"Least influential of education's most influential information sources."
-- Education Week Research Center
"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
"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!"
-- Mickey Kaus
"a very smart blog... this is the site to read"
-- Ryan Lizza
"everyone who's anyone reads Eduwonk"
-- Richard Colvin
"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
"I check Eduwonk several times a day, especially since I cut back on caffeine"
-- Joe Williams
"...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
"penetrating analysis in a lively style on a wide range of issues"
-- Walt Gardner
"Fabulous"
-- Education Week's Alyson Klein
"thugs"
-- Susan Ohanian
Smart List: 60 People Shaping the Future of K-12 Education
That’s a pretty unhinged post on Ed Notes. I wonder why they think anyone will take it seriously.
I’m impressed with your survey. As usual, I found your published comments to be a lot more accurate and helpful than your blog comments. For instance, your survey showed how leaders have to take a balanced approach in leading teachers into reform.
I left my hard copy of your report at school, but as I recall it showed that teacher support for accountability based on standardized tests has declined since 2003. And that should be a reminder that not-ready-for-prime time accountability like NCLB and Bloom/Klein’s approach are counter-productive.
I have one question though. Phi Delta Kappan always issues an excellent survey of attitudes towards education, but rarely do they ask about discipline. Even so, teachers and parents always volunteer major concerns about violence, disorder, and lack of discipline. I love Kappan, but Public Agenda, however, is not primarily an educational insitution and consequently they give us a better picture of educators’ beliefs in regard to discipline.
There is a huge stigma in education about discussing disciplinary consequences and alternative schools. Just raising the issue brings the charge of “low expectations.”
So, here’s my question. You reported that NYC teachers did not see the union as a leader in educational reform until they were probed on the issue. Did you either ask or probe about the role of the union in pushing for discipline?
Mr Rotherham,
I went to your bio to find out about you.
You’re a writer, a commentator, and a think-tank type, but I can’t find anything about your teaching experience.
Do you care to mention how many years you’ve spent in the classroom?
Just curious. Because the person you called “crazy”, the one who produces “gibberish”, did on or close to 35 years of classroom teaching, I think.
I’m really sorry if I’ve overlooked where you said you taught. I tried really hard to read the biography carefully.
Good Lord, am I tired of this banal argument, and also of the pseudo-snarky method of delivering it.
“Because the person you called “crazy”, the one who produces “gibberish”, did on or close to 35 years of classroom teaching, I think.”
That doubles the tragedy, JW. Or multiplies it by a factor of 35 – not sure which.
I don’t always agree with Mr. Rotherham’s conclusions, but I also don’t give a whit that he may not have taught 2nd grade.
Too bad. You SHOULD be caring that people who claim to be experts on education actually spent enough time the classroom to understand how it all works.
What a little upstart you are!
The tragedy is that educational decisions are being made by corpocrats with agendas.
These conversations with you people are a waste of time. It’s like talking to a cult. And putting your picture up doesn’t make anything you say more credible. I guess growing up in the MySpace era makes you and all the other 20 or 30 somethings think that kind of self-advertisement or self-confirmation adds a kind of legitimacy to what you have to say.
No, JW, I see it as taking responsibility for my comments. You know – that “accountability” thing our particular strain of edu-cult loves so much.
I hope you’re furiously typing a letter to your local hospital – after all, you should be quite concerned if their OB/GYN unit has some male doctors who haven’t themselves carried a baby to term and given birth to it.
You inadvertently just made my point exactly.
Male doctors study medicine for years, intern at it for a couple more, and practice it every day they go to work. They also post their credentials on the walls for the whole world to see.
It’s the patient who carries the baby, and neither you nor I need to know how much education or medical experience she’s had delivering that kid.
All I was wondering was how much experience Mr. Rotherham has had to call himself an expert about classroom teaching.
Still waiting.
And PS: I love the term “edu-cult.” I was using educorp and corpocrap, but this one’s great, too.