A year ago, a Vanderbilt-based research team submitted to the federal Education Department a study titled "The Study of Special Education Leadership Personnel With Particular Attention to the Professoriate." (You can request a copy by emailing lead author Deborah Deutsch Smith at d.smith@vanderbilt.edu.) In 50 pages (plus appendices), it concluded tha
In this space two weeks ago (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=66#983), I reported that Congressman Michael Castle's (R-Delaware) bill to remake the federal education research enterprise had much merit but also posed some problems, especially regarding the future of the National Assessment of Educationa
No matter how much pre-service training they have been armed with, new teachers begin their first assignments with a range of urgent, school-specific questions about curriculum, instruction, and classroom management. Yet few schools offer induction programs that give new teachers the kind or level of support they require.
Simeon Slovacek, Antony Kunnan and Hae-Jin Kim, Program Evaluation and Research Collaborative, Charter College of Education, California State University at Los AngelesMarch 11, 2002
Center on Education PolicyJanuary 2002
edited by MaryAnn Byrnes2002
Jie Chen and Thomas Ferguson, University of MassachusettsFebruary 20, 2002
Jolley Bruce Christman, Consortium for Policy Research in EducationDecember 2001
On Monday, opponents of school choice from Arizona State University released a report attacking the state's 1997 education tax credit law, which grants taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar credit against their state tax obligation for donations they make either to public schools or to "school tuition organizations" that award scholarships for use at private schools.
Last August in The Gadfly (see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=93#1209), I reviewed the results of the New York City summer school program for 2001, the second time that the giant school system had attempted to corral more than 300,000 kids to return during the hot months for remediation or enrichment or
C. Emily Feistritzer and David T. Chester, National Center for Education Information2002
The state of Pennsylvania has recently taken control of Philadelphia's schools, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants control of New York's schools and the Maryland legislature will probably replace Prince George's County's dysfunctional elected school board with an appointed one. There's a big debate in Cleveland about whether mayoral control should continue.
Concerned about nine city schools on Tennessee's watch list for poor academic performance, Mayor Bob Corker of Chattanooga was determined to come up with a way to bring in a critical mass of high performing teachers to transform the culture of low expectations and low achievement in these schools-and keep them there.
Should teacher unions be given a bigger say on academic issues? This is the question that the California Assembly is grappling with as they debate Assembly Bill 2160.
Should education schools lose their monopoly on teacher certification? Rick Hess, Mary Diez, and James Fraser debate the proposition in the Spring 2002 issue of Education Next (www.educationnext.org).
Christine H. Rossell, Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaFebruary 20, 2002
Mark Berends, Joan Chun, Gina Schuyler, Sue Stockly and R. J. Briggs, RAND Corporation2002
I had the good fortune to take part last week in an international symposium hosted by Japan's National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER). The topic was "New Schools for the 21st Century." I was asked to talk about charter schools.
Alex Molnar, Glen Wilson, Melissa Restori and John Hutchison, Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Arizona State UniversityJanuary 17, 2002
Carol Innerst, The Center for Education ReformMarch 2002
Richard M. Ingersoll, Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of WashingtonJanuary 2002
Chang-Tai Hsieh and Miguel Urquiola, National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityJanuary 2002
Edited by Iris Weiss, Michael Knapp, Karen Hollweg and Gail Burrill, National Research Council2001
Loretta Kelley and Cathy Ringstaff, WestEd2002
Secretary Rod Paige has just released a five-year strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Education that seeks to bring real accountability to the Department's own functions. Combining elements of the No Child Left Behind Act with the President's management agenda, the plan sets six strategic goals for the agency, each with specific objectives and performance measures.
Yesterday, a House education subcommittee "marked up" H.R. 3801, which was recently introduced by subcommittee chairman Michael Castle (R-Delaware), committee chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio) and several other GOP congressmen.
Andrew Sum, Irwin Kirsch and Robert Taggart, Policy Information Center, Educational Testing ServiceFebruary 2002
Philanthropist Eli Broad has engaged Michigan Governor John Engler and Detroit Public Schools CEO Kenneth Burnley in an effort to recruit and train dynamic leaders from business, the military, and other backgrounds to run urban school districts. Three dozen executives and educators are enrolled in the Broad Center for Superintendents' first class of aspiring school system executives.
Recent events make painfully clear that we cannot take the spread of democracy for granted, writes American Federation of Teachers president Sandy Feldman in her monthly "Where We Stand" column. Devotion to human dignity and freedom, to equal rights, and to the rule of law must be taught and learned and practiced.
