Gadfly021408

Dropping coin

A statewide task force in Maryland recommends requiring youngsters to stay in school until the age of 18 (today's pupils can leave legally at 16). This move, promises the task force, will keep more Old Line State students from dropping out, which may or may not be true.

Entering unchartered waters

Is the charter movement--which has sputtered along, making steady but slow progress--finally ready to kick it into high gear? Signs in New York point to yes, say USA Today's Richard Whitmire and Eduwonk Andy Rotherham.

Improving Teaching Through Pay for Contribution

Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. HasselNGA Center for Best Practices2007

The devil is in the details

In his second State of the State address, Governor Strickland kept with his tradition of not distributing hard copies of the speech ahead of time and not providing supplemental information about his proposed programs and policies.

Wauseon school has four-legged counselor

WAUSEON, Ohio--New members of a school's staff sometimes can take some time to work in, although it's easier when a new staffer has four legs, like Kramer, the new counselor at Burr Road Middle School.

Times never change, bad news is never welcome

In June, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a study of Ohio's teacher pension system entitled Golden Peaks and Perilous Cliffs: Rethinking Ohio's Teacher Pension System (see here). In the report's introduction the institute's president, Chester E.

Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform since Sputnik

Chester E. Finn, Jr.Princeton University Press2008

School boards: fish, cut bait, or get out of the way

Mark Twain once quipped that God, for practice, first made idiots. Then he made school boards.

Dayton: a tale of two cities

As someone who has been working and living in Dayton for the past seven years, I am constantly reminded of the fact that there are, in fact, two Daytons.

Education/Evolving predicts the future

Wondering what the future holds for public education? Then check out Education|Evolving's predictions and proposals in "The Other Half of the Strategy: Following up on System Reform by Innovating with School and Schooling."

about charter-school mediocrity

Robert A. Douglas of the Richard Allen Schools responded to an editorial Checker Finn wrote laying out his 10 factors of charter-school mediocrity in the December 12 Gadfly.You laid out 10 factors that you said contributed to charter school mediocrity. You didn't say anything what part the curriculum plays.

about high-school reform

Colleen D. Grady, of the State Board of Education, responds to Terry Ryan's opinions concerning high-school reform:I agree with your list of five keys to high-school reform but felt you stopped short of a couple of crucial ideas.

No fingers!

In his December 13th editorial ("Sources of charter-school mediocrity"), Checker Finn laid out ten factors that contributed to charter-school mediocrity. He didn't say anything about what part the curriculum plays.

Very Barry

Washington, D.C., council member Marion Barry just doesn't get it. The District, under the capable stewardship of young leaders such as Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, is rejecting the wasted potential of its past for the promise of the future.

State of the State

Boosting Ohio's economy, expanding health care for families and children, and retooling the Buckeye State's manufacturing and technological base for the 21st century have clear ties to education and Governor Ted Strickland deserves praise for vision in these areas.

Rush to Judgment: Teacher Evaluation in Public Education

Thomas Toch and Robert RothmanEducation SectorJanuary 2008

London fogged

In 1965, then British Education Secretary Anthony Crosland said, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every f***ing grammar school in England." He didn't, but his heirs are still trying. English grammar schools are selective state-run schools; students must pass an exam to attend them.

Memoir time

It's gratifying to publish one's memoirs but also a little scary. People keep asking if this is the end. Am I retiring? Dying, maybe? Will there be anything more?

Much ado about not much

President George W. Bush released his 2009 budget on Monday, and Gadfly is struggling to summon the energy to care. By the time Congress acts on these proposals, it will probably be December and the President will be the lamest duck since Daffy. Said differently, this budget is dead on arrival. Which is a shame, because it's actually a decent statement of Uncle Sam's proper priorities.

Year Two Evaluation of the Achievement Challenge Pilot Project in the Little Rock Public School District

Gary Ritter, Marc Holley, Nathan Jensen, Brent Riffel, Marcus Winters, Joshua Barnett, and Jay GreeneJanuary 2008

2 Million Minutes

Robert A. Compton, Adam Raney, and Chad Heeter, producers2008

The Funding Gap

Education TrustAugust 2002

Charterat emptor

If the charter school movement has learned anything in the last fifteen-plus years, it's that passionate folks with good intentions often underestimate the challenges of starting and leading a school. A recent Salt Lake Tribune article drives this lesson home.

Chocolate-shake paper chase?

"Welcome to McQualifications." Thus read a Financial Times headline after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that McDonald's--the burger and fries joint--will have the power to bestow upon their employees nationally recognized diplomas (see here).

ComPelling proposal

The President wasn't wrong when he said on Monday evening that the No Child Left Behind Act is "succeeding," though he cherry-picked the available evidence to document his claim.

Keillor to Obey: Shame on you

Garrison Keillor, he of soothing baritone and dyed-in-the-wool liberal sensibilities, writes that it is not "Republican oligarchs in top hats and spats" who are failing the nation's public-school children. No. "Nice people are failing these kids, but when they are called on it, they get very huffy," he writes.

Kozol review

Gadfly was still a bit groggy from the holidays when this fine piece about Jonathan Kozol appeared in the Weekly Standard. The article traces Kozol's development, from failed novelist (an excerpt of his book Fume of Poppies: "The white of her belly was lovely and gay.

Massachusetts school reform: If it ain't broke...

By almost every relevant measure, Massachusetts has the highest-performing public education system in the land, with praiseworthy NAEP results (at least compared to everywhere else), solid academic standards, an effective testing and accountability system, a well-regarded (if puny) charter-school sector, intelligent approaches to teacher licensure, and more.

An Empire State illusion?

Rumors that New York's state assessments are getting easier in the era of No Child Left Behind have repeatedly surfaced (see here and