The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has issued its "Sponsorship Accountability Report 2006-07" for the nine charter schools it sponsors in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Springfield (see here).
The Toledo Public Schools teachers union has proposed that the district's lowest-performing school should be teacher-run."Our proposal is that there would be no administrators and it will be totally teacher-led," said Francine Lawrence, Toledo Federation of Teachers president, told the Toledo Blade's Ignazio Messina.
Last week, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay wrote to over 70 potential charter school operators and invited them to start new schools in his town. The mayor hopes to begin a system of handpicked, high-quality charter schools that will, according to the St.
Last year--the first that seniors in California were required to pass a high-school exit exam in order to graduate--the number of dropouts spiked in the state.
Steering Committee of the Delaware Statewide Academic Growth Assessment PilotOctober 2007
Trial Urban District Assessment Results at Grades 4 and 8Institute of Education SciencesNovember 2007andTrial Urban District Assessment Results at Grades 4 and 8Institute of Education SciencesNovember 2007
Over the ten years of Fordham's modern existence, we have panned vigorously for gold--curricular gold.This quest has mostly disappointed us, as our reviews of state standards have consistently shown that expectations for American primary and secondary students are typically weak and watery.
This one was about as unexpected as I-95 traffic tie-ups on Thanksgiving eve. If you make aspiring teachers jump through lots of hoops, don't allow school districts to pay more to instructors in high-need subjects or schools, and outlaw emergency certification, then districts will face teacher "shortages"--but they'll still find a way to get warm bodies into the classroom.
The English have given the world many great things: the Magna Carta, Shakespeare, and the miniskirt, to name just a few. But lately they've hit a dry spell, with Boy George, the Spice Girls, and Prince Charles, among other unfortunate contributions.
George H. Noell, Bethany A. Porter, and R. Maria PattLouisiana State UniversityOctober 2007
Pacific Research InstituteOctober 2007
In search of scientific education research, up-to-date school statistics, and evaluations of federal education efforts? Then look no further than the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and What Works Clearinghouse (WWC).
There's a whole new meaning to the idea of a teacher being on his or her game when teaching. Now, in front of a class, or anywhere else in school, teachers may be on camera.
Labor-backed candidates made gains in several school board races last week, notably in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. Voters also rejected a $327 million property tax levy in Cincinnati, giving the new board there something to think about. This defeat, and the recent levy defeat in Dayton, should give pause to other big districts seeking new spending for their schools.
To the west, in Indianapolis the Democratic mayor often referred to as the "Peyton Manning of charter schools" was defeated by Republican Greg Ballard in what some are calling the "biggest upset in Indiana political history" (see
Regarding an article in the October 31 issue regarding the shooting incident in a Cleveland public school, Rick Boss writes:
This report examines whether the reputation the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs have for academic excellence is truly deserved. Our expert reviewers looked at the four AP and IB courses most similar to the core content areas in American high schools--English, history, math, and science--and found that, in general, the courses do warrant praise. In a few cases, they deserve gold stars.
Just two years ago, the New York Times heaped praise upon Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina, for its schools' economic integration program, which the paper called the "main reason" that Wake's black and Hispanic students "have made such dramatic strides in standardized reading and math tests.&q
Tuesday brought two notable events on the education-choice front, one a clear setback, the other a surprise whose significance is yet to be determined.
Why are the presidential candidates generally ignoring education, even when the issue consistently ranks atop voter concerns (in a recent Pew survey, ed came out above jobs, social security, and even terrorism)? Might the 17 aspirants eschew the subject because middle-class voters, while they certainly care about education, are generally content with their children's schools?
Paul E. Peterson and Matthew M. ChingosHarvard UniversityNovember 2007
Once upon a time, elementary school teachers separated their classrooms into bluebirds and redbirds, fast readers and slow. It was called ability grouping and was an obvious, pragmatic, and effective way to differentiate instruction for students.
Explain this: Two public schools, one in the South Bronx and one in Harlem, academically outperform most of their counterparts in much wealthier Park Slope, Brooklyn. Stumped? The answer, of course, is that the two schools in question, KIPP Academy and Harlem Village Academy, are charter schools--and damn good ones at that.
Charles Sykes ends his op-ed about over-protectiveness, which appeared in today's Wall Street Journal, with a quote from the Duke of Wellington: "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." In other words, childhood competition shapes a nation's character.
The charter-school scene in Ohio is not one in which education reformers can take pride.
Como Elementary School in the Mississippi Delta may truly be one of the worst schools in the land. Its test scores are at the bottom of the state, and the state's scores are last in the nation. But a mere twenty minutes west of Como, across the Arkansas state line, things are looking up.
There's something disconcerting about those who fight to make high school diplomas worthless, particularly when they claim to have the kids' best interests at heart.
Looks like Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Alan Borsuk made it only a few sentences deep into this new study from the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
