Next stop for Louisiana: Accountability, done right
Adam EmersonLouisiana became the latest state to embrace the introduction of school vouchers, but the legislative moxie it showed should stimulate a new conversation about private school choice and accountability.
Defining Strong State Accountability Systems: How Can Better Standards Gain Greater Traction?
Eileen Reed, Janie Scull, Gerilyn Slicker, Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Rigorous standards and aligned assessments are vital tools for boosting education outcomes but they have little traction without strong accountability systems that attach consequences to performance. This pilot study lays out the essential features of such accountability systems, intended to add oomph to new common standards and aligned assessments.
10 years after Zelman, challenges still loom for voucher advocates
Adam EmersonThe U.S. Supreme Court's decision a decade ago didn't end the fight over private school choice, even though it should have caused states to rethink what they so sweepingly consider “aid” to sectarian institutions.
Wisconsin, school vouchers, and the perfidy of Tony Evers
Adam EmersonWisconsin's top educator has again used his position to imply that the Badger State is throwing more money at a voucher program he once called "morally wrong."
3 thoughts about the future of school integration
Michael J. PetrilliMike provides his take on how to approach the integration issue from a recent panel discussion co-hosted by the Century Foundation, Howard University, and the Fordham Institute
Georgia House passes measure to test the “134-year-old status quo”
Adam EmersonThe Georgia House this week took another step toward exiling last spring’s state Supreme Court decision prohibiting the state approval of charter schools to the history books, where it belongs.
It SHOULD be hard to pull the parent trigger
Adam EmersonThe recent failure to enact a parent trigger in a California community is an example of how the system should work.
Santorum lends extremes to a movement that should find a center
Adam EmersonThe spotlight shining on the GOP candidate's educational philosophy is both a blessing and a curse for home-schooling parents and their advocates.
A price tag on misbehavior? An embattled Chicago charter network isn’t alone
Adam EmersonA charter network's practice of charging fees for misbehavior has precedence in some Catholic school codes of conduct.
The State of State Science Standards 2012
American science performance is lagging as the economy becomes increasingly high tech, but our current science standards are doing little to solve the problem.
Can schools rekindle the American work ethic?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Encouraging hard work in the nanny state.
Graduating to a new conversation of parental choice
Choice Words' new editor Adam Emerson outlines the need for a reinvented dialogue on school choice.
Charter school teachers would be hit hard by new Treasury Department ruling on pensions
Guest bloggers Michael Podgursky, Stuart Buck, and Renita Thukral explain why proposed regulations would have a "dramatic and detrimental effect" on the ability of charters to accomplish their education goals.
The Gadfly Daily’s week in review
Writers on the Gadfly Daily blogs analyzed issues from around the country this week, discussing everything from the lessons that the Louisiana Recovery School District has to offer to the tough talk coming from
The challenges of charter-district collaboration
Cooperation between charter and district schools has potential, but Fordham’s bloggers highlighted a few reasons for concern.
Negotiate from a position of strength
Michael J. PetrilliMike channels realpolitik to analyze district-charter collaboration.
Fordham Institute names Adam Emerson its “school choice czar”
Tyson EberhardtMeet the newest member of the Fordham team, and the editor of the Choice Words blog.
School choice, subsidiarity and the common good
Guest blogger Adam Emerson explains why education reformers need to learn the value of subsidiarity.
The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption
Statewide textbook adoption distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission.
News of the World: rocketships, suburban charters, parent triggers, cheating, merit pay -- and even Winerip does good
Peter MeyerOkay, it's not exactly what Rupert might condone, but since he and his crew are preoccupied and because our News Nuggets shop has plenty to do, I offer some education highlights from my weekend reading:
Better Choices: Charter Incubation as a Strategy for Improving the Charter School Sector
Terry RyanIn this policy brief, Public Impact??s Joe Ableidinger and Julie Kowal examine the merits of the incubation model, outline specific strategies for supporting it, and profile organizations around the U.S. putting it into practice. The authors explain that through the strategic recruitment, selection, and training of talented leaders???and support of them as they launch or expand new charter schools???incubators offer charter school advocates an important tool in guaranteeing quality school choice.
Don???t blame D.C.???s woes on school choice
Michael J. PetrilliDC schools have serious issues, but increased school choice is part of the solution, not the root of the problem.
Ed Next Book Club: Sarah Carr on Hope Against Hope
In this installment of the Education Next book club, host Mike Petrilli talks with Sarah Carr about the successes and failures of New Orleans-style reform
Why track on the sports field, but not in the classroom?
Tyson EberhardtThe performance of America's top students was a hot topic on Wisconsin's WSAU radio this morning, as Mike appeared to discuss the findings of Fordham's recent High Flyers study.?
Postcard from China: Constructivist Theory in Chinese Classrooms? Good Luck
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Amber Winkler, Fordham's VP for Research, recently traveled China as a Senior Fellow with the Global Education Policy Fellowship Program (GEPFP).
NAEP 2011: The Reading First effect?
Michael J. PetrilliLast night was fun for the kids, but today is every education wonk's favorite holiday: NAEP release day! Kevin Carey is already out with some savvy analysis; let me add some thoughts on the trends in reading.
Charter School Autonomy: A Half-Broken Promise
Jacob L. Rosch, Dana BrinsonThe typical U.S. charter school lacks the autonomy it needs to succeed, once state, authorizer, and other impositions are considered. For some schools—in some states, with some authorizers—the picture is brighter but for many it's bleak. State-specific grades for charter autonomy range from A to F.
Renewal and Optimism: Five Years as an Ohio Charter Authorizer
Kathryn MullenThe Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is pleased to share our 2009-10 Sponsorship Accountability Report. The report, Renewal and Optimism: Five Years as an Ohio Charter Authorizer, contains a year in review for Ohio's charter school program, detailed information on the Fordham Foundation's work as a charter school sponsor, and data on the performance of our sponsored schools during that year.
Wrapping up "The Other Achievement Gap"
[pullquote]"I got to tell you, the only viable political strategy for getting broad-based support of school reform on that premise is to get those middle-class parents drunk.? -AEI's Rick Hess[/pullquote]We wrap up coverage of Monday's panel discussion, ?The Other Achievement Gap,?