Grading writing

From The Tallahassee Democrat: "According to the Florida Department of Education, more students statewide are writing at or above grade level." (The results are here.)

McCain's education team

Double standard?

Backed against the wall by recent labor controversies, the United Federation of Teachers has launched a counter-offensive:

Jay sets 'em straight

Most ed reformers are drawn to their calling by one, or sometimes both, of two considerations: civil rights and economics. The first concern addresses the achievement gap between mostly white, upper-class students and their mostly minority, low-income peers. That this gap exists--and that it's shameful and unacceptable--is undeniable.

Casting spells for universal proficiency

Cola wars

Over at the Cato blog , Andrew Coulson reports that New Jersey lawmakers have taken a step toward approving a tax-credit scholarship program, muc

Not playing favorites

Amidst criticism over her principal firings, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has dismissed the principal of the school that her own kids attend.

Friday happy-hour fodder

The Center for Education Reform released an analysis of 2006 charter school funding , claiming that charters receive 39 percent less funding than district schools, on average. That's a huge, unfair difference, if it's true.

Black principal makes Hispanic students eat on floor

New Jersey education officials have admitted that an African-American vice principal inappropriately punished 15 Hispanic elementary students in Camden.

Teacher's career up in smoke

It's one thing if you unwittingly do this, but you can't do thi

Brighter idea

Yesterday, we noted that Kevin Donnelly, authority on all things related to Aussie-ed, was displeased that Victoria was offering its teachers a massive, across-the-board pay raise decoupled from accountability.

City of charterly love

Cleveland can be a tough place, what with its harsh winters and difficult economic times.

Good news for charter schools (and school reform in general)

No, I'm not referring to this survey from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, though there are some promising tidbits.

Novak on Ayers

Mike has been all over the connection between Obama and Bill Ayers.

AP doesn't deserve deification?

Tom Stanley-Becker is an AP dropout. The young man writes today in the Los Angeles Times:

In this week's Gadfly: Get off my lawn, you damn kids!

The Gadfly is up.

All kids to college...or else

Another interesting bit in The Gadfly is this piece, which describes how thousands of Massachusetts students who pass the MCAS and graduate high school nonetheless have to take remedial courses at 2- and 4-year colleges--i.e., they're not ready to do college-level work. Many drop out.

More generational warfare

While childlike Liam takes Checker to task for questioning the incalculable contributions of twenty-somethings, in Boston they're

On one hand, on the other hand, and things stay the same

Over at Quick and the Ed, Kevin Carey turns in a lengthy post, replete with percentages and bullet points, that draws lessons from Ed Sector's newest report, Waiting to Be Won Ov

A scandal in Los Angeles

The Catholic Church is not the only institution facing a sex abuse crisis. The Los Angeles Unified School District has an ugly scandal of its own--and teenagers are again the victims.

Evolution update

1. Bills proposed by Florida lawmakers to allow teachers to caveat their teaching of evolution have, for the time being, fizzled out. 2. Cool video on how the eye, that amazing bit of complexity that's often proffered as proof of intelligent design, likely evolved:

AP ain't to blame

As with any program, implementation in AP really matters, so it's disappointing that Tom Stanley-Becker doesn't say more about how history is taught at his school. Was the AP class his only recent exposure to American history?

This Week's Fordham Factor: The next president

Mike and Christina discuss what kind of ed talk to expect from the presumptive nominees as we near the general election. httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=p3sUyP-c8AE

The hunted have become the hunters

Japan has slipped in international science rankings, so the government has announced a plan to train a special cadre of "super science teachers." Gotta love the enthusiasm.

No news is good news?

Wouldn't it be great if the candidates were to duke it out over education reform?

Classroom hero

It is not insignificant that John McCain, who may be the country's next president, has hanging in his office a photograph of William Bee Ravenel III, or that McCain recently called Ravenel "one of the best men I have ever known." Ravenel was one of

Contemptuous monopoly

The Wake County school district, in Raleigh, North Carolina, is doing everything in its power to annoy parents and encourage those who can afford private schools to patronize them. A state appellate court ruled on Tuesday that Wake can force a pupil who is zoned for one of the county's year-round schools to attend it.

Is fatalism the alternative to romanticism?

Charles Murray's forthcoming education book looks like a humdinger, as most of his have proven to be. Like the others, this one will be provocative, heterodox, and controversial. I look forward to August when we can see the whole thing.

Sorry, kids

If you're a wealthy philanthropist keen  to expand AP courses and pay more to the teachers who do the best job of teaching AP classes, Washington state wants you to buzz off.

Wishing for a Massachusetts miracle?

To receive a high-school diploma in Massachusetts, one must at least pass the MCAS (or make one's way through a reasonably challenging alternative path.) Nonetheless, according to the Boston Globe, "thousands of Massachusetts public high school graduates arrive at college unprepared for even the most basic math and English classes." Such students must therefore take remedial