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Districts improve performance despite increasing poverty
A few weeks ago Fordham hosted an event in our hometown of Dayton to discuss findings from a student mobility study we commissioned.
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Think Tank + Sponsoring Charter Schools = Harder Than It Looks
Don’t miss another vigorous, frank, and eye-opening discussion of Fordham’s own experience authorizing charter schools in Ohio—and how that compares to authorizing elsewhere. Join us Thursday, August 26 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm in Fordham’s DC office (1016 16th St.
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Advancing High-Quality Professional Learning Through Collective Bargaining and State Policy: An Initial Review and Recommendations to Support Student Learning
American Federation of Teachers, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Education Association, National Staff Development Council August 2010
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Should school ratings be available before start of new school year?
Back-to-school season is in full swing.?? Of the seven schools that Fordham authorizes, five have already opened their doors and by the middle of this week nearly all Ohio school kids will be back in classes. But it won't be till this Friday morning that the Ohio Department of Education will release annual report cards for both district and school performance.
Report
School Finance, Charter Schools
America's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform: Attracting Entrepreneurs and Change Agents
This study tackles a key question: Which of thirty major U.S. cities have cultivated a healthy environment for school reform to flourish (and which have not)? Nine reform-friendly locales surged to the front. Read on to learn more.
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RttT reforms are good, but are they affordable over the long-haul?
Today Ohio was selected as a winner in the Race to the Top federal education sweepstakes, garnering $400 million for the state and local schools. We are happy to see Ohio win funds ? especially during a brutal recession and with an impending funding cliff threatening K-12 funding. In the short term, the money will surely help Ohio's schools and its children.
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Follow the Money ? Now You Can!
An email from Lori Crouch at the Education Writers Association brings glad tidings?about a light in?the black hole of the bureaucracy:
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Education news nuggets
While we eagerly await the Education Department's announcement about Race to the Top round 2 winners (here's a sneak peek for Ohioans and New Yorkers),
Commentary
The Nation's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform
The question: Which cities are in the mix when it comes to being the ?Silicon Valley? of K-12 schooling? Or, more simply: If you're a problem-solver with some successes under your belt, where will you be most welcome? Cities rounding out the top ten include Charlotte, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, and San Francisco.
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A big flop on Race to the Top
For those who may not believe in coincidence, consider this: Today, Fordham released a brand-new Rick Hess study that found New Orleans, Louisiana to be the most reform-mind
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What college costs
U.S. News & World Report has a handy graph. The National Center for Education Statistics has the details. ?Liam Julian
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The Seattle Times says ?false?
This month, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington (cherries, not cherry blossoms), emphasized in a speech on the Senate floor the?gravity of mailing billions of federal dollars to states in order to avert the dismissal of scads of public-school teachers. ?In my home state, nearly 3,000 jobs are at risk,?
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Quotable and notable
?We cannot become so affixed on the spotlights that we constructively ignore the headlights from the train wreck facing our country.'' ?John H. Jackson, C.E.O. of the Schott Foundation, commenting on the scatter-shot approach to school reform nationally
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Education news nuggets
It's back to school this week for many, and Michelle Rhee has a tough love message for principals.
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Fordham looking to hire its next ?new media? guru
The irreplaceable and immensely talented Laura Pohl is moving on, following her passion for international relief work. So we're looking to hire our next Director of New Media.
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Race to the Top finalists to be announced tomorrow
So reports Fritz Edelstein in his daily e-mail blast. (We're working on confirming this with the Department of Education.) If true, the timing is quite a surprise?at least a few weeks earlier than expected. Why is Arne Duncan rushing out this news in the dog days of August? To get a big splash during a slow news week? To connect with back-to-school stories?
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The wheels on the bus go??? late, off-route, and terribly mismanaged
School started last week for one of the highest performing middle schools in Columbus, the Columbus Collegiate Academy (one of Fordham's sponsored schools). With the start of school comes the start of familiar problems with student transportation.
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Cui bono?
Slowly, slowly, I work my way through the latest issue of Washington Monthly, in which America's colleges and universities are ranked.
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Waiting for solutions
Alex Johnston, the CEO of ConnCAN (I yearn for someone in Topeka to found KanCAN?or, better yet, someone in Montparnasse to start CancanCAN), writes that he is waiting for the coming of ?the
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Como se dice ?delusional??
The Boston Globe reports that Beantown teachers are culturally insensitive, inclined to boorish behavior that, according to ?some students and advocates,?
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Quotable and notable
?Damn near anything is going to be an improvement on the status quo.'' ? Daniel Willingham, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia, commenting on the way teachers are evaluated
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Maybe there's no ?teacher quality gap? after all
It's taken as an article of faith in the education reform community: we're screwing poor kids by giving them less effective teachers than their more affluent peers enjoy. The evidence seems pretty much open-and-shut. Poor schools are home to more rookie teachers, those with less subject-matter knowledge, lower certification exam scores, you name it.
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Quotable and notable
?The success of a student can't just be one measurement. We need lots of different ways of looking at a kid.? ?Marcy Raymond, Metro School Principal
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Squeezing the Last Words out of Summer
The Ohio Gadfly was ahead of the curve with its summer reading list.? And yesterday Liam told us what Diane Ravitch was reading.?
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Time to Sweat It: a New Approach to P.E.
Don't miss Marci Kanstoroom's??Holding Students Accountable for Changing into their Gym Clothes? on the Ed Next blog this morning:
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Proof Positive in Harlem? You Know It When You See It
Paul Tough, a former staff editor at The New York Times Magazine, has a lengthy op-ed piece in today's Times titled ?Don't Drop Out of School Innovation,?
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Education news nuggets
It's Friday, and I am telling you to stop fearing fun. You may be asking, ?do I even have a (school) choice??
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I've got mail
The newest Washington Monthly just came?and it's the college rankings issue, with articles by Ben Miller (?College Dropout Factories?); Kevin Carey (?The Mayo Clinic of Higher Ed,? and ?America's Best Community Colleges?); and Erin Dillon (?America's Best Master's Universities and Baccalaureate Colleges?).
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Ravitch's reading list
In this Sunday's Washington Post one?will find Diane Ravitch's selection of three books that ?have the power to change the national discussion of what now passes for ?school reform.'? And the winners are:
Commentary
What we talk about when we talk about innovation
Paul Tough's op-ed in today's New York Times is called ?Don't Drop Out of School Innovation.? The innovation in question is the devotion of millions of dollars to construction, in cities across the land, of ?Promise Neighborhoods?