EdPolicy
Rodel-Backed Plan Wins in DE
There were lots of people scratching their head about Delaware’s phase one Race to the Top win yesterday. It was not a last minute consultant generated application, it was the result of a decade of leadership from the Rodel Foundation–one guy that leveraged a small checkbook and a lot of…
RttT: The Work Ahead
With only two winners (thanks for holding the bar high Arne), there are two different paths to resubmission: 1. Support. FL & LA clearly had the most aggressive plans but got dinged for lack of support. They need a little Barb O’Brien (Lt. Gov CO) style barnstorming to build…
Virtual Portfolio Overlay
Virtual courses are quickly becoming an important overlay to portfolio strategy (last post) as Paul Hill pointed out yesterday at Yale Edu Leaders Conference. Virtual schools offer full school and course alternatives. In the next year I think we’ll get to the point where every student in America has…
Good Urban Schools: A Portfolio Approach
This paper, first written in 2004 with Jim Shelton, is one of the first descriptions of the portfolio approach to urban education.
10 Ways Faith Congregations Can Improve Edu
Peter Groff, the Director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for the Department of Education, will be headlining a Teachers College conference on the role of faith congregations in education. This afternoon, I’ll be outlining these 10 specific ways that congregations can make a difference: 1. Youth/Family Services: Communities…
Yale SOM Education Leaders Conference
A leading business school hosting an education conference? Ten years ago it was unimaginable. Now it happens annually in New Haven. The students organize a great conference, get edu-superstars to attend, and turn out in droves. Jon Schnur kicked off the Racing to the Top conference with a review…
Flat Lining Schools; Tinkering Won’t Work
This week the “The Nation’s Report Card” showed no progress. That’s really quite disturbing given aggressive federal policy (NCLB), a handful of cities like New York making real progress, states like Louisiana and Florida pushing hard, and national foundation efforts. It suggests that tinkering won’t come close to…
Elks, Immigrants, Imagination, Innovation
When I made my annual appearance at the Elks lodge to honor the top 40 students in my district, I was glad they didn’t make the superintendent try to pronounce the names–more than half were from immigrant families. Most of the native born white kids were Mormon. The ceremony was an…
Long Day, Long Year, More Learning
Checker Finn makes the case for a long school day and year in this WSJ piece. Here’s the problem statement: In the face of budget shortfalls, school districts in many parts of the United States today are moving toward four-day weeks. This is despite evidence that longer…
The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform
Over the last few years, fund manager and edu-eBlaster Whitney Tilson developed and refined the most compelling data-driven case for school reform, The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform. Warning: it’s about 170 pages plus appendices, but if you haven’t read it you really should. At least take 15 minutes…