It's unclear exactly what Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Washington, D.C., in Congress, so dislikes about the Opportunity Scholarship Program that provides some 2,000 low-income students in the District an opportunity to receive their educations from private providers.
It must be kiss-and-tell season, what with Scott McClellan's recent riposte to the Bush White House , and now with former education department official's Susan Neuman's revisionist history as reported by Time :
With all the talk about Reading First and scientifically-based reading research of late, this unusual reading strategy caught my eye. It claims reading to fido has its advantages:
Several New York City high school principals are receiving performance bonuses under the terms of an old program even though their schools fared poorly under the district's new grading system.
Sadly, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program seems to be on its last legs. Non-voting D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has lobbied hard to kill the program, said, "We have to protect the children, who are the truly innocent victims here."
As the D.C. voucher program comes under attack, where is Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose initial support for the program was instrumental in its birth?
Am I referring to a policy scuffle over No Child Left Behind? Alas, no, that would be so boring and predictable.
The Heritage Foundation's Dan Lips does not approve of the "21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act," just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Miami Herald reports that Florida is ready to expand online education. But Education Sector's Bill Tucker, part of the virtual??schools cognoscenti, doesn't like what he sees.
Joseph Epstein is incisive; his writing eschews faddish notions and also goes for the jugular. He won't dance around a topic. His latest Weekly Standard piece, "The Kindergarchy," is a fine example.
The newest Atlantic (not yet online) contains an article about Memphis's experience with shutting down its noxious projects and offering housing vouchers to their low-income inhabitants, who use the vouchers to move to other areas of the city. The concept has been applied across the country.
About my earlier post, commenter Carol writes: Liam, you had me all the way until the end when you failed to mention students culpability (as well as teachers and admins) when it comes to academic achievement.
Can't get enough Checker Finn? Well, he has two longish pieces in this week's Gadfly, hot off the virtual press. His first article??is about why teachers deserve both respect and sympathy.
Yesterday I attended an informal event at Education Sector where Marc Tucker from NCEE spoke about international education.
The American--a "magazine of ideas" published by the American Enterprise Institute--has the latest review of Checker's book,
A study to appear in October by MIT economist Joshua Angrist and University of Chicago business school professor Jonathan Guryan apparently says yes, according to this article.
Surf over to one of the Ed Week blogs, such as Campaign K12 or NCLB: Act II, and see if Joel P
Here's a twist. We're used to reading about state and local officials who bellyache about No Child Left Behind's requirements but aren't courageous enough to live by their principles and forfeit the federal bucks.
Some sad news: Jeff Kuhner, our fearless communications director, is leaving us for the Washington Times, where he will produce his own, daily, nationally syndicated radio show and write a Sunday column. We've grown accustomed to having Jeff around the office, mostly in the bathroom, actually, where he can be found shaving at 12:30 p.m.
I just got back from Joel Klein's address at the American Enterprise Institute (carried live on C-SPAN).
Michael Planty, William Hussar, Thomas Snyder, Stephen Provasnik National Center for Education StatisticsJune 2008
June has come, the school year is ending, and it's time for a word in appreciation of teachers.
Freedom's scent wafts through the thin air of the Mile High City. Montclair Elementary School is the third public school in Denver to petition the district for autonomy on budgeting, hiring, and scheduling decisions. Teachers at Montclair voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plan in April and the Denver Public Schools approved it in May.
If, like most Americans, you haven't the faintest idea what ESRA is, don't feel bad. The Education Sciences Reform Act is a classic inside-the-beltway statute best known by the smallish number of people and institutions directly affected by it.
