August 30, 2012
Last Wednesday, annual ACT scores were released and the results were dismal. Only 25% of 2012 ACT test takers met college readiness benchmarks in all four areas tested- English, Reading, Math, and Science. The ACT defines college and career readiness as “the acquisition of the knowledge and skills a student needs to enroll and succeed in credit-bearing […]
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August 28, 2012
Editor’s note: In a recent story, The Huffington Post’s Joy Resmovits cites a Whiteboard Advisors survey of supposed “education insiders” which suggests that the educational credentials of Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan are not up to snuff. But CER President Jeanne Allen relies on her years of experience to remind them that Ryan was actually […]
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August 27, 2012
Editor’s note: EdWeek’s Alyson Klein reports from the first of the two convention sites, and offers some early insights into the field for who might be considered Romney’s education secretary. But as CER president Jeanne Allen comments, the current “short” list is, well, short: Very provocative, Alyson. I’d venture to say, however, that most of those […]
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July 30, 2012
Despite all the rhetoric that the unions are finally ready to embrace reform, AFT union prez Randi Weingarten took to the podium Friday at her group’s national convention in Detroit to lambast those who would dare challenge the status quo and to instill fear in her dwindling membership that there is a “new normal” that […]
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July 19, 2012
I read with some interest and a lot of frustration this Washington Post article, taking as gospel the findings of a flawed study conducted by The National Education Policy Center (NEPC). The study “found” K12 Inc. lags behind traditional public schools. Once again we have good reporters getting snookered by “research” based on un-comparable data […]
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July 17, 2012
In his book, Renewal: Remaking America’s Schools for the Twenty-First Century, Harold Kwalwasser, former general counsel of the L.A. Unified School District, offers a comprehensive examination of what it takes to move America’s school systems into the 21st century. He urges a shift away from remnants of the Industrial era (seniority, tenure, single salary schedule) […]
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July 13, 2012
Today at the Govs’ summer meeting — an annual event of all US Governors — Ed Secretary Arne Duncan shared new data indicating that America continues to lose ground internationally when it comes to producing college graduates. College attainment rates have risen nominally (1/2 percentage point), but America still lags far behind on the world […]
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June 5, 2012
“Why Romney, Obama are education twins” suggests that teachers unions are not standing in the way of education reform, saying they “tolerate” charter schools and are more open to teacher evaluations. I have to respectfully disagree with this assessment.
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May 24, 2012
Coverage of Candidate Romney's education plan received varying reviews. His agenda aside, newspapers also reported that Romney appointed an advisory team which included former Education Secretary Rod Paige. Yet rather than tell the readers something about Paige's past accomplishments, the only thing numerous newspapers felt worthy to use as a descriptor is that Paige once called the NEA a "terrorist organization."
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May 15, 2012
A driving passion to create for students a school that meets, even exceeds, standards she had for her own children’s schools is what drove Deborah Kenny to jump headfirst into the raging sea of opening a charter network, the Harlem Village Academies. In a storytelling-style book, Born to Rise, Kenny offers not only her personal […]
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