Monthly Archives: November 2009

The turnaround fallacy

A remarkable and contrarian essay (and video) in Education Next by Andy Smarick which addresses the current federal and district fascination with school turnarounds and makes a fairly persuasive historical point: they usually don’t work. For as long as there have been struggling schools in … Continue reading

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The reform stew…

Recent news in the same vein: Big money into education reform. From the LA Times: The Ford Foundation pledged $100 million Wednesday to “transform” urban high schools in the United States, focusing on seven cities, including Los Angeles. The seven-year initiative is among … Continue reading

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Do charter schools benefit all students?

A very provocative study that can be seen as a companion to the Hoxby piece in NYC.  An excerpt from a news summary summarizes it thus: Marcus Winters, who follows education for the Manhattan Institute, has released a paper showing that even … Continue reading

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DPS’s School Performance Framework, magnified

With the DPS Board election now over, it’s back to the grind. Much of the current discussion around DPS — including the bulk of a recent A+ meeting — is focused on the School Performance Framework (SPF). Now I like the … Continue reading

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