With President Obama’s re-election last night, we can be even more confident that the Administration’s No Child Left Behind waivers are likely to continue, at least until they expire in 2014*. The waivers rely on educational accountability systems that place much more weight on normative comparisons than performance against an absolute standard. That means concerns about setting the “righContinue Reading »

The cute pictures of proud 5-year-olds in their miniature caps and gowns “graduating” this year from preschool are probably still being exchanged by family members via the Internet. Such ceremonies are a great excuse to feed kids cake and, for teachers especially, celebrate the end of the year.

Photo by Paul Schultz

But therein is an opportuniContinue Reading »

One of the most important things to understand about the national teachers unions is their profoundly conservative world view. This is small “c” conservatism, which means preserving existing conditions or institutions and limiting change. The decision by the National Education Association’s membership to accept the widely held belief that how much students learn ought to influence teachers’ evaContinue Reading »

Kevin’s last post, which compared cost control efforts and incentives in health care and higher education, reminded me of this recent interview in Health Affairs ($) with Geisinger Health System CEO Glenn Steele, M.D. (Geisinger is recognized as one of the few health care providers successful at controlling costs AND improving quality.)

Geisinger has developed several innovative, cContinue Reading »