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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Timothy Speth, Steffen Saifer, and Gregory ForehandNorthwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of EducationOctober 2008
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
?These reforms must be taken up now; we cannot ask children in failing schools to wait any longer while these reforms sit untouched in Trenton''* ?Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey
Would you like to work at the forefront of national education policy? Are you passionate about school choice and knowledgeable about education reform? A brilliant writer? Energetic, organized, imaginative, and outgoing? A leader as well as a team player? If so, you might be perfect as the director of Fordham's new program on parental choice.
Excellent schools require excellent leaders, but as the charter movement expands where will the next generation of charter school leaders come from? Across the country, organizations are recognizing the potential of charter incubators to recruit, train, and support the charter principals and CEOs of the future.
Mike and Janie bite off big topics in this week's podcast?from the repeal of SB5 to racial imbalances in gifted-ed programs to online learning. Amber wants CRPE to name names and Chris starts subbing for the pension benefits. You're gonna want to sit down for this.[powerpress]
The headline in the Daily News was a shocker: ?New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl? Tisch blasts Mayor Bloomberg's school reforms: Calls some schools `warehouses' for poor-performing students.?
The performance of America's top students was a hot topic on Wisconsin's WSAU radio this morning, as Mike appeared to discuss the findings of Fordham's recent High Flyers study.?
Maybe it never should have been carved out of the old Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the first place, but the fact is that Jimmy Carter, politically indebted to the N.E.A. for his election (and unable to get out from the commitment he had made to them in return), winkled it through Congress in 1979.?
?At first, I was trying to get the kids to not talk. But then I took a step back and let them socialize and work together on projects. That's when things started to really happen. Someone would do something different, all would gather around, see it, and then go back to their own.'' *
Listen to the latest edition of the Ed Next Book Club, as Mike sits down with author Paul Peterson:
Illinois may finally be addressing its dysfunctional teacher retirement system with meaningful, bipartisan reform:
