Bad news for those of us who’ve been hoping President Obama would confront members of Congress who are using abortion to delay health reform: The Times reports that Obama called anti-choice Democrat Bart Stupak — who has sworn to beat back any bill that includes even private plans that cover abortion — and told him […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
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Who Grades Our Children’s Tests?
I just caught this great Times op-ed from Sunday on standardized test scoring, by Todd Farley, who has published an exposé book on the subject. He writes: For one project our huge group spent weeks scoring ninth-grade movie reviews, each of us reading approximately 30 essays an hour (yes, one every two minutes), for eight […]
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Jon Kyl and Insurance Company Discrimination Against Women.
I’ve been wanting to say a little more about the touching “your mom” moment shared by Senators Debbie Stabenow and John Kyl last week. To refresh our memories: As a number of people have noted, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and EMILY’s List are using this video as a fundraising tool. And Kyl’s ignorant comments […]
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On Yom Kippur, Thoughts on Gaza and the Goldstone Report.
Even at a J Street event I attended in Washington two weeks ago, there was some condemnation of the United Nations’ Goldstone Report on last winter’s Gaza war. The report found that both the Israeli army and Hamas were guilty of war crimes — Israel of using excessive force to deliberately target civilians (such as […]
Posted inEducation in America
Why Obama is Winning on Education.
I wrote yesterday about the Obama administration’s ambitious, yet somehow narrow definition of school reform. Today in the Washington Post, Randi Weingarten, the nation’s most influential teachers’ union leader, speaks in rather harsh terms about the administration: “It looks like the only strategies they have are charter schools and measurement. … That’s Bush III.” Weingarten, […]
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Earth to Jon Kyl: Everyone Gets Born.
On the floor of the Senate, Debbie Stabenow vs. Jon Kyl: —Dana Goldstein
Posted inEducation in America
Broadening the Education Agenda.
An appreciated little surprise in Education Secretary Arne Duncan‘s big speech today, in which he seemed to put NCLB reauthorization on the legislative agenda for 2010: While reminiscing about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” penned in 1963, Duncan mentioned the persistence of school segregation: This was nine years after the Supreme […]
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At G-20 Spouses Events, Husbands are No-Shows…Again.
During the last G-20 meeting, in April, I noted that the husbands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner were no-shows for the big spouse photo-op. Well, they’ve done it again: According to Sandra McElwaine at The Daily Beast, neither gentleman will be appearing at a two-day “spousal program” hosted by Michelle […]
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The Inspiring Story of the Murdered Census Worker.
You may have heard about the Kentucky Census worker, Bill Sparkman, whose body was found in a state park with the word “fed” scrawled on it — on Sept. 12, the same day as nationwide “tea party” protests against President Obama‘s health reform effort. Well, the story is even more tragic: It turns out Sparkman […]
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At the U.N., Comparing Obama and Bush.
Obama’s entire address to the United Nations this morning is worth a read, but I just want to highlight this section on Israel/Palestine: We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. The time has come to […]
