Sam Dillon has a great article in today's New York Times which illustrates the wide variation in the number of schools making "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind. He writes,
Richard Whitmire, who wrote this USA Today editorial in support of single sex schools, wants those of us at Fordham to send a video crew to the Excellence Charter S
With a title like that, we already know you RSVP'd (if you didn't, what are you waiting for?). More good news! The ten papers being presented at this stupendous conference are now posted online. Your weekend reading is all taken care of--you're welcome.
Fordham staff received an email this afternoon from D.C. parent Jean Hoff and decided to post it (in part, and with her permission):
Readers are lighting up the comments section on this one regarding a comment made by "that one." (Note to John McCain: please try to remember your opponent's nam
A few weeks ago I introduced Barack Obama's scalpel to a list of what I referred to as "ineffective" Department of Education programs worthy of elimination.
Stop what you're doing. Put down the casual over-lunch newspaper. The Gadfly is up. What do we have this week?
CER's Jeanne Allen writes an open letter to Jay Mathews at the Washington Post. Amber disagreed with his assessment that merit pay will undermine teamwork--and Jeanne does too.
On this Yom Kippur, Checker Finn atones for his Nixonian associations by highlighting the dire straits of America's urban parochial schools. Read it here.
A friend pointed me to this New York Times column by Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, wherein he states:
Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.
Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.
Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.
Alexander Russo reported earlier today that Institute for Education Sciences director Russ Whitehurst is heading to Brookings. That's true--I hear that he is replacing Tom Loveless as the director of the ??Brown Center on Education Policy.
Video games might help kids develop more than overgrown thumb muscles, reports the New York Times. Increasingly, publishers and educators are using video games to bait students into opening that ancient relic known as a book. This is, to an extent, laudable: schools should prepare students for the (digital) future, and teachers should strive to make learning relevant and engaging.
The "judgment" of the presidential candidates has become a major issue in this year's campaign, perhaps because citizens are worried about the dearth of judgment on display in American society. Case in point: a Kansas City charter school teacher who recently posted a video to YouTube featuring his fatigues-clad students chanting in support of presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Back in April, a trinity of events called attention to the worsening plight of America's faith-based urban schools: Pope Benedict's visit, particularly his Catholic University address; the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-based Schools; and, of course, the Fordham Institute's stellar publication,
Here's a quandary. All four elementary schools in New London, CT have failed to make adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years. Unable to offer intra-district school choice, the school system is required under NCLB to ask neighboring districts to offer inter-district choice. And so New London did--and got "no takers" from any of its eighteen surrounding districts.
Three cheers for DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. After a grueling attempt to bribe the Washington Teachers' Union into accepting a generous new pay scale accompanied by teacher accountability, she has decided unilaterally to remove ineffective teachers without waiting for the WTU to assent.
Our favorite national initiative may be history, but education is alive and kicking in the good ole states. A whopping fifteen of them will have an array of legislative referendums, constitutional amendments, and citizen initiatives on their ballots this November.
Paula J. Carreiro and Eileen Shields-West, eds.Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.2008
M.J. Bryant, K.A. Hammond, M.M. Bocian, M.F. Rettig, C.A. Miller, R.A. CardulloScience MagazineSeptember 2008
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and University of Dayton, School of Education and Allied Professions are hosting a reception and discussion of the new book Sweating the Small Stuff (see here) by former U.S. News and World Report senior writer David Whitman.
The Aspen Institute's National Education Summit: An Urgent CallWashington, D.C., Sept. 15, 2008British education consultant (and long-time student and friend of the United States) Sir Michael Barber believes too many Americans still aren't worried enough about the dire state of education in America.
Carl Wick, a member of the Ohio State Board of Education, took issue with a Sept. 24 Capital Matters piece concerning state education budget cuts.
Brian L. CarpenterNational Charter Schools Institute2008
School reform is hard-as those working to improve Dayton's (and other urban centers') schools know all too well. By now, reformers know the challenges: high levels of poverty, children from broken homes, rapid student turnover, stubborn bureaucracies, unsettled leadership, financial challenges, and obdurate teacher unions.
Before the local report cards for Ohio public schools had even been released last summer, districts were crying foul over one particular component, AYP (adequate yearly progress).
