Education News Nuggets
After much anticipation, Election Day is finally here—and we've got the photos to prove it. If you're in NYC, you can share your election day experience
After much anticipation, Election Day is finally here—and we've got the photos to prove it. If you're in NYC, you can share your election day experience
Politico has a long-ish (for Politico, at least) story on Michelle Rhee. Before the electoral defeat of Rhee's former boss and Washington, D.C.'s former mayor, Adrian Fenty?a defeat that, the writers note, ?surprised?
Just when academic excellence ?seemed to be making a comeback with our educators and policymakers we face the challenge of another wave of education tool and die makers whose products are confused with, er, knowledge.?
Reading ?the New York Times update on the progress of the $100 million Mark ?Facebook?
It's hard to tell whether Joe Nocera's op-ed essay in the New York Times last week, ?Teaching With The Enemy,? is wonderfully nuanced or just silly.?
Solomon ?Walcott? Grundy Appointed on Thursday Choir Singing, Ballroom dancing and Skydiving on Friday
I awoke this morning thinking about test scores ? New York State releases it's 4th- and 8th-grade reading and math scores tomorrow and our little district ? 50 percent poor, 30% black ? rarely hits the 50 proficient rate.?
It's great to have Saturday morning education stories to mull, but the New York Times may be?pushing the envelope with this line-up.
The New York Times editorial page has been a fairly consistent supporter of education reform over the last ten years, including a courageous and early backing of No Child Left Behind.?
In the hell of good intentions, the anti-bullying campaign has got to be on one of the lower rings. (The self-esteem movement is?pretty far down.)?
Yesterday, at the end of a bang-up Education Writers Association conference on improving teaching quality, at the Carnegie Corporation?in New York City, I was approached by a newspaper education editor who asked whether I thought charter school test results were real.?
True, Arne Duncan's lead seems to have quieted other bids for the top spot, but the race is not over yet. Linda Darling-Hammond is army crawling her way to the top with her eyes set on Kathleen Sebelius. Joel Klein and Colin Powell are holding steady.
Monday?s post, ?Dealing with disingenuous teachers unions: There are no shortcuts,? sparked a wave of discussion and criticism?which, let?s face it, is every writer?s hope. But I wasn?t just trying to be provocative; we at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute strongly believe that issues of governance and politics have been too often ignored in the education reform debate. We?re happy to help put these issues at the top of the policy agenda. In fact, we?ve teamed up with the Center for American Progress on a three-year project to do exactly that. (Join us on December 1st in Washington, D.C.?or online?for a groundbreaking conference on the topic.)
Mike's post yesterday didn't just ask whether unions have made local control untenable--it also sparked some fascinating and spirited responses in the comments section, with Randi Weingarten, Diane Ravitch, Grant Wiggins, and many others weighing in.
After its big referendum victory last week, Ohio teachers union vice president Bill Leibensperger said ?There has always been room to talk. That's what collective bargaining is about. You bring adults around a table to talk about serious issues.?
It?s hard to tell whether Joe Nocera?s op-ed essay in the New York Times last week, ?Teaching With The Enemy,? is wonderfully nuanced or just silly. That?s surely what some education observers might wonder about the notion that Randi Weingarten, former head of New York City?s teacher union and current head of the American Federation of Teachers, should be chancellor of New York City schools.* In fact, Nocera notes that he himself ?nearly fell out of my chair? when Steven Brill told him that Weingarten, who is ?the enemy? of Brill?s new book, Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America?s Schools, threw him a book party.
Timothy Speth, Steffen Saifer, and Gregory ForehandNorthwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of EducationOctober 2008
It seems the Outback isn't the only barren locale down under. Test scores, too, have found the Australian environment arid. Faced with an achievement gap of their own--between indigenous and non indigenous students (i.e., aborigines and later immigrants)--the Aussies sought to bring their lagging performers up to par. This went reasonably well.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation summoned 130 or so education heavies (many of them grantees) to Seattle this week to attend the foundation's gala unveiling of its long-awaited education strategy, the culmination of an intense rethinking process spearheaded by new education director
Bravo, New Orleans. Having given charter schools room to grow, local and state education officials are now hammering out the details of an oversight system--and not a moment too soon. Since roughly 60 percent of students in New Orleans attend charters, ensuring that these are quality learning venues is an essential next step.
Economic meltdown notwithstanding, sometimes good ideas do leap from the marketplace. Exhibit A? Virtual schools, which are popping up nationwide like hybrids in San Fran. Typically founded under existing charter laws, these online learning arrangements have grown quickly and quietly to fill holes in the education market.
Diana Anaya came to America to get an education, and she's not doing so well--at least according to the new No Child Left Behind regulations, which base graduation rates on four-year diploma earners. By that metric, Ayana, who should have graduated last year, is lagging.
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
A first look at today's education news: The NCTQ issues a scathing review of colleges' teacher-education programs, NYC's graduation rate holds relatively steady after the implementation of tougher diploma requirements, and more