August 4, 2009
If the Race to the Top is to have an influence on making sure schools get better, someone has got to figure out how districts can be held accountable directly for their behavior when it comes to reform. Nowhere is this more clear than in South Carolina’s Richland School District – an area where the […]
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July 21, 2009
It looks like RNC Chariman Michael Steele beat us to the punch and hit one out of the park for DC kids on last night’s Hardball when he pointed out the disconnect between President Obama’s incredible speech to the NAACP and his near sweeping under the rug of the successful DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. “You […]
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July 17, 2009
A challenge to the NAACP, African-American parents and all Americans… To rousing applause, the president gave what was perhaps his best education speech to date last night, making it clear that “government programs alone…” won’t solve our problems, instead asking this community in particular to adopt “a new mind set”, one that doesn’t tolerate failure. […]
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April 23, 2009
(a folk song for DC school choice) If I had a hammer I’d hammer in the morning I’d hammer in the evening All over this land I’d hammer out danger I’d hammer out a warning I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters All over this land
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April 13, 2009
Bad news Fridays are becoming a theme for Sec. Arne Duncan and his public affairs team. News of an April 6th letter to parents serving notice on the potential for their children’s participation in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program for the upcoming school year wasn’t made public until the Washington Post brought the situation to […]
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April 13, 2009
Two interesting education conversations on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning: 1) Walter Isaacson speaks some truth about NCLB, charter schools, mayoral control and teachers unions, but his argument that deep down Duncan supports the D.C. voucher program coupled with a sunny outlook on the affect $timulus money will have in the classroom raised this viewer’s […]
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April 8, 2009
I have many colleagues who insist that deep down, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is a real education reformer, and is a reflection of an administration that is reform-minded on critical education issues. Because he hired this or that person, because he talks about charter schools, and because he told the press he thought […]
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April 3, 2009
The IES impact evaluation of the 3rd year of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was quietly released today. A Friday. And Congress is on a two-week holiday. Think it made a big splash? Hiding in the bland research language are some nice findings: Opportunity Scholars are outpacing their former public school classmates on reading tests […]
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March 27, 2009
Folks have been fawning over Randi Weingarten’s seeming embrace of education reform since her National Press Club speech in November, and Dana Goldstein has a must-read profile of the AFT/UFT president in the latest American Prospect. Weingarten’s media makeover has served her well, leading many to do as Goldstein has and give her credit for […]
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March 4, 2009
The education chatterers are all a twitter this evening over Sec. Arne Duncan’s “support” for a “continuation” of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Wonk #1: Tee-hee. Is the Obama Administration really going to go up against Congress on D.C. OSP? Wonk #2: Ooooh. Is Duncan all about the choice now? Wonk #3: I’ve got 10 […]
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