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Laboratories of Reform: Virtual High Schools and Innovation in Public Education
Bill TuckerEducation SectorJune 2007
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The Cost of Teacher Turnover in Five School Districts: A Pilot Study
Gary Barnes, Edward Crowe, Benjamin SchaeferNational Commission on Teaching and America's Future2007
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Breaking up is hard to do
The relationship between Philadelphia's former superintendent, Paul Vallas, and the district's School Reform Commission (SRC) survived a bit of a rough patch about this time last year.
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Young guns
America is a youth-worshipping nation. Except, it seems, in the field of education, where gray hair and experience are frequently valued above all else. Hence the backlash against Michelle Rhee, who, at age 37, is seen by some as too young and green to head Washington's 55,000-student district.
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Closing the Teacher Quality Gap in Philadelphia: New Hope and Old Hurdles
Research for ActionJune 2007
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Mapping 2005 State Proficiency Standards Onto the NAEP Scales
Institute of Education Sciences, Research and Development ReportJune 2007
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How to spell 'illogical'? S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-s
In left-wing enclaves such as my current home of Takoma Park, Maryland, ridiculing the illogic of the Bush Administration (on Iraq, on global warming, etc.) is something of an official sport.
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Impoverished thinking
Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine was devoted to the income gap, the monetary expanse that separates the have-a-lots from the have-nots. One article in particular caught our eye: "The Poverty Platform." It was a detailed examination of John Edwards's current presidential campaign and its focus on eliminating poverty in America.
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"Earned autonomy" comes to Washington
"Earned autonomy" is an education-reform idea whose time has come--and should come to federal policy. Increasingly, superintendents (in places like Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, etc.) are allowing schools with a track record of improving student achievement to gain more freedom from central office control.
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A public school by any other name
United Teachers Los Angeles has decided that instead of fighting charter schools they'd rather chase their teachers. "We have come to the realization that we need to look at organizing teachers at charter schools," said UTLA President A.J. Duffy.
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Diplomas Count: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life After High School
Editorial Projects in EducationJune 2007
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We're shaken and stirred
Maybe it's because of the Queen's recent visit, or the steely blue gaze of the newest James Bond, but gin is experiencing something of an American renaissance these days.
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Rheeclaiming D.C. schools
After an arduous process, it finally happened: Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty took control of the city's schools. And his first act was ousting Superintendent Clifford Janey and appointing Michelle Rhee, founder of the New Teacher Project.
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Survey Do's and Survey Don'ts
Last month, Fordham published its biennial survey of Ohioans' views on education (see here). Who knew it would be the start of a trend?
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Gem City Blues
As schools across Ohio adjourn for summer vacation, officials at the Dayton Public Schools (DPS) still face some tough decisions and serious challenges before they can enjoy it. In May, the district failed to pass a 15-mill levy, forcing $30 million in cuts.
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Weeds Have STEMs, Too
Ohio's education system has reached a crossroads--at which it can either transition to a dramatically different and more productive model (as outlined in the recent McKinsey/ACHIEVE report here), or it can continue to tinker with incremental adjustments that render the system more complex and costly without producing substantial i
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Slipping Standards, Serious Consequences
The growing number of students scoring "proficient" on Ohio's battery of K-12 state assessments (and a slew of tests in other states) may, in part, be attributed to some weak-kneed tests and low cut scores for passage. A new report from the U.S.
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Charter Roundup
Once upon a time, charter school advocates believed in letting a thousand flowers bloom, then uprooting any weeds among them. Now comes more evidence from the Texas hothouse that such garden maintenance is a lot harder than we imagined.
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Crema the crop
They take their coffee seriously in Washington State, and school district employees are no exception. The Seattle Public Schools administration building has a self-supporting deli that offers espresso drinks brewed from a $6,000 machine (which, according to spokesmen, has paid for itself).
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Strike three?
The St. Louis Cardinals isn't the only organization in town striking out on a regular basis--the city's school system is whiffing a lot these days, too.
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Don't take our word for it
Just last week, Gadfly encouraged Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) administrators to buck up, fix the scoring problems that plagued their 2006 reading assessments, and keep the faith (see here). Now Ron Matus, an education reporter for the St.
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Answering the Question that Matters Most: Has Student Achievement Increased Since No Child Left Behind?
Center on Education PolicyJune 2007
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Pensions pinching schools
"More money for better schools" is a mantra that can be heard across the nation. The problem, districts will have you believe, is that state budgets are being cut, that local voters are tightwads, and that, in places such as Detroit and Cincinnati, charter schools are taking away funding and thereby preventing the districts from delivering a quality education to every child.
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Reading scores in New York City: Achievement stalled
The recent release of English Language Arts scores for grades 3-8 by the New York State Education Department was treated as a cause for celebration by the New York City Department of Education. Chancellor Joel Klein said that the scores showed that "the system is clearly moving forward."
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Monkey business
Not since William Jennings Bryan halted the march of science by winning the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 have creationists had a more glorious day. On Monday, the Creation Museum opened its doors for business in northern Kentucky, with a stated mission of restoring the Bible to its "rightful authority" in society.
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How Good is Good Enough? Moving California's English Learners to English Proficiency
Joanne JacobsLexington InstituteMay 29, 2007
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Sunshine State snafu
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is the centerpiece of one of the best state accountability systems in the country, but it's far from perfect. Education officials in Tallahassee discovered last week that third-grade reading scores from the 2006 FCAT were inflated by human scoring errors, allowing many students who should have been held back to move on to fourth grade.