Forget the Supreme Court, the pundits and opeds, the failure of immigration reform and Obama’s $32 million in fundraising. Forget Scooter LIbby’s commuted sentence. The most interesting thing that happened in the last week was Checker Finn’s roundup of the 06-07 school year (here)). First off, it’s impressive that Finn even remembered that the school year was over -- a testament to the foundation’s grounding and still noteworthy role as a real-world charter school authorizer in Ohio, I like to think. To the extent that charters are real schools, that is. (I joke, I joke!).
Then there’s the ever-convenient ten-item format, which is always a nice touch. Last but not least, Finn’s observations, which among them include the obvious (lowered state expectations, increasing mistrust of state test results), the noteworthy (a caution against jumping on the STEM and universal preschool bandwagons, the spread of “brand-name” public schools like KIPP, et al), and the innovative (the benefits of a delayed NCLB reauthorization). I’m not sure I think that choice is quite on the march the way that Finn does, and would add cautions on other fads (Mandarin instruction, for example. But still worth checking out.