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Human capital, charters, and New Orleans
Very good article in Sunday's New Orleans Times-Picayune by very good reporter Sarah Carr.
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Quotable and notable
???We clearly could have gone with a smaller number???we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible.?? I thought it was the right thing to do.??? ???Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education
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Bill Ayers and friends eat their young
Amidst the Race to the Top excitement this week, an important story may have gotten lost in the buzz.
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Giving credit to MD's governor
I have been tough on Maryland's governor for his state's startlingly anemic Race to the Top performance. ??Whereas other governors have supported bold reforms, he has professed contentment with the status quo. That has been regrettable. But I have to give credit where due.
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Getting into the common standards weeds
Ze'ev Wurman was one of my favorite colleagues at the US Department of Education, a kind, worldly, and smart guy. But he also had a trait that lots of similarly kind, worldly, and smart folks lack: he does details.
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Race to the Top isn't the Oscars
Along with others, I am surprised that Ohio was named a finalist in the federal Race to the Top sweepstakes.???? Not because of the caliber of the state's application ????????
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Don't miss: This week's Education Gadfly
Introducing the latest Education Gadfly, now on Flypaper in a new format: From Checker's Desk
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Quotable and notable
???In a way, UTLA is the dog that caught the car.?? I think they are going to be under tremendous pressure both from t heir own members who came up with these plans, and from the district, to follow through on this.??? ???Charles Kerchner, Claremont Graduate University professor
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Scandal at Churchill High!
Is there something about "private public schools" that breeds this sort of behavior? -Mike Petrilli
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Sweet sixteen?
The news that 15 states plus the District of Columbia qualified as finalists in the first round of the "Race to the Top" is sure to anger many reformers, and for good reas
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The Gates conspiracy
A perceptive reader pointed this out to me. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation originally provided 15 states with $250,000 planning grants to help them prepare their Race to the Top applications. After a firestorm of controversy, Gates made similar grants available to the other states. But note this: Original Gates States:
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Continued RTT underperformance from MD
I've written previously about Maryland's curiously disappointing participation in the Race to the Top.
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More Catholic closures
The news is worse than I expected. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is closing 13 schools, including 10 in the city of Baltimore. That represents more than 20 percent of the system's schools.
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Major disappointment
The US Department of Education had the opportunity today to send a clear signal--that the Race to the Top is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that very good wouldn't be good enough, that only the biggest and boldest plans would merit consideration. Instead, the administration accepted 15 states and Washington, DC--nearly 1/3 of all applicants--as finalists.
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In case you're not convinced
If you're not sold that Duncan's RTTT "high high bar" wasn't so mountainous after all, here's NEA prez Dennis Van Roekel's take on the announcement:
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Teaching as leadership
Though viewpoints on how to reform American public education are numerous and discordant, they tend to converge on one key premise: teachers matter. A lot.
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The new politics of education
Gadfly occasionally grumbles about the Obama Administration’s policies and actions, but it’s hard to find fault with the
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Wake me up before you go, go
On Tuesday, North Carolina’s Wake County school board narrowly (5-4) decided to replace its four-decade-old policy of integrating schools via busing. The latest iteration of that policy, now one decade old, aimed to ensure a middle-class majority at each school in the system; the district was able to do this because it was big and relatively affluent.
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Vampire of Nazareth?
An unnamed communications “staffer” in Utah’s Alpine School District is hoping a fire he (she?) ignited is soon extinguished by the nearby Great Salt Lake. The luckless employee posted a link to an essay which presumably elaborated on the district’s mission to “educate all students to ensure the future of our democracy.” So, what’s the problem?
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Sharing is improving
New teamwork is visible in New Orleans and it’s not on the football field. Ten NOLA charter schools will participate in a collaborative effort led by the Achievement Network (ANet).
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Why Race to the Middle? First-Class State Standards are Better than Third-Class National Standards
Ze'Ev Wurman and Sandra StotskyPioneer Institute and Pacific Research InstituteFebruary 2010
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Marie Antoinette goes to CPAC
How to eat your cake while claiming it’s disgusting, unhealthy, and philosophically bankrupt, too? Republican governors are quickly becoming savvy gourmands, as they attempt to balance their rhetorical opposition to federal stimulus funding with their growing reliance on it to fill gaping budget holes, a.k.a.
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Finn on Ravitch
Diane Ravitch’s important new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has already
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Closing the Expectations Gap 2010: Fifth Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Careers
Achieve, Inc.American Diploma Project NetworkFebruary 2010
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Quotable and notable
"It's a bill that actually finally for the first time will reward teachers who actually demonstrate they are achieving student achievement in the classroom." ??? Sen. John Thrasher, merit pay bill sponsor
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Checker and Diane: Same diagnosis, different prescription
In today's thoughtful article on Diane Ravitch's "school reform u-turn," the New York Times' Sam Dillon writes about her longtime (and continuing) friendship with Checker