Inefficient, ineffective education policy reforms rule the day

Georgia investigators have found evidence of cheating at close to 80 percent of the Atlanta schools where they examined the 2009 administration of state tests.

Opponents of an Indiana law that would create one of the broadest voucher programs in the country are suing to block it from taking effect, arguing that it runs afoul of the state's constitution by channeling public money toward religious purposes.

A Philadelphia charter school fighting a unionizing effort is trying to break legal ground by contending that it is not a public school-even though it's funded entirely by taxpayers.

Gov. John Kasich signed a two-year budget that imposes a performance-based salary schedule on school districts that receive Race to the Top money, raising questions about the impact on individual union agreements that were negotiated to win the $400 million federal grant-and also on the state's eligibility for the money.

Thousands of students getting free or reduced-cost school lunches may not be eligible for the program, a report released by the state auditor this week finds. But school districts have little incentive to question applications because a higher participation rate also increases their state aid, the report states.

A federal appeals court on Friday invalidated a Michigan ballot initiative that barred racial preferences in admissions at state colleges and universities.

Although the past several generations have seen declining gender inequalities in educational attainment, gender-based differences in the fields of study we choose seem to persist (see here). For example, the percentage of women obtaining degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has remained exceedingly static in the last few decades (see here).

This was written by Carol Corbett Burris, the principal of South Side High School in New York.  She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

"N.E.A. is and always will be opposed to high-stakes, test-driven evaluations," said Becky Pringle, the secretary-treasurer of the union, addressing the banner-strung convention hall filled with the 8,200-member assembly that votes on union policy.

He believes, for example, that children in Camden and other cities should be taken out of public schools - "the equivalent of juvenile prison." "We have to change the environment they're in, and put them in a private, parochial, or charter environment," says Norcross. Groups he controls are likely soon to open charter schools in Camden, including one on land now owned by the state's School Development Authority and set aside for a public school: It's good to be a pal of the governor.

New Orleans is one of the best examples of what national experts increasingly describe as a school "portfolio management model": a structure where schools that do not meet standards get closed or new management, much like an investor might drop or sell underperforming stocks.

Data are important. However, data should be used to inform education, rather than to drive it. Right now, data have taken on a life of their own to the detriment of everything else. As Albert Einstein wrote: "Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted."

"I think teacher evaluation is an extremely important issue, and I certainly have no problem with companies like LSI helping states and districts do it well. Marzano's research is a terrific foundation for teacher evaluation, because it has the potential to guide professional growth in areas identified for improvement."

Governor Chris Christie, who just recently signed the Pension and Health Care Reform Bill that would cost 500,000 state workers thousands of additional dollars of out of pocket expenses each year, just cut almost $1 billion from the budget proposal handed to him by Democratic lawmakers.  This all occurred Thursday when Christie used his line-item veto power to slash funding for programs that help New Jersey's poorest while vetoing another millionaires tax bill. 

National Education Association delegates blasted Education Secretary Arne Duncan, passing a resolution that orders the NEA president to "communicate aggressively, forcefully, and immediately" to President Obama that the teachers union "is appalled" by a number of things Duncan has said and done in the name of school reform. The resolution of the country's largest union (see below) includes a list of Duncan's actions and statements with which the NEA disagrees, including his standardized test-driven reform policies.

A Failing School? Not to These Students

The National Education Association just approved a policy statement on teacher evaluation theoretically permitting use of standardized-test scores as one measure of teacher performance-but the union's leaders underscored that no existing standardized tests currently meet the criteria for inclusion spelled out in the policy.