Educators, researchers, and policy types around the world admire (and envy) Finland's students, who repeatedly demonstrate remarkable academic prowess on international assessments.
When times get rough, why do school districts cut the good stuff? It's a very good question and one we should be outraged about, explains Mike. Read the whole argument on National Review Online.
When I first read this article, I was skeptical. Giving bonuses to teachers and principals at failing schools? Doesn't that undermine the whole concept of merit pay--as in, rewards for meritorious performance? But perhaps not.??
Facing constitutional requirements for a balanced budget, Gov.
Partnership for 21st Century SkillsSept. 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's head-turning education speech in Dayton Sept. 9 was notable for stepping away from several planks dear to traditional Democratic thinking. The national audience surely paid attention. But did his fellow Democrats in the Buckeye State?
Public Broadcast SystemAired Sept. 15 on WOSUOhio stood out on Sept. 15 when PBS aired Where We Stand: America's Schools in the 21st Century. The special's host, Judy Woodruff, used four Ohio schools to describe the current state of American education. Viewers should have come away feeling uncomfortable.
Ohio is in the midst of a debate about how best to use its student assessments and ever- increasing amounts of student-achievement data to improve student performance. The data is used by the state for accountability purposes, but how can this data also be used to improve teaching and learning in all schools?
Today in Education Week: "NCLB Testing Said to Give 'Illusions of Progress'" Last October from Fordham: "No Child Left Behind's ???Proficiency Illusion'"
"Stand-up desks provide a firm footing for fidgety students" "Teachers report improved focus, behavior"
Enrollment continues to decline in a number of big-city school systems. In Washington, DC , the student population is down 8 percent from last year, in large part because of charter school expansion.
Fraud! Misleading information! A huge price tag for America! I'm not talking about the mortgage-backed securities meltdown. I'm referring to the new TOM LOVELESS ALGEBRA STUDY.
"Polygamous community school gets NCLB honors"
Or so Liam argues in the Weekly Standard. With his usual panache, Liam reviews Charles Murray's new book, Real Education.
Arrival was on time; blog notification was not. Nevertheless, the issue is spectacular. Lesson from this week?
National Review Online must have been a fan of Fordham's Education Olympics, for this week it has articles by not one, but two of its stars, Roy Romer and our own Mike Petrilli.
I didn't expect my call for Michigan to declare Detroit Public Schools bankrupt to lead to action so quickly. But it doesn't sound like the state is willing to go far enough.
David Hoff has found the 10,000 pound gorilla that is NCLB, and the "Washington Consensus" to boot.
Should policymakers force students with cognitive disabilities to take high-stakes tests? This is one of the core controversies of the No Child Left Behind act, and states are wrestling with it, too. In California, for example, critics are crusading against a state law requiring students with disabilities to pass the high school exit exam if they wish to receive a diploma.
How refreshing to watch Wall Street reintroduced to "market discipline" this weekend, and how depressing to see "moral hazard" return by Tuesday night. The government's refusal to rescue Lehman Brothers seemed to indicate that financiers would have to face the consequences of their own risky actions. But then AIG was deemed "too big to fail."
Beantown is experiencing a talent migration. As go Pedro and Damon, so go the educational leaders?
What do safe sex, reading, and proper admonition of Mexican free-tailed bats have in common? They're just a few of the topics people think schools should teach. The latter, free-tailed bats (so named because a bit of their tails project beyond their uropatagia, of course), have taken up residence in some Salt Lake City schools that lie along the mammals' migratory route.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's head-turning education speech in Ohio last week was notable for stepping away from several planks in his party's traditional platform. The national audience surely paid attention-but did his fellow Democrats in Ohio?
Senators McCain and Obama might momentarily suspend their energy-policy and economic-policy bickering and pay a visit to Michigan Technical Academy, where students have converted used cooking oil from a nearby tortilla factory into biodiesel. The school's automotive technology teacher, Marty Depowski, is a master certified automotive technician who once worked for Ford.
On Wed. September 3, Fordham hosted a lively panel discussion of the David Whitman's new book, "Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism." On hand were Jay Mathews of The Washington Post, and Charles Adams, head of school at the SEED School in D.C. For your viewing pleasure, we've posted a video of their discussion online.
