Printer-friendly versionSome of the News Fit to Print
THE ORDEAL OF EQUALITY
Checker Finn writes in Education Next: If Secretary Duncan is serious about “listening” to ideas for the next ESEA reauthorization (aka “fixing what’s wrong with NCLB”), he would do well to start with the important and depressing book by David K. Cohen (Carnegie Board member and recent visiting scholar) & Susan L. Moffitt, The Ordeal of Equality: Did Federal Regulation Fix the Schools? Veteran education policy chronicler/analyst Cohen and Brown University’s Moffitt have delivered the definitive history of the federal Title I program, its evolution and, for the most part, its failure. Their singular contribution amounts to a map of the limits of federal education policy when it comes to transforming U.S. schools and educational achievement.
More information on the book is here.
PAIRING HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA WITH AA DEGREE
An emerging trend in education may be worth exploring, one which encourages high school students to earn college credit even before receiving their diploma. A number of states and school districts are now offering college level classes at the high school level, a move which paves the way for some students to receive their high school diploma and an associate’s degree at the same time. The piece is from Say Campus Life.
THE PROSPECTS FOR NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Richard Rothstein blogs for the Economic Policy Institute: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called for a speedy re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), branded the "No Child Left Behind" law (NCLB) by the Bush administration. After expiring in 2007, NCLB has hung on with annual temporary extensions; its provisions are now so controversial that no Congressional majority has been able to coalesce around a proposal for modification. But "re-authorization can't wait," Duncan said recently, and he has pledged to get Congress to enact a new education law in 2010.
GRANTS AIM TO INCREASE COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRADUATION RATES
With the help of $6.1 million from two foundations, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is launching an effort to dramatically increase the number of students who complete community-college programs. The grant will help expand programs that already are getting good reviews. The I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training) program allows students who need to take remedial classes the chance to combine those studies with career-skills training. Another program rewards two-year colleges for the success of their students, not just for how many they enroll. The article is in the Seattle Times.
COLLEGES NEED TO MEASURE QUALITY BASED ON LEARNING
American colleges aren't doing enough to measure the specific learning that takes place in their courses and degree programs, and learning needs to be recognized as the primary measure of quality in higher education, says the president of the Lumina Foundation for Education. In the prepared text of a speech he was to give Wednesday evening at Claremont Graduate University, Jamie P. Merisotis, the group's president, says that the United States needs to ensure quality in higher education as it seeks to improve degree-completion rates. He also criticizes the way quality is often defined. Right now, Mr. Merisotis says, what is considered a "quality" education often has little connection with the actual knowledge that students gain or the skills they develop in college. Instead, what Americans perceive as a "quality" education is often a function of reputation or prestige, Mr. Merisotis says, according to the prepared text of the speech, which is titled "It's the Learning, Stupid." The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
NC SELECTS CARNEGIE LEARNING MATH MATERIALS
Carnegie Learning, Inc. announced today that the State Board of Education in North Carolina is recommending the company’s complete suite of middle school and high school mathematics textbooks and Cognitive Tutor® Software to schools across the state. The State Board of Education completed an extensive review of Carnegie Learning® Bridge to Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II programs, and recommended the materials for use as core curricula for 8th grade Math, Introductory Mathematics, Algebra I, Algebra II, & Geometry in North Carolina. Carnegie Learning is not in any way associated with The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
