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

Posted at 06:02 AM ET, 06/05/2013

Don't expect Congress to end test-and-punish core of NCLB

By Valerie Strauss

Congress is starting new attempts to rewrite the law, but here's why they won't fix it.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:02 AM ET, 06/05/2013 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: New Harkin Bill Doesn't, No Child Left Behind

Posted at 05:01 AM ET, 04/25/2013

How arcane rules -- not student achievement -- drove No Child Left Behind

By Valerie Strauss

"Phrases such as 'we need to hold schools accountable' sound wonderful, but what really matters is how we do so."

By Valerie Strauss | 05:01 AM ET, 04/25/2013 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: No Child Left Behind, Unintended Consequences

Posted at 12:16 PM ET, 04/21/2013

Teacher: How my job went from great to infuriating

By Valerie Strauss

Here's a call for the end of high-stakes standardized tests from a teacher who chronicles how school reform forced him to change how he taught.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:16 PM ET, 04/21/2013 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Effects of NCLB, No Child Left Behind, School Reform, Teachers, What School Reform Did

Posted at 02:53 PM ET, 01/31/2013

Business leaders urge Congress to rewrite No Child Left Behind

By Valerie Strauss

(Critics of education reform note that educators don't presume to know about business to tell business leaders how to reform their own institutions. Still a group of chief executive officers at leading U.S. companies is now urging Congress to rewrite No Child Left Behind as part of its recommendations for policies that promote business growth in 2013.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:53 PM ET, 01/31/2013 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Immigration Reform Urged Too, No Child Left Behind

Posted at 05:02 PM ET, 10/08/2012

Things educators could say but don’t

By Valerie Strauss

Are teachers more humanely motivated than most of the rest of us?

By Valerie Strauss | 05:02 PM ET, 10/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Guest Voices, No Child Left Behind; School Reform

Posted at 09:36 AM ET, 10/08/2012

Pennsylvania eases NCLB rules to help charter schools

By Valerie Strauss

Pennsylvania makes AYP easier for charters than for traditional public schools.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:36 AM ET, 10/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Charter Schools, Charter schools; No Child Left Behind; AYP

Posted at 03:31 PM ET, 03/02/2011

School reform through confrontation

By Valerie Strauss

Increasingly in state after state, battles over school reform have become confrontational: Wisconsin, Indiana, etc. What are the consequences?

By Valerie Strauss | 03:31 PM ET, 03/02/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers | Tags: collective bargaining rights, indiana, indiana collective bargaining, labor movement, no child left behind, teachers, wisconsin protests, wisconsin senators, wisconsin teachers

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, 01/13/2011

Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

By Valerie Strauss

A teacher writes that education reformers have promised far more than they can deliver, and that more testing is not inevitable as many teachers, students and parents fear.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 01/13/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Anthony Cody, Anthony Cody, Anthony Cody | Tags: anthony cody, high-stakes standardized tests, high-stakes tests, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, standardized tests

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 01/06/2011

NCLB's 9th anniversary: 'Will there be anything we will need to remember after the test?'

By Valerie Strauss

Nine years ago this week president Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act. Take a look at what it wrought.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:15 AM ET, 01/06/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: congress and nclb, esea, esea reauthorization, national education association, nclb, nclb reauthorization, no child left behind, standardized testing, teachers unions

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011

A principal on standardized vs. teacher-written tests

By Valerie Strauss

Educator George Wood urges Congress not to rely on standardized tests to measure achievement. If you don't think that "data-driven decision-making" is really test-driven decision making, consider this: Ohio’s school report cards consist of 26 “data” points, and 24 of them—92%--are test scores.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood | Tags: arne duncan, disaggregated data, education secretary duncan, elementary and secondary school act, esea, esea reauthoraization, george word, nclb, new congress, new york performance assessment consortium, no child left behind, reauthorization of no child left behind, standardized tests

Posted at 02:00 PM ET, 01/03/2011

A response to Arne Duncan

By Valerie Strauss

Here's a response to a piece Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote in The Washington Post today.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:00 PM ET, 01/03/2011 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: arne duncan, bill gates, education secretary arne duncan, esea, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, testing industry

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 08:00 AM ET, 12/11/2010

'If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging'

By Valerie Strauss

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the new PISA results are a "wake up call" for him. But is the call he is hearing the right one?

By Valerie Strauss | 08:00 AM ET, 12/11/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: PISA scores, arne duncan, nclb, no child left behind, pisa, school reform

Posted at 04:27 PM ET, 12/07/2010

Hysteria over PISA misses the point

By Valerie Strauss

Reaction in the United States to the PISA results -- in which American 15 year olds scored essentially average in reading, math and science -- was swift, sharp, and perhaps hysterical. But it missed the big point: No Child Left Behind didn't do anything to improve things.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:27 PM ET, 12/07/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests | Tags: international comparisons, nclb, no child left behind, pisa, pisa rankings, pisa reaction, u.s. scoring on pisa, where u.s. ranks in pisa

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 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 11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010

Teacher: Data, my new dirty word

By Valerie Strauss

A teacher explains how an obsession with data has led to the redefinition of teaching and learning: "Teaching itself has become redefined as generating, collecting, and using data, and learning has become redefined as the curve connecting data points. This is a fundamental shift in how educators think, talk, and go about educating our children. Unfortunately, it is not a shift that serves anyone but the data-collectors very well."

By Valerie Strauss | 11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: data, education, educational data, mad math minutes, mad minutes, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, schools, teachers, teaching and learning, test data

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, 11/08/2010

A public school teacher’s distress

By Valerie Strauss

A school teacher writes a letter about why she fears for the future of public education.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 11/08/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers | Tags: charter schools, diane ravitch, no child left behind, school reform, tax levy, taxes, teachers, toldeo schools

Posted at 01:57 PM ET, 11/04/2010

Margaret Spellings: The last NCLB defender?

By Valerie Strauss

It's hard to find strong defenders of No Child Left Behind these days, except, perhaps, for Margaret Spellings.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:57 PM ET, 11/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind | Tags: arne duncan, diane ravitch, education secretary arne duncan, jay mathews, margaret spellings, nclb, no child left behind, vincent gray

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 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 10:30 AM ET, 10/29/2010

Waiting for sanity in education reform

By Valerie Strauss

This fall brought a lot of noise in the education world: A movie, a manifesto and a mayoral election. Now comes news Now comes the news that, in light of whatever is going to happen on Nov. 2nd, the Obama administration is looking for ways to work with the next Congress and is targeting No Child Left Behind to reauthorize. George Wood says: "Yikes."

By Valerie Strauss | 10:30 AM ET, 10/29/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: diane ravitch, george wood, jon stewart, jon stewart rally, mike rose, no child left behind, restore sanity, sanity rally, school reform, stephen colbert, stewart colbert, waiitng for superman

Posted at 02:55 PM ET, 10/28/2010

How to evaluate students: Look at their work

By Valerie Strauss

The best way to find out what students know and can do is to look at their actual work, not by the results of a standardized test. Monty Neill looks at how a local assessment system can work.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:55 PM ET, 10/28/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: fairtest, learning record, local assessment, monty neill, nclb, nclb reauthorization, no child left behind, problem solving, standardized tests

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 10:25 AM ET, 10/08/2010

Using 'School Quality Reviews' to improve schools

By Valerie Strauss

Here is the first of three articles that will describe an assessment and evaluation system for schools that its authors, Monty Neill and Gary Ratner, argue should replace No Child Left Behind's test-centric structure.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:25 AM ET, 10/08/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: assessing schools, evaluating schools, fairtest, monty neill, naep, nclb, no child left behind, school quality reviews, standardized tests, state tests

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/04/2010

Book blasts research base for Obama reform plan

By Valerie Strauss

A new book analyzes the research base for President Obama's blueprint for education reform and finds that it is, at best, very weak.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 10/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Research, Research | Tags: diane ravitch, education research, esea, no child left behind, obama blueprint, obama schools, reform blueprint, research, research summary, school reform, welner

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

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 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 11:00 AM ET, 08/23/2010

Willingham: 3 key factors in teacher evaluation (beyond the hype of value-added)

By Valerie Strauss

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham looks beyond the hype of "value added" models for teacher evaluation and pinpoints three key factors that should be considered.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 08/23/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham | Tags: daniel willingham, factors in teacher evaluation, how to evaluate teachers, no child left behind, teacher evaluation, teacher evaluation systems, teachers and value added, value added systems

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, 07/28/2010

New analysis blasts Obama’s school turnaround policy -- and tells how to fix it

By Valerie Strauss

The Obama administration’s approach to improving the country's most troubled schools are nothing more than a toughened version of largely unsuccessful strategies concocted under president Bush and should be replaced with a flexible system that involves parents and communities, according to a new report that includes a list of more than 2,000 targeted schools and a demographic analysis.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 07/28/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: civil rights leaders and education, duncan and urban league, education framework, how to turnaround schools, no child left behind, no child left behind and school turnaround models, obama and urban league, report on school turnaround, school transformation models, school turnaround models

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 07/26/2010

Willingham: What’s missing from national standards plan (Part 1)

By Valerie Strauss

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham analyzes whether the Common Core standards for math and English language arts are likely to improve schooling over the next decade.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:30 AM ET, 07/26/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham, Daniel Willingham | Tags: analysis and common core standareds, common core standards, criticism and common core standards, daniel willingham, national standards, no child left behind and legacy, what's missing from common core standards

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010

The myth of teacher tenure

By Valerie Strauss

An education and law professor argues that getting rid of teacher tenure will not solve the problem of incompetent teachers or noncompetitive student achievement in the global marketplace

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 07/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers | Tags: ayp and teachers, eliminating teacher tenure, eliminating tenure for teachers, myth of tenure, no child left behind and teachers, teacher tenure, 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 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 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 11:30 AM ET, 05/21/2010

How to combine learning, assessment, accountability

By Valerie Strauss

By Lisa Guisbond and Monty Neill.... It’s a great irony of the current accountability movement that policies like No Child Left Behind starve our children of time to think, create and learn in order to measure them with simplistic tests.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:30 AM ET, 05/21/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests, Standardized Tests | Tags: accountability and nclb, accountability movement, assessment and accountability, fairtest, lisa guisbond, monty neill, no child left behind, 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 10:30 AM ET, 05/14/2010

Don't rush to link teacher evaluation to student achievement

By Valerie Strauss

The president of Teachers College at Columbia University writes about the problems with President Obama's proposal to link teacher evaluation to student performance.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:30 AM ET, 05/14/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: National Standards, National Standards, National Standards | Tags: No Child Left Behind, Teachers College, guest bloggers, linking teacher evaluation to student performance, value-added measures

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 02:46 PM ET, 05/06/2010

How Obama should set literacy goals

By Valerie Strauss

A literacy expert writes that the Obama administration's proposal for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, A Blueprint for Reform, is on the right track in its literacy goals in its Blueprint for Reform. However, the goals as currently stated are very general and could lead to literacy approaches that might not be effective.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:46 PM ET, 05/06/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind | Tags: literacy goals, obama and blueprint for reform, obama and literacy, reauthorizing ESEA, rewriting nclb, rewriting no child left behind

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 09:45 AM ET, 05/04/2010

Deborah Meier's education advice to Obama

By Valerie Strauss

Renowned educator Deborah Meier has some unsolicited advice for President Obama about how to shape education policy and meet the needs of students, teachers, parents and the public.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:45 AM ET, 05/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Deborah Meier, Deborah Meier, Deborah Meier | Tags: Deborah Meier, No Child Left Behind, Obama and blueprint, President Obama and blueprint, guest bloggers, performance assessment, school reform and Obama

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 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, 04/08/2010

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 09:30 AM ET, 04/04/2010

Obama’s ed reform ignores high-quality Pre-K

By Valerie Strauss

The director of Pre-K Now says that President Obama's blueprint for education reform ignores the most rigorously evaluated and effective education reform of the last half-century: high-quality pre-kindergarten.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:30 AM ET, 04/04/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Early Childhood, Early Childhood | Tags: No Child Left Behind, early childhood, pre-kindergarten

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 01:38 PM ET, 04/01/2010

Where in the world is...?

By Valerie Strauss

After Hurricane Katrina, one-third of Americans aged 18-24 could not locate Louisiana on a map, and almost half couldn’t find Mississippi. The country's general lack of geographic knowledge is why the National Geographic Society holds its annual geograpy bee for kids.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:38 PM ET, 04/01/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind | Tags: geography, no child left behind

Posted at 11:54 AM ET, 03/24/2010

NAEP reading scores: Bad news was sadly predictable

By Valerie Strauss

It is no surprise that the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders have made no progress in reading under No Child Left Behind. The literacy program at the heart of NCLB was no good to begin with.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:54 AM ET, 03/24/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Reading, Reading | Tags: NAEP, No Child Left Behind, Reading First

Posted at 11:19 PM ET, 03/18/2010

School restructuring and AYP

By Valerie Strauss

It’s a good thing that President Obama wants to eliminate the requirement in No Child Left Behind that required schools to prove that students were making “adequate yearly progress.” A new report shows one-third of the nation’s public schools failed to meet AYP targets in the 2008-09 school year. But Obama's faith in restructuring of schools that don't meet AYP is misplaced. An article by Alexander Russo explains some unexpected consequences of restructuring.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:19 PM ET, 03/18/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind | Tags: NCLB, No Child Left Behind, President Obama, restructuring schools; education reform

Posted at 09:48 AM ET, 03/18/2010

A principal critiques Obama’s education plan

By Valerie Strauss

George Wood, principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, looks at President Obama's blueprint for rewriting No Child Left Behind. He applauds some of it but is disappointed in major parts, including a continued reliance on standardized testing.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:48 AM ET, 03/18/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags: No Child Left Behind

Posted at 01:15 PM ET, 03/16/2010

Jay Mathews (and Obama) vs. me on tests

By Valerie Strauss

My unrivaled colleague Jay Mathews says I wrote that standardized tests "are too unreliable to tolerate.” I didn't exactly write that. Here is where Jay and I part company on the issue of how we use standardized tests.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:15 PM ET, 03/16/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind, No Child Left Behind | Tags: No Child Left Behind, standardized tes

Posted at 07:41 PM ET, 03/15/2010

Former Bush official backs student loan reform

By Valerie Strauss

A former Bush administration official whose job it was to implement No Child Left Behind is urging her fellow Republicans to pass student loan reform legislation that also helps community colleges and early childhood education.

By Valerie Strauss | 07:41 PM ET, 03/15/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: College Costs, College Costs, College Costs, College Costs | Tags: No Child Left Behind, student loans

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 03/15/2010

On Obama (and Jay Mathews) and teacher accountability

By Valerie Strauss

Let's get real about "teacher accountability." Using student standardized test scores to judge the effectiveness of teachers is wrong--and saying so doesn't make anyone an opponent of holding teachers accountable.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 03/15/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Teachers, Teachers, Teachers | Tags: No Child Left Behind, President Obama

Posted at 01:45 PM ET, 03/13/2010

Obama and NCLB: The good--and very bad--news

By Valerie Strauss

Today we learned the vision that President Obama has for the American public education system in the post-No Child Left Behind era. Unfortunately, it doesn't look different enough. George Bush probably never realized how much of a friend Obama would be to NCLB.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:45 PM ET, 03/13/2010 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags: Arne Duncan, No Child Left Behind, President Obama, school reform

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 06:30 AM ET, 09/22/2009

CHECKING IT OUT: The Push for National Standards--and Why You Should Care

By Valerie Strauss

The new release of a draft of national standards for math and language arts brings into sharp focus an effort to reform public education--based on the notion that all Americans should have the same basic foundation of knowledge and skills. The impetus behind national standards is understandable, but the bottom line is that Americans don't all have the same educational needs.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:30 AM ET, 09/22/2009 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Categories: National Standards, National Standards | Tags: content standards, education secretary arne duncan, national standards, no child left behind, school reform

The Answer Sheet: no child left behind