The New York State Education Department is thinking about replacing the General Education Diploma test because of its cost, up to $6 million per year, and its 60 percent pass rate, the lowest in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported. One alternative, according to the Journal, might...
Posted December 8, 2011 | 12/08/11 04:20 PM ET
By refusing the church's latest appeal in Bronx Household of Faith v. New York City Board of Education, 11-386, the United States Supreme Court Wednesday gave a final judicial green light to the Department of Education's controversial ban on renting schools for religious services.
While only persuasive nationally, the now-final...
Posted November 23, 2011 | 11/23/11 03:05 PM ET
Release of New York City "Progress Reports" and a plethora of other news from around the country reveal the tough truth that high stakes accountability fails to raise academic achievement. Indeed, it leads to watering down the very standards its advocates espouse, merely producing talking points that politicians and administrators...
Posted June 26, 2011 | 06/26/11 11:32 PM ET
Two new reports on standards-based accountability and incentive systems should end the current thrust of U.S. education policy.
The first, by the National Academies' National Research Council, investigated the impact of high stakes tests, the basis for current accountability measures. The second, by the National Center on Education and the...
Posted December 15, 2010 | 12/15/10 02:41 PM ET
There was no need for the high drama associated with Joel Klein's resignation as New York schools Chancellor. Every district in the country regularly faces these departures, yet it is rare for superintendents to quit or be fired mid-year, usually for critical health or ethical reasons. Six months notice is...
Posted November 15, 2010 | 11/15/10 03:21 PM ET
The firestorm surrounding Catherine Black's designation as Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools could have been avoided. Mayor Bloomberg explained his sudden decision by stating, "To go through a lengthy process in the middle of a school year is just not something in our kids' interest."
But he's...
Posted October 29, 2010 | 10/29/10 06:42 PM ET
Full Court Pres shoveled the ball to Dunk'em, who missed the easy layup.
"Shi-cago!" shouted Pres. "I thought you said this school stuff was easy."
"It got me here, didn't it?" said Dunk'em with a smile. "It's all about ball control. The media eat it up."
"But what about the...
Posted February 19, 2012 | 02/19/12 10:28 PM ET