Summer is a glorious time, especially for students, who generally receive in June, July, and August a reprieve from schoolwork. For some high school pupils, though, the hotter months are a time to play academic catch-up.
Tomorrow, the Fordham Institute releases David Whitman's powerful new book,
Illinois State Senator James Meeks believes that the most efficacious way to eliminate funding disparities between Chicago's schools is to keep poor, black youngsters out of class. He wants such students in the city to boycott the first days of the 2008-2009 school year.
Over at the water cube in Beijing, Michael Phelps won his fourth and fifth gold medals, for a record eleven total in his career.
So believes Charles Murray. He explains his position in today's Wall Street Journal.
I'm not just following the Education Olympics coverage; I'm also addicted to the regular Olympics as well. And during last night's broadcast I heard for the first time that Michael Phelps's mother is a middle school principal.
Education Week offers a pair of articles about the presidential campaigns' advisors this week.
Or so the post-graduate cram schools in South Korea have been accused. No make-up, no fraternizing with the opposite sex, no iPods, no fun--and classes and studying from 7:30 am to midnight.
We're three days in to the 2008 Education Olympics, and the Finns are firing on all cylinders. Also making some noise today are Estonia, Macao, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The Americans, meanwhile, seem to be stuck in neutral. Follow the action at edolympics.net.
Support for renewing No Child Left Behind with minimal changes is down from a year ago, from 57 percent to 50 percent, according to a brand new poll by Education Next (where I serve as executive editor).
From that Ed Next poll, this caught my eye: Race- and Income-based School Integration
Australian Education Minister Julia Gillard is taking a lesson from the Big Apple. Having visited with the New York Chancellor of Schools Joel Klein, Gillard wants to start ranking Australia's schools on an A-F scale.
The first medals were awarded today, with Nordic countries--Norway, Finland, and Iceland--stealing the show. The United States--winner so far of 9 golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronzes in the athletic competitions--has yet to take home a medal in the Education Olympics. Find more coverage at edolympics.net.
I'm curious what my colleagues think; check out Matt Bai's New York Times Magazine piece on the inter-gener
"Uptick in 'No Child' failures largely due to suburban schools"
Take a look at the text of an invitation that landed in my inbox a few hours ago, and tell me this isn't new and different: JOIN THE ED CHALLENGE FOR CHANGE
My gambit this morning didn't work to spark a full-fledged office debate, but I did
Mike links to this fascinating article by Matt Bai in yesterday's NYT and
The world's greatest athletes kicked off the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in grand style today at the National Stadium in Beijing. Meanwhile, across town, another breed of competitor was celebrating the start of this year's Education Olympics:
A clink of the five rings goes out to "Doug" and "Nancy," who both had some fun with our Education Olympics Games on Eduwonkette yesterday: First Doug:
That's how American teens are feeling, according to the latest State of our Nation's Youth survey by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Are we really this far gone? The Wall Street Journal announced this morning, "Problem: Boys Don't Like to Read.
This week's Gadfly is out, and it features a fine article about how Ohio's education woes are being reinforced and why it matters for the rest of the country.
A question to ponder if new research on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) pans out. Robotic teachers, you ask? CNN has more.
