The Answer Sheet: finland


Posted at 12:57 PM ET, 01/22/2011

What Rhee’s comments about her children say about her
By Valerie Strauss
Amid the national debate about "Tiger Mother" Amy Chua's parenting style, let's look at what Michelle Rhee recently said about her own children and what those comments reveal about Rhee and her views about education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:57 PM ET, 01/22/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Michelle Rhee, Michelle Rhee | Tags:  amy chua, battle hymn of the tiger mother, chinese mother, education in finland, finland schools, grade retention, michelle rhee, parenting styles, rhee and soccer, soccer, social promotion, south korean schools, tiger moms, tiger mother

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 12/18/2010

Will firing 5-10 percent of teachers make us Finland?
By Valerie Strauss
Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates like to say that our public schools would become high-performing if we only fired the bottom 5-10 percent of teachers. Here's an examination of that notion.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:00 PM ET, 12/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Research, Research, Research, Research | Tags:  assessing teachers, bill gates, eric hanushek, evaluating teachers, finland, michelle rhee, shankar blog, teachers

Posted at 04:43 PM ET, 12/14/2010

How Shanghai topped PISA rankings -- and why it's not big news in China
By Valerie Strauss
Q) How did Shanghai students, participating in a high-profile international exam for the first time, able to land at the top of the math, reading and science rankings? A) An obsession with test taking, to the exclusion of a lot of other things. Diane Ravitch and Yong Zhao explain.

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:43 PM ET, 12/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Standardized Tests | Tags:  Yong Zhao, diane ravitch, finland and pisa, international test comparisons, international test rankings, international test scores, pisa, pisa rankings, pisa results, shanghai and pisa, shanghai students, u.s. performance on international tests, u.s. performance on pisa

Posted at 01:14 PM ET, 12/13/2010

What Norway (not Finland) tells us about schools
By Valerie Strauss
An educator explains what the United States can learn from Norway's education system.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:14 PM ET, 12/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  OECD, PISA, PISA results, finland education system, finland schools, norway, school reform

Posted at 09:04 AM ET, 11/17/2010

What Ravitch told KIPP and Teach for America
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch gave a speech at Rice University about school reform in which she directly challenged officials from Teach for America and the Knowledge Is Power Program who were present -- the very people who had invited her.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:04 AM ET, 11/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, charter schools, diane ravitch, finland, finland education, kipp, knowledge is power program, nclb, no child left behind, obama school reform, president obama, rice university, secretary duncan, teach for america, teachers, tfa

Posted at 09:56 AM ET, 11/02/2010

What other countries are really doing in education
By Valerie Strauss
For a while education mavens keep pointing to other countries as models for education reform. Let's look at what some of them are really doing. Guess what? It's not what we're doing.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:56 AM ET, 11/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, education finland, education singapore, finland, finland schools, finland teachers, singapore, teachers

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/20/2010

The Chamber of Commerce's flawed 'Superman' school reform guide
By Valerie Strauss
In a shameless act of movie flacking, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just published a guide for business leaders on school reform that is linked to and reinforces the skewed vision of public education portrayed in the movie “Waiting for Superman.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  batman, business leaders, business leaders and school reform, chamber of commerce, charter schools, clark kent, davis guggenheim, effective teachers, finland and teachers, reform guide, school reform, superman, superman and clark kent, teach for america, waiting for superman, what superman would do

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/01/2010

Why won't Congress admit NCLB failed?
By Valerie Strauss
Monty Neill asks and answers: Why is Congress so unwilling to recognize both research and public opinion and overhaul the most basic fact of No Child Left Behind: Its high-stakes standardized testing regime has failed?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, congress, congress nclb, fairtest, finland education, finland schools, gallup poll, nclb, no child left behind, singapore education, singapore schools