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Jeb Bush, a voice for education reform
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush's announcement that he won't run for the U.S.
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Re: Jeb Bush, a voice for education reform
Reading this Wall Street Journal editorial about Florida Governor Charlie Crist's unwillingness to defend the state's alternative charter authorizer, which was created under Jeb Bush but recently declared unconstitutional, I couldn't help but wish Bush were still governor. As the Journal explains:
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ODE ends year down $157.5 million
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) ended the year down $157.5 million after a third round of spending cuts announced in December lopped another $30.4 million from its budget (see here). Ohio Gov.
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Oh Eric! FYI, private colleges are often cheaper than publics
Todd Jones is president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio (see here), which represents 49 private Ohio institutions of higher learning. Before coming to Ohio, Jones was associate deputy secretary for budget and strategic accountability in the U.S.
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2008: What a year it was
Ohio educated 1.7 million public school students in 2008, a year marked by the continued decline in urban enrollment (falling 19 percent from 2003 to 2008). The state's ailing economy also continued to show its fangs with 37 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, up from 31 percent five years ago. Students with limited English ability have doubled since 2003.
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Fordham in the news
Fordham experts (and our many studies) continue to garner excellent media hits. As previously mentioned, many journalists turned to Checker and Mike for comment on the nomination of Arne Duncan to be Ed Sec.
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The conceit of "21st Century Skills"
Like many of you, I'm still getting back into the swing of things after a nice??New Year's??break. One of the joys of this holiday season was visiting good friends and??their kids--and watching my son Nico (14 months old, adorable, brilliant, did I mention adorable?) play with them too.
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Is a "school" by any other name just as sweet?
"School" is out in Sheffield, England. The singular term has so many negative connotations that a new school there has dropped the offending noun from its name, according to a report in The Guardian. Instead, the institution will be called a "place for learning," said headteacher Linda Kingdon.
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Malia and Sasha's first day of school
Seemingly upholding her "mom-in-chief" moniker, Michelle Obama took her two daughters to their first day at Sidwell Friends this morning.
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Rhee unveils new DC professional development program
With contract negotiations still stalled, Michelle Rhee has revealed the other prong of her DCPS overhaul: professional development.
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Very private school
The ranks of home-schooled children seem to be growing, according to a USA Today story that examines numbers from the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
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A generation of ahistorical (but devout) morons?
Visiting the LBJ Ranch in the Texas hill country this weekend, our ad hoc tour group included a gaggle of high-school students from??"south of Houston." They generally seemed pleasant, self-conscious, goofy and teenager-is
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Last post of 2008 - Happy New Year!
In case you're perusing Flypaper to gather some interesting, timely info with which to wow fellow party-goers tonight?????? here are two interesting AP stories involving funding and schools:
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Weighted student funding in Indiana?
An op-ed in today's Indianapolis Star??argues for a statewide weighted student funding (WSF) system to deal with the state's budget challenges.
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NY: overfunding schools about to close
I feel like we've turned reporting on the shenanigans in the Big Apple into a weekly event. The latest? Overfunding schools that are slated to close in 2010.
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Bennett interviews Checker
Fordham President Checker Finn discusses Fordham's Open Letter,??new research, school funding, and more Bill Bennett's Morning in America??radio show this morning, December 30.
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More support for D.C. charter schools
In response to the Washington Post's unfair article about a pseudo-scandal at the D.C.
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President Bush, the hall monitor for the civil rights lobby
Rick Hess and I have a piece on National Review Online today about President Bush's education legacy. I guess you might say it's not really in the Christmas spirit. We argue that Bush??sold out??his principles when negotiating the No Child Left Behind act:
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Eduwonk Andy misses a chance to claim victory
Andy Rotherham, the go-to New Dem on education for the better part of the last decade, doesn't seem to grasp the opportunity at his fingertips.
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PA's teacher strike problem
According to an op-ed in this morning's Wall Street Journal, Pennsylvania has the highest incidence of teacher strikes in the country.
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NOLA--50% charter and growing?
Usually school districts see themselves as competing with charter schools for students. Not the Recovery School District. Superintendent Paul Vallas plans on increasing the market share of charters in New Orleans by converting more schools to charter schools.
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The Post makes amends
We lambasted WaPo last week for its inappropriate and overly harsh treatment of DC Charter School Board Chairman Tom N
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Re: The Post makes amends
This weekend the Post also published a letter of support from D.C. Public Charter School Board member Will Marshall, whose day job is president of the Progressive Policy Institute.
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Today's announcement about "common state standards" an important milestone
They said it was an impossible dream.