Sticks and stones may break my bones but guns can definitely kill me

In Cleveland, last week we were reminded, horrifically--again--that schools can be very scary places.

Leave no (none, zero, nada) child behind?

Passed by Congress in late 2001 and signed by President George W. Bush one year after his inauguration, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the most ambitious federal education statute ever.

Mass failure

In 2005-06, a significantly higher percentage of white teacher candidates in Massachusetts passed the required Communications and Literacy Skills exam than their black and Hispanic counterparts. The state's Educational Personnel Advisory Council--a tasty morsel of bureaucratese, that--has been asked to determine whether this gap reflects bias in the test.

Interpreting 12th-Graders' NAEP-Scaled Mathematics Performance Using High School Predictors and Postsecondary Outcomes From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88)

Leslie A. Scott, Steven J. Ingels, and Jeffrey A. OwingsNational Center on Education StatisticsSeptember 2007

K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap and Supporting Charter School Excellence Through Quality Authorizing

Innovations in Education SeriesU.S. Department of EducationSeptember 2007Innovations in Education SeriesU.S. Department of EducationJune 2007

From the Orange Bowl to the Big Apple

Seems that lightning has struck once again in Florida. After making some of largest early-grade NAEP improvements in the nation, the Sunshine State is now attempting to beef up its accountability system for high-school students. And in a shocking display of common sense, politicians in Tallahassee are looking beyond their state's borders for good ideas.

The onus on SCOTUS

Yesterday, eight Supremes agreed to disagree, four to four, about a key special education case, allowing a lower court's ruling to stand while setting no precedent whatsoever for the country. That's a shame; U.S. schools could use some clarity about the oft-ambiguous Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Mobilizing the Private Sector for Public Education: A View from the Trenches

Harry Anthony Patrinos and Shobhana Sosale, eds.September 2007

To our libertarian friends

Neal McCluskey's new book, Feds in the Classroom, is the latest "strict-libertarian" contribution to the world of education reform. Which is to say, sadly, not much of a contribution.

Op-ed page flimflam

Last week, we wrote that Bob Herbert's New York Times columns are "either off-base or banal." He repaid us by referring to our new study, The Proficiency Illusion, in an off-base manner, as part of his banal October 9th piec

Instruction to Deliver: Tony Blair, Public Services and the Challenge of Achieving Targets

Ohio can learn a lot from the United Kingdom. Both are former industrial powerhouses that are experiencing, firsthand, the pain of a shrinking manufacturing-based economy. Both see education as the key to navigating this change and in preparing all children for success in a globe-spanning knowledge- and innovation-based economy.

Let them eat carrot cake

There is no question that an obesity epidemic is running rampant among Ohio school children-nearly 21 percent of Ohio's third graders are overweight. But what role, if any, should schools have in curbing this disturbing trend?

Gadfly100407

Good teaching knows no boundary

Many students get a little queasy walking into math class so Granville schools are especially happy to have Sue Hoben on the high school teaching staff. Students actually seek out her algebra and trigonometry classes.

The last Achieve report's impact may temper expectations for the new one

Buckeye state policymakers are currently mulling over recommendations from Achieve, Inc. to create a "world-class education system in Ohio" (see here).

The scoop on the PIE Network

Here's a question making the rounds of Ohio education policymakers: What's this "PIE Network" we keep hearing about?

Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It

Nancy Hoffman, Joel Vargas, Andrea Venezia, and Marc S. Miller, edsSeptember 2007

Education at a Glance 2007

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Directorate of Education  September 2007

More books,??fewer lawyers

Things are changing at the St. Louis Public Schools. The special administrative board (which now oversees the city's schools; see here) replaced Kenneth Brostron, the district's longtime lawyer. An in-house lawyer--one who is much cheaper than Brostron and his firm--will begin work in October.

Hare-brained

Sugar Bunny of Spokane, Washington once enjoyed a contented life as the pet rabbit in Lori Peters's preschool class at the Community Building Children's Center. Then some animal rights activists apparently had issues with Sugar Bunny's lifestyle--so they stole him.

Father Paul

When Superintendent Paul Vallas left Philadelphia to take over New Orleans' Recovery School District, he wasn't just changing cities--he was also changing worlds.

Five questions for NAEP

The government released the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress scores on Tuesday, and Mark Schneider, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, summed up the news in these words: "We're making slow and steady progress in reading, and we're doing much better in math."

Important, But Not for Me: Parents and Students in Kansas and Missouri Talk About Math, Science, and Technology Education

Alison Kadlec, Will Friedman, and Amber OttPublic AgendaSeptember 2007

Between a Little Rock and a hard place

The most distinctive thing about Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later, a documentary that debuted Tuesday night on HBO, is that it actually adds something valuable to the discussion about race and education. Worthwhile contributions to that discussion are all too rare.

All in

Are charter schools the new bargaining chips in parent/school board negotiations? It would seem so. After the Palo Alto school board told parents that, sorry, they weren't going to start a Mandarin-immersion program, the parents threatened to start their own Mandarin charter school.

Just say no

When it comes to merit pay, Florida's teachers are about as ill-tempered as a gator buzzed by an Everglades airboat. The state legislature launched the STAR (Special Teachers are Rewarded) program in 2006, which gave 25 percent of public-school teachers five-percent bonuses, based primarily on student scores on the Sunshine State's standardized assessment.

Continental divide

Michigan's state Department of Education last week finally introduced its proposed curriculum for k-12 social studies. Although the plan has strong points--greater rigor and more focus on preparing students for college--it is also a classic case of political correctness run amok.

Cowboy Dann

If there's one thing Gadfly is not, it's an apologist for bad schools, and he therefore cannot quibble much with Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's contention that two chronically-failing Buckeye charter schools should be closed.

Improving Student Achievement? (Working paper)

Martha Abele Mac Iver and Douglas J. Mac IverNational Center for the Study of Privatization in EducationSeptember 2007