Morning Round-Up July 30, 2006

Bill Gates, the Nation's Superintendent of Schools LA Times
Educators are waiting with bated breath to see which direction this multibillion-dollar behemoth will take.

Affordable Laptop Computer Project Moves Forward NPR
Nicholas Negroponte wants to put inexpensive laptops into the hands of children in developing countries. The project is called One Laptop Per Child. Despite setbacks, the program is moving forward. (Also: India rejects One Laptop Per Child)

Passing Down the Legacy of Conservatism NYT via EdNews
Everywhere young conservatives turn there are conferences, seminars and reading lists that promote its core thinkers.

NPR Confirms -- And Debunks -- The "Buried" Private School Report Theory

There were not one but two NPR segments over the past couple of days on the private schools report, one confirming and the other debunking conspiracy theories about its release.

The first, a news segment by Claudio Sanchez (Private School Report Spurs Controversy), mostly confirms the "did they intentionally try and bury the report?" issue that everyone else considered -- and smarter minds reluctantly dismissed -- early last week. Jack Jennings and Checker Finn say the report was probably meant to be buried; Russ Whitehurst says Spellings had to know about it; and Spellings responds with a statement that she didn't know, no reports should come out on Fridays, and that she hopes parents won't make individual school decisions based on the averages in the report.

Much more informative was the second NPR piece on the report, run a day later on the afternoon call-in show Talk Of The Nation, which -- finally -- fills us in on how the report actually came to be reported in the news. And, lo and behold, it turns out that Times reporter Diana Jean Schemo largely debunks the conspiracy theorists. She points out that the report wasn't actually released by Spellings' office, wasn't buried late on a summer Friday (like this post) but rather first thing in the AM, and was sent to 11,000 individuals, any of whom could have fished it out. It wasn't buried, she says, though she admits after being prompted by host Neil Conant that it wasn't exactly trumpted either. Nor was it new news, she adds, considering that a similar report comparing math achievement came out a few months before.

The rest of the TOTN segment includes some very mild back-and-forth between the normally combative Andy Rotherham and the supposedly conservative Mike Petrilli, who both did fine but aren't really far enough apart from each other on vouchers (and several other issues) to make for good radio. Petrilli generally stuck to the usual talking points but at times seemed to be making a case against private schools, not for them. A very mellow Rotherham could only manage to quibble with a few of Petrilli's points. Another pair -- AEI and AFT, or Clint Bolick and Dianne Piche -- would have done better to flesh out the deep divide that remains on voucher issues.

What's Up With Weighted Student Funding?

Not many seem to have noted that Hawaii has just become the first state in the US to implement a WSF plan -- albeit a single-district state. The roundup says that eight districts presently are piloting WSF programs, including Seattle, Houston and San Francisco, and that it's being used in Louisiana as part of the Katrina response.

Meanwhile, The Gadfly, respond to a blog post from EdWize (I think this may be the first time they've acknowledged the existence of blogs) and claims that many responses to its proposal have been alarmist (which is probably true).

House Dems Propose $32B School Construction Program

Last week it was the stem cell vote, the voucher proposal, and all of that other showboating "rally the base" stuff, but I guess that Republicans aren't the only ones. For example, three House Dems (Miller, Woolsey, and Chandler) proposed a $32B school construction program. Reminds me of the Clinton days. Except back then some of those things actually went into law. Obviously, this proposal goes nowhere -- except into campaign materials. I only wish they had some new ideas. What next, class size reduction?

Should States Decide On Restructuring?

Over at Schools Matter, Peter Campbell adds something to the now-familiar observation that schools in restructuring are rarely required to do as much real changing as once imagined/feared (Avoiding the AYP Hammer). Specifically, he asks the question if someone else besides the district should be put in charge of deciding which of the restructuring options is chosen. It's a good question.

Keep Choice Alive

On Tuesday, edspresso's Ryan Boots takes perhaps a little bit too much credit, a little too soon, for the NYT story about NCLB enforcement (Spellings and NCLB enforcement).

Remember that the Department's newfound interest in enforcement mostly relates to assessments and teacher quality, not choice, and in fact the tutoring announcement on Wednesday does little to help the cause of NLCB choice and may in fact hinder it.

The Alliance may well deserve some credit for keeping the choice issue alive, and Boots points out that it's been done mostly without business group support (Roundtable, where are you?). But it still seems way too early -- and a little too much -- for anyone to claim victory.

UPDATE: Boots responds, quite reasonably, here.

If Metallica Can Do It, So Can Fordham

Based on this week's output alone -- EdWeek commentary here (you get to read three articles a week for free, people), Murray bashing here -- it's clear that Fordham's Mike Petrilli's got too many interesting things to say and not enough places to say them -- not to mention Checker and the rest of the gang.

Come on, folks. If Metallica can get over that whole iTunes downloading thing, Fordham can have a blog. In the meantime, feel free to guest blog anytime here, Mike (or Checker). Just remember, we allow reader comments.

Speaking of Murray, Jay Greene piles on against the piece and points out (as I did earlier this week) that having it appear in the WSJ was particularly odd.

ED Loosens Tutoring Requirements, Abandons Choice -- This Is Getting Tough?

Perhaps the most interesting part of Ben Feller's AP piece is that it tries to describe ED's newly-expanded tutoring waiver and SES "flip" with "get-tough" actions on other fronts:

"The policy changes are part of a pattern of enforcement by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings," writes Feller (Education Department Expands Tutoring). "She wants to show she can adapt -waiving rules to get more kids in tutoring- and yet be tough on states that do not comply, by threatening to pull their money."

I'm just not sure the connection is there -- I see only a loosening of requirements. Where's the "get tough" in that? Just as importantly, Feller fails to note that Spellings may be further diminishing NCLB choice with her move. He asserts that parents "prefer" tutoring over transfers, which isn't necessarily the case and sounds a lot like ED-speak. Some parents may prefer tutoring in some cases, but the fact that six times as many students were tutored is more the result of the relative logistical ease for districts of providing tutoring compared to transfers, weaknesses in the law's transfer requirements, and lax enforcement on the part of the USDE even now. When, exactly, is Spellings going to get tough on the choice provision?

You can see the USDE's press release here and the letters to individual districts (Anchorage, Memphis, Chicago, and Boston) and states (Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia) here.

UPDATE: Eduwonk agrees that this isn't toughening, and that choice is getting left out.

UPDATE 2: The AFT blog is underwhelmed by the flexibility and suspects that ED is simply working the press to get (even more) positive coverage.

The NEA Has A Hottie -- How About You?

No, she's not one of those sex-crazed teachers who seem to be assaulting boys left and right of late. She's Staci Maiers, an NEA congressional liaison, who is (far as I could tell) the only education-related person named to The Hill's annual 50 Hill Hotties (or whatever they call it). There's also a foul-mouthed version The DCeiver here (with thanks to an eagle-eyed reader for pointing it out).

Tauscher LA Jamie McInerney (below) has nothing to do with education, I don't think -- he's just here for equal time.

To all of you who keep asking if I'm going to do Hot For Education again this year, I still haven't decided yet. It was popular, but embarassing. Even I have standards (I think).

Still, feel free to send your nominations (and pics if you have them) to me at AlexanderRusso @ gmail.com. A new crop of folks to embarrass might be fun -- from the Hill, the groups, the think tanks, or, hey, even the AFT. Who are the education hotties in your office?

AEI Scholar Slams NCLB In The Wall Street Journal

Charles Murray's critique of the NCLB testing system isn't anything new, really -- he says that pass rates are uninformative in many cases and deceptive in others -- but the fact that he's an AEI scholar, and that the piece is published in the Wall Street Journal, makes reading the piece a little more interesting.

UPDATE: Assorted Stuff says The Numbers Don’t Add Up

UPDATE: Mike Petrilli has even more to say Dropping acid

So Much For Making NCLB Choice Really WOrk

Like the Times, Richard Kahlenberg praises the news that the USDE may be taking steps to enforce elements of NCLB that he thinks are important -- especially the choice provisions (Enforcing the NCLB Act).

He probably won't be nearly as happy when he hears the announcement later this morning that USDE is going to expand the SES-choice "flip"(as well as allowing more low performing districts like Chicago to provide their own tutoring).

Four low-performing districts will get to do their own tutoring. Five states will get to "flip" choice and SES, putting choice at the back of the line yet again.

Who Replaces Winerip?

Today's On Education column is the first that I've seen since Mike Winerip, the regular columnist, announced he was leaving that assignment. His replacement, for this week at least, is Clara Hemphill, who has helped turn InsideSchools.org into a powerhouse of school information on the web.

Her topic is the preschool play vs. learning debate: "while it may seem like a good thing to teach reading, writing and arithmetic as early as possible, most early childhood experts agree that play is crucial for both social and academic development (A New Meaning for ‘Play’)."

Fighting "Tooth And Nail" Against Teacher Quality

The NYT editorial page from Tuesday follows up on the teacher quality issue by praising Secretary Spellings for her renewed attention to the issue and reminding everyone how evasive and resistant state and local folks are on the issue, no matter what the statute or ED says -- whether it's with this law, NCLB, or with past attempts to get at the issue such as the ed school accountability provisions in the 1997 Higher Education Act (Demanding vs. Doing).

PBS Kids Fires Host Over Sex Ed Spoof

Apparently PBS beat Spellings and/or Congress to the punch this time, by firing one of its hosts after finding out that she had done a video spoof of a sex ed PSA in which she tells women how they can remain virgins 'technically' (PBS Kids host fired over 'inappropriate' video). The link to one of the 'technical virgin' videos is here, but don't click it if you're at work.

UPDATE: I can't resist -- here's the video (be warned, it's probably NSFW):

The Real Chicago Experiment? University-Run Schools

Chicago schools are known for lots of things -- local councils, mayoral control, etc. -- but the growing involvement of the University of Chicago in taking over and running several neighborhood schools may be the most interesting and innovative part of what's going on here now -- a more extensive role than any I can recall since John Silber's Boston University took over the Chelsea school system in the 1980s.

Check out Kate Grossman's three-part Chicago Sun Times series on what's going on at one of the South Side schools being run by the University of Chicago -- one of the most direct examples of higher ed involvement in K12 reform in the nation (Doubts emerge in school experiment).

Confused Signals From the USDE

Sam Dillon's NYT piece on the current state of NCLB enforcement gives a nice update on where things are regarding qualified teachers and state assessment systems, and an overview of how Spellings' tactics have changed (Most States Fail Demands in Education Law). But there's not much explanation or analysis about why Spellings has shifted course so dramatically -- just some mumbo-jumbo from her about how states' homework has come due. Thanks, teach.

In the meantime, the confused signals from ED continue with today's Chicago Sun Times reporting that Chicago schools will continue to be able to provide their own tutoring as in the past, despite being a low performing district (City schools get reprieve on tutoring).

Monday Roundup - July 24 2006

The U. of Chicago way Chicago Sun-Times
A key element of what the University of Chicago promises Donoghue parents is instruction tailored to each kid.

Well Past Halfway NY Sun via EducationNews.org
We are now well past the halfway point in New York's great experiment with mayoral control of the schools, an experiment that appears to be a work in progress.

An Interview with Rod Paige Education News.org
Rod answers some questions about NCLB and what he's been up to.

A Milestone For The EduSphere! Eduwonks
Joanne Jacobs, one of the EduSphere's original founders, has now surpassed 2 million page views over at her place.

Friday Roundup: Articles I Should Have Blogged Already

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax' NYT
Poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. Some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.

Muzzling Sex Education NYT
While about two-thirds of states require public schools to teach about H.I.V. and sexually transmitted diseases, fewer than half mandate sex education, and most stress abstinence, according to a survey by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group.

For 7th Grade Jocks, Is There Ever an Off-Season? NYT
"Specialty sports camps are on the increase as young athletes focus on playing one sport year-round, and the competition to make the best teams stiffens. In spite of holdouts like Mrs. Weber — and the concerns of some exercise experts and psychologists — many parents, children and coaches say that these camps are essential for benchwarmers looking to start or for aspiring players desperately seeking to make varsity."

Online age verification may prove complex Seattle Post Intelligencer
MySpace has recently implemented policies designed to better separate kids from adults. Among the changes, adult MySpace users must already know a 14- or 15-year-old user's e-mail address or full name to initiate contact or view a profile containing personal information. However, because age is self-reported, as it is at similar sites, adults could simply sign up as minors.

On your mark, get set: Science! CS Monitor
On 'Iron Science Teacher,' competitors are told the ingredient in advance so they can develop an activity, but once they're on stage, they have only 10 minutes to assemble and present their science lesson.

Who Messed Up On Montana?

"Montana will appeal a federal ruling that says the state has major problems with student testing required by No Child Left Behind, state Superintendent Linda McCulloch says," according to this Billings Gazette story (State to appeal No Child status). "But the Montana Office of Public Instruction contends the state is on target with its timetable for implementing the tests and is making good progress in doing so. It also says the threatened sanctions were unusual in the OPI's dealings with the department."

I guess we can't blame this one on Whitehurst.

Stem Cells Vs. Vouchers

Like the voucher initiative that was rolled out earlier this week, yesterday's stem cell votes and veto were in large part political theater aimed at the fall elections. Lawmakers got to vote for or against stem cell use, and Bush got to do his pretend-conservative act.

What's different about the voucher initiative, it seems to me, is that it could in some form very well pass the House and Senate and become law. More and more lawmakers, including Democratic ones, have voted for vouchers in various circumstances. Public school choice -- including NCLB transfers -- haven't seemed to have worked Ditto for 'restructuring.' And at least some of the Constitutional arguments against vouchers are gone.

Wishful Thinking Of The Week

From the 100 Percent Solution folks at Fordham: "Weighted student funding, a bold new model for public-school finance, is winning remarkable support from a broad spectrum of policymakers, education organizations, parents and school leaders." (Support mounts for new school funding model)

What that boils down to is that lots of former officials are signing on, but no big names. And I'm not sure signatories mean much. See previous post: Who Signed, Who Didn't

Politics of NCLB in Colo. Campaign

Lame duck LAUSD supt (and former CO governor) does the easy thing and comes out against NCLB to help out a friend (Aspen Times).

ED's Kevin Sullivan Heads To The White House

Starting Monday, USDE's Kevin Sullivan is headed to the White House. According to the Dallas Observer, he'll play the Toby Ziegler role.

UPDATE: More on this (and Tom Luce's departure) at EdWeek.

UPDATE 2: Eduwonk checks in to say that Luce's departure is a loss for Spellings and a win for Whitehurst -- who really needs one this week.

Conspiracy Theories Aren't All Brilliant

Mike Antonucci at Intercepts points out that those who thought that the Friday release of the private schools report was brilliant and intentional can't have it both ways: "As with all bad conspiracy theories, the evil schemers are credited with being both fiendishly clever and incredibly stupid." Brilliant!

Who Did It Best? NYT, WaPo, USAT, or AP?

Once in a blue moon when everyone writes essentially the same story on the same day you can compare the major papers' education coverage -- or at least their opening sentences (and who they get to respond). There's no clear winner here, but some interesting differences:

Greg Toppo at USA Today gets lots of credit for a sly opener that hints at the strange timing of the event without being too obvious: "Children in poorly performing public schools need the chance to attend private schools, and taxpayers should pick up the tab, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Tuesday, four days after a report found that private schools offer little academic advantage over public schools." He also gets Russ Whitehurst to provide some comic relief trying to explain how his boss could have possibly not known about the report.

Lois Romano at the Washington Post gives us a meat-and-potatoes opener that lays out the basic power dynamics at play in no uncertain terms: "The Bush administration and Republican legislators yesterday proposed a $100 million national plan to offer low-income students private-school vouchers to escape low-performing public schools. The plan was immediately assailed by Democrats, unions and liberal advocacy groups." She gets the NEA's Reg Weaver to respond.

Over at the NYT, Diana Jean Schemo gives us a dry-as-dust opener that indicates neither how exquisitely awkward a situation it was nor the fierce opposition to the idea that's out there: "With Education Secretary Margaret Spellings joining them in a show of support, Congressional Republicans proposed Tuesday to spend $100 million on vouchers for low-income students in chronically failing public schools around the country to attend private and religious schools." But she does get Ralph Neas from PFAW for the react, which isn't bad.

It's not in the first paragraphs, but AP's Ben Feller bravely uses the "awkward" word to describe the situation without bothering to find someone else to point out how awkward it was: "The Bush administration requested the school-choice plan, but Tuesday's media event caused some awkwardness for the Education Department. The agency just released a study that raises questions about whether private schools offer any advantage over public ones."

Best of the Carnival

You gotta see this week's Carnival of Education over at Education In Texas, which includes more fun and random blog posts than you can shake a stick at (Education in Texas).

Watch Out For Local School District Watchdog Blogs

Watch out, lazy reporters and sketchy school boards officials - citizen watchdog blogs like the St. Louis Schools Watch are going to make your job harder (and in the case of St. Louis Public Schools there's a lot of drama to work with right now).

Like Peyton Wolcott, The Watch is focused on a particular school board, and authored by what seems to be a smart, knowledgeable, and extremely energetic individual who want to find out what's going on in the budgets and board reports and the back rooms. (His name's Peter Downs and he's very into homemade video right now.) These folks dig things up. (Correction: Antonio French provides the content to the site.)

My Chicago public schools site, District 299, is a pale and lazy version of what these guys are doing -- more coverage and commentary than original reporting (though the comments sections are heating up). The information-packed (and foundation-funded) New York City site Inside Schools blows everyone else out of the water with iits individual school reviews (and comments).

Then there's the site that covers the Winona (Minn.) public school system whose contents and comments got so incendiary that school administrators banned it from district computers and got a newspaper story for their troubles. Hard to beat that.

Predictably Awkward Voucher Presss Conference For Secty Spellings Gets Even Worse

Here's the first of what is likely to be a passel of Tuesday stories about the new Republican voucher proposal Republicans unveil $100 million school voucher plan CNN) -- and the "awkward" coincidence regarding last week's public/private school study that I think I may actually have been the first to anticipate (here and here if you want to verify and/or credit). But who could have predicted that Spellings would make it worse by saying she didn't know about the NCES study? Now that, no one could have guessed.

Note to the good folks at the USDE and on the Hill: (1) Read my blog (even on weekends), it will save you some embarassment if by some stretch of the imagination you haven't figured it out on your own already; (2) Don't let your boss say she didn't know something she should have known, it reminds us of too many other government officials who've claimed to have been "out of the loop"; and (3) you can always cancel or reschedule.

New Prominence For Education News?

School Me, the LA Times' overaccomplished newcomer on the scene, notes several small but interesting changes in the way some newspapers are highlighting their education news, and reminds me that I predicted a whole passel of new newspaper blogs coming down the pike. I'll work on that. In the meantime, someone's gotta help me out: is it the plain "School Me" or is it the more enthusiastic "School Me!"?

Banning Cell Phones, Banning Laptops

The Christian Science Monitor comes to the New York City cell phone ban story late, but gives some interesting national context and comparison (laptops) to make up for it: 'Ringing' in the school year.

Deborah Meier's MySpace Page

You can imagine my surprise, coming upon Deborah Meier's MySpace webpage , complete with biographical information ("Female, 75 years old, Framingham, Mass.") and who she'd like to meet.

Given the popularity of MySpace and the fact that so many teachers and students "live" there, we should all have MySpace pages.

Then I find out it's a grad school project.

Vouchers For Everbyody -- Including Spellings

As previously noted, tomorrow is Secty Spellings' chance to answer some questions about the public/private school study and indicate the Administration's position on scholarships and/or vouchers.

The scholarship program being introduced is intended to "provide children in under-performing schools with more choices and opportunities to improve their educational experience." Competitive grants to states, LEAs, or nonprofits. McKeon is supposed to be there from the House side, but no Frist Enzi (Alexander and Ensign instead).

For what it's worth, Spellings herself hasn't been known as much of a vouchers person. Until recently, she wasn't even known as being much of a fan of choice. However, with campaigns heating up and NCLB threatening to turn into a bowl of mush, no doubt she's under some pressure to help out a little. A dollar for anyone who asks her about the Zidane head-butt.

Around The Blogs This Morning

Raising a boy to love books
Joanne points to a female blogger writing about boys in school.
Club Meds
Dan G. blogs the NYT story about medication at camp.
The Answer to our Educational Woes
EdPol crushes on a NJ piece about the benefits of competition.
NYC: A Nice Place If Klein Pays Your Rent
NYCEd doesn't thinks housing incentives for math teachers are fair.
The Knucklehead Of The Day: Pamela Rogers
The Wonks are still hot for teacher (but need a better picture).
At Last...
Eduwonk begrudges the AFTies their NYT mention.

Go, Lutheran Schools!

Who cares that private school kids don't do much better than public school ones, once you control for income, parents' education, etc. (Public Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study)? That's just confusing statistical crap.

Ask any private school parent -- all that really matters is that richer kids with more educated parents still do better than poor ones with less-educated parents -- and that Lutheran schools kick conservative Christian schools' asses. (Go, Lutheran schools!)

Kudos to the folks at the AFT Blog -- and to NYTers Diana Jean Schemo and Alison Mitchell -- for the blog's mention in the Saturday's story. However, the timing of the report's release might not seem so smart on Tuesday, when the Secretary has to take questions about the report at press conference about a new "scholarship" proposal on the Hill. Doh!

UPDATE: Firing from the left, the Washington Monthly responds with: "I don't think this report is exactly cause for breaking out champagne among public school champions."

Capitalizing On Boys

Over at The Gadfly, Martin Davis (for whom I'm currently doing some project work) points readers back to Kati Haycock's excellent points on boys in schools and highlights the political advantages of focusing on boys -- even if the evidence remains somewhat under debate. "Today's generation of policy worriers is focusing on boys," writes Davis. "So let's capitalize on it."

"You're Such A Slut"

If you've been startled to hear teen and even 'tween girls casually calling each other sluts (as in, "you're such a...") for things as innocuous as admitting a crush or glancing at a guy, you'll want to read this NYT article about how the word has become more widely used -- but not necessarily less damaging (The Taming of the Slur).

Between Sex and the City and self-described "retail sluts," the term has apparently lost some of its original heft and meaning -- as "bitch" and even the n-word have to some extent. And, according to this article, it's also less likely than in the past to be used by boys (who've moved on to other even more offensive descriptions, as any teacher or middle school parent can tell you).

"Vanity Sizing" Our Schools

"Vanity sizing" is when clothing makers slap a size 2 label on a garment that's much more like a 6, according to this NY Daily News story (Stop the insanity!). It makes the customer feel better. Sounds like what states are doing to make their schools appear better, doesn't it?

Education Writers: Who's Who -- And Where Are They Now?

I don't know exactly why I started making this table of education writers past and present, but once I started I couldn't stop. I guess it's fascinating to see who's where, and what folks have moved on to doing.

Clearly, teaching isn't the only field with a lot of attrition. But there's also the question: Do most education writers move on to another beat, or do they stay in education but go to an agency or a nonprofit?

UPDATE: Readers' corrections and additions are noted in red, Wikipedia-style.

Read More...
Anyway, I realized that if I posted the list publicly, then I'd have to stop -- and maybe folks would help me with additions and corrections, which I desperately need. (In fact, I just realized that I left former LA Times writer Richard Colvin off the list -- doh!)

Take a look and let me know where else I messed up. (If you want to download a pretty Word version of click here.) And thanks to Lisa Walker at EWA and Matt Maurer at CommunicationWorks for helping me fill in some of the obvious ones I didn't know.

Remember, it's just a list, and this is just a blog -- if you're not on there it doesn't mean you lost your job, just that I'm a numbskull.

Current		Former	Where Are They Now?
Assoc. Press	Ben Feller Justin Pope Nahal Toosi	Anjetta McQueen Greg Toppo	NEA USA Today
Gannett	Ledge King	Richard Whitmire Fredreka Schouten	USAT Education Trust
Bloomberg	David Glovin	Elizabeth Willen	Hechinger
Stateline	Pauline Vu	Kavan Peterson Eric Kelderman Tiffany Pache	? ? Achieve
New York Times	Sam Dillon Elissa Gootman S. Freedman (col) Diana Jean Schemo David Herszenhorn Alan Finder Brent Staples (Ed) Tamar Lewin Karen Arenson Campbell Robinson Alison Mitchell, ed	Mike Winerip Rich. Rothstein Jacques Steinberg Greg Winter Ethan Bronner Jodi Rudoren Anemona Hartocollis	? Columbia Media beat ? ? Chicago bureau Metro
Washington Post	Jay Mathews (col) Nick Anderson Valerie Strauss Lois Romano (?)	Michael Fletcher Michael Dobbs Linda Perlstein Larry Feinberg Michael Fletcher	? Book leave Freelance NAGB White House
LA Times	Joel Rubin Mitch Landsberg Erika Hayasaki Carla Rivera Hemmy So Bob Sipchen (col) Beth Shuster, editor	Duke Helfland Richard Cooper Nick Anderson Elaine Woo Richard Colvin	Political beat ? Washington Post ? Hechinger
Chicago Tribune	Stephanie Banchero Tracy Dell'Angela Diane Rado David Mendel C. Grumman (ed) Jodi Cohen Lori Olszewski	Mike Martinez Ana Cholo	Other beat Other beat
Boston Globe	Maria Sacchetti Tracy Jan	Anand Vashnav	Press Secty
Dallas News	Joshua Benton (col) Scott Parks Kent Fischer Holly Hacker	Robert Dodge	?
Atlanta J-C	Patti Ghezzi Mary McDonald Fran Jeffries (assistant ed) Chris Reynolds Heather Vogell Bridget Guttierez Keith Graham, ed Andrea Jones Laura Diamond Kristina Torres Diane Stepp	Dana Tofig Kelly Simmons	Spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education Edits magazine for University of Georgia
National Journal		Siobhan Gorman Brian Friel	Baltimore Sun
Cox News		Andy Mollison	Freelance
Newsweek	Gillian Gillers
NPR	Claudio Sanchez Steve Drummond
PBS	John Merrow Kevin Dando
USA Today	Greg Toppo Mary Beth Marklein R. Whitmire (ed)
US News	Alex Kingsbury	Tom Toch Ben Wildavsky Ulrich Boser Anne McGrath Mary Lord Al Sanoff	Ed Sector Kauffmann Freelance ? Freelance Freelance
Baltimore Sun	Justin Fenton Liz Bowie Sara Neufeld Anica Butler Gina Davis Liz Kay	Mike Bowler Tricia Bishop Hanah Cho Howard Libit Laura Loh Tanika White	USDE Biz writer Biz writer City editor Grad skul Fashion beat
Miami Herald	Matt Pinzur Peter Bailey
Wall Street Journal	Rob Tomsho Dan Golden	June Kronholz	?
Christian Science Monitor	Amanda Paulsen Stacy Teicher Jacqui Goddard	Gail Chaddock	Congress
Philadelphia Inquirer	Martha Woodall Rose Ciotta Susan Snyder	Dale Mezzacappa Jim O'Neill	Freelance Dallas Morning News
Seattle Times	Frank Bass Sanjay Bhatt Bill Ristow Linda Shaw
Freelance	Anne Lewis Linda Perlstein Dale Mezzacappa Ulrich Boeser Andy Mollison Joe Williams Sara Carr Craig Jerald Alexander Russo
Salon
Slate	Anne Hulbert
The New Yorker	Kate Boo	Nick Lemann Sara Mosle	Columbia Dean Book project
NYT Magazine		James Traub Sara Mosle	Other beats Book project

Col = columnist (in addition to, or as a sole function)

Ed = editorial page writer

The Christian Science Monitor's Disappearing Education Coverage

Back in the day, the CSM used to put out excellent education stories -- not breaking news, but in-depth, quality stuff. Now, it's all fun and fluff (Yoga, hip-hop ... this is P.E.?). Did they lose a reporter, or cut back or change coverage intentionally? I know that most readers don't want NCLB stories 24/7 and that there's a natural lull now and then, but CSM just seems to have given up.

"Teachers, and a Law That Distrusts Them"

After four years writing the weekly NYT education column, Mike Winerip bids us adieu (Teachers, and a Law That Distrusts Them) and highlights the tensions between teachers and school reform that I agree are one of the key issues facing school reform in general -- and NCLB in particular.

Ed Sector, The Unions, & Eduwonk

If the NEA had a blog (and a sense of humor) it would have been they, not AFT John, who responded to the Ed Sector report on NEA-funded research yesterday (see below). However, the response and the subsequent rejoinder from Kevin Carey (Bogus Allegations...) are a timely reminder that (a) the Ed Sector and/or Eduwonk have indeed put out a series of ideas that are objectionable to or critical of the AFT, and (b) no matter what the Ed Sectorans may think or want (or put in the fine print), most folks see Eduwonk and the Ed Sector is one and the same.

See also: Head Butt!

Where's The Carnival?

Usually the Carnival of Education would be up and running by now, saving all of us a lot of time looking around the education blogs. But not this week. Where is it? No word over at the Education Wonks or at School Me, who's hosting this week. Can't trust Californians to do anything, can you?

UPDATE: Finally -- elaborately -- it's here, complete with musical background.

Head Butt

Unable to restrain himself against the steady stream of insults and elbows, Zidane AFT John turns and viciously head-butts Materazzi the Ed Sector.

Was it justified? Public opinion is sharply divided.

Gary Orfield And The NEA

It's no secret that the NEA is opposed to NCLB -- and not much of one that the union funds lots of research that also happens to come out against NCLB. Most organizations and reports indicate their funding sources on their websites or in their work. In that sense, today's Ed Sector report (Echo Chamber) reminds me of Ben Feller's AP articles on the "secret" AYP loophole states were using to game NCLB.

But still, Joe Williams' report includes lots of juicy details. Most of all, it's interesting to be reminded that some of Gary Orfield's work at the Harvard Civil Rights Project has been NEA funded -- given the NEA's reputation as a white suburban status quo protector and Orfield's ultra progressive background.

Talk about strange bedfellows. What's next, NEA funding for the much-anticipated Kozol initiative? Orfield is quoted in Greg Toppo's USA Today piece that "The test of research is not whether or not it is funded by someone, but whether it is true and the evidence supports the conclusions."

UPDATE: Unable to restrain himself against the steady stream of insults and elbows, Zidane AFT John turns and viciously head-butts Materazzi the Ed Sector (Stealth Anti-Union Campaign Says NEA Has Stealth Anti-NCLB Campaign).

Around The Blogs

Woman Obeys "Unwanted Baby Law," Is Arrested Anyway
Education Wonks
All too many times we've read about those tragic incidents where newborn babies have been abandoned by their "mothers" in trash dumpsters, roadside ditches, landfills, and even under the front porch of a home.

We like the parents' union, but we're not Ann Coulter
edspresso
Steve Barr, the man behind Green Dot charter schools, is making the rounds in edunews for his move to unionize parents.

Brazilians with tiny orange laptops
School Me
The Philippines and Jamaica are eager to flood the United States with well-educated teachers, an MIT brainiac is ready to saturate the world’s classrooms with bright orange $100 laptops, and I’m pondering why, during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, we saw young looters stealing televisions, not computers.

State Budget Heyday Getting Closer
Quick and the Ed
The New York Times reported today that an unexpectedly steep rise in federal tax revenues is driving down projected future budget deficits. If this trend continues, it will have real implications for education funding, because the same economic phenonmena will drive up state tax revenues, particularly in states with federal-style progressive income taxes.

Why No Successor In Boston?

Given a decade of continuity at the top for the Boston public schools -- and a long lead time to look for a replacement -- it seems like a shame that the Boston community isn't much farther ahead of anyone else when it comes to finding a replacement (Some question public forums for schools chief job Boston Globe). As I wrote about in my profile of Payzant for Education Next this spring, it seems unfortunate and a bit of a mystery why neither the School Committee nor Payzant himself didn't start the process earlier or even groom a successor.

Will Boards Just Say No To HPV Vaccine For Girls?

In the week or two since the new HPV vaccine was recommended by the CDC for all girls, it's already clear what a big issue it could be when state and local school boards have to decide whether or not to require the vaccine for everyone attending public schools: Smarter heads prevail (AJC).

What Makes A Scholar? Not The New York Times.

The most objectionable part of the big NYT education story (At Colleges, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust) over the weekend takes place where reporter Tamar Lewin essentially calls the Ed Sector's Sara Mead a "scholar" and then quotes Mead describing the mindset of those who are concerned about boys in school (we're apparently confused and possibly threatened).

Note to Lewin and other education reporters: Last I looked, a slew of think tank/advocacy reports and a BA from Vanderbilt doesn't make anyone a scholar, no matter what your editor says or wants. (Allowing her to speculate on a topic that's far outside the scope of what she's researched doesn't help.) Either find a real scholar or call Mead something else.

Either way, don't forget to give the other side a chance to respond. Maybe they can come up with some interesting speculation about why folks like Mead might be struggling with the idea that boys aren't doing so well in school.

Civil Rights Groups Put To Shame On NCLB Choice

Over at edspresso, Ryan B says that the sudden- seeming USDE action on choice (see below) might actually be the result of the Alliance's administrative action in LA and Compton.

Whatever the specific motivation -- or the ultimate result -- how downright embarassed the education and especially the civil rights community, as well as the Dems, should be that just two groups -- the Alliance and the Citizens' Commission -- have presented anything close to a steady drumbeat of interest in the NCLB choice issue.

UPDATE: Over at The Chalkboard, Joe Williams points out what strange bedfellows these two groups make, and praises Spellings for taking action on the choice issue.

Mr. Babylon Gets Fired From Shitty High

There are other, more uplifting teacher blogs to read, but one of the most candid I've come across is Mr. Babylon, who teaches at what he calls Shitty High in the Bronx (and whom I first heard about from Scott Elliott at the Dayton Daily News).

Mr. B is consistently funny -- or at least irreverent -- and rarely pious or self-serious (assuming those aren't the same things). He's been profiled in the NY Sun, along with other NYC teacher bloggers (Blogging: A Hot New After-School Activity - for Teachers).

And, he got excessed a few days ago.

USDE Goes Old School -- Slams California For Not Providing Enough NCLB Choice

I felt like I had travelled back in time to 2003 or so when I heard Thursday's NPR segment on the current showdown between California and the USDE over NCLB (California Schools Could Lose Aid over 'No Child' Law).

They're fighting over NCLB choice, of all things -- just like back in the day when folks like Gene Hickock and Nina Rees were making it sound states and districts give more than lip service to the NCLB transfer requirement.

It's not an acid flashback, however. According to the NPR story, the Department has issued a letter to the state (PDF) about its failure to provide enough choice and giving it until August 15th to come up with a plan for the new year. Playing the old Hickock/Rees role, the USDE's Chris Doherty (pictured) talks tough.

Maybe someone else can make better sense of it, but it had seemed to me like the USDE had -- maybe even before Spellings arrived -- pretty much given up on enforcing NCLB choice. Not much seemed to have changed as recently this spring, when Spellings announced the SES "flip"(see What About Choice?), and many were lamenting the situation (see The Decline Of Choice). As I wrote in April, the lack of NCLB choice plays right into the hands of voucher advocates.

So what I want to know is are they going after other states about lack of choice -- I'm told they haven't -- and what prompted the action now? Was it the threat of lawsuits, a fit of self-improvement, or what? More to come.

Citizens' Commission Report on Teacher Equity

Check out the new Citizens' Commission report on what needs doing next for states and the USDE to make real progress in the near future: Days of Reckoning (PDF).

There's lots of new stuff in there that was dug up by the folks at CCCR and the inimitable Phyllis McClure -- the results of 40 site visit reports by USDE, for example. I reviewed it in draft and provided some editorial help along the way.

The vast majority of states don't have a real equity plan in place, and at least some of the revised plans coming in (see Oregon below) seem as lame as their predecessors.

Will Revised Teacher Quality Plans Be Any Good?

As this article about Oregon's revised teacher quality plan shows, states seem like they're moving pretty slowly when it comes to the hard work of addressing how qualified and experienced teachers end up clustered in some schools and not in others.

The Oregon plan follows something referred to ominously at the Council of Chief State School Officers "template" -- that can't be good -- and proposes a very moderate-sounding set of actions. Of course, the state claims that it's at 91 percent HQT over all, and only two percentage points lower for high poverty schoools.

But I wonder if that statewide gap widens out if you look within districts -- as NCLB requires -- and I wonder whether states might be moving a little faster on this NCLB stepchild of an issue if they hadn't been given an extra year and no real threat of being fined by the USDE.

Flip-Flop Ban

Last week's NYT Style section story about the spread of flip-flops into business meetings and board rooms (well, almost) reminded me of the dustup last year (when some athletes from Northwestern wore fancy flip-flops to the White House) and made me wonder what schools were doing on the topic.

Sure enough, at least some boards have been banning flip-flops left and right, or at least talking about it. The folks in Federal Way (WA) have been debating it vigorously, it seems -- much to the delight of headline writers everywhere: Flip-flopping on flip-flops (Orlando Sentinel).

Kennedy Staffer JD LaRock

With a name like, JD LaRock, it sounds like this guy should probably be a pro wrestler or a porn star, but in fact he's one of the relatively new faces on the Kennedy education committee staff.

Truth be told, I never heard of him until I saw his name in a recent InsideHigherEd.com story (A Platform to Promote Teacher Ed). Apparently he does higher ed and student lending stuff. Not sure how long he's been there. However, various internet sources says he's highly degreed (or at least ABD) and did stints for the US Conference of Mayors, Rudy Crew, and the League of Cities.

All in all, it's very impressive. And, if you want to make it seem like you know him really well (this is Washington, after all), try calling him by his real name, "Jean-Daniel."

UPDATE: Over at The Chalkboard, Joe Williams reminisces fondly about JD's many jobs in NYC, inlcuding a stint as a one-man news crew who carried his mike and camera and did interviews, too.

Puush For Simpler Speling Perzists

"Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop," according to this CNN.com story (Puush for simpler speling perzists). "Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing."

HQT Countdown: Just Two Days Left

States have just two more days to turn in their revised teacher quality plans to the USDE showing how their HQT defs meet the law's requirements (many early versions didn't) and how they're going to meet the equity provision of the law as well.

The NYT editorial page addresses the issue and its importance here: "To improve student performance, the states need to play a much stronger role in teacher training and certification — and in making sure that qualified teachers are evenly spread across their school districts," according to this editorial (Teachers Matter). "Breaking with the bad old status quo won't be easy. But it's the only way for the country to improve the educational picture for the poor and minority students who will make up such a large part of the work force of the future."

This Week's Carnival Of Education: Truth!

You can find a couple of posts from this site at the brand spanking new edition of the carnival of education blogs, this week hosted by NYC Educator.

For a theme -- these carnivals are getting fancy -- NYC Educator's theme is "Truth, Justice, the American Way, and Summer Vacation."

We're under truth, natch.

Why "The Donald" Fears Teachers

"Property tycoon Donald Trump confesses he has borderline obsessive compulsive disorder and is terrified of germs," writes the StarPlus NewsBlog (Donald Trump Hates Germs).

"The star refuses to touch the ground floor button of a lift and avoids shaking hands with people - especially teachers."

Are Juice Drinks Any Better?

Soft drinks may be out of schools, points out this Washington Post article from last week (100% Confusion), but are juice drinks any better?

The School Testing Dodge

Not much was made last week over the PACE study showing how states game their own (and the Feds's) testing systems, since it's such a well-known thing. However, it was apparently new to the Times editorial board, who published a piece on Sunday ( The School Testing Dodge) describing the study "startling" and calling for ... well, they're not exactly sure what theyre' calling for. Towards the end, they seem to be calling for national testing, but earlier on they describe the problem as something that "will require more than just passing a law."

Media Coverage: The Post's Mathews Revises And Extends His "Boys" Story -- Or At Least Extends It

Like you, I'm a little bit sick of the hullabaloo surrounding the boys crisis this past week, but Jay Mathews' fascinating attempt to explain what happened is just too tempting -- and too problematic -- to leave unnoted.

Is Mathews recanting what he wrote, refining his original piece, or just saying the same thing as before in a longer form?

UPDATE: Mathews responds!

Read More...

Mathews' attempt at an explanation, Are Boys Really in Trouble?, which I found via Thursday's SmartBrief, apparently came out on Tuesday -- just a day after the original cover story.

It's billed as the story that Mathews wanted to write -- had he been given additional space from the evil A1 editors. In it, Mathews quotes his own story, the report, and additional comments from various stakeholders -- some of which are quite juicy (if you're really into this stuff).

However, there are at least two notable ommissions from the extended version that make Mathews' effort seem incomplete, despite all its length:

First, Mathews doesn't produce -- didn't have? -- any new responses or insights from any independent experts (much less an academic) who might say something definitive about the NAEP data or the brain research that's interpreted in Mead's report. Mead's not an academic. The statekholders aren't independent. And, much as I love him, Craig Jerald doesn't count -- and he was in the original story so he's not even "new."

Even more important, even though he's writing this in his online column -- not as a beat reporter -- Mathews is so busy being so excruciatingly (and some would say belatedly) even-handed in providing this additional material that he never comes out and says that his original story, even at its original length (which is quite short), could or should have been more balanced.

How education reports get covered -- and which ones should be considered independent -- isn't a new topic to Mathews, who just this spring chronicled the dust-up surrounding the NYT's coverage of a NCLB report from Jack Jennings' Center on Education Policy (Pundits' Battle Exposes the Politics of Research).

In this case, which involves Mathews directly, all we know is that he thinks the piece should have been longer, which to me at least makes for a pretty unsatisfying column.

Previous Posts:
Media Hypes Report On Boys -- Not Necessarily A Jackpot...
The Boys Crisis: A "Loser" Issue That's Still Real
Boy Vs. Boy: Whitmire Takes On Mathews