And you wonder why state and local officials fear the Dept. of Ed's Inspector General?
"Education Department buying 27 shotguns"
"Education Department buying 27 shotguns"
Over the last year, as I've been following the RTT and other big issues affecting states and districts, I've read literally thousands of articles from magazines, blogs, and local, state, regional, and national newspapers.
After absolutely zero popular demand, the occasional series "From the To-Read Pile" is making its triumphant return! This is where I plug articles, books, or reports that I should've read long ago but didn't. This installment covers four reports that address a single broad issue--managing a city's portfolio of schools--from different angles.
Here at the Fordham office, the draft Common Core standards has not only brought an air of excitement, but also a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
This week, Mike and Rick discuss the Race to the Top finalists (we're a bit late, but this is a weekly show!), the Department of Education's new push for ???civil rights,???
Most of the Fordham office was over at the AEI-Fordham event yesterday for Diane Ravitch's new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. (If you missed our live tweeting, you can watch the event video here.) The event's moderator, Rick Hess, has (as promised) now posted hi
From Checker's Desk "Common Core" education standards: Impressive, balanced, serious (Checker's take on the new draft standards, released this week)
???What is different about mathematics in Maine from California??? I don't believe there is a difference.?? You will see far more states adopt the standards than not.??? ???Susan Gendron, Maine Commissioner of Education
Andrew Campanella and Ashley EhrenreichAlliance for School Choice2010
Kalman R. HettlemanRowman & Littlefield Publishers2010
Natasha Ushomirsky and Daria HallThe Education TrustFebruary 2010
Neal McCluskeyCATOFebruary 2010
Petula Dvorak, a staff writer at the Washington Post, desperately wanted to enroll her sons in a public school outside her up-and-coming D.C. neighborhood. So, like thousands of other parents, she entered the District’s “out-of-boundary” lottery.
Gadfly got bored with the deluge of Michelle Rhee coverage last year. But she’s back, this time (or should we say, again) squaring off against AFT prez Randi Weingarten, in an article that offers some insight into the personalities of two power women.
I haven't closely examined the new draft "Common Core" math standards (and am in any case shy about judging them, having myself forgotten the difference between cosines and tangents), but the draft "reading/language arts/literacy" standards are pretty darned impressive.
What’s the easiest way to cut school spending? To cut schooling, of course--and districts across the land are turning to this boneheaded solution as they contemplate their dismal financial situations.
Good news: Teaching and learning are back in vogue. This brilliant article by GothamSchools’ Elizabeth Green is the latest in a series of prominent pieces that begin to pry open the “black box” of the classroom, a topic that has been largely ignored in the policy sphere in favor of structural reforms.
Aren’t elected officials supposed to represent the interests of their constituents? Not according to Harlem’s State Senator Bill Perkins, who insists that charters are just “hype.” Really?
On Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that his department will expand its efforts in civil rights enforcement. Its civil rights division will monitor racial disparities in enrollment in college prep classes, school discipline, and teacher assignment.
We all know about the plans to fire and replace teachers at the struggling Central Falls in Rhode Island. But it turns out this event is part of a bigger and more interesting story.
I haven't closely examined the new draft??"Common Core" math standards (and am??in any case shy about judging them, having myself forgotten the difference between cosines and tangents), but the??draft "reading/language arts/literacy" standards are pretty darned impressive.
"Inclusion does not happen on its own. It is hard work." ??? Alexa E. Posny, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Department of Education
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is seeking to close a troubled charter school sponsor (aka authorizer), blazing new territory for the nation’s charter school program.
Is America’s civil-rights leadership looking out for the essential interests of African-American children? Former education secretary Rod Paige says no.
None of the more than 500 people attending last week’s statewide STEM meeting in Columbus needed to be convinced of the importance of science-and-math education, although many might wonder exactly what it really means for their schools.
Caprice Young, CEO of Distance Learning, has been elected to the board of trustees of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Foundation. Young has been CEO of the California Charter Schools Association and president of the Los Angeles Board of Education.