It seems that segregation is making it’s way back into New Orleans’ public schools: Three out of five schools are dominated by minorities with fewer than 30 percent of their attendees being white. Of those schools, 84 percent of them are considered “very high poverty schools,” where more than 75 percent of students qualify for Read More
[cross-posted from U.S. of J.] C.H. at Democracy in America flags a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts on the effect of marriage on economic mobility for children: Messrs DeLeire and Lopoo find that marriage has a positive effect on economic mobility for children of all races. Among those who are born in the bottom Read More
I have had the most difficult time writing this article. It took me the whole of Confederate History Month (known also as April) to do. I figured it was just because I’m over-thinking, as I always do, bending far too often to the little internal editor who keeps reminding me that my language isn’t vivid Read More
So you may have heard: after eluding progressive presidents and lawmakers for nearly a century, House Democrats finally approved sweeping legislaton that would bring America to near-universal health insurance coverage. The bill nearly died several times in the interminable debate, with interventions from President Obama and deft maneuvering by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (props due) keeping it alive. No matter Read More
“I just don’t think it makes much sense,” he shrugged. “His college is paid for; he can go anywhere he wants to go, anywhere in the state. I’m not dishing out forty-two thousand dollars so that–” “It’s not going to cost him forty-two thousand dollars! It’s not going to cost you anything. He’s paying for Read More
Conversations pertaining to the persistent problem of how to increase teacher effectiveness tend to yield more questions than answers. The intuitive strategy of choosing exceptional students and overachievers in the hopes that they will in turn be exceptional teachers sounds right, but doesn’t work. Attributes that are fuzzy and difficult to quantify such as “grit” Read More
At a Teach for America event on black boys and education here in NYC, a panel of academics, education professionals, and a bizarre, pointless collection of celebrities (Eric Snow, Common, and John Legend) discuss education reform. When singer John Legend agreed to talk on a Teach for America panel about his views on education, he Read More
(x-posted from TAPPED) A former champion of No Child Left Behind has written a book criticizing the policy as a failure, especially because it relies on standardized testing. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch also says school choice is a bad idea: “There should not be an education marketplace, there should not be competition,” Ravitch says. Read More
At the risk of belaboring the point on just how ridiculous our current teacher tenure policies are and the role the teacher’s unions play in keeping them that way, it should be pointed out that in New York City, which has a school system that employs 80,000 tenured teachers, almost never finds any of them Read More
In our previous discussions here about how the standard of education provided in America’s public schools might be improved we keep circling back to two issues: teacher quality and effectiveness and their relationship (or non-relationship at present) to teacher tenure. On the surface the matter is simple enough – we need teachers to be effective, Read More
