Economic integration push-back
Thank you for the "schooled on class" piece, which ran in last week's Gadfly. I have lived in Wake County for the past 12 years, and my eldest child is in the county's public school system.
Thank you for the "schooled on class" piece, which ran in last week's Gadfly. I have lived in Wake County for the past 12 years, and my eldest child is in the county's public school system.
Australian parents worried about their children have less to fear from dingoes than from their country's schools. Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has released a report that contravenes pie-in-the-sky notions about the Land Down Under's outcomes-based curriculum.
Joe WilliamsPalgrave Macmillan2005
Larry Rosenstock and Jennifer Husbands The Charter Journal (Not available online)September 2005
First there was carnival-gate (see here), and now we have uniform-gate. Toledo requires all its public elementary and middle school students to wear uniforms. Low-income families can apply to the district for free uniforms, which are paid for by Lucas County Job and Family Services.
The list of high-profile political leaders who talk about merit pay for teachers keeps growing. Gadfly has already noted that New York City's school chancellor Joel Klein is a supporter. Now we can add Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to the list.
While the spike in oil prices is leading some school districts to cut back on busing (see Christmas in September, below), the New York Times has found one district that is busing more kids than ever. Wake County Public Schools, which serves Raleigh, has for five years embarked on a campaign to integrate its schools along economic lines.
Norfolk Public Schools finally brought home the big one - the $500,000 Broad Prize for Urban Education. A bridesmaid in the competition each year from 2002 to 2004, the district took top honors this year based on the strength of increased reading and math scores, improved graduation rates, and significant reduction in ethnic achievement gaps.
Early this week, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue closed the Peach State's schools for two days in anticipation of an oil shortage caused by Hurricane Rita—a shortage that never happened.
Becoming a public high school teacher after nearly 30 years in business required that I adapt to a culture whose priorities, norms, and incentives are upside down. Public schools operate in ways that conflict with their core purpose - teaching children the basic knowledge and skills required to lead successful adult lives.
"Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while," quoth the late Russell Long (D-LA), longtime chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. And so it is with the customarily education-blind New York Times editorial page, which unearthed a back-to-school acorn of wisdom on September 6.
Jay GreeneRowman & Littlefield2005
Center for Education Reform2005
As a Marylander who hasn't done much for his state, I was honored to serve on this commission, which was appointed by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and chaired by Lt. Governor Michael S. Steele.
An article in the September 12th edition of the Indianapolis Star (not available online) reported that the Hoosier State's charter schools are starting to sprout in the leafy suburbs. Similar news came out of Minnesota last summer. Is this a trend?
Only a thoroughgoing grinch, one might suppose, would find fault with the Bush administration's proposal to help all Katrina kids find a safe place to go to school this year. The administration will offer up to $7,500 per displaced student to cover education costs.
Sandra Feldman was a brilliant and dedicated teacher unionist. From her earliest days in the civil rights movement, she exhibited intelligence, courage, and leadership. She was one of Albert Shanker's closest associates, and she shared his passion for democracy and civil rights.
Though both my father and I have several shortcomings, neither of us has much trouble speaking for ourselves. I know enough not to try to speak for Dad. So let me, finally, speak for myself concerning two recent Gadfly writings.
It is welcome to hear that the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) does not sanction ideological indoctrination. (See Arthur E.
Los Angeles's poor students aren't getting a lot of love. An Education Trust - West report shows that the Los Angeles Unified School District's most experienced teachers tend to work in higher-paying, less-troubled schools in the city's more affluent areas. No surprise there. According to the report, LAUSD's "seniority bumping rights" policy is partly to blame.
Dr. Kathy Madigan is stepping down as president of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) effective September 30, 2005. During her four-year tenure, Madigan's leadership was instrumental in developing ABCTE's Passport to Teaching program, which has become the "premier national alternative route to the teaching profession." Gadfly wishes Dr.
Last week the Toledo Blade reported that Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Eugene Sanders interviewed for the top executive position at New Schools of Detroit, a nonprofit created in August by the Skillman Foundation of Michigan to oversee new charter schools in the area.
Chicago Public Schools, Office of Research, Evaluation, and AccountabilityAugust 2005
What do the Amistad Commission, the Holocaust Commission, and the Italian Commission have in common? They all want a piece of the public school curriculum.
Lynn Fielding, Nancy Kerr, and Paul Rosier, New Foundation Press2004
The conservative Tory party has long supported parental choice as the best method to elevate student achievement. This explains why the party has backed the City Academies Program launched by Labor's Tony Blair, which draws on community sponsors (business, faith-based, and individual) to replace decaying urban schools.
If ever an education fad showed dreadful timing, reaching its intellectual and political pinnacle just as lightning struck the mountaintop, it's "middle schoolism." The key year was 1989, when the middle school bible, an influential Carnegie-backed report named Turning Points, was published.
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation's inflammatory introduction to William Damon's article in the Gadfly's September 8 issue is simply wrong. It said that "policymakers might reconsider whether being accredited by NCATE is evidence of quality or something far more sinister."