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Yawning in Colorado
The Centennial State has a great track record in education reform--bipartisan, even--which is why it was so disappointing to so many people when Colorado didn't win Race to the Top funds last summer, and now it looks like we're going to be disappointed once again.
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Whole Foods Republicans
In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd bring back an oldie but goodie, from the December 14, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Whole Foods Republicans
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Quotable & notable
"I see this as the civil rights issue of our generation?the poorest kid, from the toughest community from the most dysfunctional family?can thrive when given a good education?but put that child in school that has a 40, 50 or 60 percent dropout rate?then we as educators, we're perpetuating poverty, we're perpetuating failure.''
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Education news nuggets
You don't want to miss this opening act! Be sure to mute your cell phone and get ready to enjoy the show.
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Interaction effects and the Common Core
In science, statisticians must frequently grapple with interaction effects. Let's say, for example, that a scientist wants to study the impact of diet and exercise on lowering cholesterol. They have one group follow a low-fat diet, another a new running regimen, and a third group both. It's possible that both the diet group and the exercise group see a modest dip in cholesterol.
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Education reformers' alma maters
Results are in! We had ninety-two respondents to Tuesday's survey asking two simple questions: Do you align yourself with the education-reform community, and did you go to public school?
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From our desks to yours-this week's Education Gadfly
We've got a true multimedia experience for you in this week's Education Gadfly. Mike and Checker lead the way with an editorial on a little thing we like to call ?Reform Realism?
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Why is giving up on schools considered "pro-teacher"?
Esther Quintero, a research associate at the Albert Shanker Institute, blogs today that focusing on teacher quality and accountability is un-American, because it "views students exclusively as passive recipients of their own learning." She goes on to criticize school reformers for portraying students as "devoid of agency."
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Ms. Harvard is so picky
Kevin Carey calls a recent Daily Caller article by Kay Hymowitz ?generally silly? and ?an alarmed reaction to female college attainment.? No, the piece is none of those things.
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Curriculum & Instruction
Opinion: On pushing the ESEA boulder up the hill
This article originally appeared in the April 21 edition of The Education Gadfly newsletter.
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Fordham's ESEA Briefing Book: ?Reform realism? explained
Mike and Checker explain how NCLB got it backwards, and what ?reform realism? would look like in practice.
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Quotable & notable
?We're talking about questions of fundamental fairness ? issues that have always played out in our schools. Our kids can't succeed if we don't give them the tools they need. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, how could we not?''*
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Podcast: We heart jargon?and J.C.
Mike and Rick conjure up some crazy weather this week during Pardon the Gadfly: a hailstorm of ideas from Fordham's new ESEA briefing book, the landfall of Hurricane Winerip, and the epic J.C. Brizard-snowpocalypse. Amber heats things up with an NBER paper on teacher evals, and Chris, well, he just thinks Canada is crazy. [powerpress]
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Education news nuggets
Students come to the rescue in response to the smackdown of those ?spoiled teachers." Thank goodness
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Curriculum & Instruction
And furthermore: David Steiner on curriculum
In my interview with outgoing New York education commissioner David Steiner, whose passion for curriculum has been no secret, I asked about curriculum and the common core and I think it is worth excerpting some of our conversation:
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Charter Schools
How Tonya and Kelley differ
Kelley Williams-Bolar made national headlines back in January when she was caught sending her two daughters across district lines from the woeful Akron Public Schools to the plusher Copley-Fairlawn School District.
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Fact-checking Sandy Kress
Former Bush White House adviser (and NCLB drafter) Sandy Kress turned in a very compelling New York Daily News op-ed on Monday arguing that President Obama has gone "wobbly" on education accountability.
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Quotable & notable
?The funding available for performance pay represents an opportunity to provide meaningful incentives and rewards for exemplary teachers in a significant number of Virginia schools.'' * ?Robert McDonnell, Governor or Virginia
Report
Accountability & Testing, Governance
ESEA Briefing Book
Political leaders hope to act soon to renew and fix the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also known as No Child Left Behind). In this important paper, Thomas B. Fordham Institute President Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Executive Vice President Michael J. Petrilli identify 10 big issues that must be resolved in order to get a bill across the finish line, and explore the major options under consideration for each one. Should states be required to adopt academic standards tied to college and career readiness? Should the new law provide greater flexibility to states and districts? These are just a few of the areas discussed. Finn and Petrilli also present their own bold yet "reform realist" solutions for ESEA. Read on to learn more.
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This Bud's for Jay; or, Just Fly Me There
The other day Jay Greene unveiled his Tight-Loose Travel Agency, as a followup to his Fordham Report Drinking Game.?
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The Feds can't fix district finances
We at Fordham strongly believe school districts can and should learn to spend their dollars more effectively. That said, I can't agree with Kristi Bowman's idea that Congress should mandate "fiscal accountability measures" in its reauthorization of ESEA:
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Winerip asks a question
If Michael Winerip is to be taken at his word, then his latest New York Times piece, published Sunday, is meant merely to make the reader ask?himself?whether the fact that?lots of?so-called ?education reformers?
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Quotable & notable
?We will never get a new paradigm of learning in our schools unless we change our assessment system.'' * ?James Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University
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Public or private school?
Michael Winerip has released the flood gates with his Sunday column in this week's New York Times. In it, he calls into question the resolve, capacity, and genuineness of education reformers (Fordham's own Checker Finn included) who attended private high schools.
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Testing, stress and achievement: finding balance in the face of international competition
Sean Cavanagh's recent blog in Education Week depicts cautionary warnings from Byong Man Ahn, the former South Korean Minister of Education.
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Is it time for ?controlled choice? in Washington, DC?
The District of Columbia's rapid gentrification provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create racially and socio-economically integrated public schools. But misguided public policies might be allowing this moment to slip through our hands.