U.S. history standards flunk
A state's academic standards are the recipes from which its education system cooks. A gifted chef may produce tasty dishes without great cookbooks, but most people's food isn't apt to be much better than its recipes.
A state's academic standards are the recipes from which its education system cooks. A gifted chef may produce tasty dishes without great cookbooks, but most people's food isn't apt to be much better than its recipes.
Is there any subject as disheveled, distorted and dysfunctional as social studies? As part of our continuing effort to revitalize the subject of social studies, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute offers Effective State Standards for U.S. History: A 2003 Report Card. This groundbreaking and comprehensive state-by-state analysis of K-12 education standards in U.S. history was prepared by Sheldon Stern, historian at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston for more than 20 years. It evaluates U.S. history standards in 48 states and the District of Columbia on comprehensive historical content, sequential development, and balance.
Jay Greene and Greg Forster, Manhattan Institute September 17, 2003
Jeffrey Mirel, University of Michigan Paedagogica Historica, Volume 39, No. 4 August 2003
Bradley Portin et al., Center on Reinventing Public Education September 2003
Education TrustSeptember 3, 2003
Most businesses, when faced with a budget crunch, pare non-essential activities to save money. Firing essential staff is generally a last resort. In schools, however, teachers are often the first to go when money gets tight.
When the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Zelman v. Harris, I thought the ruling would have little impact on the school choice debate because it dealt only with constitutionality, not the politics of actually passing a voucher bill. Now events in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere make me think I was wrong.The voucher debate has changed since Zelman.
The lively debate over a proposed federal voucher program for needy children in the District of Columbia has re-surfaced a familiar issue. In today's guest editorial, Andy Rotherham calls it ensuring "accountability" for private schools receiving voucher-bearing students.
This week, a draft of New York State's five year report on charter schools was presented to the governor and legislature.
Florida voters take note! The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report this week that's chock full of interesting findings about schools and reform strategies around the world. Among the more interesting results, the OECD report found that class size reduction is not the cure-all reform that many want it to be.
This fascinating new report starts with the well-known fact that poor, urban, and minority classrooms are less apt to be staffed by highly qualified teachers, then challenges the conventional wisdom that such people generally shun jobs in "hard to staff" places. Turns out that's not true. Plenty of well-prepared and qualified teachers APPLY for such teaching posts. But they don't get hired.
On this solemn anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, in lieu of a conventional editorial, we offer excerpts from five of the 29 thoughtful essays in Fordham's recent publication, Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know.
Patrick J. Murphy and Michael M. DeArmond, Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington August 2003
Aubrey H. Wang et al., Educational Testing ServiceSeptember 2003
Donna Walker James and Glenda Partee, American Youth Policy ForumSeptember 2003
President Bush this week announced a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the Broad Foundation-in conjunction with Standard & Poor's and the education data-crunching outfit Just for the Kids (JFTK) - to make disaggregated state student achievement data and other NCLB-related information readily available via the web for parents and policy makers.
A California bill that would strengthen state oversight of charter schools has come one step closer to becoming law, passing the California Senate and heading to the General Assembly, possibly within days.
Over the past few years, the number of private schools in China has grown rapidly, numbering more than 54,000 by the end of 2000 and likely far more today. These private schools have sprung up in response to the increased demand for primary, secondary and higher education - a demand that the government cannot afford to meet, given the size of China's student population.
Minnesota's current statewide social studies standards are, as education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke bluntly puts it, an "embarrassment." Encouraging, then, that this week Minnesota released a new set of draft standards in science and social studies that are, on their face, terrific.[For earlier coverage of the battle over pitching the Profiles, see
In a late-night vote Tuesday, the House of Representatives, by a razor-thin margin, approved the controversial bill to provide $10 million in private school tuition grants to at least 1,300 D.C. schoolchildren next year. As Gadfly reported last week, three prominent D.C. officials, all former voucher foes, came out strongly in favor of the new "scholarship" program.
This week marks the beginning not only of a new school year but also a new round of debate over vouchers. In a Washington Post op ed, D.C. school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz, along with D.C. mayor Anthony Williams and D.C.
Lance T. Izumi with Matt Cox, Pacific Research InstituteAugust 2003
Louis G. Tornatzky, Harry P. Pachon, and Celina Torres, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and the Tomas Rivera Policy InstituteAugust 2003
Bryan Goodwin, Mid-continent Research for Education and LearningJuly 2003
The No Child Left Behind rubber is hitting the education road, where it's producing a lot of screeching brakes, skid marks and, especially, honking. A flock of noisy Canadian geese makes less noise than American public education griping about NCLB, the changes it is forcing, the injustices it is said to be inflicting and the difficulties of implementing it as Congress intended.
Around the country, the economic downturn and state and local budget shortfalls are forcing some schools to charge students to participate in activities that used to be open to all, free of charge.
As part of No Child Left Behind, states are now required to report what percentage of their teachers are "highly qualified" - in other words, what percentage has a bachelor's degree, state certification and clear knowledge of the subject they teach. It's that last clause that has many teachers and union officials up in arms.
So the news is good from the College Board: SAT scores are up sharply. That suggests that the strategies of recent years have been paying off, that students are taking more academic courses, and that they have greater incentive to prepare for tests like the SAT.