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Too simple
Ben Bernanke and some around our office suggest that teaching more about finance in American public schools may have prevented our current economic crisis.
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AP allowance
Looks like the fine citizens of Waterbury, Connecticut, are not yet flitting through Flypaper. Otherwise, I'm sure district leaders there would have thought thrice before doling out dollars to students who pass AP tests.
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Not so fast, my friend
Mike shouldn't??assume that??paying kids for AP scores (as in Waterbury) is??always a??slam-dunk.
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Does the pope have a radio?
Don't miss Mike talking about the stressed state of American Catholic schools on today's??edition of NPR's All Things Considered.
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Go MO
It looks like Missouri will be the next state to adopt the big daddy of alternative certification programs, the
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"The unthinkable"
From a column in today's Detroit News : The teachers at Alain Locke Senior High School in south-central Los Angeles' troubled Watts neighborhood were fed up.
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Degrees of absurdity
Apparently, one can earn a degree in anything. Seriously, it's not really better than it sounds.
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Hard to believe*
"Per pupil spending down " * Until you realize the article's about charter schools.
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Toward a colorblind America
Today, Liam turns in a nice NRO piece on Fairfax County, Virginia's, recently published report that finds that the "'moral character and ethical judgment' of its white and Asian pupils is m
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John McCain's education rodeo
Senator McCain's wife Cindy was a teacher and a "rodeo queen." One of his key education advisors,
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Can you be specific, Eduwonk Andy?
Eduwonk returned from a week's vacation to find our complaint in Gadfly that he was
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Off task
That Miami-Dade is considering convening a task force to investigate the testing mania that has reportedly caused some students to be hospitalized illustrates how little trust district officials often place in their principals. School Board member Solomon Stinson so noted.
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Rising 16-year-old ego levels
Today, on Morning Edition, NPR profiled 16-year-old Kristen Byrnes, who doesn't believe that global warming is caused by humans. Her website ("the official site of the Kristen Byrnes Science Foundation") is available here.
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Dismal results
It's dubbed "the dismal science" because economics offers conclusions that may "work," but which often ignore ethical and moral considerations. Today at Marginal Revolution, economist Alex Tabarrok makes the dismal case that we should pay organ donors for their, you know, organs.
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Even better than having primary votes counted
Florida has joined Achieve's American Diploma Project Network. The press release notes that Florida Governor Charlie Crist made the decision after chit-chatting with Minnesota's governor, Tim Pawlenty.
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When pupils attack
Apparently, it's the teacher's fault when students assault them in the classroom--that's how it is, at least, at Reginald F. Lewis High School in Baltimore.
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Who's the boss?
Fordham has argued that principals need to function more like CEOs, handling not just a school's academic mission but also the many complexities of running a small organization.
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The myth of Barcroft Elementary
Over the weekend, the Washington Post Magazine ran a provocative piece by Jay Mathews about an excellent elementary school in Northern Virginia that has failed to make "adequate yearly progress"
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Let them eat gruel?
Schools are turning to unhealthier cafeteria-food options because of rising food prices, reports the Washington Post. Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee seems to have the right idea: allow private contractors to supply lunches.
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Time for Liam to eat some humble pie
Just last week, Liam expressed skepticism about a scrupulous research study that found that serving kids healthier food and drink led to fewer of them getting fat:
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Is it low-fat humble pie?
Mike wants me to eat humble pie. I'd like??to, but his arguments haven't convinced me. He writes: In a field where few research studies ever make any conclusions with real-world value, this particular study deserves praise, not pique.
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"Christian kids are doing it. Jewish kids are doing it."
I thought this stuff only happened in American Pie movies.
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Dyscalculia
I had??never heard of it.??But I predict a pandemic as soon as it makes the New York Times style section.
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No happy talk in the hinterlands
As a national education player, the American Federation of Teachers has been careful not to bash No Child Left Behind too overtly. It even calls its NCLB site "Let's Get It Right" (not, say, "Throw NCLB Under the Bus").
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Help wanted
The logistical problems with the "Academic Freedom Act," which is traipsing merrily through the Florida legislature, are legion. The pope's U.S.