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Don't change the innovation eligibility
Though this Ed Week article is ostensibly about the Department's desire to expand the list of districts eligible to apply for the $650 million innovation grant program, it includes a much more news-worthy and troubling story line.
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DPC and education
As both Russo and Politics K-12 reported, Mary Ellen McGuire is apparently headed to the White House to work for the Domestic Policy Council on education. This has me a bit curious.
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Today's 'Quotable and Notable'
Quotable "It's encouraging that even before a penny has been doled out, this aggressive stance is forcing states to rethink traditional approaches to education." --Washington Post editorial, describing Obama's demands for accountability and an increase in charter schools.
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Education Change Agent: Bill Jackson, Founder and CEO GreatSchools
Bill Jackson is the founder and CEO of GreatSchools, an independent, nonprofit organization that improves education by inspiring parents to get involved.
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Is There a Plateau Effect in Test Scores?
Naomi Chudowsky and Victor ChudowskyCenter on Education PolicyJuly 2009
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If a reformer can make it here...
Gadfly couldn't be more pleased that Hunter College ed school dean David Steiner will be moving to Albany in October as the new New York state education commissioner. Steiner brings ample reform credentials to the table.
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Swishing the dirt around
Detroit's schools are in a pickle and state-appointed emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is ready to extricate them from the brine.
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The great graduation-rate debate
President Obama's attention to high school dropout rates has brought an already-contentious issue to the national scene. The U.S. can hardly be expected to compete in a global economy with so many of its young people failing to make it to and through their senior years, or so the argument goes.
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District of Columbia Public Schools: Important Steps Taken to Continue Reform Efforts, But Enhanced Planning Could Improve Implementation and Sustainability
Government Accountability OfficeJune 2009
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Obama, failing to learn from Bush's lessons?
It appears increasingly likely that President Obama and Secretary Duncan are at risk of doing to charter schooling, merit pay, and school "turnarounds" what the Bush administration did to educational accountability. That's not meant as a compliment.
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Patrolling the Apple store
Violent video games are no new addition to the world of electronic entertainment; it seems hardly a jump, skip, or hop, then, to find iPhone apps with those same violent tendencies. But not all material is acceptable for target practice. RetardedArts, developer of the iPhone app "Zombie School," was a bit slow on this realization.
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Single-minded and criticism-shy
Gadfly would be the first to admit he's gotten his wings a bit sticky over at Flypaper; the best blogging is provocative, which sometimes provokes angry reactions. Michele Kerr, a recent graduate of the Stanford Teacher Education Program, learned that lesson the hard way.
Report
Governance
The Great Graduation-Rate Debate
This paper aims to promote a clearer understanding of the graduation-rate debate by distilling the policy developments and controversy surrounding the measurement of these rate. Why are there so many different ways to calculate graduation rates? How do these different rates account for the multiple pathways to graduation? What are the data sources used in the various dropout-rate calculations, and what are their pros and cons?
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New report: "The Great Graduation-Rate Debate"
Graduation rates. We all know that defining and measuring them has been the source of much contentious discussion in recent years.
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Is the Emphasis on Proficiency Shortchanging Higher- and Lower-Achieving Students?
Center on Education PolicyJune 2009
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Moving Beyond AYP: High School Performance Indicators
Alliance for Excellent Education, with author Lyndsay M. PinkusJune 2009
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Tackling the STEM Crisis: Five Steps Your State Can Take to Improve the Quality and Quantity of its K-12 Math and Science Teachers
National Council on Teacher Quality and National Math and Science InitiativeJune 2009Qualified science and math teachers are in short supply and this report explains how state laws and regulations can encourage individuals to teach in the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math.
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Stimulating Excellence: Unleashing the Power of Innovation in Education
Center for American Progress, American Enterprise Institute, New Profit Inc., and Public ImpactMay 2009
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Building a High-Quality Education Workforce: A Governor's Guide to Human Capital Development
National Governor's Association, Center for Best PracticesMay 2009Teacher quality has been a major topic in Ohio politics of late. One of the latest installments of Gov. Ted Strickland's Conversations on Education video series features Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut speaking about teacher quality provisions within the governor's proposed education plan.
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Fixing Tenure: A Proposal for Assuring Teacher Effectiveness and Due Process
Center for American Progress, with author Joan Baratz-Snowden from the Education Study CenterJune 2009
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The Schools Teachers Leave: Teacher Mobility in Chicago Public Schools
Consortium on Chicago School ResearchJune 2009Chicago is the third largest city in the country and the hometown of our nation's president and as such, has naturally been playing a much larger role in the political realm. The educational research world must have noticed because Chicago and the Chicago Public School System have also had a large presence in several recent reports.
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The Widget Effect
The New Teachers Project, with authors Daniel Weisber, Susan Sexton, Jennifer Mulhern, and David KeelingJune 2009
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Today's 'Quotable and Notable'
Quotable "We are determined to continue to fight against the dismantling of our school district, and for real reform and equality for the young people of Detroit." --Heather Miller, former Detroit math teacher who was accused of inciting an unruly student protest regarding school closings.
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Big George's big revenge?
One of the most striking aspects of the proposed Race to the Top application released last week (
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New Fordham report out tomorrow
Stay tuned???..tomorrow we will be releasing our next report: "The Great Graduation Rate Debate." It's a very helpful primer on a very complex topic, and it'll be up on our website in the morning!