I can think of no better preface to this piece than this wonderful clip from Monty Python's Life of Brian:

A lively comment stream last...

I attended an education reform conference last week as part of a panel on the "new media landscape" before a group of advocates and funders. I had the chance to sit in on a few other sessions, and some of what I heard got me thinking about the phenomenon of...

Having stayed out of the fray for several months working on the business end of EdNews, I've gained some distance and perspective on the flashpoints that have been dominating the education reform debate. From a freshly detached point of view, a few things seem clear to me. In no particular...

"Juking the stats. Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats and majors become colonels. I've been here before." -- a cop-turned-teacher in HBO's series "The Wire," when asked to boost test scores.

Last week's article in Westword about abuses in Denver North High School's "credit...

Last month I wrote a blog post about my lack of confidence in educational research, some of which strikes me as politicized. My basic point was that in some cases you could read only an author or think tank's name and guess a study's conclusions with a high degree...

Research is hailed as the Holy Grail in the world of education. Starting a sentence with the words "research shows" is aimed at sticking a dagger in the heart of an opponent's argument. Increasingly, though, I am finding reasons not to trust education research.

Over time I have noticed that...

As a nation we have become adept at going to extremes to prevent the last disaster or near-disaster from occurring again. Isn't that why we must take off our shoes in airport security lines and can't carry more than a single one-quart baggie holding 3.4-ounce containers of liquid onto a...

Which of these two approaches do you believe generates better results, whatever the endeavor?

1. Constantly shifting gears; placing a high value on trying new programs an strategies without necessarily waiting to evaluate the results of what you have initiated before moving on to the next new thing.

Let me be clear from the outset: I do not believe many, if any, education advocates look at our public education systems and see the status quo as acceptable. It so clearly isn't that people who toss around that accusation are just throwing bombs.

There, are, however, plenty of people who attempt...

Michelle Rhee speaks her mind bluntly and forcefully, not pausing to worry about whether she might be offending anyone in her audience. That's part of what endears her to people who agree with her positions on school reform. Conversely, it's what makes her a villain among...

I just finished watching a new film called Race to Nowhere. On one level it is yet another documentary about an education system that has run off the rails. But this one differs from Waiting for "Superman", The Lottery and The Cartel -- the reform triumvirate -- in some...

I'm at best a casual observer of the New York City public school system. The complexities of the politics surrounding any big issue in the Big Apple are daunting. But I've watched with detached interest over the years as the team of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein...

It's no secret that if forced to choose sides my sympathies in the Denver education reform battle would lie with Superintendent Tom Boasberg and the four school board members who usually support his initiatives.

But I'm not an unqualified supporter. I wonder about Denver Public Schools' ability to implement its...

Establishing a school voucher program in Douglas County would be akin to sending famine-relief supplies to the Upper East Side of Manhattan while people starve in Darfur. Whether you're a supporter or foe of vouchers, this should strike you as a strange idea.

It's not entirely clear that what's floating...

I met a couple of friends for a drink last week. Let's call them Thing One and Thing Two.

They had been feuding online and I thought our own little beer summit might calm the waters.

Thing One arrived first. She had several emails to answer on her BlackBerry and...

I thought I had found a sliver of common ground.

Late last week, when I read the Century Foundation's new report, "Housing Policy is School Policy," it seemed the study made a compelling argument in favor of socio-economic school integration. Finally, I thought, an education issue upon which my...

It looks from the outside as though Denver Public Schools and A-Plus Denver, a citizen advocacy group, did a lot right when designing a protracted process to involve the community in overhauling schools in Far Northeast Denver.

But now critics are stepping in with some ninth-inning broadsides in an effort...

Reliably bombastic blogger Mike Klonsky calls it "Education (indoctri)Nation." Denver school board member Andrea Merida calls it "mass hysteria intended to soften public support for public schools and the teachers that serve children."

My gosh, what is this we're talking about? A newly discovered fascist plot to seize control of...

At a conference at the Aspen Institute in mid-September, Colorado state Sen. Mike Johnston gave one of the most heartfelt and persuasive speeches I've heard in a long while. Perhaps it struck me as so brilliant because I already agreed with everything he said.

But I think there is more...

In the next few days and weeks you are going to be hearing a lot about a film called Waiting for Superman. It's directed by Davis Guggenheim, who made An Inconvenient Truth, and its focus is school reform. More precisely it focuses on how certain charter schools are providing...