All Over the Map: Comparing States’ Expectations for Student Performance in Science
The Proficiency Illusion, science edition
The Proficiency Illusion, science edition
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room
Reflecting on the latest stories in education governance.
David Brennan played a crucial role in expanding school choice in Ohio. Who will lead the next wave of reform?
Recent news that White Hat, the big, Ohio-based, profit-seeking charter school operator, faces financial problems was surely received as an early Christmas present by many long-time charter opponents, particularly within the Buckeye State. The company?s founder and leader, Akron industrialist David Brennan, has been a larger-than-life-target for school choice foes since Governor George Voinovich appointed him in 1992 to head a commission intended to advance choice in Ohio k-12 education.
The central problem besetting K-12 education in the United States today is still—as for almost thirty years now—that far too few of our kids are learning nearly enough for their own or the nation’s good. And the gains we’ve made, though well worth making, have been meager (and largely confined to math), are trumped by gains in other countries, and evaporate by the end of high school.
Since 2005, Fordham has been working in Ohio to recruit high quality charter schools to neighborhoods badly in need of better schools. During our six-plus years of effort as a charter authorizer we have managed to recruit just two high-performing models to Columbus (KIPP and a BES school).
My husband and I have to decide in the next year where our 4-year old son will go to school and it is a daunting decision.
The NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) results for mathematics and reading were released last week. The TUDA results look specifically at 21 large urban school districts that volunteered to have their NAEP scores reported separately (three of which participated for the first time; see the complete rundown of cities here).
We?d like to extend our congratulations to Jennifer Felbaum, a teacher at Fordham-sponsored Columbus Collegiate Academy in Columbus. Jennifer was the recipient of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter School?s annual teacher of the year award, a distinction given to just one teacher in Ohio for significant contributions when it comes to advancing student achievement
The number of districts rated excellent in Ohio has risen dramatically over the past several years, from 85 in the 2002-2003 school year to 352 in the 2010-11 school year (almost 60 percent of all districts in the state).
Like any large city, Cincinnati faces challenges in educating youth living in poverty. When it was reported that the number of Ohio and Kentucky students attending college lagged far behind that in other states, organizers at the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the University of Cincinnati decided to increase Ohio and Kentucky?s post-secondary enrollment numbers.
The Rick Scott (and the Tea Party) could learn some lessons from Margaret Thatcher.
Is Newt Gingrich the GOP candidate with the most thought-out education policy?
Is testing the cause of or solution to the crowding out of important subjects?
View the footage from the Fordham & CEE-Trust charter incubation panel discussion, "Driving Quality."
View the footage from the third and fourth sessions of the December 1, 2011 Fordham-CAP "Rethinking Education Governance" conference.
A rash of hacking statements of late, made by adults, makes me wonder who among our edu-cators and -crats need a refresher course in critical thinking skills.
It's too early to tell
Weighted student funding, anyone?
Robin Lake looks at the lessons from the Fordham and CEE-Trust policy brief.