Group items tagged

This is an easy to read breakdown of the types of special interest groups in Virginia...was helpful to me!

A quick view (not the whole book) of educational policy interest groups - tables of number of bills that the groups "testified" for, etc.... if I had extra money, I would totally buy this book.

This will be VERY relevant when we discuss the role of special interest groups...

There is no silver bullet...and everyone is looking for just one....money helps, that can't be denied, but until, as the author put it ...there is "hubris", it is all just a power play to be the one who "fixes it" - another addition to a CV or resume. Perhaps folks are looking for a legacy, that I can understand, but the politics of dissent will lead us nowhere.

Goodness gracious- what a mess! Training non-educators in six weekends- throwing money randomly at unresearched projects- coming up with a quick fix to cover up the quick fix that didn't work?!?!? What are they THINKING!?!?

These discussions are interesting. Mr. Finn and company seem to only see things through a particular paradigm. It is surprising, but it is interesting.

One of the arguments made in the Murphy article is that Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of public education. Yet, one of the most consistent findings in the PDK Gallup Polls over time is that the parents of public school parents might be lukewarm about education in general, but tend to be very satisfied with the school their child attends. This brief also contains some interesting information on the public's perceptions of current school reforms.

For me, the most interesting aspect of this article is the continuing segregation of students in our schools by income. It also have a brief summary of what has happened in the Wake County Schools

Not entirely opposed, we might need to try it to see if it works...I recall reading how Justice Clarence Thomas chose to support public funding to private relgious schools (some might say unconstitutional) in order to create a way for African Americans to leave poorly performing urban public schools. Sometimes, you have to make a choice between a rock and a hard place.

Chapter: Teacher Unions and School Board Elections is very interesting when looking at self-interest in the political realm

I am submitting this because of the "power" at play between Connecticut and the U. S. Supreme Court. Connecticut argues here that states should not have to put out so much cash to meet requirements of NCLB. If I am reading this correctly, the U.S. Supreme Court might have heard the case if the U.S. D.O.E. had actually found Connecticut in violation of NCLB's standards....otherwise, not so interested.

The study assessed a public school principals in terms of their attraction to the job of district superintendent. The reasearchers assumed "participant self-reported capability to become a superintendent impacts participant attraction to the job, and participant satisfaction with facets of their current jobs and their expected satisfaction with those same job facets in the job of superintendent give an indication of participant likelihood of pursuing the job of superintendent." Method: This was a field survey "designed and implemented according to procedures established by Dillman" (2000). The study was "a combination of the quasi-experimental and correlation designs, as explicated byCampbell and Stanley (1963), and involved three analytical procedures: Winter, Rinehart Keedy, Björk 38 Planning and Changingpaired-samples t-tests, two-group discriminant analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis."   The study shows that the superintendents were on average 46.9 years-old and were fairly even gender, predominantly caucasian, and 85% were married. Most participants were not superintendentcertified (87.7%), and most of those who were not certified did not intend to become certified (79.0%), suggesting relatively low interest in pursuing the job of superintendent. Most of the participants who were superintendent-certified had held their certification for five years or more (65.3%), suggesting a modest degree of intent to transition from the job of principal to the job of superintendent. People tend to see the reality of the workload and time commitment.

An interesting article if only because Bennett glosses over the fact that many of the ideas he supports are highly controversial.

An interesting article about the intersection of police work and school discipline. I like how they highlighted the administrator's line "do the right thing, because the truth always comes out in the end." I would be a liar if I said I have never used a variation of that.

"Like Gates, we feel the US must address the inadequacies in our education system, specifically those that propagate inequalities in our society. However, we caution using global competitiveness as an impetus for education reform - not because we do not believe in maintaining our forward thinking leadership role on the world stage. But rather because such language edges education dangerously close to being about the production of a marketable workforce serving corporate interests instead of about the cultivation of a critically thinking global citizenry serving the advancement of humanity. In place of the language of competition, we would suggest a language of equal opportunity and cooperation."

An empirical exploring the relationship between special interest groups and policy volatility.

Apparently, this is the first time in 15years that the Feds have "reformed" school lunch rules. All the special interest groups are have their hands in the school lunch kitchens. Our district has made changes in the caf. selections, already. Honestly, I like being able to choose hummus, salads, and soy beans over "deep-fried everything" and pizza. However, I'm not sure if the students agree.

An important read for the week on the role of school boards.

We shall see if their actions speak to their words

It is interesting that school board members are only "lukewarm" about certain "structural" changes such as school choice, charter schools, and year-round schooling.

Interesting. Not much depth, a bit of history and a bit of the reasons why tenure was established. It is a conversation starter at best.

"A combined 63% of Americans want the federal government's role in education either maintained at its current level or increased. The figure is 72% among parents of K-12 schoolchildren. The fact that a majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the status of education today may give added support to an expanded federal role."

Gallup poll results reported Sep-2010 r.e. role of the federal government in education.

This surprised me. Interesting find...

Outlines specific Act that outlines the walls of state and local power...2.2-3119 outlines school boards specifically.

An article providing an overview of how the AFT & the NEA are flawed due to self-interest. His only path to reform seems to be school choice.

Interesting commentary on vouchers versus school choice. Also the Innovative Schools Fund is worth reading more into...how are these different from Charters? How will they compete with Charters?