The Answer Sheet - School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else).

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/01/2011

Ravitch: 'A moment of national insanity'

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "The reality on the ground suggests that the corporate reform movement ... will set American education back, by how many years or decades is anyone's guess."

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/01/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Diane Ravitch, Education Secretary Duncan, Guest Bloggers | Tags: arne duncan, diane ravitch, gates foundation, president obama, president obama and school reform, race to the top, school reform, teachers

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 02/02/2011

Should Obama be commencement contest prize?

By Valerie Strauss

Again President Obama is offering himself as a commencement speaker to the high school that wins a new contest. So what's the problem?

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 02/02/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: commencement contest, commencement speaker, commencement speech, obama commencement, obama commencement speaker, president obama and commencement, race to the top contest, stephen colbert

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 02/01/2011

'It makes no sense:' A dissection of Obama's education view

By Valerie Strauss

Here is a dissection of what President Obama said about education in his State of the Union speech, plus more.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 02/01/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: china and india and education, china education, chinese schools, education, education policy, education reform, indian schools, international competitiveness, obama speech, president obama, president obama school reform, public schools, race to the top, school reform, schools, state of the union, u.s. education

Posted at 10:15 PM ET, 01/25/2011

Obama’s faulty education logic: What he said and failed to say

By Valerie Strauss

Someone should have told President Obama that there were important contradictions in the education portion of his State of the Union address before he delivered it to Congress.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:15 PM ET, 01/25/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Poverty, Poverty, Poverty | Tags: education reform, no child left behind, obama, obama education initiative, obama education reform, obama race to the top, obama speech, obama state of the union, president obama, public school reform, public schools, race to the top, state of the union, state of the union speech

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/19/2011

The case against NCLB reauthorization

By Valerie Strauss

Here's an argument by someone other than Margaret Spellings against reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 01/19/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: edujobs, elementary and secondary education act, nclb, nclb reauthorization, no child left behind, obama and school reform, president obama, race to the top, reauthorization esea, school reforms

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 12/22/2010

The lowdown on standardized tests and how they are scored

By Valerie Strauss

If you think machines score all of the standardized tests kids take, guess again. Rather, an army of low-paid, poorly trained temps score them. Test scorers tell the tale.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 12/22/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: common core standards, how tests are scored, no child left behind, race to the top, standardized test industry, standardized test scoring, standardized tests, test industry, test scoring

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Assessing teachers without fetishizing test-based reforms

By Valerie Strauss

An educator writes that policymakers are fetishizing student scores on standardized tests and using them as a crutch rather than turning to sensible solutions to improve public schools. There are better ways to assess teacher quality, he says.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 12/07/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: assessing teachers, los angeles times, no child left behind, race to the top, standardized tests, teacher assessment, teacher evaluation, test scores, value added

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/16/2010

Teacher: ‘Maybe it is time for me to go’

By Valerie Strauss

A teacher looks back on a quarter-century in the classroom and says that, for the first time, she is being told what to teach, how to teach it and when, preventing her from helping her students in the way she knows they need. "Hold me accountable, but let me do it my way," she says.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 11/16/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers | Tags: literacy, literacy blocks, race to the top, teachers, veteran teachers

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 06:00 AM ET, 11/04/2010

Where Kline stands on education policy

By Valerie Strauss

The man expected to be the new chairman of the House's education committee has some strong opinions about policy: He immensely dislikes No Child Left Behindy, but wants the Disabilities Education Act fully funded.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 11/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Congress | Tags: 112th congress, IDEA, arne duncan, charter schools, congress, education committee, education policy, gop takeover, gop victory, house education and labor committee, john kline, midterm elections, nclb, no child left behind, president obama, race to the top, rep. john kline, republican victory, special ed, special education

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 12:30 PM ET, 10/20/2010

Threats to school reform ... are within school reform

By Valerie Strauss

Educator Mike Rose writes: "There is a crisis in American education, and it involves mostly poor children, and thus it is a moral as well as educational outrage. But it is just not accurate to characterize public education itself as being in a 30-year crisis."

By Valerie Strauss | 12:30 PM ET, 10/20/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: Harlem children's zone, KPP, Teach for America, a nation at risk, curriculum, deborah meier, how to fix our schools, joel klein, manifesto, mike rose, narrowing of curriculum, no child left behind, poverty and schools, race to the top, reform manifesto, school reform, stephen j. gould

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 10/19/2010

Reduce standardized testing to improve accountability, school quality

By Valerie Strauss

FairTest's Monty Neill writes that reducing the amount of standardized testing, and lowering the stakes connected to the result will result in more accountability and school quality.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 10/19/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: arne duncan, quality reviews, race to the top, school-based assessments, standardized tests, teacher assessment, teacher evaluation, testing

Posted at 11:49 AM ET, 10/01/2010

The poverty gap: There are always exceptions, but they make bad education policy

By Valerie Strauss

Part 2 of the elephant that President Obama and Matt Lauer failed to acknowledge in this week's interview: Of course there are some teachers and schools in impoverished areas that are successful. But they are exceptions that don't prove the rule.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:49 AM ET, 10/01/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags: harlem children's zone, hcz, obama, obama and eform, promise neighborhoods, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 02:41 PM ET, 09/27/2010

The elephant that Obama and Lauer ignored: Poverty and student achievement

By Valerie Strauss

When President Obama sat down for an interview about school reform with NBC's Matt Lauer, they walked right up to the link between poverty and student achievement, but wound up ignoring the elephant in the room. And that tells you what you need to know about the Obama administration's school reform policy.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:41 PM ET, 09/27/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: arne duncan, education nation, obama, obama nbc, obama school reform, obama schools, president obama, president obama; obama interview; obama lauer interview; obama education interview; student achievement poverty; poverty and schools, race to the top

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/20/2010

Has education reform jumped the shark? A teacher says 'yes'

By Valerie Strauss

A veteran teacher looks at recent events in the education world and concludes that yes, indeed, education reform has jumped the shark, and the signs of its collapse are everywhere.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 09/20/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: anthony cody, arne duncan, bill gates, education nation, gates on oprah, michelle rhee, nbc education nation, oprah, race to the top, rhee on oprah, teachers and reform, teachers town hall

Posted at 12:34 PM ET, 09/19/2010

Ravitch: Why civil rights groups oppose the Obama agenda

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch looks at the Obama administration's insistence on embracing competition in federal education funding and more.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:34 PM ET, 09/19/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags: arne duncan, bridging differences, civil rights groups, civil rights report, diane ravitch, equity in education, guest bloggers, no child left behind, race to the top

Posted at 03:00 PM ET, 09/13/2010

Obama ed policy lacks scientific support -- Willingham

By Valerie Strauss

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham calls into question President Obama's judgment on the administration's education policy, saying that it has no scientific support.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:00 PM ET, 09/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham | Tags: common core standards, daniel willingham, duncan and policy, duncan and reforms, naep, national assessment of educational progress, obama and education policy, obama and inaugural address, obama and school reform, president obama and education, race to the top, race to the top requirements, science and obama administration, teacher assessment

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010

Ravitch: Welcome back to school "reform"

By Valerie Strauss

Diane Ravitch predicts that the 2010-11 school year will be another year in which "teachers and principals will be blamed and punished" unless their students' test scores go "up and up," more principals will be fired and more schools will be closed. And more.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags: diane ravitch, education secretary duncan, guest bloggers, no child left behind, obama and blueprint, obama and school reform, race to the top, race to the top winners, rttt winners, the death and life of the great american school system, top ooool reboamael

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/12/2010

Dogs: An unusual guide to school reform

By Valerie Strauss

Marion Brady writes that if we want to look at how to reform schools, we should look at dogs.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 08/12/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: marion brady, no child left behind, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/11/2010

The problem with ‘Race to the Top’ is the race

By Valerie Strauss

Diana Senechal writes that President Obama is correct when he says we need to shake things up to improve the schools. The problem is that we are shaking up the wrong things.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 08/11/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: common core standards, diana senechal, obama and race to the top, obama and school reform, race to the top

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/09/2010

Education Reformers vs. “New Reformers”

By Valerie Strauss

A high school teacher looks at the trouble ahead this year for schools amid the budget crisis and education reforms he doesn't believe will help.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 08/09/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers | Tags: esea, obama and blueprint, obama's reform blueprint, race to the top

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 08/06/2010

Principal: Not the change I had in mind

By Valerie Strauss

A principal writes: "I am still not over the sadness and anger I feel over what happened to my colleague, [principal] Joyce Irvine.... Parents are grateful for her leadership, she knows all of her students, she launched innovative programs, her teachers and her superintendent give her high marks, and even her U.S. senator has praised her work. And she has been fired."

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 08/06/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood | Tags: George Wood, Joyce Irvine, Race to the top, education reform, principal fired, race to the top policies, school reform, vermont principal

Posted at 04:40 PM ET, 07/27/2010

Duncan being too 'modest'

By Valerie Strauss

Education Secretary Arne Duncan was being too modest when he said today in a speech at the National Press Club that the Obama administration is playing a “modest role” in sparking a “quiet” revolution in education.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:40 PM ET, 07/27/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Equity, Equity, Equity | Tags: duncan and finalists, duncan and race to the top, duncan names race to the top finalists, race finalists, race to the top, race to the top and round 2, race to the top finalists, round 2 finalists and race to the top, rttt finalists

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 07/27/2010

Duncan and education’s “quiet revolution”

By Valerie Strauss

Some things speak for themselves. That includes this blogpost on the Education Department’s website about a major speech Secretary Arne Duncan is giving today. The post talks about a “quiet revolution” in education now sweeping the country, one in which...

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 07/27/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: duncan anounces race to the top finalists, duncan speech, quiet revolution and education, race to the top finalists, rttt finalists

Posted at 07:25 AM ET, 07/21/2010

Primer for ed reformers (or, it’s the curriculum, stupid!)

By Valerie Strauss

A curriculum expert says school reformers are ignoring this truth: "I say the familiar “core curriculum” in use in America’s schools and colleges is a problem-plagued, dysfunctional,19th Century relic that fits the 21st Century about as well as the first Model T Ford fits into I-75 traffic." And here's how to fix it.

By Valerie Strauss | 07:25 AM ET, 07/21/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: changing the curriculum, common core standards, curriculum reform, how to design curriculum, how to reform a school, marion brady, national standards, primer for reforms, race to the top, school reform, the answer sheet

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 07/19/2010

A letter to Secretary Arne Duncan

By Valerie Strauss

A businesswoman and education activist writes a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan about the difference between his words and his policies.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 07/19/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: arne duncan, failure of nclb, nclb, obama's education blueprint, race to the top grants, rita solnet, school reform

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 07/12/2010

Bill Gates' troubling involvement in school reform

By Valerie Strauss

Bill Gates is surely smart and rich, but his involvement in public education is highly troubling for a number of reasons. Here's why.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 07/12/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers | Tags: bill gates, bill gates and teachers, bill gates at aft convention, gates foundation and education, gates foundation and race to the top, gates speech to teachers, teachers

Posted at 03:30 PM ET, 07/07/2010

A tradeoff worth making for schools

By Valerie Strauss

A former longtime aide for Rep. David Obey disputes that Obey is "carrying water" for teachers unions by seeking a cut in Race to the Top to save teachers jobs.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:30 PM ET, 07/07/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: cutting race to the top, legislation on teachers jobs, no child left behind, obey and teachers, obey and teachers bill, race to the top, saving teachers jobs, scott lilly

Posted at 12:31 PM ET, 07/06/2010

Senators' logic for fighting cuts to Race to Top flawed

By Valerie Strauss

A letter that 13 senators wrote in opposition to proposed cuts to three of President Obama’s main education programs has some flawed reasoning.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:31 PM ET, 07/06/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: bayh letter, cutting race to the top, duncan and race to the top, legislation and teachers, legislation to save teachers jobs, obey and education bill, obey and teachers, race to the top and second round, race to the top and winners, race to the top applications, race to the top criteria

Posted at 02:26 PM ET, 07/02/2010

Favorite quote of the week (by Obey)

By Valerie Strauss

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey uttered my favorite quote of the week. In a town not known for its humor, this made me laugh.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:26 PM ET, 07/02/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: cuts to race to the top, david obey, education jobs at risk, edujobs bill, house passes war bill, house rules committee, obey duncan, race to the top, race to the top and duncan, saving education jobs

Posted at 11:30 PM ET, 06/24/2010

Principal: How to REALLY turn around a school

By Valerie Strauss

A principal talks about how he and his staff successfully improved a school--but not in the way advocated by today's school reformers.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:30 PM ET, 06/24/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers, Teachers | Tags: obama and school reform, race to the top, school reform, school restructuring, teachers, turning around schools

Posted at 05:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010

Ravitch to Obama: 'Change course before it is too late"

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch talks about meeting thousands of teachers and parents who are "unhappy, frustrated and demoralized" at the Obama administration's education policies. And she explains what she would tell President Obama if he gave her the chance.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags: arne duncan, death and life of the great american school system, diane ravitch, diane ravitch's book, no child left behind, obama blueprint for reform, race to the top, teachers, teachers unions and reform

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 06/21/2010

Christian churches oppose Race to the Top, Obama blueprint

By Valerie Strauss

An extraordinary letter sent to President Obama and U.S. lawmakers by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA -- which represents churches that have a combined membership of 45 million people -- should erase any doubt that the opposition to the Obama administration's education policies is wide and deep.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 06/21/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind | Tags: arne duncan and school reform, charter schools and pastoral letter, churches of christ, education reform, elementary and secondary school act and reauthorization, esea reauthorization, national council of the churches of christ, national council of the churches of christ in the usa, obama and blueprint and education reform, obama and school reform, pastoral letter, pastoral letter and obama and education, president obama's blueprint for education reform, race to the top, reauthorization of no child left behind

Posted at 05:30 AM ET, 06/20/2010

Teacher: 'Worst year in the classroom' in decades

By Valerie Strauss

A public school teacher describes the conditions under which he is being forced to teach.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:30 AM ET, 06/20/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers | Tags: board certified teacher, diane ravitch, race to the top, teachers

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 06/04/2010

Florida’s Race to Top application: Not what it seems

By Valerie Strauss

No sooner had the deadline passed for the second round of applications from participating states in the Obama administration’s $4 billion Race to the Top contest than we learn that at least one bid isn’t quite what it seems.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 06/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top | Tags: arne duncan and race to the top, florida and race to the top, florida's rttt application, obama and race to the top, race to the top, school reform and obama, second round and race to the top

Posted at 05:16 PM ET, 06/01/2010

The desperation of Race to the Top

By Valerie Strauss

Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell should stop sounding so defensive about why the state opted out of the second round of the $4 billion Race to the Top contest. Virginia and at least 20 other states did the right thing.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:16 PM ET, 06/01/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: duncan and race to the top, education secretary arne duncan, race to the top, race to the top second round, rttt second round, school reform and arne duncan, states and race to the top

Posted at 01:38 PM ET, 06/01/2010

Chicago's teacher performance-based pay didn't work -- new analysis

By Valerie Strauss

A study released today shows no evidence that performance-based compensation for teachers in Chicago improved student math and reading tests when compared with a group of similar schools that did not use the system. Meanwhile, states are rushing to implement this kind of payment system without real evidence that it works.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:38 PM ET, 06/01/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Research, Research, Research | Tags: analysis on performance-based pay, chicago tap, chicago tap and report, chicago tap program, duncan and chicago, education secretary arne duncan, performance-based pay, race to the top, report on performanced-based pay, tap

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 05/27/2010

Postcards to Mrs. Obama: End high-stakes testing

By Valerie Strauss

Organizations opposed to high-stakes standardized tests are starting a postcard-writing campaign aimed at persuading First Lady Michelle Obama to "encourage" President Obama to end the use of high stakes tests. Lisa Guisbond of FairTest writes about the effort.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:00 PM ET, 05/27/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests | Tags: FairTest, fairtest, high-stakes standardized tests, michelle obama and tests, mrs. obama and standardized tests, no child left behind, obama and nclb, obama and race to the top, postcard campaign, postcard campaign to mrs. obama, postcards to first lady, postcards to michelle obama, postcards to mrs. obama, race to the top, standardized tests, standardized tests and results, the problem with race to the top, time out for testing

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 05/26/2010

Ravitch's 10 reasons to 'no' to Race to the Top

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch lists her top 10 reasons for why states should say "no" to Education Secretary Arne Duncan and refuse to participate in Race to the Top.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:30 AM ET, 05/26/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags: arne duncan, bridging differences, diane ravitch, no child left behind, race to the top, ravitch and race to the top

Posted at 08:45 AM ET, 05/12/2010

Goodlad: How to help our schools -- Part 3

By Valerie Strauss

Influential educator John Goodlad completes a three-part series on how to fix our schools.

By Valerie Strauss | 08:45 AM ET, 05/12/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: John Goodlad, John Goodlad, John Goodlad | Tags: Guest Bloggers, John Goodlad, NCLB, National Standards, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top | Tags: John Goodlad, goodlad and a place called school, goodlad on school reform, guest bloggers, john goodlad and school reform, no child left behind and goodlad, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 10:20 AM ET, 05/10/2010

Say what, Secretary Duncan?

By Valerie Strauss

Education Secretary Arne Duncan must have been kidding when he said he has no public opposition to his education reforms. Because if he isn't kidding, the alternative is far worse.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:20 AM ET, 05/10/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Education Secretary Duncan, Race to the Top, Race to the Top opposition, Wall Street Journal and Duncan, public opposition to reform, race to the top proposals, states pull out of race to the top

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

Harvard study gives Race to Top winners bad grades on academic standards

By Valerie Strauss

One of the two states chosen by Education Secretary Arne Duncan as a winner in the first round of the $4 billion Race to the Top competition has academic standards that earned the grade of ‘F’ in a new study by Harvard University researchers, while the other state got a ‘C minus.’

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 05/06/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Education Next, NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress, No Child Left Behind, Paul Peterson, Race to the Top, academic standards, education next, grading the states, state assessments, state content standards, state standards

Posted at 09:04 PM ET, 05/04/2010

Michigan high school wins Obama; five others get consolation prize

By Valerie Strauss

Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan is the big winner in a contest that offered as its prize a commencement speech by President Obama, and five other finalists won't walk away empty-handed.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:04 PM ET, 05/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: High School, High School | Tags: Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo school wins contest, President Obama, Race to the Top, commencement speech and Obama, high school

Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 04/30/2010

Are ed reformers ignoring American values?

By Valerie Strauss

By Marion Brady. Perhaps most curious of all is the present education reform effort’s disregard for deep-seated American values. With the possible exception of Australia, no other country matches America in professed admiration for the non-standard person....Why, then, is there near-universal enthusiasm for national standards?

By Valerie Strauss | 09:15 AM ET, 04/30/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: Common Core Standards, Marion Brady, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, american values, guest bloggers, national standards, national standards and american values, schools and american values

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 04/28/2010

How to measure student growth

By Valerie Strauss

By Lisa Guisbond. Growth models are pitched as a thoroughly modern, scientific way to .answer the age-old parental question: “What did you learn in school this year, my dear?” It seems reasonable enough: Test students at the beginning and the end of the year and measure the “growth” in test scores to see if student achievement is improving. Given the narrow and limited nature of the data used to measure this growth, however, there’s often less than meets the eye in the results. Fortunately, there are better, if little known or understood, ways of both measuring and stimulating real growth in learning.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:00 AM ET, 04/28/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers, Teachers, Teachers, Teachers, Teachers | Tags: Race to the Top, growth models, how to evaluate teachers, nclb, no child left behind, schools and growth models, standardized tests, teacher assessment, teacher evaluation, teachers

Posted at 06:00 PM ET, 04/27/2010

Goodlad on school reform: Are we ignoring lessons of last 50 years?

By Valerie Strauss

By John Goodlad.... But, as 2009 merged into 2010, the expectations for a new dawning in schooling were slipping away. The good news was that the No Child Left Behind Act soon would be history. But the proposals for “reform” were déjà vu all over again—been there, done that. I suddenly awakened to the realization that we were tinkering, one more time, toward an ill-defined utopia. I was dumbfounded.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 PM ET, 04/27/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: John Goodlad, John Goodlad, John Goodlad, John Goodlad, John Goodlad | Tags: John Goodlad, NCLB, goodlad and a place called school, goodlad on school reform, guest bloggers, john goodlad and school reform, no child left behind and goodlad, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 06:20 AM ET, 04/26/2010

Vote on Obama's commencement speech contest

By Valerie Strauss

Starting today the public can rate the six public schools named as finalists in a White House competition that offers up President Obama as the prize. Obama will give the commencement speech at the winning school.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:20 AM ET, 04/26/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top | Tags: Blue Valley Northwest High School, Clark Montessori, Denver School of Science and Technology, Environmental Charter high School, High School Commencement Challenge, Kalamazoo Central High school, MAST Academy, Obama and high schools, Obama gives commencement, Race to the Top, Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 04/22/2010

Obama should call an education summit

By Valerie Strauss

By Mark Phillips. President Obama should call an education summit meeting if he wants to have credibility as a leader of school reform. It should include our most eminent educational leaders as well as teacher organization heads. It is not too late to reshape his policies but this must happen in a hurry.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:00 AM ET, 04/22/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: Arne Duncan and schools, President Obama and schools, Race to the Top, school reform

Posted at 08:30 AM ET, 04/21/2010

Race to Top winners chosen arbitrarily -- new report

By Valerie Strauss

A new report by an independent institute says that the first winners in President Obama's "Race to the Top" education funding competition were chosen through “arbitrary criteria," rather than through an objective process.

By Valerie Strauss | 08:30 AM ET, 04/21/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: RTTT criteria, Race to the Top, Race to the Top criteria, criteria for race to the top, education blueprint and obama, race to the top point system, report on race to the top, rttt point system, the blueprint, winners of Race to the Top

Posted at 10:30 PM ET, 04/19/2010

Maryland’s big education mistake

By Valerie Strauss

Education officials in state after state are moving to contort their elementary and secondary school systems to align with the priorities of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to win some of the $3 billion being dangled by the Obama administration in its Race to the Top competition. It is especially unfortunate to Maryland, a state with a well-regarded education system, promote reforms that include some that have no basis in research--or in common sense.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:30 PM ET, 04/19/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: Duncan and Race to the Top, Maryland Race to the Top proposal, Maryland schools, Obama and Race to the Top, Obama and schools, Race to the Top, performance pay and teachers, teacher pay, teacher pay for performance, teachers, value added models

Posted at 01:50 PM ET, 04/15/2010

Crist vetoes bad bill, Florida teachers win

By Valerie Strauss

Teachers in Florida can breathe a temporary sigh of relief now that Gov. Charlie Crist has announced that he intends to veto legislation that teachers said would have devastated their profession and harmed public education.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:50 PM ET, 04/15/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers | Tags: Crist and teachers, Crist and veto, Crist vetos bill, Florida governor vetoes bill, Florida teachers, Senate Bill 6 and veto, Senate bill 6 vetoes, crist and teachers, crist helps teachers, crist veto, florida and race to the top, teachers bill vetoed

Posted at 05:51 PM ET, 04/13/2010

Race to the Top should help desegregate schools

By Valerie Strauss

President Obama recently promised to marshall more resources to drag into court school systems that have ignored civil rights laws and allowed schools to resegregate. But it is fair to ask why Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, did nothing to further that goal with their Race to the Top competition in which states compete for $3 billion in federal education funds.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:51 PM ET, 04/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top | Tags: Justice Department, Mississippi school and desegregate, Race to the Top, court and Mississippi school, court order and desegregate and school, federa court and desegregation, resegregation of schools

Posted at 01:08 PM ET, 04/13/2010

Why Obama’s schools funding approach is upsetting educators

By Valerie Strauss

School superintendents across the country are becoming increasingly worried about the Obama administration's plans to turn new education funding into competitive grants, including for the government's main program for helping schools in high-poverty areas.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:08 PM ET, 04/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: No Child Left Behind, Obama and education, Obama and school reform, Obama's blueprint, President Obama, Race to the Top, education funding, funding for schools, school reform

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 04/13/2010

Tennessee’s Vocabulary Project--Do you know these words?

By Valerie Strauss

It has long been known that children from high-poverty families start school at a disadvantage, in large part because they have less than one-third of the vocabulary than better-off children. To try to address this, the state of Tennessee is implementing what it calls the Academic Vocabulary Project.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 04/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Race to the top winners, Tennessee Vocabulary Project, Tennessee and RTTT, Tennessee and vocabulary, how to teach vocabulary, vocabulary project

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 04/08/2010

Obama ed "blueprint" will widen achievement gaps

By Valerie Strauss

By Lisa Guisbond and Monty Neill. Trapping the poorest children in NCLB’s negative cycle and somewhat freeing the rest, will only add to what Jonathan Kozol called "The Shame of the Nation," widening gaps in educational opportunity and quality.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 04/08/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: Duncan and blueprint, Duncan and school reform, FairTest, Fairtest, No Child Left Behind, Obama and blueprint, Obama and school reform, Obama's blueprint, Race to the Top

Posted at 11:50 AM ET, 04/02/2010

Why Obama's education reform plan can't work

By Valerie Strauss

In an open letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, educator Jim Horn explains why the Obama administration's approach to school reform in its Blueprint for rewriting No Child Left Behind rests on bad assumptions and ignores real evidence.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:50 AM ET, 04/02/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Arne Duncan, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010

Florida's terrible teachers bill a test for Duncan

By Valerie Strauss

The state of Florida could prove to be a big test for Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Legislators in the Sunshine State are moving with all due speed to pass legislation that would go a long way to making sure no...

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 03/30/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Ed Secretary Arne Duncan, Florida, Race to the Top

Posted at 04:25 PM ET, 03/29/2010

Arne Duncan the heartbreaker and Race to the Top

By Valerie Strauss

So Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the first two winners of Race to the Top education reform money. Frankly, the process sounds a little too much like "Project Runway" to my taste.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:25 PM ET, 03/29/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Arne Duncan, NCLB, Race to the Top

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 03/13/2010

Obama’s contradictions on education

By Valerie Strauss

President Obama has said repeatedly that his education goal is to make sure that every child has a quality education and the opportunity to graduate from college -- and he displayed his commitment to that by donating some of his Nobel Prize money to organizations that help underserved children get ready for college. But his education policies are guaranteed not to reach that goal.

By Valerie Strauss | 08:00 AM ET, 03/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind | Tags: Arne Duncan, No Child Left Behind, President Obama, Race to the Top

Posted at 05:10 PM ET, 03/04/2010

Race to the Top finalists and the 'ick' factor

By Valerie Strauss

The Obama administration today formally, irrevocably, launched its Race to the Top brand by naming the first 16 finalists in the funding sweepstakes. How unfortunate that funding schools has been turned into a contest. How unfortunate this contest has such bad rules.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:10 PM ET, 03/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Elementary School, Elementary School | Tags: Race to the Top

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 02/01/2010

Willingham: 'Race to Top' a doomed bribery scheme

By Valerie Strauss

By Daniel Willingham When I was about 10 years old I was supposed to clean my room each day, which meant that each day I tried to find a way to get out of the house before my mother discovered that I hadn’t done so. Tired of nagging me, my mother offered me fifty cents a week to keep it clean. So then my goal changed from sneaking out of the house to preventing my mother from discovering that I had merely shoved all my junk under the bed. This reminds me of the Race to the Top initiative. Why would the federal government hold a grant competition for states? Either because states lack money, or because they lack conviction.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 02/01/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham | Tags: Daniel Willingham, Race to the Top

Posted at 08:56 PM ET, 01/26/2010

Mr. Obama: Say this on education

By Valerie Strauss

Note to the White House: You haven’t yet called to ask me what President Obama should say about education in the State of the Union speech so I’ll save you the time. Here it is. This comes from Sam Chaltain, national director of the non-profit Forum for Education & Democracy, an oganization committed to advancing the democratic role of public education. Chaltain has been involved for years in educating young people to become engaged and democratic citizens. If Obama is planning to extol the virtues of his "Race to the Top" program, please reconsider. Chaltain has a better idea.

By Valerie Strauss | 08:56 PM ET, 01/26/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: president obama, race to the top

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 01/26/2010

Obama's teleprompter

By Valerie Strauss

In the category of “some folks will find any and every stupid little thing with which to bash President Obama:” The commander in chief is being ridiculed by bloggers on the Internet over his use last week of a teleprompter when he went to an elementary school in Virginia to give a speech about his education program. Obama went to Graham Road Elementary School last week to talk about “Race to the Top,” and while he was there, to have a talk with sixth graders. The bloggers are accusing him of using the teleprompter to talk to the kids. Of course, any sixth grader who wasn’t there could figure out that that wasn’t what he did.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 01/26/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: President Obama, Race to the Top

Posted at 12:42 PM ET, 01/19/2010

A question for President Obama

By Valerie Strauss

I wonder if President Obama realizes the very huge gap between his pre-election talk about education and the program that his administration is advancing now. Today Obama went to a Virginia school to announce $1.35 billion new funding for his “Race to the Top” initiative for improving the country’s public education system. The total price tag is expected to be $4.35 billion. This effort is the successor to president Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program in ways more than just timing; the emphasis on standardized test scores that marked NCLB has been carried over into Race to the Top, and even, as some critics, made even more prominent. This is not at all the message that Obama as presidential candidate made repeatedly.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:42 PM ET, 01/19/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: president obama, race to the top, standardized tests

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 11/04/2009

Brady: The one reason Duncan's 'Race to the Top' will fail

By Valerie Strauss

When "Race to the Top" fails, as it will, the main reason won’t be any of those currently being advanced by the corporate interests and politicians now running the education show. It won’t fail because of lack of academic rigor, poor teaching, weak administrators, too-short school year, union resistance, differing state standards, insufficient performance incentives, sorry teacher training, or lingering traces of the early-20th Century Progressive movement. It will fail primarily for a reason not even being mentioned by leaders of today’s reform effort.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:30 AM ET, 11/04/2009 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags: Marion Brady, Race to the Top, curriculum

Posted at 11:47 AM ET, 10/23/2009

Educator: 'Race to the Top's' 10 false assumptions

By Valerie Strauss

By Marion Brady. "Race to the Top? National standards for math, science, and other school subjects? The high-powered push to put them in place makes it clear that the politicians, business leaders, and wealthy philanthropists who’ve run America’s education show for the last two decades are as clueless about educating as they’ve always been. If they weren’t, they’d know that adopting national standards will be counterproductive, and that the "Race to the Top" will fail for the same reason "No Child Left Behind" failed—because it’s based on false assumptions.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:47 AM ET, 10/23/2009 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: Race to the Top

The Answer Sheet: Race to the Top