Mathematics 2000: The Nation's Report Card
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Center for Education Statistics and the National Assessment Governing Board
2001 State Special Education Outcomes: A Report on State Activities at the Beginning of a New Decade
Kelly ScottNational Center on Educational Outcomes
Do No Harm-High Stakes Testing and Students With Learning Disabilities
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Disability Rights Advocates
Teach for America instructors outshine experienced teachers
Teach for America teachers perform as well or better than other teachers employed by the Houston Independent School District, according to an independent study by CREDO, a research group based at Stanford's Hoover Institution. An editorial in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution argues that Georgia should also open its doors to prospective teachers like these.
Performance Pay Roadblocks
The movement to link teacher pay to performance in the classroom has taken several giant steps forward this year-in Iowa, Arizona, and Toledo, just to name a few places-but it took two steps back last week.
Revolution in the ed schools
Almost everyone agrees that schools of education need an overhaul and Martin Kozloff, a reform-minded professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, explains how this should happen in a manifesto posted on EducationNews.org.
Is Ted Kennedy the GOP's best hope on ESEA?
Senator Edward M. Kennedy shocked and disappointed many fellow Democrats with his willingness to compromise with the Bush administration on ESEA.
New corps of urban principals breaks barriers to entry
Last week, New Leaders for New Schools introduced its first corps of urban principals, highly-qualified individuals without standard principal credentials who have been given special training and served apprenticeships under master principals before taking the reins of their own schools. Solving the principal shortage will require districts to embrace innovative strategies like this.
Challenges and Opportunities in After-School Programs: Lessons for Policymakers and Funders
Jacob LoshinPublic/Private Ventures
Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation
Karen BakerThe Civil Rights Project, Harvard University
Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality
Chester E. Finn, Jr.National Center for Education Statistics
Students learn more with tough graders and ability grouping
Two new working papers released by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggest that having high grading standards and grouping students by ability (i.e. tracking) lead to improvements in academic achievement.
Canards in Need of Roasting
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Inasmuch as last week's column was about chickens (Chicken Littles, to be precise) it's fitting that this one is about canards-the loud-quacking kind-that need to be put out of their misery and cooked fast. Roaming the education reform field, I've encountered many ridiculous statements hurled at those who seek major changes in the K-12 delivery system.
Can the merits of merit pay in the private sector work for schools?
The arguments that teachers make against merit pay are nothing new, according to Steven Malanga. When merit pay was introduced into American industry in the 1980s, many grumbled that the contributions of individual workers couldn't be measured.
Fraud and Education: The Worm in the Apple
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Harold J. Noah (emeritus professor at Teachers College, Columbia) and Max A. Eckstein (emeritus professor at Queens College, CUNY) have written this disturbing book about education fraud and chicanery. They spotlight student cheating, credentials fraud and misconduct by professionals.
Revitalizing Federal Education Research and Development
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Education historian Maris A. Vinovskis is the author of this thorough, fact-filled and perceptive 270-page volume subtitled "Improving the R & D Centers, Regional Educational Laboratories, and the 'New' OERI." Much of the material in its five chapters has appeared elsewhere, but it's extremely valuable to have this all in one place.
Using data to hold feet to the fire
Police commanders in New York City face weekly "Compstat" meetings in which reams of crime statistics are scrutinized and commanders are grilled about trends in their precincts.
Weighing the cow does make it fatter
Caroline Hoxby wondered whether adopting report cards for schools causes a state to improve academic achievement. She examined state NAEP scores to see if there was any difference between states that adopted report card systems early on and states that were latecomers to the report card bandwagon.
We're #5 (in percentage of adults with college degrees)
For the first time, the US has lost its world lead in college completion rates. The UK, New Zealand, Finland, and the Netherlands all have higher percentages of young adults with college degrees than we do. Jay Mathews considers whether we should be worried in "The New Completion Competition," Washington Post Magazine, July 22, 2001.
Teacher Preparation and Professional Development: 2000
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The National Center for Education Statistics
Performance-related Pay: the Views and Experiences of 1,000 Primary and Secondary Head Teachers
Kelly ScottUniversity of Exeter
The Tip of the Iceberg: SURR Schools and Academic Failure in New York City
Karen BakerCenter for Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute
Charting a Clear Course: A Resource Guide for Building Successful Partnerships between Charter Schools and School Management Organizations
Jacob LoshinCharter Friends National Network
Assessment and Accountability Across the 50 States
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Consortium for Policy Research in Education
Fostering Title I and IDEA Collaboration in Six States: Proceedings and Lessons from Two Peer Technical Assistance Matches
Charles R. Hokanson, Jr.Council of Chief State School Officers' Initiative to Improve Achievement in High Poverty Schools
Tax credits north of the border
Ontario has a new tax credit for parents who send their children to private schools. In the first year, parents are eligible for a refund of $460, but this amount will quintuple over five years. The plan was included in a budget bill passed in late June by the provincial legislature. Six other Canadian provinces already provide money directly to private schools.
Setting cut scores low: you have to start somewhere
As if the official passing score of 55 on the state's Regents exams were not low enough, the Buffalo News reported this week that students needed to answer just 33 percent of the questions correctly to achieve that score on the Regents exam in biology, and 45 percent of the questions in math.