From Our Blog

What’s Next in Education: Common Ground or Battle Ground?

Are the right and the left coming together on education policy? President Obama’s budget address is encouraging, if ambiguous. Looking elsewhere, one also finds mixed signals. Consider the two reports that came out last week, one on charter school segregation by a UCLA group headed by Professor Gary Orfield, the other a Brookings report headed by Grover Whitehurst, the widely respected former head of the Institute of Education Sciences.

Yes, We Have No Bananas

In a recent Education Next article we talked about winners and losers in teacher pension systems, and about the huge costs these systems impose on mobile teachers due to the back-loading of benefits. In a letter to the editor written in response to our article, Beth Almeida of the National Institute on Retirement Security takes us to task for describing this phenomenon as “redistribution,” noting that such a practice is illegal. Since we don’t want to get pension and teacher union officials in trouble, we have a modest proposal.

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On Top of the News

A Federal Effort to Push Junk Food Out of Schools

02/08/10 | The New York Times

Behind the Headline

from the EdNext Archives

in the news

The School Lunch Lobby

Education Next

The Obama administration would like to ban candy and soda from school vending machines and require schools to offer more nutritious options. In an article that appeared in Ed Next in 2005, Ron Haskins looked at the history of the federal school lunch program and considered whether the program could be used to fight obesity.

Harvard Professor Advocates Virtual, Physical School Mix

02/06/10 | Northwest Arkansas Times

Behind the Headline

from the EdNext Archives

in the news

Florida’s Online Option

Education Next

During an event hosted by the University of Arkansas' Department of Education Reform, Ed Next editor-in-chief Paul E. Peterson advocated for allowing students to enroll in a virtual school at the same time they are enrolled in a physical school. While Arkansas offers online learning through the Arkansas Virtual High School, students may only enroll in one school at a time. During his lecture Peterson specifically cited the Florida Virtual School, which was profiled by Bill Tucker in the Summer 2009 issue of Ed Next.

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High School 2.0

By Dale Mezzacappa  

Can Philadelphia’s School of the Future live up to its name?

In the Wake of the Storm

By Michael B. Henderson  

How vouchers came to the Big Easy

Video: Michael Henderson talks with Education Next

Gender Gap

Are boys being shortchanged in K–12 schooling?

By Richard Whitmire and Susan McGee Bailey  

Quality Counts and the Chance-for-Success Index

Narrowing its scope to factors schools can control would give the measure greater value

By Margaret Raymond and the CREDO team  

Time for School?

When the snow falls, test scores also drop

Poor Schools or Poor Kids?

To some, fixing education means taking on poverty and health care

By Joe Williams and Pedro Noguera  

More from Ednext

Finding Time for Tennis and Thoreau

My online education

By Brett Ellen Keeler  
Education Data in 2025

Fifteen years hence, we will know exactly how well our schools, teachers, and students are doing

Supreme Modesty

From strip searches to school funding, the Court treads lightly

A Recession for Schools

Not as bad as it sounds

Winter 2010 Correspondence

Readers Respond

By Education Next  


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Videos
What We’re Watching

Ed Next authors Bryan Hassel and Andy Smarick debate whether failing schools should be fixed or closed at an Ed Next-Fordham Institute event.

Podcast
Audio Excerpt: Why Boys Fail by Richard Whitmire

Podcast: An audio excerpt from Richard Whitmire’s new book “Why Boys Fail”

Press Releases and Announcements
Voucher Supporters Achieve Political Success in Louisiana

In a decade in which many school voucher programs have been limited or rolled back in Washington, DC, Utah, Arizona, and Florida, the Louisiana legislature in 2008 passed a new voucher program for New Orleans. In 2009-10, the second year of the voucher program, 1,324 New Orleans students attended 31 private schools using vouchers with a maximum value of over $7,000.


Race to the Top Offers Last Chance to Salvage Stimulus Spending

As states catch their breath after rushing to meet the January 19 deadline for submitting applications for the first round of Race to the Top grants, education researcher Andy Smarick of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute warns that the administration must take steps to ensure that Race to the Top funds are spent in ways that promote reform.


EdNext in the News

Fix schools with ideas, not money
January 27, 2010 | Class Struggle @ The Washington Post


New Jersey schools get a B-minus in national report
January 14, 2010 | Press of Atlantic City


Teach for America Strikes Back
January 12, 2010 | Campus Progress


Randomized Studies: Keep or Ditch?
January 8, 2010 | Inside School Research


New school, old funding problems
December 20, 2009 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


Should we focus on poor schools or poor kids?
December 4, 2009 | The Dallas Morning News


When Roads Diverge: Tracking the Charter Movement
November 30, 2009 | Education Week




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