Archive
element:when
Incentive peanut butter
I’m worried that Duncan (and George Miller) is facing increasing pressure to spread the $4.3B Incentive fund around like political peanut butter. The skeptical side of me worries that it will be used to procure health care votes. There’s not much of a constituency for real…
What role should incentives play?
I spent the morning in a school improvement working group. When we came to the subject of incentives there were more questions than answers. I don’t think we know much about this, so here’s some moderately informed speculation 1. Pay for performance won’t work as well as business folks…
The need for edu-innovation
The US won’t spend or reform its way to high and equitable educational attainment. The basic model of age cohorts slogging through print-based content with ability tracking (with equates to race and income tracking) is obsolete, expensive and unjust. Young people in emerging and developing economies (which…
How not to invent the future
eSchool News featured a long piece on the AEI debrief on the rocky start of Philly School of the Future Long story short: some good ideas, sloppy execution. Microsoft provided useful assistance but ran into the disastrous revolving-door leadership common in urban districts. Lesson: running a good school is…
Charter caps, charter block, and Klein on pay
Great post railing on Indiana charter caps by Matthew Tully, IndyStar.com “But when it comes to public education, common sense often flunks out in favor of union contracts, turf-protecting school administrators and the rest of the entrenched education establishment. In Indiana, Statehouse Democrats from Indianapolis, backed by that…
'Innovation' Push Raising Questions
EdWeek ran a good summary of tensions around the innovation agenda. Full text below: School leaders are under increasing pressure to “innovate.” The word is ricocheting around Washington, emanating from the White House, the U.S. Department of Education, and numerous reports and conferences convened by those who hope…
Miami Zone suggests closing better than supporting bad schools
After taking over NYC schools in 2000, Rudy Crew set up a Chancellor’s District—an early example of differentiated management for low performing schools. Like Steve Adamowski’s work in Cincinnati, this action was an important illustration of doing whatever it takes to turnaround low performing schools. The Chancellor’s district…
School Closings, Race, and Movement Politics
(2nd report from Close the Gap: Education Equality Day) When it comes to educating our kid, we have an invention problem and an execution problem. We need to invent new tools and new schools for this new generation. In many respects, they are already living in a…
Duncan bringing Chicago-style accountability to DC
Duncan laid out his vision for Chicago-style accountability at Brookings yesterday. USA Today: The goal is to turn around 5,000 failing schools in the next five years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday, by beefing up funding for the federal school turnaround program created by the No Child Left Behind…
The (new) American Education Agenda
There is an emerging consensus on an education reform agenda that incorporates measurement and accountability, teacher quality, equitable funding, public school choice, and investment in improvement. The short version looks something like this: The (new) American Education Agenda Good Schools: Every student deserves access…