No matter what you think of its merits, you have to admire Governor Jerry Brown's new finance reform proposal for its sheer boldness. Many of us have been calling for years for a revamped California school funding system that is more rational, more equitable, and just plain simpler. Jerry Brown's...

Congress is debating this week whether to turn back the clock on advances for our most vulnerable students that were part of the legacy of No Child Left Behind. At stake as part of the debate is whether our legislators believe teachers should be required to complete a minimum level...

As I reported on this blog last Thursday and updated since, Congress seems ready to lower the standard of teacher owed every child in the country -- particularly impacting children in poor and minority communities -- and to hide that fact while they're at it.

Slipped in...

Buried deep in the nearly 2,000 page Senate omnibus appropriations bill that Harry Reid pulled Thursday night was an amendment slipped in on Tuesday that sought to lower the standard of teacher owed every child in the nation under No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

The provision, which has grassroots...

When the state that educates 1 in 8 American children is failing miserably at that task, America should care. When that state is also the 8th largest economy in the world, we should be up in arms. It's not just California's future that is tied to the quality of the...

It's been like a crowded basketball court these past couple of weeks for school improvement advocates with more than a few elbows thrown as everyone vied for the "bold reformer" territory.

At stake has been the leadership and agenda of the Obama administration's Department of Education. The tough love...

A slickly-coordinated string of editorials and columns in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Republic, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere has poured forth recently, all decrying the possible appointment of Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond as Secretary of Education. Obviously responding to the...

Barack Obama will be the first community organizer sworn into our nation's highest office--the dramatic result of an unprecedented level of grassroots support for a single candidate. Just how he will maintain and utilize this grassroots army is still evolving, but the potential is clear: By enacting community-engagement friendly policies...