Michigan’s Chartering Strategy
Choice and competition are good for authorizers, too
Choice and competition are good for authorizers, too
Tax Credit Scholarships Need a Critical, Not Hostile, Eye
It’s hard to get past the New York Times’s animus toward anything “private” or profit-seeking in the realm of K-12 education.
Fight Club
Are advocacy organizations changing the politics of education?
Are advocacy organizations changing the politics of education?
Supersize My Education? Not in Singapore
Is more education—more hours and days, more years and degrees—the cure for what ails us?
Is the Common Core Just a Distraction?
All of the intense pushing and shoving about the Common Core leaves one simple question: should we care?
A States’ Rights Insurrection Led by…California?
Three cheers for California’s governor, state superintendent, and state board chair, for applying for a waiver from NCLB that doesn’t kowtow to Washington.
Charter Benefits Are Proven by the Best Evidence
Supporters of charter schools have four gold-standard randomized control trials on their side. Opponents of charter schools have no equally rigorous evidence on their side.
Spring Break Is Here: Can I get my unemployement insurance check?
Did you know that school bus drivers and cafeteria workers file unemployment claims whenever schools take a vacation break?
Stretching the School-District Dollar
Rather than hope for revenue increases that are unlikely to materialize, smart leaders can turn the present budget crisis into an opportunity. Rethinking whom we hire, what they do, how we pay them, and how to incorporate technology—that’s where the big payoff is
We Don’t Judge Teachers By Numbers Alone; The Same Should Go For Schools
Why not add a human component to the process, via school inspectors like those in England?
The President’s Bully Pulpit and School Reform
Should presidents talk about student achievement or jobs for teachers?
Best Practices Are the Worst
Picking the anecdotes you want to believe
Picking the anecdotes you want to believe: A book review of Marc Tucker’s “Surpassing Shanghai”
Misplaced Optimism and Weighted Funding
Liberals and conservatives alike have made “weighted student funding” a core idea of their reform prescriptions. Both groups see such weighted funding as providing more dollars to the specific schools they tend to focus upon, and both see it as inspiring improved achievement through newfound political pressures. Unfortunately, both groups are very likely wrong.
What We’re Watching: The Chicago VIVA Project
In Chicago, individual teachers are working with policymakers to figure out how to use a longer school day to improve student learning.
George Miller and the Do-Gooder Caucus—A Top 10 List
If Republicans are radical, Miller and his allies must be conservative because they essentially want No Child Left Behind to stay the same.
What We’re Watching: Another Solution to Crime
David Deming talks with the Wall Street Journal about how school choice programs in North Carolina have reduced criminality among high risk males.
The War Against the Common Core
It will be ironic as well as unfortunate if the Common Core ends up in the dustbin of history as a result of actions and comments by its supporters. But in March 2012 there can be little doubt that the strongest weapons in the arsenal of its enemies are those that they have supplied.
What We’re Watching: Teacher Test Scores Go Public
Eric Hanushek talks with the Wall Street Journal about why teachers’ value-added scores should be made public.
What We’re Watching: Weighing the Waivers
On Friday, March 2 from 9:00-10:30 am we’ll be watching a live webcast of the Fordham Institute’s forum on NCLB waivers.
Special Choices
Do voucher schools serve students with disabilities?
Do voucher schools serve students with disabilities?
Common Core Quality Debated
If they agree that Common Core is sort of mediocre, why does Wilson support them while Wurman oppose them?
Obama’s Coming ‘Flexibility’ Debacle
An announcement on education waivers is anticipated this week. Don’t expect the reaction to be positive, for it appears that the President and his education secretary will renege on their promise of “flexibility” for the states.
Cheating the Charters
Political and financial lessons from South Carolina
Political and financial lessons from South Carolina
