A Time for Change: The 42nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public Schools
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.The questions change but one key finding stays the same
More Trouble for Middle Schools
Peter MeyerSee Martin West's blog this morning at Education Next about the new research from Jonah Rockoff and Benjamin Lockwood (Columbia Business School) showing serious negative side effects fr
A Valuable Value-Added Story
Peter MeyerNot a lot of new ground is broken here, but Sam Dillon of the New York Times does a good job summarizing the issues ? including the hot-button topic?of naming names ? surrounding value-added assessments. ?Peter Meyer
Poll: Who should win our New Yorker-style caption contest?
Last Friday, we laid down a challenge of great intellectual might.? We asked you, our intrepid readers, to give a caption to the following picture:
Quotable & Notable
?We've gotten out and told our members, if you don't get involved in this election, the alternative is much worse.? ?David A. Sanchez, President of the California Teachers Association
Worse than banal
The commandant of the Rick Hess Straight Up blog was?deflated by what?he heard from Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, on ABC's Sunday-morning, political talk show, This W
Defamation!
New Jersey's former education commissioner, Bret Schundler, is now claiming that the state's governor ?defamed? him. ?I will not accept being defamed by the governor for something he knows I did not do,? Schundler wrote. ?Liam Julian
On books
The critic Carlin Romano, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education, wonders if ten years hence books will be largely vestigial:
Political beat
Sharron Angle is a Nevadan running for the U.S. Senate. And according to the Think Progress blog, she is not in favor of funding public schools. ?Liam Julian
Latest why-we-didn't-sign-up-for-Race-to-the-Top excuse? The Bible
Emmy L. PartinSince Ohio won Race to the Top money last week, districts that didn't sign on to the state's proposal (nearly half of them) have gone on the defensive about why they didn't accept the federal dollars.??
Anemic urban academic performance data show little reason for cheer
Emmy L. Partin, Terry Ryan, Bianca SperanzaThe Thomas B. Fordham Institute has analyzed the academic performance of schools in Ohio’s Big 8 cities annually since 2003.
Are these the top education policy books of the decade?
Michael J. PetrilliEducation Next, where I'm an executive editor, is running an online poll to determine the top books of the past decade. (We're celebrating our tenth anniversary this coming winter.) Here are the 41 nominees in chronological order; did we leave anything important out?
The Albany file, cont.
Peter MeyerSome great pictures of Arne's visit with the New York State United Teachers union people in Albany, courtesy of
Albany (cont. again): doveryai, no proveryai
Peter MeyerOkay, so the Albany Times Union search engine is not perfect ? it did not turn up Rick Karlin's story on Arne Duncan's odd visit to one of the nation's premiere charter school cities?
Fire teachers, save bocce
Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of reason.com, wonders just how much money high-school sports actually cost and why no one seems willing, in our time of financial agony, to even consider cutting them. ?Liam Julian
Interactive explanation
The Chronicle of Higher Education shows how the college raters do their rating. ?Liam Julian
What's the evidence on stakeholder support?
Michael J. PetrilliIf you're looking for an answer to that question, this post is sure to disappoint. I'm really just wondering myself. Is there any evidence that reforms are more likely to take root if stakeholders are on board?
Education news nuggets
Attention all fashionistas: last night's red carpet at the Emmys has nothing on high fashion in the homeroom.
Quotable and notable
?No one is ever really singled out, neither good nor bad. The culture of the union is: Everyone is the same. You can't single out anyone for doing badly. So as a result, we don't point out the good either.'' ?Aldo Pinto, teacher at Los Angeles Unified School District's Gridley Street Elementary School
The half-broken promise of charter school autonomy
Michael J. PetrilliThose of us at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute are hawks when it comes to charter school accountability. We fervently believe that bad charter schools should be shuttered and that authorizers should be choosy when granting charters in the first place. This wasn't always so; when the charter movement started we, like many other enthusiasts, believed in letting a thousand flowers bloom.
No Garden Party in the Garden State
Peter MeyerThe meltdown in New Jersey over its 11th-place showing in the Race to the Top competition ? one place out of the money ? can not be good for education reform.
The Communications Gap: Newspapers in Education
Peter MeyerScanning my local newspaper the other morning ? it usually takes about ten minutes, including Police Blotter ? I stopped at the editorial headline, ?You can help support Newspapers in Education? and immediately thought, How about a little education in the newspapers?
Why We Need a Free Press ? in Public Education
Peter MeyerSorry to?interrupt?Mike's slow Friday contest, but ?I need to tell?a couple of quick?stories about the power of the press (The PoP!) ?
Education news nuggets
It's Friday, so don't be depressed. Besides, today's EdNews is striking, if I do say so myself.
Quotable and notable
?We used Katrina as an opportunity to build?not rebuild, but build?a new school system.'' ?Paul Vallas, Superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans