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Choice marches on: Charters for the middle class?*
From the beginning, charter schools have been sold as a vehicle of choice for the poor ? and they have done a remarkable job, for the most part, providing that outlet.?
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Quotable & notable
?No one I'm talking to is defending the status quo; everyone I talk to really shares my sense of urgency that we have to do better for our children? * ?Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
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Mike on ABC
Fordham's?Mike Petrilli discusses the state of education on ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour. Check it out while you sip your morning coffee this weekend. ?Amy Fagan
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Geoffrey Canada speaks to Dayton community
Canada lights up a room. His voice is booming and distinctive (and not just because you remember it from a Waiting for Superman or The Lottery interview), but mostly because when he talks about the children of Harlem, you sense how much he loves his life's work.
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School boards: Our indicator species
A few months ago, chatting with my brother-in-law, a former executive at the National School Boards Association, I suggested we collaborate on a book called Saving School Boards. There was a pause. ?Do they need saving?? he asked. Head spin.
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Test givers and takers unite: Tests ARE good
For all of you test faithful, so long cowering in the shadows of ?critical thinking skills? and free range blah-blah, ?you can come out now.
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Who invented RTTT the phrase?
I've just finished up a report for Education Next on New York's successful bid for Race to the Top funds. And though I interviewed dozens of people and learned a great deal, one question I was unable to answer with any certainty was who had actually coined the term.
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Groundhog Day Event ? Are Bad Schools Immortal?
When it comes to low-performing schools, we seem to be witnessing the same thing over and over?not unlike the classic movie, Groundhog Day.
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Quotable & notable
?Even controlling for demographic factors, there was no clear relationship between spending and results.? * ?John Podesta, Former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton
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Buy me!
David Brooks is a New York Times columnist, and boy does he know how to write 750 words that will rocket to the top of his paper's most-e-mailed list. Here's his basic recipe. First, pick a topic in the sociology realm, preferably something sort of vague, with Malcolm-Gladwell-ish overtones (or, better yet, apply explanatory social science to some newsy situation).
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Quotable & notable
?There should be a way to weigh what the county has done to promote excellence in your school system, and you should be given credit for that.'' * ?Valerie Ervin, Montgomery County, Maryland Council President
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Education schools, up close and personal
It's been an open secret for at least a year, but now the National Council on Teacher Quality is making it official: they are at work on a review of all 1,400 of the nation's schools of education; the results will be published in a special edition of U.S. News and World Report. Kudos to NCTQ for taking on this Herculean task.
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School Choice Week starts soon!
We wanted to help get the word out ? this Sunday (January 23) kicks off National School Choice Week. It's a week of events and discussion across the country, aimed highlighting the need for effective education options for all children. You can read about it here ?
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More from Arne
The nation's education secretary has lately been ventilating his thoughts on local issues.
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Another prediction
The Atlantic's Derek Thompson spoke with Jonah Edelman, co-founder and CEO of Stand for Children, about the prospects for a 2011 No Child Left Behind rewrite. Is Edelman optimistic that 2011 is the year? ?I am,?
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Bombs, etc.
RiShawn Biddle appreciates measured analysis but thinks?the K-12 realm?could also stand some ?bomb-throwing, bombast, even plain and blunt talk.? I agree, which is why every week I try to toss at least few grenades into the ed-policy echo chamber. But I am a writer, not a public official.
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Education news nuggets
School Controversies abound. From challenging school plays to removing ?college' from school discourse, no one seems to agree.
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Official Race to the Top amendment rules? three months later
During Ohio's gubernatorial race former Governor Ted Strickland's campaign placed Race to the Top funding in the spotlight.? Strickland asserted that Ohio's $400 million in RttT winnings could fall into jeopardy if John Kasich scrapped the ?evidence-based? model of school funding.
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Quotable & notable
?They need the arts.?When I hear music called an ?extracurricular activity,' it makes me cringe because it's part of becoming a well-rounded human being.''* ?Condoleezza Rice, Former U.S. Secretary of State
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Groundhog Day Event Gets Some Buzz
Our next event will quite appropriately take place on Groundhog Day and it's getting some buzz out there in the blogosphere this week.
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Are you there God? It's me [insert student name here]
Twenty-six Catholic schools?all but one of which are elementary-level?in New York City are slated for closure. That may not seem like a big number, but the closures will affect some 4,700 students in the Big Apple, and represents the largest school consolidation in the history of the state's archdiocese.
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Stupid
This article, written by an insane Chinese woman who is merely ginning up publicity for her just-published book, has sparked much debate. I have no idea why.
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Is this the year?
The one question on everyone's mind: Will 2011 be the year that Congress revises No Child Left Behind? Arne Duncan says yes. ?The president is ready to move on this,? he told the Washington Post.
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More fightin' words
Did you notice Flypaper's ?quotable? bit from yesterday? It comes from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: ?Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform.? I get it. Christie is a politician, and making broad, charged statements is what politicians do (when they aren't making narrow, vapid ones).
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