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First bell: 7-23-12
A first look at education news from the weekend and this morning: Revamped community college, trouble in D.C., and business as usual in the Windy City.
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School Finance, Governance
How Americans Would Slim Down Public Education
Education budgets are tight and state and district leaders must make tough decisions about where to save. But is the public willing to accept cuts? If so, where? According to the results of this new survey, many Americans are open—selectively open—to dramatic changes in how school districts do business.
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First bell: 7-20-12
Edtech, Joe Biden, and cheating on standardized tests are among the day's top stories.
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Charter Schools
The case for public-school choice in the suburbs
“Customization” isn’t just for urban hipsters
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Where's the GOP on ed?
Come by Fordham’s D.C. office on July 26 for a conversation with Margaret Spellings and Lamar Alexander.
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Charter Schools
Should CMOs really be in the business of ed reform?
The premise that charter management organizations can—or should—be effective advocacy vehicles rests on assumptions of questionable validity.
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The Gadfly Daily's week in review
A look back at wit and wisdom from Fordham's blogs for week of June 25, 2012.
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Is American Education Coming Apart?
For all the talk of gaps in achievement, opportunity, and funding between ethnic and racial groups in American education, a different divide may also be splitting our schools and our future. In his acclaimed and controversial recent book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, scholar/pundit/provocateur Charles Murray describes a widening class schism. On Tuesday, June 26, he will deliver a lecture on what that divide means for U.S. schools and education policy. What does it portend for student achievement? For diversity within schools and choices among them? Is our education system equipped to serve a society separated by social class?
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Curriculum & Instruction
Next Generation Science Standards: Repairs needed
If at first you don't succeed...
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The Gadfly Daily’s week in review
A look back at wit and wisdom from the Fordham Institute's blogs from the week on June 18, 2012.
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Arne scorns Iowa: political courage or political suicide?
Will the Department of Education's rejection of the Hawkeye State's NCLB waiver application become an election issue?
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Curriculum & Instruction
GAO and George Miller don’t understand how special education works
No single public school is expected to serve students with every single type of disability. Except, apparently, public charter schools.
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Standards
Commentary & Feedback on Draft I of the Next Generation Science Standards
In May, Achieve unveiled and solicited comments on the first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards, the product of months of work by a team of writers from twenty-six states. This document provides commentary, feedback, and constructive advice that Fordham hopes the NGSS authors will consider as they revise the standards before the release of a second draft later this year.
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"Gentrification" generates buzz
A quick look at the reactions to Mike's analysis of the top 25 "fastest-gentrifying" neighborhoods in America.
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The fastest-gentrifying neighborhoods in the United States
What communities have changed the most demographically from 2000 to 2010?
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Eli Broad, conservative hero?
You might not agree with Eli Broad’s views on education. But it would be foolish to take him as naïve. His unreasonableness has led to tremendous success for sixty years. And he’s not done with America’s schools yet.
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Pricing the Common Core: How Much Will Smart Implementation Cost States and Districts?
The Common Core is coming, with forty-five states and the District of Columbia challenged to implement these new standards. Yet mystery surrounds how much this will cost states (and districts)—and whether the payoff will justify the price. On May 30, the Fordham Institute peeked behind that curtain with a lively panel discussion of "Pricing the Common Core." Taking part will be former Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith, Achieve President Mike Cohen, former Department of Education official Ze'ev Wurman, and University of San Francisco professor Patrick J. Murphy, who will present the findings of a new Fordham study that he co-authored. It estimates the dollar cost of the implementation process for each participating state—and shows how the pricetag varies depending on the approach a state selects.
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The Price of the Common Core
The Common Core State Standards will soon be driving instruction in forty-five states and the District of Columbia. While the standards are high quality, getting their implementation right is a real challenge—and it won't be free, a serious concern given the tight budgets of many districts and states. But while critics have warned of a hefty price tag, the reality is more complicated.
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