Briefly Noted: Go big, or go home

And how urban Catholic schools can become comeback kids

Legislation to bring TFA to Ohio has passed!

Today marks history for the Buckeye State, its low-income children, and its failing schools, as well as for the dozens if not hundreds of education reform advocates who've been pushing for the last decade for Teach For America - Ohio.

The Digital Divide and The Knowledge Deficit

To walk from a conversation about the need for a common core curriculum to one about turning schools into digital gaming parlors modeled after Grand Theft Auto ? well, it's what we in the business call a head jerk.

KIPP and Baltimore Teachers Union solve pay dispute

The bickering between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the KIPP charter network involving overtime pay for teachers in two KIPP schools has come to a close.?

Kasich educaton budget: Fiscally sound and student-focused, but many details still lacking

Governor Kasich unveiled his much-anticipated biennial budget proposal Tuesday.  True to his word, the budget doesn’t raise taxes and will change, in some cases significantly, how Ohio government – including the state’s 610 local school districts – does business. 

Finn speaks to Dayton Rotary Club

Last week Fordham President Chester E. Finn, Jr. was in Ohio and stopped in Dayton (Fordham’s hometown and his) to give a speech to the Dayton Rotary Club. The speech, Reforming America’s Schools: Where Things Stand in 2011, highlighted the major education reform efforts and struggles associated with them since the mid-1980s.

Fordham-authorized Columbus Collegiate Academy wins highest honor for student achievement

Columbus Collegiate Academy, a Fordham-authorized charter school in one of Columbus’s poorest neighborhoods (Weinland Park), has just been awarded the Gold-Gain EPIC award by New Leaders for New Schools for dramatic gains in student achievement. 

Congratulations to two KIPPsters!

A big congratulations are due to KIPP Journey Academy students McKeala Hudson and Michael Robinson, who were recently accepted into the KIPP STEP Summer Program at Deerfield Academy!

Fordham advocates for legislative changes

Over the past several weeks, Fordham staff members have testified before committees of the Ohio House and Senate on several pieces of education-related legislation. You can read more about these testimonies by checking out summaries on Fordham’s blog, Flypaper, which have been excerpted below.

Eric Hanushek to Ohio lawmakers: Education policies must incentivize achievement

Last week, economist and education policy expert Eric Hanushek testified in a joint meeting of the Ohio House and Senate education committees.

Doing more with less in K-12 education - a timely discussion for Ohio

This week 140+ local school district leaders and members of the business and philanthropic communities gathered in northern Ohio to take part in two Doing More with Less in K-12 Education events. The events, one held at Cleveland State University and the other at <

Congratulations (Columbus, Ohio) KIPPsters!

A big congratulations to KIPP Journey Academy students McKeala Hudson and Michael Robinson, who were recently accepted into the KIPP STEP Summer Program at Deerfield Academy! Yes, that Deerfield Academy ?

American achievement in international perspective

PISA by the (raw) numbers

A modest proposal for pension reform

Tie benefits to contributions

Students in the center

Utah leading the way on portable funding

If you can't join 'em, beat 'em

A dubious ?reform? proposal for Motown

King of choice

Douglas County?s district-wide voucher program

Teachers, Their Unions and the American Education Reform Agenda

Teacher unionism, here and abroad

Teacher Tenure Reform: Applying Lessons from the Civil Service and Higher Education

Chicken soup for the teacher-tenure-reform soul

Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools

A flawed report, a flawed program

Briefly Noted: The $125,000 question

Will the ?son of six? pass muster?

Fordham's Kathryn Mullen Upton testifies in support of charter school serving incarcerated youth

Yesterday Fordham's Kathryn Mullen Upton, director of charter school sponsorship for the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, testified before the Ohio Senate Education Committee in support of SB 86.

Doing more with less in K-12 education: A timely discussion for Ohio

Eric Hanushek to Ohio lawmakers: Education policies must incentivize achievement

This morning, economist and education policy expert Eric Hanushek testified in a joint meeting of the Ohio House and Senate education committees. His testimony ?

Briefly Noted: Delivering the goods

The goods being a robust curriculum and federal-stimulus funding

The rebirth of the education governor

Welcome the largest crop of ed-reform governors in thirty years

Standards don???t mean a thing without that curriculum-swing

The case for a voluntary national curriculum

The newspaper that cried wolf

Another take on the USA Today data

Leaders no longer in limbo?

School leadership challenges in the post-collective bargaining era

A Smarter Teacher Layoff System: How Quality-Based Layoffs Can Help Schools Keep Great Teachers

The New Teacher Project nails it again