The Answer Sheet: obama school reform


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

The Diane Ravitch myth
By Valerie Strauss
Anybody reading much of the commentary written on education policy could be forgiven for thinking that education historian Diane Ravitch is somehow the Wizardess of Ed, the woman behind the curtain secretly pulling the strings.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 03/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, bill gates, charter schools, colbert report, diane ravitch, jon stewart, president obama, school reform, whitney tilson

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 11:30 AM ET, 02/02/2011

The Bartleby Project
By Valerie Strauss
A veteran educator writes about the country's obsession with standardized testing and what might be done about it.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:30 AM ET, 02/02/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  education reform, president obama, school reform, standardized test industry, standardized tests, test industry, the bartleby project

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 05:00 AM ET, 01/26/2011

Things I’m sick of hearing
By Valerie Strauss
It’s time for school reformers to find new ways to attack their critics. It’s getting tiring hearing the same old refrains, which go something like this.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/26/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap | Tags:  charter schools, data-driven reform, michelle rhee, president obama, school reform, standardized tests, teachers unions

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 11:00 PM ET, 01/10/2011

Has American education peaked?
By Valerie Strauss
Educator Marion Brady argues that our current reform road will do nothing to fix our school system, and he offers a way to imagine real alternatives.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 PM ET, 01/10/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  21st century skills, arne duncan, marion brady, obama school reform, president obama and school reform, school curriculum, school reform

Posted at 11:39 AM ET, 12/07/2010

Ravitch to Gates: Let's talk
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch invites Bill Gates to a public discussion on education reform, and explains why public schools must remain public.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:39 AM ET, 12/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  bill gates, checker finn, diane ravitch, education policy, federal control of schools, local control of schools, obama and school reform, republicans in congress, school reform, school reform policies, wall street journal

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010

A new mess at Central Falls High in Rhode Island
By Valerie Strauss
Things aren’t going well at Central Falls High, the Rhode Island school that became famous last spring when all of the teachers were fired and President Obama praised the “accountability” move.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arne duncan, central falls, central falls high school, president obama, school reform, school transformation, school turnaround, teachers

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 06:00 AM ET, 11/02/2010

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

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

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 10/22/2010

Kohn: The pretend reformers
By Valerie Strauss
Alfie Kohn writes: " Real education reform would require us to consider the elimination of many features that we’ve come to associate with school, so perhaps the reluctance to take such suggestions seriously is just a specific instance of the 'whatever is, is right' bias that psychologists keep documenting."

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 10/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn | Tags:  alfie kohn, davis guggenheim, duncan, george bush, george w. bush, joel k lein, obama, school reform, seymour papert, waiting for superman

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/12/2010

'Manifesto' should be resignation letter
By Valerie Strauss
Educator and researcher Kevin G. Welner writes that none of the reforms discussed in a "manifesto" for school reform by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and 14 other schools chiefs are grounded in research and are nothing more than fads and gimmicks.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  charter schools, fixing schools, joel klein, klein manifesto, klein rhee, manifesto, merit pay, michelle rhee, obama and school reform, obama and schools, president obama, reform manifest, rhee manifesto, 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 09:00 AM ET, 09/20/2010

What Americans really think about public schools
By Valerie Strauss
In an era of unrelenting bashing of public education by “experts,” a new poll shows that most Americans actually like their neighborhood public schools -- though they don’t seem to like public schools in general -- and they have trust in teachers. And the Obama administration’s education agenda gets mixed reviews in the 2010 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 09/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Research, Research, Research | Tags:  content standards, failing schools, gallup poll, kappan magazine, obama and education, obama and school reform, pdk poll, phi delta kappa, public schools, school funding, standardized tests, teacher quality, teachers and pay, teachers and respect, what americans think about education

Posted at 04:00 PM ET, 09/16/2010

Why 'Waiting for Superman' premiere was chilling
By Valerie Strauss
Something chilling happened at the Washington D.C. premiere of "Waiting for Superman" that involved Michelle Rhee and the A-list audience.

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:00 PM ET, 09/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  D.C. Schools | Tags:  adrian fenty, al franken, arne duncan, charter schools, d.c. schools, david axelrod, fenty and gray, george miller, melody barnes, michelle rhee, movie premiere, obama and refoms, obama reform, president obama and school reform, research and education, research on charter schools, rhee and gray, superman film, superman premiere, teachers and unions, vincent gray, waiting for superman, what will rhee do?, when will rhee leave?, who will replace rhee

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010

Obama picked wrong school to give speech
By Valerie Strauss
The Philadelphia school chosen for President Obama’s second annual “back to school” speech to students around the country is consistently ranked as a great public college-preparatory institution. That’s why he should have picked a different school to visit.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  central falls high school, elliott school, obama and back to school, obama and back to school speech, obama and masterman school, obama and school reform, obama and speech, obama and speech and students, obama speech, president obama and back to school, president obama and school reform, restructured schools, t.c. williams, t.c. williams high school, urgent need of reform list

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, 08/16/2010

The problem with favoring high schools in turnaround grant program
By Valerie Strauss
The Obama administration has doled out a disproportionate amount of school turnaround funds to high schools, even though no one knows exactly how to improve them.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  Tier 1, Tier 2, obama and education policies, obama and school reform, school improvement grants, school turnaround grants, school turnarounds

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, 07/02/2010

Reality check on school accountability movement
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher writes about how off-base today's accountability movement has become.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 07/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers | Tags:  obama and school reform, school reform

Posted at 11:42 AM ET, 06/27/2010

Obama policy blamed for popular principal's reassignment
By Valerie Strauss
A popular principal is being reassigned in Lincoln, Neb., and district officials say that the U.S. Education Department is to blame.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:42 AM ET, 06/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  de ann currin, duncan and obama and school reform, elliott elementary school, lincoln public schools, obama administration and education policy, obama's education policy, replacing the principal, restructuring and school, restructuring models, schools and federal intervention, stimulus money for education, title 1 money, title 1 schools

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 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 09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010

Ravitch: 'Are we in an era of National Stupidity?'
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch looks at the accumulating evidence revealing how our "accountability policies are a great fraud," and asks: "Are we in an era of National Stupidity or National Insanity?"

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  Arne Duncan, Diane Ravitch, accountability and nclb, accountability movement, accountability policies, bridging differences, diane ravitch and deborah meier, holding teachers accountability, how to hold teachers accountable, narrowing the curriculum, president obama and education bluerpint, president obama and school reform, teachers and merit pay

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 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 03:51 PM ET, 03/01/2010

Obama's unfortunate comments on teacher firings
By Valerie Strauss
President Obama unfortunately waded today into a debate about the firings last week of all of the educators in a high school in Rhode Island. Someone apparently has never told the president that these kinds of restructuring efforts rarely work well.

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:51 PM ET, 03/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan, Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arne duncan, president obama, school reform