This Week In Education
Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, This Week in Education was an opinion blog that covered education news, policymakers, and trends with a distinctly political edge. (For archives prior to January 2007, please click here. For posts after November 2007, please click here.) This blog is no longer being updated.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Happy 47th Anniversary, Etch-A-Sketch
The Etch-A-Sketch was invented 47 years ago last week, according to my new favorite site, How Things Work, which includes a history, information on what's inside and how the things work, and some examples of fancy sketches that people have made. And apparently the gizmo is still appealing to some kids, even though they have computers and the Internet these days.
Education
Opinion
EdWeek Shows Some Love...Blogger Under-Appreciates It
If I had it my way, this blog would be splashed across EdWeek's front page each and every day -- a notion that I'm sure many would find horrifying. Fair enough. I get that -- though it hurts my feelings and doesn't make sense to me. So when little signs of love come down from EdWeek headquarters, you can imagine how good it makes me feel. Like this new ad, which, now that I think about it, should probably be splashed across the front page.
Federal
Opinion
Dems & Vouchers
Every year, Democratic politicians' opposition to vouchers gets narrower and narrower, even though there still aren't a ton of voucher programs around. In fact, one Democratic front-runner, Barack Obama, has not only voted for targeted vouchers (Katrina, etc.) but also indicated he'd support them in other situations. So maybe this is the year for a Dem or two to cross that big divide. Here, Joe Williams calls for a big school voucher proposal from John Edwards, who's proposing a housing voucher instead (Holy Moses).
Federal
Opinion
Running Out Of July
AFT John reminds us to read Congressional Quarterly a little more often, especially when it includes tidbits about the increasing unlikelihood of a summer bill introduction and markup for NCLB (Slouching towards 2009). Not enough July left, and not enough of a majority for either party to push something through.
Education Funding
Opinion
Charters Get Their Own Search Engine...iPhone Next.
Those charter folks are so creative, so inventive, so damn entrepreneurial. Now, according to SmartMoney.com, they've got their own search engine: American Charter Schools to Receive Funding from New Search Engine. What will they think of next? Charter school credit cards, I'm guessing, or mileage programs. Special handshakes, too. Maybe their own version of YouTube? Or iPhone.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Accidents: Yet Another Reason To Get Rid Of Summer Break
As if there we needed any more reasons to get rid of the long summer break, US News reports that summertime is downright dangerous to children, spiking to more than 2.4 million ER visits (and 2100 deaths) each year and that only with increased diligence can injuries be avoided (12 Ways to Childproof Your Summer). Over at Slate.com, they debunk the notion that summer break was invented to follow the agricultural calendar. It was money, folks, that ended summer quarter -- and some strange notions about kids' development (Why do schoolchildren get a three-month summer vacation?).
Federal
Opinion
Making AYP, Made Easy
Over at EdBizzBuzz, Marc Dean Millot digs up a how-to on making AYP (How to Make AYP). See? It's not so hard to understand. Actually pulling it off isn't so easy, though more folks are doing it than many imagined -- with and without tricks and gimmicks.
Federal
Opinion
More Kids Killed In Chicago Than Soldiers In Iraq
A few weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune's Stephanie Banchero tracked down just how many Chicago public school kids had died during the first half of the year -- 34 and counting -- a statistic that generated a lot of discussion not only because it seemed so high but also because most if not all of violence happened off campus. Since then, the statistic has been used by the school system to argue for more education funding, and, most recently, by political candidates like Barack Obama to make the case for paying more attention to the plight of the urban poor: Obama Bemoans 'Epidemic of Violence' (Forbes). "Nearly three dozen Chicago students have been killed this year, according to Chicago Public Schools. Obama said that figure is higher than the number of Illinois serviceman who've died in Iraq in 2007."
Education
Opinion
Now Blogging NCLB: The Hoff
EdWeek's much-anticipated new blog "NCLB Part II" didn't show up on my RSS reader until this morning even though its author, reporter David (Hassel)Hoff, had kicked things off last week by pointing out one of my many mistakes. Welcome to the blogosphere, David. Part of me thinks that having an EdWeek blog dedicated to NCLB will be helpful and great -- less work for me to do, the more the merrier, etc. Another part of me thinks that there are already too many blogs out there doing pretty much the same thing. I guess the real test will be whether Hoff's blog provides information and insight that the rest of us don't have.
Education
Opinion
Big Stories Of The Day (July 16)
Law makes state oversee failing schools New Haven Register
Federal
Opinion
Fresh Off The FritzWire
Appropriations: On Wednesday, July 11, the House Appropriations Committee completed mark-up on a $607 billion Labor-HHS-Education spending bill that will set funding levels for education, health and labor programs for FY 2008. The bill allocates $62.6 billion for the Education Department, an increase of $2.3 billion over current funding. Overall, the total bill is roughly $7 billion more than that approved for FY 2007. Go to: http://appropriations.house.gov. The measure next moves to the House floor for consideration. The Senate has yet to move on its version of the bill.