Olive branch or death knell for charter schools?

In today's State of the State address , Ohio Governor Ted Strickland clarified his position on charter schools:

The quote of the year (so far)

Take a look at this dandy from AEI's Rick Hess, in today's New York Times article about the federal stimulus package's largesse for the nation's schools:

Re: You can call him 'Arne'

I think Mike has it exactly right when he says, "There's no doubt in my mind that the implementation of No Child Left Behind could have been much more successful had we engaged the Department's career staff earlier and in a more meaningful way."

Stimulating discussion

"It's Raining Ed$." That's the headline the National Review Online's "The Corner" chose for a recent post on the economic stimulus package.

Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) headaches

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OMG, LDH 4 Dep Sec?

That's the rumor circulating today at a Gates Foundation regional convening I've been attending: Linda Darling-Hammond is going to be named the next Deputy Secretary of Education.

Is the honeymoon over?

Well, that didn't take long. I'm not referring to Republican resistance to the stimulus bill .

Return of the Obama Administration Reform-o-Meter: The House stimulus package

Tweaking schools instead of fixing them

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You can call him "Arne"

Arne Duncan is hitting all the right notes, at least when it comes to building a strong working relationship with the Department of Education's career civil servants.

Introducing the Obama Administration Education Reform-o-Meter!

Getting higher ed involved in the charter school movement

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Could the recession be good for the charter school movement?

The other day, Checker explained how charter school opponents are using the current budget-cutting environment as an excuse to clobber charter schools and to keep new ones from opening. ???We can't afford them,??? goes the argument.

Ideas from GreatSchools about how to create great parents

How to encourage parents to take their responsibilities seriously has been a major theme this week.

Obama and test performance

Clearly President Barack Obama has a lot on his plate right now. But he should take heart ??? some are saying he may have already boosted test scores!

Karl Rove: Please go away

Many conservative commentators blame the dismal state of the Republican Party on the talk-show crowd: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and the other blowhards who play on people's fears for a living.

Re: Karl Rove: Please go away

Mike may be right about the many ways Karl Rove gets it wrong

How to help parents seize this "new era of responsibility"

My post from yesterday about President Obama's call for a "New Era of Responsibility" sought ideas from readers about how policymakers and sch

Get your Gadfly

It's here and it's hot. In the top spot, you'll find Mike's ideas on how we should couple responsibility with accountability.

Alternative Routes to Teaching: Mapping the New Landscape of Teacher Education

Pam Grossman and Susanna Loeb, eds.Harvard Education Press2008

Bush bashing unfair and untrue

To the editor: 

Catholic schools have a prayer

After much poking and prodding, supporters of Catholic schools may finally be springing into action.

The Beautiful Tree

James TooleyCATO InstituteApril 2009

Going-away gift

Will President Bush get a last education laugh? That's what Richard Whitmire, president of the National Education Writers Association and founder of the Why Boys Fail blog, predicts.

Global Perspectives in the Geography Curriculum: Reviewing the Moral Case for Geography

Alex StandishRoutledge PublishersOctober 2008

What Obama's 'Era of Responsibility' could mean for education

For an education watcher, the most striking parts of President Barack Obama's sober, yet stirring, inaugural address weren't the oblique references to our schools (which "fail too many" and will be "transformed" to "meet the demands of a new age").

The terminator

If the recent past is prologue, we have reason to be hopeful about Arne Duncan. As he prepared to leave his post as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools last week, Duncan proposed to close or consolidate 25 under-performing or under-enrolled schools.

Slip of the quill

In last week's short review of "National Assessment of Adult Literacy: Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003," Gadfly has discovered a rather small typo.

Time to grow up

What does Obama's "Era of Responsibility" mean for education?

For a day of celebration and catharsis, President Barack Obama's inaugural address struck tones both somber and sober.