Commentary
Topics
Commentary
Report
Governance
Having Their Say: The Views of Dayton-area Parents on Education
Much has changed in education in Dayton during the past two years. The remarkable election of a 'reform' majority to the Dayton school board, and the selection of a new superintendent. Passage of a huge levy for school-building construction and renewal. The arrival of the politics-governance Act and Ohio's Senate Bill 1. The dramatic growth of the charter-school sector and of controversy surrounding it. Some ferment on the high-school reform front. And much more. Thus, it seemed time to once again 'take the community's temperature' with respect to a wide array of K-12 education issues. Herewith are the results.
Commentary
Commentary
A Tale of Two Schools
Last Saturday's Washington Post reported on two underperforming area schools, one on Virginia and one in Maryland. At Maury Elementary in Alexandria-the only school in the Virginia suburbs of D.C. to be identified as "needing improvement" under No Child Left Behind-13 percent of students have transferred to other area schools, private and public.
Commentary
Commentary
Are charter changes coming to CA?
Two bills before the California legislature would, if enacted, dramatically improve the prospects of the charter school movement in that state.
Commentary
Are teachers underpaid?
The latest edition of Education Next, released yesterday, includes several articles that challenge two common education beliefs: that teachers are underpaid and that smaller classes boost student achievement. The conclusions are complicated, though. It seems that great teachers are underpaid but most teachers are not underpaid, relative to what they could earn in other occupations.
Commentary
Ohio judge rules charter schools constitutional
An Ohio judge ruled this week that the Buckeye State's 6-year-old charter school law does not violate the state Constitution, gutting major portions of a lawsuit filed by a coalition led by the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
Commentary
Commentary
A tale of two teachers
Last month, City Journal published a long article by Justin Kaplowitz, a former Teach for America corps member whose teaching career was abruptly ended after one year when a disgruntled parent filed a frivolous $20 million lawsuit charging that Kaplowitz had hit her child [seehttp://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cf
Commentary
Recruiting, Preparing and Retaining High Quality Teachers: An Empirical Synthesis
Gerald Bracey and Alex Molnar, Education Policy Studies Laboratory (ASU)February 12, 2003
Commentary
Battle over Race-Based Admissions Intensifies
With the Supreme Court scheduled to hear oral arguments on the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies in April, the debate over such policies grows ever hotter.
Commentary
Testing High Stakes Tests: Can We Believe the Results of Accountability Tests?
Jay P. Greene, Marcus Winters, Greg Forster, The Manhattan Institute for Public Policy February 11, 2003
Commentary
In defense of Ohio's AYP plan
I rarely defend the education authorities in Ohio; but I am doing so this time in response to Checker's editorial, Adequate yearly progress or balloon mortgage? [http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=9#367 ]The basic problem with the NCLB goals is their total impracticability.
Commentary
Commentary
A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream?
Erica Frankenberg, Chungmei Lee and Gary Orfield, The Harvard Civil Rights ProjectJanuary 2003
Commentary
Commentary
On Outrage and Double Standards
Many have remarked upon the double standard that operates in American education when judging the regular school system versus proposed reforms in it.