eduwonkette
Through the lens of social science, eduwonkette took a serious, if sometimes irreverent, look at some of the most contentious education policy debates in this opinion blog. Find eduwonkette’s complete archives prior to Jan. 6, 2008 here. This blog is no longer being updated.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
In NYC Middle Grades, Fewer High Achieving ELA Students, Even As Passing Rates Increase
In grades 5-7, grades that have seen sharp increases in ELA passing rates over the past two years, the percentage of New York City students scoring in the highest performance category has decreased substantially. You can find those results here. Interestingly, this is only true for ELA, not math.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
Scale Score Magic! Why We Shouldn't Rely on Passing Rates to Measure Academic Achievement
Consider this puzzle: in 2007, the average scale score on the New York State ELA Test was 661. In 2008, it is also 661. Yet the overall level of proficiency has increased by 3 percentage points, from 68% to 71%. How is this possible?
Education
Opinion
Live Blogging the 2008 NY State ELA and Math Press Conference
"No one should be surprised to see these kind of gains because there have been significant investments at the state and local level."
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
Our Very Own Disney Movie! The New York State 2008 ELA and Math Results
I really appreciate the opportunity to join all of you here at Disney World. I can't wait to get over to the Magic Kingdom. I just love cartoon characters; outlandish fairy tales; and wild, stomach-churning roller coaster rides.
Education
Opinion
Cool People You Should Know: Brian Jacob
Brian Jacob teaches at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He has studied a wide range of education policy topics, including school choice, housing voucher programs, neighborhood and peer effects, educational accountability programs, and teacher labor markets. If you're interested in Chicago school reform, Jacob is a good place to turn. Kevin Carey will also be happy to know that he keeps a model website, and most of his papers are available there.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
At Some KIPP Schools, KIPPster-ettes Outnumber KIPPsters
If you're not already enjoying Richard Whitmire's new gender blog, you could be. Yesterday he wrote that KIPP "is an important player in the boy troubles" because boys at KIPP start 5th grade behind the girls, but catch up to them by 7th grade.
Education
Opinion
With New Rules for Gifted Programs, NYC's Poor and Minority Students Lose Out
If you'd ever bumped your head up against test score distributions for entering kindergarteners, you already knew that NYC's shift to a uniform cutoff for gifted admissions - the 90th percentile - could only hurt poor and minority kids' access to gifted programs. So many of you were unsurprised in April when I analyzed the new gifted and talented data, and found that poor and minority kids' access to gifted and talented programs had been seriously diminished. (See maps here.)
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
William Deresiewicz, a Yale English prof for the last 10 years, has written a downright haunting essay in The American Scholar on the many ways that elite colleges fall short. He charges that elite colleges:
Federal
Opinion
High Achieving Students in the Era of No Child Left Behind
Fordham's new study on how high achievers have fared under No Child Left Behind is out. (See NYT coverage here.) Here's the main story:
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
A Leonard Sax Fact Check: Are Women Worse Off in Science and Engineering Than They Were 20 Years Ago?
Leonard Sax, everyone's favorite advocate of gender-based education, has a commentary in this week's Ed Week, "Where the Girls Aren't: What the Media Missed in the AAUW's Report on Gender Equity." Here's the central argument:
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Welcome Richard Whitmire's New Blog on Gender and Education
Richard Whitmire, USA Today reporter and President of the Education Writers Association, has kicked off a new blog called "Why Boys Fail."
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Everyone's Favorite Sound Bite About Highly Effective Teachers Put to the Test
"By our estimates from Texas schools, having an above average teacher for five years running can completely close the average gap between low-income students and others."
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
Still a Bobo in Paradise
Meet the Status Quo. It includes the Chairman of the Board of the NAACP (Julian Bond), the former president of the Urban League (Hugh Price), a Nobel prize winning economist and expert on early childhood interventions (Jim Heckman), some of the country's most distinguished experts on urban poverty (William Julius Wilson, Christopher Jencks) and educational accountability (Helen Ladd), a well-known professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (T. Berry Brazelton), two former Surgeon Generals (Jocelyn Elders and Richard Carmona), Ernie Cortes (of the Industrial Areas Foundation), school practitioners like Debbie Meier, Ted Sizer, and Jim Comer who have spent their careers challenging the status quo, and too many other people to list here who have dedicated their lives to improving the lives of poor and minority children. And yes, David, they accept your apology.
Education
Opinion
Cool People You Should Know: Ken Frank
Ken Frank is a statistician who teaches at Michigan State's College of Education. The release of the National Research Council report on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is a good time to profile his recently published article asking whether NBPTS certification affects the number of colleagues a teacher helps with instructional matters. His research team collected sociometric data from 47 elementary schools in two states. Teachers reported which teachers were helpful with instruction, and Frank and colleagues found that NBPTS certified were more likely to provide instructional help to their colleagues. He concluded: