New Report on NCLB

According to a new report by the Center on Education Policy, more students have improved their reading and math exam scores, and the performance gap between lower-income and more affluent students has narroed since NCLB was enacted six years ago.

Here's a link to the story in WaPo.

High Achieving Students in the Age of Accountability

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about the impact of educational accountability programs on high-achieving students. Since the focus of these programs is directed toward low performing students, educators are concerned about the negative effects accountability programs may have on students who show exceptional academic promise.

Chester Finn wrote an interesting piece on this topic in National Review.

AEI published a provocative article by Charles Murray related to this issue entitled "Educational Romanticism."

"Two Million Minutes" and the LA Times

The Times ran a story this week on "Two Million Million Minutes." Let me know what you think.

Check out this debate between Bob Compton and Jay Mathews. Mathews is an influential education reporter for WaPo. Compton, of course, produced "Two Million Minutes."

Top 100 High Schools

Well, here's the official list of the top 100 high schools. Despite the fact the US News list is probably not very accurate in terms of identifying the top high schools, I wonder if there is something these schools have in common?

I did notice many of the schools included on the list are considered "alternative schools" (i.e., charter schools, etc.).

I also found an interesting article on school rankings in WaPo. The analysis, unbiased of course, found NY schools to be the best in the U.S., followed closely by Massachusetts and Maryland, while D.C ranks as the country's worst. The assessment is based on a report from Ed Week.

The Dropout Nation

Time has an interesting story on "the dropout nation." According to the article, as many as thirty percent of public school students won't complete high school!

Few States Set World-Class Standards

Here’s an interesting article by Hess on state proficiency standards. Considering the potential problems posed by each of the fifty states having different academic achievement standards, I thought this might be relevant to our discussion about preparing students for a globally competitive marketplace.