The Answer Sheet: Education Department


Posted at 10:53 AM ET, 04/17/2013

There's a lot of 'acting' at U.S. Education Department
By Valerie Strauss
Nearly six months after the presidential election, the Education Department is still riddled with "acting" officials and Secretary Arne Duncan is losing key aides.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:53 AM ET, 04/17/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Arne Duncan, Duncan Losing Top Aides, Education Department

Posted at 03:33 PM ET, 03/15/2013

Three commitments U.S. Ed Dept. made at teaching summit
By Valerie Strauss
Here's the text of an email outlining the three commitments the U.S. Education Department delegation just made at an international summit.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:33 PM ET, 03/15/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Education Department, Read the Email, Teaching Profession

Posted at 12:29 PM ET, 12/20/2010

A 'highly qualified' gift from Congress to Teach for America -- UPDATED
By Valerie Strauss
Is a teacher still in training "highly qualified?" Some of our legislators think so.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:29 PM ET, 12/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Congress, Congress | Tags:  CR, continuing resolution, education department, highly qualified teachers, renee v. duncan, teach for america, teachers, tom harkin

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 12/01/2010

Some Education Department spin
By Valerie Strauss
It didn’t long for the Education Department to try to link its school turnaround policy to a new report that says that the number of high school “dropout factories” has declined in the last decade. The problem for the department is that there is no link.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 12/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  america's promise, arne duncan, building a grad nation, dropout crisis, dropout factories, education department, high schools, school dropouts, school reform, turnaround models

Posted at 12:46 PM ET, 11/20/2010

Why teaching experience really matters
By Valerie Strauss
Bill Gates just urged school districts and states to stop rewarding teachers for their experience in the classroom and/or advanced education degrees. Arne Duncan makes the same argument. But evidence shows that teaching experience DOES matter.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:46 PM ET, 11/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, bill gates, class size, does experience matter, education department, education secretary duncan, lowering class size, raising class size, research on class size, research on teaching experience, school reform, schools, shankar blog, standardized tests, teacher experience, teacher pay, teacher quality, teacher salaries, teachers, teaching experience, value added

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/10/2010

Why the Education Dept. should be eliminated -- Wood
By Valerie Strauss
School principal George Wood, acknowledging that "it is peculiar for someone who values education to be arguing for what has often been a very conservative position," explains why he thinks the Education Department should be eliminated.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  George Wood, George Wood | Tags:  ed department, education department, eliminate the education department, george wood, guest bloggers

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010

Harvard’s strange ‘Strange Bedfellows’ education event
By Valerie Strauss
You might think, or at least I would, that a ticketed discussion at the Harvard University Institute of Politics on education would include people with different views. But with Michelle Rhee, Jeb Bush and John Podesta as the panel, the "discussion" will sound more like an echo chamber.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arne duncan, charter schools, education department, harvard, harvard university, institute of politics, iop, jeb bush, john podesta, margaret spellings, michelle rhee, no child left behind, obama education reform, president obama, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/03/2010

Education policy: What will happen now
By Valerie Strauss
If you think things have been unexpectedly bad in the world of education under President Obama, the Republican takeover of the House could just make things even worse.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Congress | Tags:  boehner, boehner speaker of the house, congress, democrats, education department, education policy, gops takes house, john boehner, nclb, no child left behind, obama, obama democrats, president obama, rand paul, republican takeover, republicans, speaker of the house

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010

Is Duncan out of bounds?
By Valerie Strauss
I have one question about this poster promoting Education Secretary Arne Duncan's speech on school reform at UNESCO headquarters in Paris this week: Who thought showing Duncan playing basketball with President Obama was a good idea?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arne duncan, education department, president obama, school reform, secretary arne duncan, secretary duncan, unesco

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/27/2010

7 Class size myths -- and the truth
By Valerie Strauss
Across the country, class sizes are increasing at unprecedented rates. Budget pressures are weighing on school districts, but there has also been a fierce attack on the value of class size reduction. Here are the most common myths about class size (No 1: It is an unproven, ineffective reform) along with the facts.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Class size, Class size | Tags:  class size, class size matters, class size reduction, education department, florida class size, leonie haimson, school reform, texas class size

Posted at 03:36 PM ET, 10/24/2010

Saving public education: the 'Dolly Solution'
By Valerie Strauss
An educator proposes a new model for school reform: cloning, which, in three easy steps, is the surest route for improving public education. It makes perfect sense.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:36 PM ET, 10/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, cloning, dolly parton, dolly the sheep, education department, george washington, jaime escalante, led zeppelin, no child left behind, public schools, race to the top, school reform, schools, stairway to heaven, stand and deliver, teachers, ted williams

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010

Ravitch: The long, failed history of merit pay and how the Ed Department ignores it
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "Few people realize that merit pay schemes have been tried again and again since the 1920s. Belief in them waxes and wanes, but the results have never been robust." And a day after a big study was released showing that performance pay made no difference, the Education Department handed out millions of dollars for the development of merit pay programs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  $1.2 billion and merit pay, diane ravitch, education department and merit pay, merit pay, merit pay study, performance pay, ravitch book, study on performance pay, vanderbilt study

Posted at 11:02 AM ET, 07/15/2010

Florida's FCAT scandal -- the next chapter
By Valerie Strauss
Let’s go to Florida for the latest entry in the category of “you can’t make up this stuff.” Here's the latest twist in the scandal over the state's 2010 standardized test scores.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:02 AM ET, 07/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Standardized Tests | Tags:  FCAT, eric smith, florida comprehensive assessment test, florida education department, ncs pearson, pearson and fcats, problems with fcats, standardized tests

Posted at 11:37 AM ET, 05/19/2010

Rand Paul’s views on education and reform
By Valerie Strauss
The political man of the moment is Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist and political novice who won the Republican Senate primary in a sign of the attraction of the tea party’s anti-government message. So let’s take a look at his views on education and reform.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:37 AM ET, 05/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  No Child Left Behind | Tags:  NCLB, abolish education department, nclb and rand paul, no child left behind and paul, rand paul and education, rand paul and education department, rand paul and school reform, rand paul views on education

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 05/11/2010

John Lennon and Arne Duncan
By Valerie Strauss
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is visiting the Department of Education today, and we imagine what it would be like if Education Secretary Arne Duncan fully supported arts education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 05/11/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Arne Duncan, John Lennon and music, John Lennon bus, John Lennon bus and Education Department, an, arts education, arts education and Arne Duncan

Posted at 10:44 AM ET, 05/02/2010

Education Department changes the music
By Valerie Strauss
Elevator music is out at the Department of Education. “Schoolhouse Rock!” is in.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:44 AM ET, 05/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Conjunction Junction, Department of Education, disney and conjunction junction, new music at ed department, schoolhouse rock, schoolhouse rock and education department

Posted at 10:35 PM ET, 04/19/2010

Did DOE get memo on school desegregation?
By Valerie Strauss
Century Foundation scholar Richard Kahlenberg asks why the U.S. Education Department is not forcefully addressing the profound challenge to equal opportunity today – the de facto economic and racial segregation of America’s suburban and city schools

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:35 PM ET, 04/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Equity, Equity | Tags:  DOE, Education Department and segregation, Justice Department and school segregation, Walthall County and schools, civil rights, desegregation of schools, school busing, school desegregation, school resegregation

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 03/20/2010

The dangerous job of DOE's special agents
By Valerie Strauss
How dangerous can an assignment be for an Education Department special agent? Pretty hazardous, a department spokeswoman said. That’s why the special agents carry guns. They sometimes deal with pretty

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 03/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Education Department, guns

Posted at 03:40 PM ET, 03/18/2010

DOE's pistols and shotguns
By Valerie Strauss
After writing last week that the Education Department was buying 29 new shotguns, I asked officials there to explain how many weapons it has, who carries them, why, and whether shots have ever been fired in enforcement actions. Here are the answers.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:40 PM ET, 03/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  ed department guns, education department

Posted at 03:07 PM ET, 03/11/2010

Education Department buying 27 shotguns
By Valerie Strauss
Why is the U.S. Department of Education buying 27 new Remington shotguns?

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:07 PM ET, 03/11/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  Education Department, shotguns