Edu Commentary

Number Two Pencil doesn’t think much of the proposal in NY to move away from the SAT.    And, more funding back and forth in Albany.  More here from NYT.  Daily News weighs in here.   Summer school figures out in NYC, too.

Uh-Oh in LA. 

Yet, more CTU election news.  Forgive the pun, but however this turns out it’s very old school.

AP writes up a successful Virginia school.

And, DCedublog has some scoop on the still ongoing superintendent search in D.C.  Kind of hard to find a candidate when actually wanting the job should be considered disqualifying…

A concerned reader writes:

I was absolutely appalled to read Tuesday’s lascivious post.  After reading the line “the journalistic equivalent of a lap dance – some squirming and faux enthusiasm but no real payoff,” the only thing that could calm my nerves was the thought that so many of our children are unable to read.  Never did I think Edu Commentary would work blue.

Wonder why it’s so hard to address teacher quality problems? Well, one reason is reflexive opposition to new ideas.  Hint:  They forget to mention that TFA teachers outperformed certified and veteran teachers too and no mention of the lack of research linking certification with student learning.   Curious…

Wonder why schools are so worried about being sued?  Well, one reason is a lot of litigous parents…

Excellent Peter Schrag column about California’s school governance woes.  Schrag says that Riordan’s recent gaffe is symbolic of larger systemic problems.  Via Schoolwise Press.

In Los Angeles favorable reviews for the school district’s new administrator training program.  In Minnesota, the same for the new state education chief there.

In NYC less favorable reviews for New York Governor Pataki’s approach to the NYC schools.  And, in Newsday, Sheryl McCarthy has less than kind words for Bloomberg-Klein.

Washington Times writes up the Department of Education’s recent NCLB summit…they like it!   And, AP reports that President Bush will lay out a new plan for high school reform…one day.

In Chicago, the mayor’s new school initiative is getting dragged into the teachers’ union election there.

Arizona is challenging a U.S. Department of Education policy that makes for-profit charter schools ineligible for federal funds (non-profit charters or charters that contract with for-profit companies can already receive federal funds). 

New 21st Century Schools Project Bulletin available now. 

Dan Drezner offers his thoughts on the recent Chicago Tribune series on NCLB and p.s. choice.   And Hip Teacher and Joanne Jacobs both take note of Duke’s decision to give students iPods.

And, if Edu Commentary’s email is a guide, many people are still wondering, who is Hans Moleman?

Ed Trust doesn’t like some parts of the vocational education reauthorization now moving through Congress.

Chicago Trib continues its ground-level look at how public school choice is working there.  In MA, the legislature does not override the governor’s veto of a charter school moratorium.

And, in The Washington Monthly, Jonathan Schorr writes about Senator Kerry’s teacher plan:

“As the campaign moves forward, Kerry’s teacher plan may prove to be very clever politics. By challenging the teachers’ unions, Kerry gains centrist credibility in an area where he’s bucked the liberal line before. (During his 1998 Senate race, he called for an end to teacher tenure.) It also gives Kerry a signature reform that contrasts him with Bush…

But if the plan makes for good politics, is it good policy, too? Is it focused on the big problem? Would it be a credible solution? And is there more Kerry should be doing? The answer to all four questions is yes.”

It’s said that slot machines are the crack cocaine of gamblers: a quick rush but pretty financially debilitating over the long-term (just ask Bill Bennett).  What’s less known is that they may have the same impact on state legislatures, too.  An article by University of Nevada professor William Thompson in The Washington Post examines the broader fiscal impact of slot machine gambling.  Considering that education finance is frequently offered up as a rationale for slot machines, Dr. Thompson’s analysis, while not bullet-proof, has important implications.

Post readers dicuss the article with Thompson in an online chat here.

NYT’s Dillon looks at student mobility, and Samuel Freedman offers the first part of a two-part look at education and youth in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute (and, incidentally, continues the resurrection of the column…).

Jay Mathews poses some tough questions about IB and AP teaching.

 

AP traces some of the Bush education agenda to Oregon, a state apparently previously better known for long hair and hackysack.

 

More evidence that the House Republican gambit on unspent funds is not getting traction.

The Baltimore Sun writes up a new analysis of the schools there.  And, in WI will the governor expand the school voucher program there?  Both via educationnews.org.

Don’t miss this evaluation (PDF) of the Chancellor’s District in NYC by the Institute for Education and Social Policy.  Though the initiative is over, there are plenty of lessons for today’s policy debates.  The intro does a great job laying out the parameters of today’s debate:

 

“…the Chancellor’s District initiative challenges several influential currents of recent reform theory that link the necessity for decentralization with the need to provide maximum autonomy at the school level to achieve successful schools. In Politics, Markets and America’s Schools, John Chubb and Terry Moe argued that the key characteristic that distinguishes academically effective private schools from less effective public schools is the extent of autonomy at the school level…

 

Chubb and Moe’s influential arguments stressed the inevitability of bureaucratization and consequent poor school performance unless schools are severed from district control and governed by market principles.”

Though it manifests itself through a variety of issues and political disputes, that’s the crux of today’s debate.   And that’s why this study is worth reading.

Michael Lach is blogging on the new school initiative in Chicago on his blog Teach and Learn.   He’s got a good perch from which to observe…