The trouble with "The Trouble With Boys"

Look around you--everywhere, even on the front page of the New York Times, boys are failing. Young men are in trouble. And everyone's trying to figure out why.

The wheels on the Lincoln go round and round

School buses have never been particularly comfortable, efficient, or hip. So how would Mickey Velilla make the morning commute easier on students? Let them take limos.

Pirates of Canberra

Who was Captain Cook, and what did he discover? Prime Minister John Howard wants young Aussies to know this and much more, and is calling for a "root-and-branch renewal of the teaching of Australian history... and the way it is taught." Education Minister Julie Bishop tacks with him, complaining that history is currently presented in vague themes, and "squashed...

Please stay together--for the children

Will the marriage of Paul Vallas and Philadelphia's School Reform Commission (SRC) soon end in divorce?

Tempest Over Templates

In the latest adaptation of a familiar argument, Ohio Board of Education members recently discussed a proposal to create "templates" for teaching scientific topics such as evolution, stem-cell research, and cloning. Strongsville's Colleen D.

Plan Would Put Flexibility in School Funding

Quality Control?

Schools routinely blame socio-economic factors when their charges under-perform. And too many critics nod in agreement. Not those at The Education Trust, whose new study Teaching Inequality points the finger at districts that routinely pair economically disadvantaged students with inexperienced or out-of-field teachers. 

Setting the Record Straight: Quality Charter School Sponsorship Costs Money

School Facilities for Children, Not Districts

Diplomas Count: An Essential Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates

The Graduation Project 2006Education Week/ Editorial Projects in EducationJune 22, 2006

A National Dialogue: Commission Report: Draft

The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher EducationJune 22, 2006

More on Gore

Thank you for your thoughts on Al Gore's film and the lack of multimedia tools in education.

Charter schoolyard politics

New York has seen much mud-slinging and blame-shifting this week as the charter crowd seeks to explain why the legislature had the chutzpah to complete work on the state budget without raising the statewide charter-school cap from 100 to 150 schools, as urged by both Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki.

Coleman crackles

When buying fireworks this weekend, don't forget to throw a box of birthday candles into your shopping basket. It's the 40th anniversary of the Coleman Report, which was released Fourth of July weekend 1966 to "deafening silence." Why the tepid initial response?

High cut scores

While chattering education reformers bicker about standards, accountability, and how to spend Warren Buffet's billions, Japanologist Boyé Lafayette De Mente is busy attacking the achievement gap the old fashioned way: by cutting off its head with a Samurai sword.

Facing backward on his horse, Kozol rides again

Once upon a time, Jonathan Kozol played a formative and constructive role in my career.

For school equality, try mobility

Dumb liberal ideas in education are a dime a dozen, and during my time as superintendent of Houston's schools and as the United States secretary of education I battled against all sorts of progressivist lunacy, from whole-language reading to fuzzy math to lifetime teacher tenure.

High School Reform and Work: Facing Labor Market Realities

Paul E. BartonEducational Testing ServiceJune 2006

Why Kids Can't Read: Challenging the Status Quo in Education

Rowman & Littlefield EducationEdited by Phyllis Blaunstein and Reid Lyon2006

D.C. coopetition

Gadfly's hometown has suddenly turned into education reform nirvana. Last week we reported that competition from charter schools spurred the District of Columbia Public Schools and its teachers union to sign a reform-minded contract. Now comes news that the D.C.

Hawkeye hijinks

The U.S. Department of Education recently laid the smack down on Iowa, threatening to severely limit its federal funding if it didn't make new elementary school teachers pass a standardized test, as required by NCLB's "highly qualified teachers" provision. Pinned to the mat, state education officials will require all teacher candidates to take and pass the Praxis II beginning in 2007.

Fluff piece

When third-grader Nathaniel Barrios asked at home for a Fluffernutter sandwich (a sandwich of peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff), his father, Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, was flabbergasted.

Accountability stew

Governor Jeb Bush is breaking out the fricasseed alligator tail to celebrate the recent announcement that a record 75 percent of Florida schools received As or Bs under the state's "A+" accountability system. Hold on, say the feds-NCLB data show that nearly three-quarters of Sunshine State schools didn't make AYP, including 1,233 that earned As or Bs according to the state's rating system.

Bombing history in the Beehive State

After reading your latest report, The State of State World History Standards 2006, I was disheartened but not surprised by the failing grade my state, Utah, received. Our youngest child just graduated with honors from high school.

Al Gore, master teacher

As hurricanes spawn tornadoes so has An Inconvenient Truth spawned articles about Al Gore: his political ambitions, his resilience, his newfound charisma, his biomass.

Voucher villains - or vitriol?

Listen to Ohio's media and we'll forgive you for thinking the Buckeye State's new voucher program is going down in flames. After all, newspapers are giving lots of ink to low initial student sign-ups for the program-so far 2,600 of the 14,000 available vouchers have been spoken for (there will be another sign-up period in late July and early August).

Challenged Index: Why Newsweek's List of America's 100 Best High Schools Doesn't Make the Grade

Andrew J. Rotherham and Sara MeadEducation Sector, February, 2006 This report takes a hard look at what it means to make Newsweek’s recent list of best high schools in America.

Charter School of Hard Knocks

The state’s first “conversion” charter school, Dayton’s World of Wonder (WOW), apparently decided it had been out in the cold for too long.

From One Librarian to Another

On June 5, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries announced grant awards of up to $5,000 for 206 schools across the nation to develop or expand their library collections. Two of the seven charter school recipients were Ohio’s very own Dayton View Academy and the Early Childhood Development Center in Cleveland.