he New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP) released an issue brief on recently finalized fiscal year 2011 federal education appropriations. The paper, 2011 Education Appropriations Guide, by FEBP Director Jason Delisle and Senior Policy Analyst Jennifer Cohen, provides a summary and analysis of the $68.3 billion education budget for fiscal year 2011, using Read more about 2011 Education Appropriations Guide[…]
Last month at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Governor Mitch Daniels touted his successes in Indiana education reform, stressing that bills passed in the just-concluded legislative session “end discrimination against charters” and put the state’s education system on the road to recovery after “a regime that attempted to choke the charter school.” Still, Read more about Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels on recently passed reform legislation[…]
In a lengthy article in The Atlantic Monthly, former NYC Chancellor Joel Klein writes that New York’s system has seen dramatic reforms over the past nine years, but “is still not remotely where it needs to be.” Klein points to several inhibitors — unions, politicians, bureaucrats, and vendors — and characterizes them as well-organized and Read more about Joel Klein on the Political Forces Preventing Reform[…]
It seems that it’s becoming fashionable to poo-poo college education. After all, can’t you get all the information you’ll ever need for free on the Internet? Why pay tuition? In a recent Time magazine article, Andrew Rotherham explores the real value of a college education related to standard of living. His findings: According to the Read more about Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It[…]
Last month, the American Enterprise Institute held a day-long conference on the Federal Role in education. Video highlights, panel discussions and links to white papers are available at http://www.aei.org/event/100357#doc. My favorite video clip is of Michael Petrelli discussing how the federal government can “do what it’s good at.” Instead of asking, What can the federal Read more about Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Sobering Lessons from a Half Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America’s Schools[…]
The Obama Administration plans to provide regulatory flexibility around No Child Left Behind (NCLB) if Congress does not complete work on a reauthorization bill prior to the August recess, in order to help support reform efforts underway at the state and local level. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised Congress for working on both sides of Read more about Regulatory Flexibility on NCLB[…]
As the reauthorization of ESEA draws nearer, Education Sector’s Policy Director Kevin Carey and Robert Manwaring, a fiscal and policy consultant, argue in a newly released report, Growth Models and Accountability: A Recipe for Remaking ESEA, that Congress should combine a measure of student growth with achievement into a single accountability measure in the design Read more about Growth Models and Accountability: A Recipe for Remaking ESEA?[…]
National Education Association officials announced that they would put a “policy statement” before the union’s governing body for approval that, among other changes, would open the door to the use of “valid, reliable, high-quality standardized tests,” in combination with multiple other measures, for evaluating teachers. The statement, passed by the NEA’s board of directors, wouldn’t Read more about NEA Proposed Policy on Teacher Evaluation & Accountability[…]
Yesterday I blogged about a journal article in Educational Researcher that found that the Common Core Standards were not aligned well with international standards. Today, I present a dissenting opinion. ACT has released a research report, titled “Affirming the Goal: Is College and Career Readiness an Internationally Competitive Standard?” This study also looks at the Read more about Is College and Career Readiness an Internationally Competitive Standard?[…]
A recent article in Education Researcher by UPenn education dean Andy Porter and several of his colleagues explains similarities and differences between the Common Core and current state and international standards, using the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) as its metric. The SEC is an analytic framework developed at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research Read more about Common Core Standards: How they Stack Up[…]
In a typical year (without a stimulus bill), the federal Department of Education has about $20 million in discretionary funds. In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away over $373 million to education, the Walton Foundation gave approximately $134 million, and the Broad Foundation about $39 million. Education philanthropy has increased dramatically in Read more about The Changing Face of Education Philanthropy[…]
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has released the Department’s first report on the revamped School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, “Baseline Analyses of SIG Applications and SIG-Eligible and SIG-Awarded Schools.” This baseline report provides an overview of the state policies and practices for SIG implementation as well as a description of the first round of Read more about Baseline Analysis of SIG Schools[…]
What is the role of private enterprise in American public education? AEI is launching a new education project to explore this question. Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), announced the launch of a new AEI research project to examine the role of for-profit companies in public education. Read more about Private Enterprise and Public Education[…]
The Illinois Senate passed SB7 unanimously in April, 57 to 0. Last Thursday, the bill also passed House nearly unanimously (112 for, 1 abstaining and 1 against). The Bill now goes to Governor Quinn’s desk for signature. SB 7 was developed during months of discussions involving a wide variety of education stakeholders including the Illinois Read more about Illinois Senate Bill 7[…]
Last month, I blogged on The Shanker Institute’s manifesto, A Call for Common Content. This manifesto, available at http://www.ashankerinst.org/curriculum.html, urges the creation of curricular materials that support the Common Core Standards and bridge the gap between the standards and the new assessments being developed. These curricular materials would be voluntarily adopted. Last week, a counter-manifesto, Read more about Controversy: Does anyone REALLY want a national curriculum?[…]
In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has published an open letter to American teachers. In Education Week, he writes that as someone working most of his life in education, he has “a deep and genuine appreciation for the work [teachers] do.” He wants to see the profession treated Read more about A Letter to Teachers from Arne Duncan[…]