Summer 2002 / Vol. 2, No. 2
The Business Model
Value-added analysis is a crucial tool in the accountability toolbox–despite its flaws
In the Shadow of Terror
Life returns to not quite normal at Stuyvesant High
Surface Wounds
Revolution at the Margins: The Impact of Competition on Urban School Systems By Frederick M. Hess Brookings Institution, 2002, $45.95; 268 pages. As reviewed by Edward B. Fiske For the most part, the language of economics has informed the public debate over school choice. Free-market economist Milton Friedman was the first to develop the concept [...]
Data Vacuum
School Vouchers: Examining the Evidence By Martin Carnoy Economic Policy Institute, 2002. Rhetoric Versus Reality: What We Know and What We Need to Know About Vouchers and Charter Schools By Brian Gill, P. Michael Timpane, Karen Ross, and Dominic Brewer RAND Corporation, 2001. School Vouchers: Publicly Funded Programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee General Accounting Office, [...]
NCATE responds
Quick fix Margaret Raymond and Stephen Fletcher’s findings (“Teach for America,” Research, Spring 2002) from their initial evaluation of Teach for America (TFA) are not too surprising, given the makeup of TFA recruits and the teachers with whom they are being compared. They find that TFA recruits in Houston are “at least as effective as [...]
Two Steps Forward?
Although September 11 briefly arrested the nation’s work on domestic issues, 2002 is still shaping up as a significant year for education reformers. When President Bush affixed his signature to the No Child Left Behind Act on January 8, 2002, he arguably brought to life the most important piece of federal education legislation since 1965. [...]
Waiting for Utopia
It’s easy to tell when someone is in the grip of a Big Idea That Explains Everything. Tunnel vision sets in; every analysis, whatever the topic, becomes an occasion for the grand theory to appear. Evidence is read and supplied selectively, in such a way that the theory re-mains unscathed. Skepticism is deployed selectively as [...]
Unrequited Promise
Tracing the evolution of New American Schools, from feisty upstart to bulwark of the education establishment
The Power of Peers
What does the term “peer effects” mean in a school environment? It includes the effects of students’ teaching one another, but that is only the most direct form of peer effects. Intelligent, hard-working students can affect their peers through knowledge spillovers and through their influence on academic and disciplinary standards in the classroom. Alternatively, misbehaving [...]
Monster Hype
School violence, the media’s phantom epidemic
Swing State
The downs and ups of accountability in California
Bipartisan Schoolmates
President Bush forges a consensus on federal education policy
Vouchers on Trial
Will the Supreme Court’s decision in Zelman end the debate?
Enemy of the Good
No standardized test is perfect. But they’re useful nonetheless
Expert Measures
All the evidence to date shows that value-added techniques are being employed responsibly
Sizing Up Test Scores
The latest innovation in measuring the performance of schools and teachers holds great promise, but the idea is still way ahead of our ability to execute it
Accountability Gains
Are we measuring achievement gains accurately enough?
Sponsored Results
Sponsors
Sponsors
Sign Up To Receive Notification
when the latest issue of Education Next is posted
In the meantime check the site regularly for new articles, blog postings, and reader comments