Education Next

Audio Book Excerpts

Authors reading short excerpts from their recent books

New Book Review: Hanushek Reviews Ouchi on Total Student Load

Bill Ouchi is a management professor who studies school districts. His latest book provides an in-depth look at six school districts with high-profile leaders (including Rod Paige, Arne Duncan, Joel Klein, and Arlene Ackerman) who are all pursuing decentralization of decisionmaking and funding, a school reform strategy lauded by Ouchi in a previous book.
These six [...]

Behind the Headline: Congress shouldn’t betray D.C. scholarship program

On Top of the News
Congress shouldn’t betray D.C. scholarship program
03/08/10 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
How Vouchers Came to D.C.
Fall 2004 | Education Next
A bipartisan coalition led by Sen. Joe Lieberman is calling on the Senate to restore the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. An article by Spencer Hsu that appeared in Ed [...]

New Podcast: The New Normal for Federal Education Spending

Education Next’s Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about whether the federal share of education spending is likely to remain at 15 percent and whether the $1 billion bonus for reauthorizing ESEA this year is likely to be awarded.
Click here to get the podcast.

Coming Soon: Ed Next Editors and Others Discuss RTTT Finalists

Several Ed Next editors (including Rick Hess and Mike Petrilli) and some outside experts (Andy Smarick and Tom Carroll) will be weighing in on the Race to the Top finalists right here on the Ed Next blog not long after the finalists are announced.

Behind the Headline – Survey: Supportive leadership helps retain top teachers

On Top of the News
Survey: Supportive leadership helps retain top teachers
03/03/10 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
The Revolving Door
Winter 2004 | Education Next
A Gates-funded survey of 40,000 teachers finds that supportive leadership is more important to them than higher salaries (and much more important to them than performance pay). A study published by [...]

Behind the Headline: Chicago Schools CEO Projects $1 Billion Deficit

On Top of the News
Chicago Schools CEO Projects $1 Billion Deficit
02/25/10 | WBBM780
Behind the Headline
Mounting Debt
Winter 2004 | Education Next
Chicago considers ways to close a $1 billion gap in its budget. An article by Jon Fullerton that appeared in the Winter 2004 issue of Ed Next explained why school districts find it so [...]

Lighting Their Fires With Soggy Tinder

Liam Julian takes a contrarian look at Rafe Esquith’s new book, Lighting Their Fires, in an article just published on the Ed Next website, “Dedicated, Decorated, and Disappointing.”

Newspapers May Be In Decline, But Not Videos or Podcasts

Mike Petrilli talks with Linda Perlstein of the Education Writers Association about what the decline of newspapers means for education coverage in a new video on our website.
And in this week’s podcast, Paul Peterson and Chester Finn talk about two new reports. The first report, released by the Fordham Institute last week, identifies 2800 public [...]

Behind the Headine: Is there a place for special ed in charter schools?

On Top of the News
Is there a place for special ed in charter schools?
02/21/10 | Houston Chronicle
Behind the Headline
Autism and the Inclusion Mandate
Winter 2004 | Education Next
Texas explores the possibility of opening special charter schools for students with disabilities, though nobody is sure if the schools would run afoul of federal laws requiring [...]

Math Approach Still A-Maze-ing

In Spring 2005, Ed Next published an article by Barry Garelick, a mathematician who was surprised to discover the bizarre way math was being taught to his daughter and other students he was tutoring. The article, “An A-Maze-ing Approach to Math,” follows Barry on his quest to make sense of discovery learning and the forces [...]

Behind the Headline: Obama wants education benchmarks to meet higher standard

On Top of the News
Obama wants education benchmarks to meet higher standard
02/22/10 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
Few States Set World-Class Standards
Summer 2008 | Education Next
President Obama will propose today that states which set low academic standards will not be eligible to receive Title I funds. In an article that appeared in the [...]

Behind the Headline: Teacher Seniority Rules Challenged

On Top of the News
Teacher Seniority Rules Challenged
02/19/10 | The Wall Street Journal
Behind the Headline
A Recession for Schools
Winter 2010 | Education Next
As school districts prepare to lay off teachers due to funding shortfalls, government officials are starting to push back against seniority policies that force districts to make decisions about layoffs without regard to [...]

New Article: The Unknown World of Charter High Schools

Ed Next has published a new study on its website today—an evaluation of the impact of charter school attendance on the likelihood that a student will graduate from high school and attend college.  Data for the study are drawn from Chicago and Florida.
The authors write
We find evidence that charter high schools in both locations have [...]

Book Excerpt: Kay Merseth Reads From Inside Urban Charter Schools

Last fall, Ed Next published a short review of a new book, Inside Urban Charter Schools, by Kay Merseth of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Now we bring you a 15-minute audio excerpt from that book (read by Kay), which you can access here.
You can listen to the excerpt from the book through your [...]

Behind the Headline: In Montgomery County, the teachers union and its toxic influence

On Top of the News
In Montgomery County, the teachers union and its toxic influence
02/05/10 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
The Union Label on the Ballot Box
Summer 2006 | Education Next
The Washington Post editorial board complains about the teachers union in Montgomery County, Maryland, where candidates for school board and county council who seek the [...]

Behind the Headline: Judge rejects Seattle’s high school math program

On Top of the News
Judge rejects Seattle’s high school math program
02/04/10 | Seattle Post Intelligencer
Behind the Headline
An A-Maze-ing Approach To Math
Spring 2005 | Education Next
A judge has ruled that the Seattle school district’s adoption of a “discovery math” program was arbitrary and capricious, noting that the state board of education had declared the curriculum [...]

New Article: High School 2.0

The School of the Future is a public high school in Philadelphia that opened its doors in September 2006. It was designed (with assistance from Microsoft) to feature technology and a learner-driven curriculum, but while Microsoft helped launch the school, it did not pay for it. “The company deliberately tried to work within the resource [...]

New Article: Finding Time for Tennis and Thoreau

Brett Ellen Keeler, a junior tennis player from Austin, Texas, describes what it’s like to attend a virtual high school while traveling two weeks out of every month to compete in tennis tournaments in “Finding Time for Tennis and Thoreau.”
For more in this vein, check out our video, “Tennis Players Choose Virtual Schooling.”

School Turnarounds: Felicitous or Futile?

Should failing schools be fixed or closed?
In Winter 2009, Ed Next published “The Big U-Turn: How to bring schools from the brink of doom to stellar success,” by Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel. Then in Winter 2010, we published “The Turnaround Fallacy: Stop trying to fix failing schools. Close them and start fresh,” by [...]

Tennis Players Choose Virtual Schooling

Video: Three of America’s top junior tennis players (Mallory Burdette, Sloane Stephens, and Jarmere Jenkins) talk with Education Next about attending a virtual high school.

Book Excerpt: Richard Whitmire Reads from Why Boys Fail

Ed Next is teaming with authors of newly released books to provide 15-minute audio excerpts from those books for your listening pleasure.
First up, Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail, reads from the introduction of his book.

You can listen to the excerpt from the book through your computer’s speakers or download the excerpt to an [...]

Victory Puts New Orleans in the Spotlight

The Saints’ thrilling victory over the Vikings in overtime Sunday night in the Superdome was perhaps the most exciting win for the city since Gov. Bobby Jindal rallied a ragtag coalition of state legislators to create a voucher program for New Orleans in the summer of 2008.
During a decade when voucher programs were handed defeats [...]

Behind the Headline: After 10 Years, Federal Money for Technology in Education

On Top of the News
After 10 Years, Federal Money for Technology in Education
01/25/10 | The New York Times
Behind the Headline
Full Immersion 2025
Summer 2009 | Education Next
Congress is appropriating funds for a new center aimed at exploring the opportunities for advanced technology in education, the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and [...]

New Article: Gender Gap: Are Boys Being Shortchanged in K-12 Schooling?

After decades of worrying that girls were being shortchanged in male-dominated schools, people are now worrying about whether boys are the ones being shortchanged by schools that are better suited to girls.
In a new Ed Next forum article, Richard Whitmire, author of  the new book Why Boys Fail, debates Susan McGee Bailey, principal author of [...]

Behind the Headline: As School Exit Tests Prove Tough, States Ease Standards

On Top of the News
As School Exit Tests Prove Tough, States Ease Standards
01/12/10 | The New York Times
Behind the Headline
A Steeper, Better Road to Graduation
Winter 2001 | Education Next
On Saturday, Pennsylvania became the latest state to adopt high school exit exams, with the goal of ensuring students leave high school prepared for college and [...]

New Article: Quality Counts and the Chance-for-Success Index

This Thursday, Ed Week will release its annual report card for states, Quality Counts 2010.  An article posted on the Ed Next website today scrutinizes one element of that report card, the “Chance-for-Success” index.
In “Quality Counts and the Chance-for-Success Index,”education researcher Margaret Raymond and a team of researchers from CREDO at Stanford University note that, [...]

Behind the Headline: Union to propose test scores figure into teacher ratings

On Top of the News
Union to propose test scores figure into teacher ratings
01/11/10 | USA Today
Behind the Headline
Same Old, Same Old
Winter 2009 | Education Next
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, will deliver a speech today in which she proposes that teachers be evaluated based in part on student test scores. An [...]

Behind the Headline: New Achievement Gap Analysis Suggests a More Comprehensive Picture of Equity

On Top of the News
New Achievement Gap Analysis Suggests a More Comprehensive Picture of Equity
The Education Trust
Behind the Headline
Demography as Destiny?
Summer 2009 | Education Next
A new study by Education Trust identifies states that have narrowed gaps in performance between students from different subgroups while still seeing gains in achievement across all groups and relatively [...]

Behind the Headline: HISD may fire teachers over test scores

On Top of the News
HISD may fire teachers over test scores
01/11/10 | Houston Chronicle
Behind the Headline
When Principals Rate Teachers
Spring 2006 | Education Next
The school board in Houston will vote Thursday on the superintendent’s proposal that would allow the district to terminate teachers whose students do not demonstrate test score gains. A study [...]

Behind the Headline: Educators await Obama’s mark on No Child Left Behind

On Top of the News
Educators await Obama’s mark on No Child Left Behind
01/09/10| The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
The Future of No Child Left Behind
Summer 2009| Education Next
The Obama administration is still “listening and learning” and has not yet announced any specific plans for reauthorizing or replacing No Child Left Behind, which celebrated its [...]

Behind the Headline: Making Teaching a Profession

On Top of the News
Making Teaching a Profession
01/05/10| Inside Higher Ed
Behind the Headline
The Accreditation Game
Fall 2002| Education Next
NCATE is launching a committee charged with recommending changes in the ways teachers are prepared, changes that would then be reflected in the council’s accreditation standards. The effort, launched by president James Cibulka, will focus on [...]

New Ed Next Podcast: Studies Find No Effects

Education Next’s Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk about whether randomized field trials in education should be abandoned, since they so rarely find that the treatments have any effects.
Click here to get to the podcast.

Behind the Headline: What Makes a Great Teacher?

On Top of the News
What Makes a Great Teacher?
January/February 2010| The Atlantic
Behind the Headline
The Mystery of Good Teaching
Spring 2002| Education Next
For a decade, Teach for America has been analyzing which of its teachers are most effective, in an effort to determine which traits to look for in prospective teachers and what behaviors to [...]

Behind the Headline: Albany ‘talking’ to charters, but still wary

On Top of the News
Albany ‘talking’ to charters, but still wary
01/06/10 | Albany Times Union
Behind the Headline
Brighter Choices in Albany
Fall 2009 | Education Next
In Albany, the school district is taking baby steps toward cooperating with the Brighter Choice charter school network, after a decade of hostility. An article by Peter Meyer that [...]

Behind the Headline: Michigan Teaching School Tries Something New

On Top of the News
Michigan Teaching School Tries Something New
01/03/10 | NPR
Behind the Headline
Teacher Training, Tailor-Made
Spring 2009 | Education Next
NPR reports on efforts by the University of Michigan to overhaul its teacher training program so that prospective teachers experience more hands-on training, have more opportunities to observe experienced teachers, and spend less [...]

Behind the Headline: More choices for Baltimore 8th graders

On Top of the News
More choices for Baltimore 8th graders
01/03/10 | The Baltimore Sun
Behind the Headline
Wave of the Future
Winter 2008 | Education Next
Baltimore has ended the practice of assigning students to high schools based on where they live. Eighth graders now choose from among 4 dozen schools, which include “innovation” schools run [...]

Behind the Headlines: Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s legacy as Chicago schools chief questioned

On Top of the News
Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s legacy as Chicago schools chief questioned
12/29/09 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
The Big Stick
Winter 2003 | Education Next
A front-page story in the Washington Post evaluates what Arne Duncan accomplished in Chicago before he became Secretary of Education. “The Big Stick,” an article by Kenneth [...]

Behind the Headlines: D.C. schools fitness plan fine if class time remains intact

On Top of the News
D.C. schools fitness plan fine if class time remains intact
12/28/09 | The Washington Post
Behind the Headline
Not Your Father’s PE
Fall 2006 | Education Next
The D.C. Council has introduced a bill that would require all public schools (including charters) to ensure that students in grades K-8 have 30-45 minutes per [...]

Behind the Headlines: Schooling low-income parents in helping students

On Top of the News
Schooling low-income parents in helping students
12/23/09 | The Los Angeles Times
Behind the Headline
An Appeal to Authority
Fall 2008 | Education Next
An opinion piece in the L.A. Times looks at efforts to teach parents how to help their kids succeed in school, but notes that there is little evidence of [...]