Education Next articles from June 2005

Education Next archives from June 2005

Tread on me--but lightly: the era of big government is complicated.(evaluation of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
June 22, 2005... As I write, the National Conference of State Legislatures has just decreed that the federal No Child Left Behind act is an unconstitutional, unworkable, and undesirable federal power grab that should be rolled back--while the National Governors...

The future of NCLB.(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, educational accountability)
June 22, 2005... No Child Left Behind is a monument to what we can accomplish when we bring accountability, high standards, and unprecedented funding to our schools. And as all your analysts ultimately agreed, it is a monument we must stand behind ("Do We...

A mandate to teach character.(importance of moral education)
June 22, 2005... Bill Damon is certainly right to point out that schools have always had a moral purpose, and American public schools avowed this purpose from their inception ("Good? Bad? or None of the Above?" Features, Spring 2005), I also agree with him that...

Falling teacher aptitude.(correspondence)
June 22, 2005... In their article "Wage Distortion: Why America's Top Female College Graduates Aren't Teaching" (Research, Spring 2005), Caroline Hoxby and Andrew Leigh make a compelling argument related to the impact of wage compression on the market for...

Rules for breaking the law.(civil disobedience)
June 22, 2005... I was alarmed to learn from James Lopach and Jean Luckowski ("Uncivil Disobedience," Features, Spring 2005) that some high schools are recom-mending a thoughtless embrace of civil disobedience in their civics classes. The authors are right to...

The school lunch lobby: a charmed federal food program that no longer just feeds the hungry.(national school lunch program)
June 22, 2005... Kids may not like the peas and carrots served up by the nation's school lunch program, but many of the country's leading food companies enjoy the billions of dollars in sales that bring those vegetables to their plates. Behind the overcooked...

What's for lunch? A restaurant critic goes to the school cafeteria.(evaluation of school food services)
June 22, 2005... Spring 2004 was an unusual time to be reviewing school lunches around Boston. The national debate about obesity and diet was reaching all the schools I visited, and most systems were already in some transition. The Boston School Committee,...

The legal cash machine: a New York adequacy case tests the limits of fiscal coherence.(Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York)
June 22, 2005... The various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers... might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it between the registrar's red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers,...

The accidental principal: what doesn't get taught at ed schools?(analysis of school administration)
June 22, 2005... If school leadership is the key to school improvement, then school principals are the people who know where the key ring hangs. In an era of accountability, of charter schooling and merit pay, of data-driven standards and skill management,...

Unflagged SATs: who benefits from special accommodations?(feature)(College Board's Scholastic Assessment Test results list)
June 22, 2005... When the College Board announced, in the summer of 2002, that it would stop "flagging" the test scores of students who were given special accommodations for the SAT, the gold standard exam for college admission, disability advocates were...

Inadequate yearly progress: unlocking the secrets of NCLB.(evaluation of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
June 22, 2005... As almost everyone knows by now, the central aim of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law is to make every public-school student proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. It is a laudable goal, as the overwhelmingly bipartisan...

Johnny can read ... in some states: assessing the rigor of state assessment systems.(accountability to No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
June 22, 2005... Johnny can't read... in South Carolina. But if his folks move to Texas, he'll be reading up a storm. What's going on? It turns out that in complying with the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), some states have decided to be a...

Identity crisis: can charter schools survive accountability?(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, forecasts of educational standards)
June 22, 2005... Charter schooling and test-based accountability both have their roots in concerns that public schools are not sufficiently accountable. But as both innovations take hold, a tension is emerging. Some charter schools believe they should answer...

Vote early, vote often: the role of schools in creating civic norms.
June 22, 2005... It has been an almost uncontested proposition since the founding of the republic that America's schools have a duty to prepare young people for active citizenship. As Thomas Jefferson put it, in arguing for a national system of schools, the...

The English experiment: an hour a day keeps illiteracy at bay.(national literacy programs of Britain and United States)
June 22, 2005... In developed countries like the United States and Britain, the continuing challenge for educators is to sort through the choices of an all-you-can-eat school system and teach the basic skills. Despite so-called universal education, an alarming...

Equity v. equity: why Education Week and the Education Trust don't agree.(educational equity rankings)
June 22, 2005... Checked: "Quality Counts," Education Week, January 6, 2005 "The Funding Gap," Education Trust, Fall 2004. This is a tale of two rankings. They represent the best of states--and the worst of states. A little wisdom and considerable...

Training teachers: is it a lost cause?(The Trouble with Ed Schools)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... The Trouble with Ed Schools By David F. Labaree Yale University Press, 2004, $35.00; 256 pages. Once long ago I noticed the great disparity between what theology and religion students were expected to know to write their...

America the unbelievable: a history textbook becomes a national bestseller--ha-ha!(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by the writers of The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart. With a foreword by Thomas Jefferson. Warner Books, 2004, $24.95; 227 pp. Textbooks prepared for students of American...

Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego, edited by Frederick M. Hess (Harvard Education Press). This ambitious, probing, and often insightful 16-chapter volume unexpectedly turned into a retrospective appraisal of Alan Bersin's seven...

Besieged: School Boards and the Future of Education Politics.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Besieged: School Boards and the Future of Education Politics, edited by William G. Howell (Brookings). The traditional American school board is under attack from above (by state and federal regulations), from the sides (by judicial mandates...

The Edison Schools: Corporate Schooling and the Assault on Public Education.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... The Edison Schools: Corporate Schooling and the Assault on Public Education, by Kenneth J. Saltman (Routledge). In this fantastical little volume, author Kenneth Saltman rants at the Edison Schools for an array of sins and so seeks to join...

Do What Works: How Proven Practices Can Improve America's Public Schools.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Do What Works: How Proven Practices Can Improve America's Public Schools, by Tom Luce and Lee Thompson (Ascent Education Press). Authors Luce, chairman of the National Center for Educational Accountability and founder of Just for Kids, and...

Institutions of American Democracy: The Public Schools.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 22, 2005... Institutions of American Democracy: The Public Schools, edited by Susan H. Fuhrman and Marvin Lazerson (Oxford). The Oxford University Press and the Annenberg Public Policy Center have teamed up to produce an ambitious series of longish...

Protagonist meets antagonist: when 2nd graders "do" English lit.(psychology of elementary school children)
June 22, 2005... It is 1:15 on a Sunday afternoon. We are standing in the children's department of our public library, twelve 2nd graders and their parents sprawled on carpet-covered risers in front of us. On one side is a pink three-little-pigs chair; on the...