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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 […] Read more »

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 […] Read more »

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 […] Read more »

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 […] Read more »

It looks like Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), a longtime proponent of D.C. voting rights, would like to hinge his support of District residents winning a voice in Congress on further renewal of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a voucher system allowing more than 1,700 D.C. children to attend schools of their choosing after having been […] Read more »

Nancy: Joe, did Barack just endorse charter schools as an example of what’s working in public education? Joe: I think he did. Nancy: Everyone looks like they are about to applaud. What should we do? Joe: Do you think the cameras are on us right now? Nancy: I don’t know. Maybe they’re taking a shot […] Read more »

That’s what the union wants KIPP to be – Nice. In the opinion of the American Federation of Teachers, “nice” means giving them what they want, regardless of whether it’s good for kids. Through its NYC affiliate, the AFT has launched a campaign to pressure the leadership of KIPP AMP Academy‘s Brooklyn campus to accept […] Read more »

CER’s recent monograph, Mandate for Change, pinpoints teacher quality as one in a five-part prescription for what ails public education in America today. Richard Whitmire’s essay lays out a compelling argument for addressing the way teachers are evaluated, cautioning “Effective teachers make a difference and the current system does next to nothing to reward effective […] Read more »

Guadalupe Sandoval, a junior at Serra High School in San Diego, CA has had a lot of time to think about teachers and the impact they have on her and other students. Her parents have chosen to send her to a school outside of her neighborhood based on teacher quality (or lack there of). Her […] Read more »

District superintendents around the country – who will be the first port of call for the education stimulus funds – seem to want more than what is already a pretty substantial influx of money. They have their eyes set on the Education Secretary’s discretionary fund (his “Race to the Top Fund”), money that is supposed […] Read more »