The recent celebration of National Charter Schools Week is as good a time as any to make an observation that’s been rattling around in my mind for a while in search of a home, or lacking that, a blog post. Which is: charter schools are a boon to public education, but not for the reasons [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'Disadvantaged Students'
Choices
Ezra Klein writes about the new, disappointing Reading First results, and concludes:
It would be good if we could really nail down what works in education. But my conclusion, increasingly, is that the best thing you could do for poor kids’ educational prospects is increase their parents’ economic prospects. That’s not to say either exists in [...]
Intended Consequences
There’s an old saying: “Beware of unintended consequences.” It’s good advice for long-term planning. It’s also an important principle for identifying facile policy arguments, like those in this WaPost op-ed, in which a local second-grade teacher claims that the No Child Left Behind Act, written to help low-income and minority students, actually harms them.
This kind [...]
Challenging the Challenge Index–With Data
Jay Mathews’ online column today focuses on Andy’s and my debate with him about whether his “Challenge Index” method is the best way to identify America’s best high schools. Andy gets to the crux of the issues and notes that some of the schools Jay lauds are actually doing worse than the statewide averages for [...]
Unwarranted Pessimism on the Achievement Gap
Matt Yglesias is too pessimistic about the prospect of closing the achievement gap.
Referring to Paul Tough’s recent NYTimes article, which concludes that the gap can be closed if we put disadvantaged students in schools that are better-run and have more money, he says:
This seems to me to involve assuming a can opener. Schools full of [...]
Rothstein Redux
In today’s NyTimes, Diana Jean Schemo writes about a “growing body of evidence” supporting one side of an argument that doesn’t actually exist. But she also, perhaps inadvertently, provides an important glimpse into one side of a debate that’s all too real. She writes:
The No Child Left Behind law, enacted in 2002, took a stand [...]
Summer Daze
Ok, I have to admit that I’ve had a bit of a case of spring fever lately. The weather’s gotten warmer and suddenly all I really want to think about is how soon my pool will open, when I can get in that first weekend trip to the beach, and how long I’ll have to [...]
More Kid Lit and a Book for Grown-ups, Too (Special Notice Readers in D.C. and Philadelphia)
Q&E’s comrade-en-blog Joanne Jacobs is touring to promote both her recent book, Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School that Beat the Odds. The book tells the tale of Downtown College Prep, a high-performing San Jose, Calif., charter school that serves academically disadvantaged students and prepares them to [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/19/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on college graduation rates and the NCAA Tournament in the Detroit Free Press.
03/19/10 | Linda Perlstein links to Education Sector's "College- and Career-Ready" event.
03/17/10 | Ben Miller's column on graduation rates and NCAA Tournament eligibility is mentioned on The Wall Street Journal's The Daily Fix.
03/17/10 | Kevin Carey's critique of Diane Ravitch's latest book is quoted in Doublethink's Conventional Folly blog.
03/15/10 | Ben Miller pens an op-ed for US News & World Report on using graduation rates to determine NCAA Tournament eligibility.