will embarrass itself again
Tennessee is determined, it seems, to sully its reputation when it comes to matters educational. The state that in the 1920s began the anti-evolution battles by bringing?teacher John Scopes to trial for allegedly?speaking of?evolution in his high-school biology class has moved the so-called ?Don't Say Gay? bill along the path from notion to law.
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Don't keep it too simple!
Albert Einstein once famously noted that we should ?make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.?
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Minnesota inches closer to banning Common Core
According to the Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now (MinnCAN), the Minnesota House and Senate just passed a sweeping education policy bill that included, among other things, a provision that would prohibit the Commissioner of Education from adoption "common standards." (Click
Commentary
Teacher Evaluations: The Alternatives to Nothing?
In a lengthy essay for the Washington Post New York State Regent Roger Tilles provides more evidence for why the Empire State has slipped so badly educationally in the last couple of decades: the tendency to fiddle while Rome burns.?
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Quotable & notable
?The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views.'' *
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Quotable & notable
?Education is not a partisan issue. Not everybody in one party is completely sold on one approach.'' * ?Rob Eissler, Texas House Representative
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Podcast: Fordham women lead the way
With Mike and Rick away this week, Janie and Daniela hold down the fort, discussing college rigor, the future of Georgia's charter schools, and a new take on ESEA reauthorization. Amber digs into the weeds of Common Core and state-standards alignment, and Chris gets mad that no one asked him to the prom. [powerpress]
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Education news nuggets
In this time of great financial crisis, have we really gotten to a point where we need to rely on 4-day weeks and
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Quotable & notable
?By lifting up those who need us and by tearing down the walls that divide us, we can truly honor the legacy of Brown versus the Board of Education.'' * ?Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General
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Field notes: Vote early, vote often
It's school budget voting day in New York. And in my little district, with fewer than 2,000 K?12 students, voters are being asked to approve a $41,249,180 budget, which is a remarkably lean one, considering that it is just .77 more than last year's budget (that's less than one percent).
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Quotable & notable
?Having gone to New York City public schools, that quite literally saved my life. I feel an incredible devotion to make that possible for more kids.'' * ?John B. King Jr., New York's next Education Commissioner
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Education news nuggets
As students redshirt kindergarten and parental involvement is questioned, others ask, ?
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King appointed commissioner in New York
In another major sign of how far the school reform movement has traveled, New York's Board of Regents today appointed John King, an African American and former managing director of Uncommon Schools, Commissioner of Education.
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More New York news: Teacher evaluation quarrels
Andrew Cuomo is not considered an education reform governor, but the Democratic leader of the Empire State has taken some bold stands in reining in education spending (by a billion bucks) ? even if it was courage born of necessity.?