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Alonso asks for help
Bravo to Andres Alonso, Baltimore's schools superintendent, for launching a campaign to recruit 500 volunteers to work in the city's schools.
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Brown's in town
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is an expert at being overshadowed, first by Tony Blair and now by the pope. Brown is in D.C. today, and he's scheduled to meet with President Bush and presidential candidates Clinton, McCain, and Obama.
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Maggie and Teddy
An anonymous source tells Flypaper that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Senator Edward Kennedy were yacking it up at Nationals Field Park this morning while waiting for Pope Benedict XVI to arrive. We're praying that they were discussing how to salvage the D.C.
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Obama's shameful ed school friend
No, I'm not referring to Linda Darling-Hammond, but to William Ayers, the "distinguished professor" at the
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Hot off the press
1) This week's Education Gadfly. It's chock full of good stuff, including a guest editorial from the Rodel Foundation about how to train the education spotlight on states, "which are these days the wallflower at the school-reform dance." The article recommends spiking the school-reform punch.
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Ready for work?
The New York Times, one understands, seeks to reach its audience, and those who casually turn the pages of Thursday Styles are of a sort that enjoys and relates to articles such as this.
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The Pope answers our prayers
The pontiff is still in the middle of his speech to Catholic educators (which, as predicted, is mostly a soft-spoken smack down of Catholic colleges and universities gone astray).
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The Pope on inner-city Catholic schools
Last week we asked, ???Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools????
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Parsing the Pope's words
What to make of Pope Benedict XVI's comments about Catholic schools? Here are a few thoughts.
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Wilcox resigns
Clayton Wilcox, superintendent of Pinellas County Schools (Florida), the 22nd largest district in the country,?? today??announced his resignation.
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The rubber room
A year ago today the Village Voice published a lengthy article on the New York City public schools' so-called "rubber rooms," where teachers accused of misconduct are held while their cases are pending. The story is so outrageous it seemed worth revisiting.
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Asleep in Seattle
If you're a school administrator and you want to purchase HDTVs, home-theater equipment, iPods, camcorders (you name it) for personal use on the taxpayer's dime, then I've got a place for you: The Northshore School District in Seattle.
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The next decisive step: A multi-state strategy for global competitiveness
Pop quiz. Which level of public school governance is most responsible for funding, standards, student assessment, teacher and principal quality, and data management systems?If you guessed "states," you win. But why, then, does the spotlight so neglect states, which are these days the wallflower at the school-reform dance?
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Two wings down
Ally, a middle-school drama queen, starts tormenting her friend Selena after catty Holly and Chrissy (teeny-bopper Iagos, both) conspire to charge Selena with a crime against Ally that Selena did not commit.
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Segregate this
Those who divvy up by race strain to justify it. The newest wrinkle comes from Fairfax County, Virginia, where the school board is struggling to rationalize a report that it commissioned to evaluate the "Essential Life Skills" of its students.
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Leaving Las Vegas (schools)
According to the Las Vegas Sun, principals in the Clark County schools have in recent weeks "been recommending up to 100 students for expulsion each day." Some of these pupils end up in special "behavior" schools, where they do nine-week stints before returning to their home campus.
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Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod GrantJossey-Bass2008
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Diplomas on the cheap
Food, gas, overnights at the Mayflower hotel--all grow steadily pricier. Meanwhile, the New York City high school diploma is cheapened, and that city's oft-challenged reputation as a dogged pursuer of higher educational standards is again called into question.
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Failing schools usually are
Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews has performed a useful service for folks dissatisfied with NCLB's accountability system, which often penalizes schools that enroll significant numbers of disadvantaged students even if those students are making academic progress. He has located and highlighted Barcroft Elementary in Northern Virginia.
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A helpful addition
I am just now beginning to read your recent report, Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic schools? I'm finding many of the ideas, results, and recommendations a great resource for us here at the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania.
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Welcome, Benedict
Catholic school teachers may feel called to their profession by a higher power, but??they're also called to??higher salaries.
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AP pay shows promise
Liam thinks that if paying students to pass AP tests worked, "wouldn't we know it by now?" Yes, we would, and we do, and it
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Fordham Fellows deadline is approaching
Would you or someone you know love to work in education policy? Are you confused about where to start?
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Diversity is great, if...
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that almost "nine in 10 public elementary school parents in Jefferson County [Kentucky] say it's important to bring together students from different races and backgrounds to learn." (The Supreme Court ruled last year that Jefferson County may v
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Wistful Whitmire
USA Today's Richard Whitmire turns in a provocative thumbsucker at Politico on John McCain, his (still to be fleshed out) education platform, and his top education aide (and