These kinds of allegations really get under my skin. Why do all politicians who have anything remotely to do with public schools have to send their kids to public school? Isn't the reason that we all work so hard to reform the public school system because we think it doesn't quite work right?
Arne Duncan was at the National Press Club (and on C-SPAN ) this morning, being his usual amiable, cheerful, and optimistic self.
I just sat through a very interesting presentation by Teach For America on the way they are using data to figure out which applicants have a better chance of success in the classroom. So this is being put to very good use.
To his great credit, Secretary Duncan has spent the last several months imploring the education world to spend stimulus money on reform-oriented projects. He has been explicit that states and districts should not use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to merely protect jobs.
It came to our attention that many of our loyal readers never received their Gadflies yesterday. We are so sorry to have deprived you of your weekly Thursday reading material!
A few months ago, we reported that the NJ Supreme Court refused to kill off the half-dead and long-damaging Abbott v. Burke. Corzine, backed by the New Jersey legislature, had come up with a new funding formula that would no longer favor the 31 poor districts ("Abbott" districts) singled out by the case.
The Washington Post's Jay Mathews dedicates his column today to discussing Checker's new book "Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut," in which Checker takes strong issue with the idea of universal preschool.
Back in early January, when the full scope of the Great Recession was just starting to become clear, and the stimulus bill was but a glimmer in President Obama's eye, Checker Finn, Rick Hess, and I argu
Regarding Mike's post below, I'm sure it depends on the type of reform. Firing practices certainly become more relevant in hard economic times, but on the other hand, standards-based reforms may fare better when there's money to pay for them.
Ed Week's Michele on why some states haven't yet applied for SFSF dollars. This is a very interesting example of why federal policy-making is such uncertain business. Given that stimulus was goal number 1 of the ARRA, why didn't Congress take these state budget issues into account?
The Power Point presentation during the release event of the Condition of Education this morning certainly wasn't dramatic--NCES prides itself of just presenting the data, not analyzing it. But don't be fooled; there's very interesting stuff in there.
Don't forget to register for Fordham's upcoming event, "The Cons and Pros of Universal Pre-K", coming up on Thursday, June 4 from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM.
The new "Condition of Education" report released today by the National Center for Education Statistics offers fresh evidence as to why some American kids need more and better preschooling but the "universal" approach is wrong.
Should charter-school autonomy mean outsourcing services however a school sees fit? Ten schools in the San Diego area say aye. Heretofore, the charters in question were charged per pupil rates (a projected $763 next year) for district-provided special education services.
"A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice," Sunny Jim once said (for those rusty on their modern European history, that's James Callaghan, PM of the UK in the late 70s.) Perhaps a lesson for Joel Klein, who's now taking heat from experts on his 14-month principal training boot camp, the Leadership Academy.
While cities like Boston and New York are jumping from the Teach For America ship crying poverty, Baltimore wants to double its number of passengers.
Dying to learn how to make balloon animals? Tie-dye a tee-shirt? Cut out the perfect construction-paper snowflake? If you're a teacher in Massachusetts, you're in luck.
National Center for Education Statistics, Institute for Education SciencesJune 2009
All the gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts--and manifestos, studies, reports, and exhortations beyond enumeration--involving teacher recruitment, teacher quality, teacher compensation, and teacher retention miss the fundamental demographic reality at the core of almost all our teacher-related challenges: their sheer numbers.
Bryan C. Hassel, Julie Kowal, and Sarah CrittendonThe Philanthropy RoundtableApril 2009
Marguerite RozaCenter for Reinventing Public Education, University of WashingtonMay 2009
Here's some background info on some recent ED appointees. ????Russo weighs in, including a blog critique.
If you read your hometown's newspaper regularly, you're bound to see an op-ed or editorial every so often on an educational topic. Today, your odds were much higher--many dailies featured guest opinion pieces on teachers from superintendents, mayors, and wonks, and a few regular columnists chimed in as well. Let's dig in for this first installment of the Ed-Op Round-Up.
We've heard much about "zombie banks," institutions that are fundamentally insolvent but stay open because they are propped up by government intervention. But finance isn't the only field trod by the walking dead. In Dayton, and indeed across Ohio, we are also witnessing zombie schools. Many are operated by public school systems.
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional AssistanceMay 2009
Charter-school operators are finishing up the details of their five-year operating budgets, a tough task given that lawmakers are still wrangling over exactly what kind of school-funding charters are to receive over the next two years (see here).
While we're used to stories about government spending millions, billions, and now trillions, this story is about how just a little more state money could make a big difference in rural Ohio schools like South Point High School.
