Districts Use Data to Boost Graduation Rates
Diplomas Count 2010 takes a look at how school districts use data to boost graduation rates. Read Full Post >
All Blog Posts With accountability Tag or Category
June 09, 2010
June 02, 2010
D.C. Teachers Approve Contract
District of Columbia teachers ratify new contract that gives them a major raise and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee more flexibility in firing poorly-performing teachers. Read Full Post >
May 11, 2010
Charters & Their Shallow Community Roots
Dear Diane, That was an amazing and surprising find re. Milwaukee charters. I thought that at the very least they'd get the advantage of being in a more diverse (integrated) setting with more middle-class kids and that being chosen (even by lottery) would produce a kind of halo effect. Why it didn'... Read Full Post >
May 11, 2010
A Double Standard on Test Scores
Dear Deborah, Last month, a very important report was released about the voucher program in Milwaukee. It did not receive nearly enough attention, because its findings have major implications for a longstanding debate about the efficacy of vouchers. It was compiled by the School Choice Demonstratio... Read Full Post >
April 29, 2010
When Did This 'Consensus' Form?
Dear Diane, Where are the tea-partiers when I need them? Debate about revising ESEA is truly irrelevant—key changes have been put into place without anyone voting on anything! No single departmental decision has ever been made that so invades what was once considered wholly local powers than ... Read Full Post >
April 27, 2010
Should Student Scores Be Used To Evaluate Teachers?
Dear Deborah, I am just back from travels that started in Boston, moved on to Chicago, then to Los Angeles and San Francisco. This week I will be in Dallas and Denver. Wherever I go, I meet many teachers who say virtually the same thing: They have never been more demoralized in their professional ... Read Full Post >
April 14, 2010
Turnaround Rules Provoke Districts' Ire
School administrators are unhappy with federal turnaround regulations. Read Full Post >
April 13, 2010
Meager Gains on NAEP Reading Assessments
Dear Deborah, In my book I argue that No Child Left Behind was a failed strategy. We both know the reasons why. It narrowed the curriculum; it introduced a culture of testing and test prepping into the nation's schools; it represented an unprecedented extension of federal control into the nation's... Read Full Post >
April 08, 2010
Until We Take Democracy Seriously...
Dear Diane, Here's an essential question: When trying to get at the truth of things, what role do data play? Most of the time our "habits" take over before we can exercise any form of reflective judgment (which is why John Dewey focused on "habits of mind" as the goal of good schools). Habits are s... Read Full Post >
April 05, 2010
A Letter to Lawmakers
Dear Deborah, Today I am going to cheat. Well, not really cheat, but just deal with the fact that I am hard pressed to find time to do much more than breathe and sleep (I do not include "eat" because I have been skipping meals, and I should not include "sleep" because I don't do much of that eithe... Read Full Post >
