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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

Education News and Analysis

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
Mr. B-G's English Blog
Barnett Berry
Bill Jackson's Education Blog
Bridging Differences (Meier and Ravitch)
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Chaos Theory
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Chez Dormont
Chris Correa
Class Context
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College Ready Blog (Athens Learning Group)
The Common School
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Critical Mass
Dangerously Irrelevant
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Dave Shearon
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edbizbuzz
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The Gradebook (St. Pete Times)
Grumpy Professor
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I Thought A Think
IALA
In Other News (Ed Week)
Inside Pre-K
Instructivist
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Jay Greene
Jenny D.
Joannejacobs.com
John Merrow
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The Life That Chose Me
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Newoldschoolteacher
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Running on Empty
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Swift & Change Able
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This is how I Swim
This Week In Education
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Up The Down Staircase
Urban Angle
VARC
What up, Mz. Smlph?
Whitney Tilson
Why Boys Fail
Why Homeschool

Educational Resources and Organizations

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Education Sector
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National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
National Association of Charter School Authorizers
National Association of Secondary School Principals
NCLBWorks
National Center for Postsecondary Research
National Center on Education and the Economy
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, February 25, 2005

Hornet Pride

Here's a courageous story.
Posted at 8:39 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

More HS Action
Tom Toch writes in The Baltimore Sun today, plus these from yesterday. Wash Post ed board here. Big kiss for Achieve and the HS Summit, gulag time for NCSL.
Posted at 8:02 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Badgered

Per this, reader DW writes to say:

...you left out Bill Clune. He was part of the original crew that made the school funding arguments in the 1970s. Gotta give props to Wisconsin profs.

Right. No slight intended!
Posted at 5:42 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Non-Random Action
Very important Chronicle of Higher Ed article on the new randomized trials issue. Note the back and forth between Ed's Petrilli and AERA's Sroufe, that's the nub of the issue. This link is only active for five days so read fast. See also this piece by Rick Hess, who sits on the relevant board.
Posted at 11:27 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

UT NCLB
More action on NCLB in Utah. Is this the fig leaf/teacher quality for accountability strategy (or stategery as the case may be) or the beginning of the big walk back? You can bet these guys are watching very closely...

By the way, can we pause for a minute to enjoy the irony of all the self-proclaimed progressives cheering on Utah for this? Marty Peretz is right...
Posted at 11:18 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

HS Reform
Here's an informed guess: There will be a lot of op-eds and editorials on high school reform in the next 72-96 hours...

For now, David Broder weighs in here, NYT ed board here.
Posted at 10:14 AM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Another Assist For Dave Bing!

And, Bob Thompson's back in the game in Motown! But will the teachers' union call foul?
Posted at 5:11 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Dropouts
New ETS analysis on the dropout problem...prepare to be depressed (though there are some hopeful models, too).
Posted at 4:35 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

New NCSL Report...And, When Ed Trust Attacks!
National Council of State Legislatures has released a new report on NCLB. Nothing unpredictable in there, they don't like any of it (except the goals, everyone supports the goals!) and want it basically gone. But don't miss this response from the Ed Trust...hot.
Posted at 4:01 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Robert Reich MIA In MA
Per the below item, a reader writes:

Dear Eduwonk -As you know, I share Ted Sizer's passion for school choice and applaud his attempt at reclaiming that banner for Progressives, where it began.

Sizer teaches at Brandeis, as does one Robert Reich. Reich once wrote an influential "supersized and means-tested" pro-voucher WSJ op-ed in 1990s. When he ran for MA governor in 2002, however, he not only disavowed it, he went whole hog teachers-union - i.e., use code words to signal that charters were a no-go for him, too.

It was a Howard Dean preview: pragmatic, often moderate but innovative and super-bright Dem tilts left to grab the low-hanging fruit of educated NPR listening activists and the accompanying early surge, but loses the moderates - and the nomination - in the process.

I'd be intrigued to sound out Reich about this issue today.

Eduwonk would, too, though he disagreed with the op-ed and, if memory serves, it was basically a rip-off of Jack Coons and Stephen Sugarman with no credit to either of them.
Posted at 3:49 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

The Honest Debate

There is a legitimate critique of No Child Left Behind, and in this Boston Globe essay Ted Sizer lays it out. But just being against NCLB isn't much of a reform, because it begs the question, if not standards then what?

To his credit, Sizer goes on to lay out his solution, too. But don't look for the NEA or their various bankrolled front groups to be trumpeting this Sizer idea. That relationship will end at the critique. Sizer understands that some leverage for change, beyond just good intentions, is necessary. He just doesn't like NCLB's levers.

Though Sizer explicitly rejects it, there is a Third Way, marrying some choice with standards and public accountability (and some choice programs today desperately need both of those). But what Sizer's essay implicitly shows is that the generic anti-NCLB argument is barren. Even if you don't agree with his remedy, illustrating that is an important contribution to this debate.

Afterthought: Enough Sizer praise! What's the "serious research" dig toward the bottom? In education, as soon as someone says that pseudo trump card, without offering any up, be suspicious...
Posted at 5:53 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

Monday, February 21, 2005

Coming Attractions

TLN previews a coming debate in education about work rules and teacher quality.
Posted at 5:08 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

You Make The Call
Here's a transcript of the comments that landed Harvard's Larry Summers in hot water. Slate's Saletan makes his call here. Well worth reading.
Posted at 5:08 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post

A Note To Readers
As a consumer of - or paranoid about - this blog, here's some news you should be aware of. Last week, Virginia Governor Mark Warner, appointed Eduwonk (in real life Andrew Rotherham) to the Virginia State Board of Education. It's an honor to serve, particularly because I have benefited from the state's public schools and universities. Virginia has a nine-member appointed board and this is Warner's final appointment to it. Virginia has a one-term limit for governors so he is not on the ballot in November's gubernatorial contest.

How will this affect the blog? Probably not too much. Posting will be lighter from time to time. Although I enjoy writing the blog, it can't take precedence over other obligations and the really important stuff like time with the Eduwife, fishing, or best of all, fishing with the Eduwife - who is a noted menace to Virginia's smallmouth bass with spin or fly rod.

Other conflicts? Well, it's no secret that Eduwonk is a big fan of Warner's work on education. See, for instance, posts here, here, here, and here. So the record is already pretty clear there. In terms of perceived conflicts with national issues that also bear on Virginia, if you think one exists and hasn't been adequately addressed, please feel free to send email to "education AT dlcppi.org" with feedback. Many of you helpfully do this now. Thoughtful and/or humorous feedback is often posted.

Of course, without breaking professional confidences, I write on what interests me, what I have time for, and what I think interests readers based on your feedback and traffic patterns. So, as in the past, it's useless to infer much from things that do or don't get posted beyond those basic parameters.

Finally, there may also be a few more guest posters from time to time. We'll take those on a case-by-case basis and they'll obviously be clearly flagged as other voices.
Posted at 4:20 PM | Comments: 0 | Link to this item | Email this post