Chenoweth: There Was No Eden. Peyser: Perhaps We Could Get Closer?

Karin Chenoweth writes in the WaPo that things were not so great before No Child Left Behind came on the scene. I agree. But, while her piece was a nice bit of writing, I wish she’d brought some data to bear, this is not merely a battle of anecdotes about what schools were like pre-2001. In fact, there is even research showing that test prep and drilling kids is less effective than actually, you know, teaching them.

Jim Peyser weighs-in on New Orleans, what’s happening and why it matters, in The Boston Globe. Per this earlier post, it seems to me there is a subtle but important distinction between saying we’ll be able to learn some lessons from the education experience in New Orleans post-Katrina and citing it as a proof point for new ideas.