Give NCLB a Better Chance to Succeed
by Lin Yang on April 2, 2008 in The Blackboard
When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) passed in 2002, it enjoyed tremendous bi-partisan support, with 47 Democrats and 43 Republicans in the Senate voting in its favor. Now, six years later, the law and its looming renewal process have become political taboo. Read more
Why Don’t We Have National Standards?
by Lin Yang on March 10, 2008 in The Blackboard
When Bob Moses spoke at the JFK, Jr. Forum on February 21, he called on our country to implement a constitutional amendment mandating that every child should have an equal opportunity to obtain an excellent education. Bob argued that this right is essential to ensuring further progress for minority communities in the U.S., and it follows the line of struggles that have won African Americans the right to be free, the right to vote, and the right to receive equal protection under the law. When he posed the proposal “How many of you believe that every child should have a chance to obtain a high quality education” to the audience, everyone’s hand shot up. So why don’t we have constitutional amendment for equal education? Read more
Urban School Children Have a New Advocate
by Rachel Hicks on March 8, 2008 in The Blackboard
If you haven’t seen this article from the Washington Post about changes afoot in the D.C. Public Schools, you should take five minutes and read it.
Since Mayor Fenty appointed Michelle Rhee the Chancellor of D.C.’s school system, Rhee has been making big waves. Read more
Can money buy a good education?–Part II
by Rachel Hicks on March 3, 2008 in Blog, The Blackboard
This post completes a two-part examination of whether giving schools more funding will improve student achievement.
***
School Funding Homework Pop Quiz: What major policy change has the state of New Jersey just approved for its public schools? (Look here to cheat.) Read more
So We’re Not Very Socially Mobile
by Lin Yang on February 28, 2008 in The Blackboard
The theme for this week’s Issues in Education Policy class is social mobility. Specifically, the general consensus is that America, the swash-buckling, individualism-driven, land of opportunity doesn’t provide as many “rags to riches” stories as other industrialized nations around the world. You know that feeling of reading through pages and pages of depressing statistics, to the point that your eyes start to glaze? To save you from horrendous reminders of grad school, here’s a brief summary of the findings: Read more
Can money buy a good education?–Part I
by Rachel Hicks on February 22, 2008 in Blog, The Blackboard
Due to the complexity of this issue, I’m splitting this post into two parts. Check back for the continuation.
Like every first-year teacher, I had grand visions for what my seventh-grade classroom would look like–an inviting, text-rich environment that would enable great student achievement in the language arts. Knowing such a classroom would cost money, I spoke to a teacher at my new school before I arrived about my classroom funds. I was worried that an under-resourced school with a high-poverty student population wouldn’t be able to help me stock my classroom. My colleague was re-assuring: he told me that every teacher received $600 the previous year.
Maybe this won’t be so bad, I thought. Read more
Education’s Dirty Little Secret
by Rachel Hicks on February 18, 2008 in Blog, The Blackboard
Everyone is an education expert.
No really, I’m serious. If five years in the field of education have taught me anything, it’s this: everyone knows what’s wrong with American education. Read more
NCLB: A good idea, a bad policy
by Allison Ohle on February 13, 2008 in The Blackboard
Since No Child Left Behind is one of the only topics in Education reform that gets any press, I thought I’d write my first post about it. Read more
