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Public Education

Dreaming Big in Public School

Dao-Yi Chow | Posted 05.22.2013 | New York
Dao-Yi Chow

I didn't realize it back then, but going to public school in New York City set the direction for what I am doing now. The music I listened to and heard all around me dictated my world.

What Does Head Girl Mean?

Helen I. Hwang | Posted 05.17.2013 | Parents
Helen I. Hwang

How did my 8-year-old daughter start thinking along gender lines? By girl and boy categories? That there's worth in being the best girl, even if you're not better than two boys?

At Universities, Too, the Rich Grow Richer

Lawrence Wittner | Posted 05.16.2013 | Business
Lawrence Wittner

Although many Americans believe their universities are places where administrators and faculty members coexist on a fairly equal basis, the reality is that this is far from the case.

Survey Says: Education Is Key to Strong Communities

Kate Markin Coleman | Posted 05.10.2013 | DC
Kate Markin Coleman

Americans handed their communities a grade earlier this year and the results were mixed. Most communities are earning a passing grade, but no one will be putting their report cards on the fridge.

In Education, Solutions Should Celebrate -- Not Remediate

Eric Cooper | Posted 05.08.2013 | Black Voices
Eric Cooper

Schools remain our greatest hope -- the central function of any community. When working effectively, schools enable and empower the branches, mechanisms and policies of social networks to extend opportunity, simple justice and basic fairness.

Why We Need Public Boarding Schools

Thomas Fisher | Posted 05.07.2013 | Impact
Thomas Fisher

Affordable housing and school busing can do little to counter a disruptive family life or a dangerous neighborhood. We need an alternative: public boarding schools.

A Message for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: EAA Is a Failed Experiment

Sen. Bert Johnson | Posted 05.07.2013 | Detroit
Sen. Bert Johnson

The Educational Achievement Authority is an experiment that has failed. Legislators are considering a bill to expand it from its current 15-school version in Detroit to a statewide district that takes over the "bottom 5 percent" of schools. This system must be abolished completely, certainly not expanded statewide.

Leveling the Playing Field for Low-Income High Achievers

John Cronin | Posted 05.06.2013 | Impact
John Cronin

We analyzed the growth of the top ten percent of students within their respective schools over three years in a large sample of 1,000 schools across the country. Our researchers hoped to see if the high achievers in high-poverty schools had the same growth as students in more affluent settings.

The Wisdom of Crowds, Untapped

Sam Chaltain | Posted 05.03.2013 | DC
Sam Chaltain

We are ignoring the wisdom of our own community, and the chance to imagine D.C.'s future education policy as a city-wide, regenerative civic event.

Actually, Failing Our Children Is What's Unflippingbelieveable

Bruce Lesley | Posted 04.30.2013 | Politics
Bruce Lesley

Rather than a debate about whether child rearing should be focused on either parents, the community, or government, the most important questions we need to be answering are how we can improve the lives and outcomes of our nation's children -- at the family, community, and political levels.

Tax Cuts Won't Produce the Jobs New Jersey Needs

Gordon MacInnes | Posted 04.25.2013 | New York
Gordon MacInnes

Cutting tax rates won't restore jobs and prosperity. We should be talking about the investments that will work, starting with preschool.

The Gorilla Speaks: It's Time to Change the Conversation About Public Education

Nancy Letts | Posted 04.23.2013 | Parents
Nancy Letts

Instead of pitting public schools against charters and vouchers, we've all got to take an unvarnished look at the gorilla in the room: poverty.

Minimum Amount of Grades Per Week? Good in Theory, Often Bad in Practice

Andrew K. Miller | Posted 04.22.2013 | Politics
Andrew K. Miller

An arbitrary number is not going to support student achievement and teacher practice; focus on a best practice is. Instead of focusing on quantity of assessments, let's focus on quality of assessment practices.

RNC Wrong to Oppose Common Core Standards

Jonah Edelman | Posted 04.19.2013 | Impact
Jonah Edelman

If we get this right, by the 2014-2015 school year the standards that kids are held accountable to in 46 states will finally align with what they actually need to know in college and in the real world.

Supporting Schools to Improve the Educational Outcomes of Emergent Bilinguals

Vanessa Perez | Posted 04.18.2013 | Latino Voices
Vanessa Perez

There is a shift across all levels of bilingual education -- state-wide, district-wide and school-wide -- to view the home language as vital for the academic development of bilingual students.

The Southern State Fast Becoming Ayn Rand's Vision of Paradise

Les Leopold | Posted 04.14.2013 | Politics
Les Leopold

Tennessee starves what little government it has. It ranks dead last in per capita tax revenue. To fund its minimalist public sector, it makes sure that low income residents pay as much as possible through heavily regressive sales taxes.

In Birthplace of High-stakes Testing, Lawmakers Turn on Its Godfather

Jason Stanford | Posted 04.12.2013 | Politics
Jason Stanford

Nowhere is the movement against high-stakes testing as strong as it is in Texas where all this started. Now, 86 percent of the state's school boards have adopted resolutions opposing the over-reliance on high-stakes testing.

The Runaway Train

Eric Sheninger | Posted 04.12.2013 | Politics
Eric Sheninger

I am all for meaningful change that will benefit our students, but I continue to scratch my head as I watch what is happening in the state I live in (NY) and the one where I work (NJ). I am still trying to figure out how SGP's will work.

Who Is to Blame?

Randy Miller | Posted 04.10.2013 | Politics
Randy Miller

What is real school reform? When educators and policymakers see a school district in crisis, I wonder what they think about. When the "big-shot" stake...

Pearson and the Atlanta School Mess

Alan Singer | Posted 04.03.2013 | Politics
Alan Singer

How did Pearson, which claims to have checkpoints "built into the process to ensure consistent progress in achieving school improvement goals," attempt to establish the validity of the Atlanta school district's claims for off-the-charts improvement on test scores before taking credit for the results?

Close Corporate Tax Loopholes, Not Public Schools

Carl Gibson | Posted 03.29.2013 | Chicago
Carl Gibson

If you want more kids to grow up into responsible, successful adults who contribute to our society, and if you want lower crime rates and prison populations, investing in good public education makes sense.

The Meme-ification of Civic Engagement

Rachel Tardiff | Posted 03.29.2013 | Politics
Rachel Tardiff

I'm convinced that the outpouring of political activity on social networks -- especially around hot-button social issues like marriage equality -- is a frustrated attempt to engage by a generation of people unsure of how else to make change.

Industrial Age Education Is a Disservice to Students

John Baker | Posted 03.28.2013 | Politics
John Baker

We've all seen teachers assign texts and say, 'There will be a test to follow.' This is how the system is set up -- but it's not the kind of learning that kids need. What are they going to do when they get out in the real world?

Bringing Free Market Choices to Education

John Katzman | Posted 03.28.2013 | Impact
John Katzman

Free markets have sometimes led to excess -- reality TV and supersized soft drinks come to mind -- but have also given us incredible innovation, a remarkable degree of choice and the world's strongest economy. And yet free markets are absent from K-12 education.

Closing Schools Despite the Data

Elaine Weiss | Posted 03.28.2013 | Chicago
Elaine Weiss

Parents, students, teachers, and principals are right to seek policy decisions based on evidence, not the popularity of current reforms, and to put a stop to those that harm students, schools, and their communities.