April 29, 2011
Whither METCO?
If METCO closes the achievement gap, and if closing the achievement gap is a top priority, why are we cutting METCO funding?
Blog: School Choice
April 7, 2011
Vocational-technical schools that work
A week ago, parents in Boston got their school assignments according to the Boston Public Schools’ constrained choice process. Stephanie Ebbert’s article captured the key moment this way: In a downtown office cubicle, next to a file cabinet topped with a philodendron...
April 5, 2011
Proven reforms for urban students
There are no silver bullets. In education, our landmark 1993 education reform act was testimony to that dictum, laying out a blueprint based on high academic standards, accountability for teachers and districts, testing for students, and innovation through charter schools. That said,...
March 21, 2011
Some thoughts on parochial schools
March 17th marked St. Patrick’s Day. Today, Glen Johnson of the Globe live-blogged this morning during the annual breakfast that featured this year U.S. Senator Scott Brown, Governor Deval Patrick, and a number of our other political leaders. Celebrations including parades were...
February 3, 2011
Man versus Superman
Movies like Waiting for Superman have done a great public service by focusing the country’s attention on the now-or-never challenge of making sure all kids have access to a decent school. A broad swath of the public and, importantly, the philanthropic community,...
November 24, 2010
Does the heroic reform model work?
School Choice Models & Public School Reform from Mike Dean on Vimeo. With the recent electoral defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty, a strong advocate of school reform and school choice, and the subsequent resignation of DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, many have...
October 14, 2010
How big of a deal was the 2010 ed reform law?
Back in January 2010, there was a lot of hoopla around the passage and signing of the new Achievement Gap law. At the time: “We are standing up for children,’’ Patrick said before an upbeat gathering of educators… And Education Secretary Paul...
October 13, 2010
Rhee Out in DC
Got sad news in the middle of a screening of Waiting for Superman last night. Somewhere right after the section on how bad the DC schools are, I got a text message that Michelle Rhee would be stepping down today. Yup. Today...
September 19, 2010
Can Big City Superintendents Fix the Schools?
When Adrian Fenty was elected as the mayor of Washington DC, he worked relentlessly to gain control of the DC school board. After all, the DC public schools cost so much more than your average public school and they were among the...
August 26, 2010
Ho-hum to the Guv on education
This morning on the Todd and Tom show on WRKO, Joe Battenfield (who was sitting in for Todd Feinburg) noted that the Governor’s office is claiming that Pioneer’s view of the national standards issue is a result of politics. What they are...