Birth of the Cool (New Teacher Pay Policy)- August 14, 2008 One of the fun things about living in Washinton, DC is watching the FentyRhee school reform juggernaut in real time. After decimating the bloated central office bureaucracy, closing low-enrollment schools, and generally bringing a sense of urgency, leadership, and strategic thinking that DCPS has long lacked, the chancellor is now moving directly to the teacher workforce, proposing a new pay system that's frankly pretty audacious. Here's where things stand:Less than two weeks before classes...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/birth-of-cool-new-teacher-pay-policy.html Say What You Mean- August 13, 2008 Because he clearly has more patience than I do, Alexander Russo has been pressing Larry Mishel to give a little more detail on what, exactly, the so-called "Broader Bolder" coalition is really all about.My take on this hasn't really changed since their statement was first released a few months ago. The thesis of the BB manifesto is that, to quote one of its possibly fictional supporters, "efforts to advance students learning and development need to combine policies intended to improve schools...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/say-what-you-mean.html College for All Some How Many- August 13, 2008 I spent yesterday morning participating in a panel discussion (video here) at the Center for American Progress, responding to a couple of new papers they've commissioned about higher educaiton. The first, by Sara Goldrick-Rab and Josipa Roksa, makes a comprehensive case for expanding the federal higher education agenda beyond the current monolithic focus on student financial aid. The paper is very good. As I told the audience, if you're a Hill staffer, journalist, think tank person, whomever,...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/college-for-all-some-how-many.html Easy Journalism and the Model Minority Myth- August 13, 2008 The Albany Times recently reported a 50 percent increase in the Asian American population in the Capital Region in New York. The piece considers all Asian immigrants as one homogeneous group following educational opportunities, and ignores the inter- and intra-group differences within Asian-American populations. The article quotes Lining He, himself an economist and president of the Chinese Community Center of the Capital District, saying most Chinese people in this area are very well...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/easy-journalism-and-model-minority-myth_13.html Strike Out- August 12, 2008 Yesterday's Denver Post shows why we won't, or at least why we shouldn't, see a teacher's strike unfold later this month as the city plays host to the Democratic National Convention. The article has many demonstrative points as to why the union has little grounds for a strike. The district's proposal would:Increase first-year teacher salaries more than the plan put forth by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association ($42,413 versus $38,000). Increase bonuses for teaching in hard-to-staff...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/strike-out.html Lots of Variety in the Sausage- August 11, 2008 This week's New Yorker book review offers a lesson on pluralism. It compares two works, one by the long-forgotten political philosopher Arthur Fisher Bentley and one by Thomas Frank of "What's the Matter with Kansas" fame. This passage from the review has particular relevance to education policy:Frank believes that liberals, once in power, will not merely transfer economic resources from business to working people but will tend to the public interest, to good government. Underneath all the...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/lots-of-variety-in-sausage.html Notes from VirginFest- August 10, 2008 This year's full-blown rock festival post complete with pictures, band-by-band coverage, etc. won't come until next month, when Maureen and I fly to Texas for Austin City Limits. But here's an abbreviated report from the first day of VirginFest:As the world becomes ever more inter-connected, there's a certain fear that globalization will ultimately lead to a thin grey soup of culture, into which all the national distinctions we treasure dissolve. You feel it when you walk down a graceful...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/notes-from-virginfest.html The Data Void- August 8, 2008 One of the interesting things about working on both K-12 and higher education policy is observing the differences between them. In K-12, there's a long-running and very active research and policy conversation about class size. Books have been written, studies conducted, debates organized, policies implemented, all focused on the relationship between student teacher ratios and learning. People argue about whether there's a specific threshold class size associated with learning gains (15:1...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/data-void.html Beer Pong Ain't Wimbledon- August 8, 2008 This paragraph from Inside Higher Ed's article today about efforts to rid college campuses of drinking games makes me wonder if the author has a little experience with the topic...Like many drinking games, beer pongs beauty lies in its simplicity. Played on a ping pong table, the object is to toss a table tennis ball across a net and land it in a beer-filled cup on the other side. While the game has different rules in different circles, a successful shot often means your opponent has to chug a..http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/beer-pong-aint-wimbledon.html Woeful- August 7, 2008 Sol Stern of the Manhattan Institute says:There are some districts in New York state that recorded proficiency rates of close to 100% on this year's math tests. This Lake Wobegon effect is an embarrassment...Look, if you're going to start throwing around tired cliches instead of offering actual analysis, at least get the cliches right. As everyone (except, apparently, Sol Stern) knows, the Lake Wobegon effect refers to the mathematically specious idea that, to quote Garrison Keillor, "all of...http://www.quickanded.com/2008/08/woeful.html |