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 This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
Micromanaging the Micromanager
DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is on the cover of this week's Time magazine. The accompanying article features a striking statistic: according to her office, she answered 95,000 e-mails last year. Allow skoolboy to speculate about this figure.
Education
Opinion
This Week's COWAbunga Award!
This week's COWAbunga award, i.e. comment of the week award, goes to Rachel, who has been commenting here since the very beginning. It turns out that she and I share a ed policy pet peeve:
Education
Opinion
This Semester's Statistics Final: The Higher Education Edition
We've always had a blast writing exam questions on this blog, so let me throw out a few bones for all you wily academics teaching undergrad Stat I this fall. The reader who answers both questions correctly gets an award named after her/him, which will commemorate all future exam excellence (i.e. the YOUR NAME HERE! Commemorative Award - though this hilarious post makes me want to name it after satirist Gary Babad, I will refrain!):
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The ATR Deal: An Acknowledgement that Teacher Price Incentives Aren't All They're Cracked Up to Be?
Following up on a long discussion last spring about teachers displaced from their schools and not rehired - teachers who are part of New York City's "Absent Teacher Reserve:" the city and the union have reached a deal. Principals will not have to pay more for hiring more experienced teachers (for eight years), and will also receive a cash incentive, equal to half of a starting teacher's salary, for hiring a teacher from the ATR.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Graduate School: The Video Game?
Calm down. All you have to do is write a thousand words and everything will be fine. And you have all day, except it's already noon.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Lessons for Performance Pay from the Financial Crisis?
This fall, we've heard a lot about how short-term pay incentives on Wall Street encouraged traders to take huge risks, and ultimately ushered us into our current financial mess. Ask the folks at Lehman Brothers - the decisions that maximize profits in the short-term don't always pan out in the long-term.
Education
Opinion
Cool People You Should Know: Richard Ingersoll
Richard Ingersoll is a sociologist who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies teacher quality, teacher retention, and how schools make use of teachers once they are on the job.
School & District Management
Opinion
The NYC High School Progress Reports Meet Credit Recovery
Yesterday, the NYC Department of Education released its high school progress reports - 83% of high schools received A or B grades. Like the K-8 reports, 60% of the grade is based on "student progress," which in the case of high school includes credit accumulation.
Accountability
Opinion
School Progress Grade Effects on NYC Achievement: Tame, Fierce, or a Hot Mess?
skoolboy ventured into the rarified air of NYC’s Harvard Club yesterday to hear Marcus Winters present his new Manhattan Institute research on the effects of the 2006-07 New York City School Progress Reports on students’ 2008 performance on state math and English tests in grades four through eight. The analysis uses a regression-discontinuity design, capitalizing on the fact that schools received a continuous total score summarizing their performance on school environment (15%), student performance (30%) and student growth (55%), but there are firm cut-offs that distinguish schools receiving an F from those receiving a D, those receiving a D from those receiving a C, etc. This means that there might be schools that are very similar in their total scores, and presumably on other school characteristics, on either side of a given cut-off, allowing researchers to study the test-score consequences of obtaining a specific letter grade.
Education
Opinion
Bill Gates, U.S. Superintendent of Schools
Few things cause skoolboy to laugh out loud uncontrollably, but this line from a story filed by Elizabeth Green at GothamSchools hit the spot:
Education
Opinion
Race, Ethnicity, and the Gifted and Talented Pipeline in New York City
“I’m convinced that there are gifted and talented children in all communities, and that we need to make sure that they avail themselves of the opportunities."
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Where Will Malia Ann and Sasha Obama Go to School?
Why is there so much interest in where Barack and Michelle Obama plan to enroll their daughters, Malia Ann and Sasha, in Washington, DC schools? Probably because most observers think that the choice of a school will reveal something meaningful about President-Elect Obama’s views about schooling in the U.S. Is that so? Heck if I know. Up till now, the Obama girls have been attending the University of Chicago Lab School, a private PK-12 school associated with the University of Chicago with annual tuition and fees ranging from $18K-$21K for students in grades 1-12. (Full-time U of C staff are eligible for a 50% tuition remission.) Michelle Obama serves on the Board of Directors of the Lab School, and a couple of skoolboy’s friends, whose children attend the Lab School, say that both Obamas have been visibly involved in the life of the school.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Obama Wins! Have We Overcome the Scourge of Race?
Why, we sure have, according to Ward Connerly, former University of California Regent and longtime opponent of affirmative action. Connerly quotes one of his college professors as saying that we’ll know that we’ve overcome the scourge of race when (a) white men no longer object to their daughters marrying a black man; (b) a white person can honestly say that s/he would be willing to walk in the shoes of any black person; and (c) Americans are willing to elect a black person to the presidency.
Education
Opinion
Suspending My Campaign Links
Many thanks to skoolboy for taking the reigns while I've been out of town. In a week, we will return to our regularly scheduled programming, and skoolboy will be back to entertain at the end of the week. In the meantime, consider the following links: