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2007 Winner, Editor's Choice Best Education Blog
-- Performancing.com

2006 Winner, Best K-12 Administration Blog -- "Best of the Education Blog Awards"
-- eSchool News and Discovery Education

2006 Finalist, Best Education Blog
-- Weblog Awards

Least influential of education's most influential information sources.
-- Education Week Research Center

"unexpectedly entertaining"..."tackle[s] a potentially mindfogging subject with cutting clarity... they're reading those mushy, brain-numbing education stories so you don't have to!"
-- Slate's Mickey Kaus

"a very smart blog... [if] you're trying to separate the demagogic attacks on NCLB from the serious criticism, this is the site to read"
-- The New Republic's Ryan Lizza

"everyone who's anyone reads Eduwonk"
-- Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media's Richard Colvin

"full of very lively short items and is always on top of the news...He gets extra points for skewering my high school rating system"
-- Jay Mathews, The Washington Post

"a daily dose of information from the education policy world, blended with a shot of attitude and a dash of humor"
-- Education Week

"designed to cut through the fog and direct specialists and non-specialists alike to the center of the liveliest and most politically relevant debates on the future of our schools"
-- The New Dem Daily

"peppered with smart and witty comments on the education news of the day"
-- Education Gadfly

"don't hate Eduwonk cuz it's so good"
-- Alexander Russo, This Week In Education

"the morning's first stop for education bomb-throwers everywhere"
-- Mike Antonucci, Intercepts

"…the big dog on the ed policy blog-ck…"
-- Michele McLaughlin, AFT Blog

"I check Eduwonk several times a day, especially since I cut back on caffeine"
-- Joe Williams, fallen journalist, Executive Director, Democrats for Education Reform

"...one of the few bloggers who isn't completely nuts"
-- Mike Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

"I have just three 'go to' websites: The Texas Legislature, Texas Longhorn sports, and Eduwonk"
-- Sandy Kress, former education advisor to President Bush and former chairman, Dallas Board of Education

"penetrating analysis in a lively style on a wide range of issues"
-- Walt Gardner, champion letter-to-the-editor writer and retired teacher

"thugs"
-- Susan Ohanian

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American Educator
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EduReading


Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today's Schools

Edited by Jane Hannaway and Andrew J. Rotherham


Why Newsweek's List of America's 100 Best High Schools Doesn't Make the Grade

By Andrew J. Rotherham
and Sara Mead

A Qualified Teacher
in Every Classroom

Edited by Frederick M. Hess, Andrew J. Rotherham,
and Kate Walsh

America's Teaching Crisis

By Jason Kamras and Andrew J. Rotherham

Rethinking Special Education For A New Century

Edited by Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew J. Rotherham
& Charles R. Hokanson, Jr.

Making The Cut: How States Set Passing Scores on Standardized Tests

By Andrew J. Rotherham

Education Blogs

A Constrained Vision
Andrew Pass
a schoolyard blog
ASCD
Assorted Stuff
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Class Context
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IALA
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Inside Pre-K
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Newoldschoolteacher
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What up, Mz. Smlph?
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NCLBWorks
National Center for Postsecondary Research
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National Charter School Research Project
NCTAF
National Council on Teacher Quality
National Education Association
National Education Writers Association
National Governors Association
National Institute for Excellence in Teaching
National School Boards Association
New Leaders for New Schools
New Schools Venture Fund
The New Teacher Project
New Vision
Pre-K Now
Harvard's Program On Education Policy and Governance
Progressive Policy Institute
PPI's 21st Century Schools Project
Public Agenda
Public Impact
Reading Reform Foundation
Rick Hess' World HQ
The Savvy Source for Parents
Scholastic Administrator
School Data Direct
Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services
Standards Work
Teach for America
The Teaching Commission
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
Trust for Early Education
Uncommon Schools
United States Department of Education
The Urban Institute
WestEd

Opinions on Eduwonk reflect the views of the author, Education Sector does not take institutional positions. Outgoing links do not constitute an endorsement.

Friday, January 12, 2007

What Is The Matter With Kansas?

Seriously...(via ASCD).
Posted at 3:05 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Public - Private
Leave aside the specifics of this particular story in The Times, isn't this public - private thing a little tired in the context of school management? Public schools provide a public service and it can be provided in a variety of ways through a variety of governance arrangements. In fact, under the reductionist definition that if it's not run by the school district then it's private, then the United Federation of Teachers' charter schools are "privately" managed, too...Isn't the real issue less the management as an absolute issue than whether there is accountability to the public and the public interest?

And I know, I’m asking for a treatise here on how the UFT is completely different than some school management company, but it’s really not in the analytic or public policy sense, only as a value issue. The question is really whether in terms of managing schools either can be held accountable to the public, and of course both can.
Posted at 12:43 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

NCLB Scare!
The prospect of more No Child Left Behind has conservatives terrified...good primer on the real politics of NCLB on the Republican side...
Posted at 12:19 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Money Scare

Geezer War action on NPR.
Posted at 3:42 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Hess Scare!
Are you now reading, or have you ever read, a book or article by Rick Hess...
Posted at 3:31 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

It's About Time
New big thinky report from Mott about time and learning (pdf). They're hosting a DC confab on the 17th to hash it all out. Look for a report on time from ES later this month.
Posted at 3:28 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Education Matters

This is a powerful look at how education matters to a people.
Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Edublog Madness
The new Carnival of Edublogs is up, enjoy.

And, don't miss this outstanding debate at Edspresso between Roger Clegg and Joseph Olchefske about Race-Based School Assignments.

And, word is, Diane Ravitch is headed for the blogosphere, stay tuned for that.

Update: In the category of bloggy news, this is an interesting article. Check out the chart at the bottom, I do all those things but don't think that makes this journalism...
Posted at 10:06 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

What's The Matter With The NYT?

NYT’s Schemo manages to miss a really interesting story (two of them actually). First, the NCLB tension evidenced in this story is less Republican and Democrat than differences between the Democratic committee chairs on the House and Senate education committees and their leadership. The money issue can be resolved in the context of a deal, the bigger problem is that while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thinks NCLB is punitive, George Miller and Ted Kennedy don’t. That’s the story and it's not about more or less money for NCLB...*

Second interesting tension, Kennedy and Senator Dodd are in different places over this national standards business…Gonna be plenty of that going around since several of Kennedy’s committee members seem to have their eye on running for President, Dodd, Obama, and Clinton. He’s going to be as much zookeeper as chairman. Let’s hope though that they have better luck than the Republican committee members who already went down that road, Hatch and Alexander…Is HELP a launch pad or graveyard?

*They almost always write the story through the welfare state prism, more money, less money, Republicans against Democrats, but this isn't the 1980s and Reagan is not President...
Posted at 2:58 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

What’s The Matter With Kansas?
I said this was signal, and its rejection, even if it’s reversed, also is. More here.
Posted at 2:53 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Equity Agenda V. Competitiveness Agenda
There is some tension between the two (though not in my view mutually exclusive). Rick Hess and I look at that issue in the new Kappan.
Posted at 2:51 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

More Must-Read Schrag
Important column about the evolution of education policymaking in CA...it's not all honey and roses but still something. Perhaps the most interesting question is the process one, is any progress possible without everything that preceded this? Let's hope so.
Posted at 2:50 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Monday, January 08, 2007

Kit Bond, Punster

How well is NCLB doing?

U.S. Senator Christopher 'Kit' Bond (D-Mo.) says it's "satisfactory.""Not failing, not suburb," he adds.

Update: Heads-up reader KL notes that Bond is an R not a D, too.
Posted at 2:35 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

The Da Petrilli Code
A lot of chatter about this WaPo story on D.C.'s Catholic schools. Though it flirts at it, not sure the story really does justice to the voucher angle. Clearly the schools have done some good stuff, but how much of the renaissance is due to the availability of publicly and privately funded vouchers in the city? One can argue the public benefit there either way, but it's worth discussing...

In term of the bigger picture, the quiet tension here, incidentally, is not public - private though so much as public charter - private. Meaning that parents want alternatives to traditional urban public schools and public charter schools give them tuition-free alternatives. Privately a lot of Catholic officials express real concern about this and the demographics of Catholic schools illustrate that plenty of non-Catholics avail themselves of the schools now...

Conversely though, could Catholic schools deliver a secular education program and qualify for charter status? That's an interesting question that could get really tested at some point...
Posted at 9:50 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Frozen Assets, Or Billions For New Education Ideas Without A Tax Increase...
New ES report by school finance guru Marguerite Roza makes the uncomfortable but important point that there is a lot of money in education now that could be repurposed to greater effect within education. WaPo here. Similar to the point made by the recent Skills Commission report. To some this could appear as picking on teachers, and it will be framed that way, but the simple fact is that education is, by it's nature, pretty labor intensive, and most of the $500 billion spent annually is tied up in labor costs. Consequently, pace our good friend Willie Sutton, that's one place policymakers are going to have to look for funds. In other words, we need to get serious about financing education, but also about refinancing it as well. And, we have to take on what is a four letter word in many education circles, productivity. PS--Should have mentioned more clearly, repurposing money like this could mean more not less money for teacher salaries, this isn't about slashing teacher pay…
Posted at 9:36 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Kohn Connects
Last we heard from NRO's John Derbyshire he was on a jingoistic tirade against dual-language schools, but now Sara Mead reports that he's endorsing the views of Alfie Kohn...as Sara notes, you go far enough right and who knows where you'll end up...
Posted at 9:30 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post