For those following the intra-Democratic Party debates about education reform in D.C., an interesting pair of articles appeared in the Washington Post over the past three days. First, on Saturday, columnist Colbert King called for a reality check, asking of lightning rod D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, “Beyond publicity, what is Rhee producing?” It’s a […]
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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NEW STUDIES FIND USE OF ULCER DRUGS TO INDUCE ABORTION.
A stomach turning article in the New York Times today reminds us that the fight for reproductive justice isn’t just a legal one, but is also deeply cultural. Two new studies of Latina women, particularly Dominicans, have found widespread use of prescription ulcer medication to induce abortion. Side effects include excessive bleeding, shock, and even […]
Posted inEducation in America
EDU EXPERT HEADED TO THE SENATE.
Before the Before the Arne Duncan news broke, I had thought Denver schools superintendent Michael Bennet was an excellent candidate for secretary of education. Now the Denver Post is reporting that Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will name Bennet to Ken Salazar‘s vacating Senate seat. Bennet’s major accomplishment took place this past summer, when during the […]
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SCORE CHOICE.
The College Board has decided, against the wishes of many college admissions officials and advocates for low-income students, to institute “score choice,” allowing students to withhold from colleges all but their highest combined SAT score. I’m against this for a number of reasons. First, it’s pretty clear this policy will disadvantage students who cannot afford […]
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LIVING AT THE MALL.
No, I’m not talking about your holiday season returns. Matt Yglesias has an interesting post today about bringing urban style living to the suburbs by constructing housing attached to malls. I myself would find living inside or in close proximity to a shopping mall pretty dispiriting. In college, I wrote a magazine article about a […]
Posted inEducation in America
GOVERNORS SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION BENCHMARKS.
Some good news on the education front: A major problem with No Child Left Behind is that the law allows states to create their own standards and assessments. So while states like New York, Massachusetts, and California use fairly rigorous tests, states like Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have dumbed their standards and tests down, meaning […]
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BUSH’S ANTI-CHOICE SHENANIGANS.
If you aren’t already, you should be following the story of the Bush administration’s eleventh-hour attempt to attack reproductive freedom. New Health and Human Services regulations would allow clinics to apply for Title X family planning funds even if they don’t counsel pregnant women on all of their reproductive options — including abortion — as […]
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CAROLINE KENNEDY UPDATE.
Caroline Kennedy‘s staff has partially answered questionnaires from The New York Times and Politico as to her political beliefs. What I like: her support for gay marriage and labor protections at charter schools, and her opposition to private school vouchers and parental consent laws for minors seeking abortions. What’s less encouraging: her refusal to lay […]
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CAROLINE KENNEDY, NEPOTISM, AND FEMINISM.
I heard a lot of blow back after I wrote on Wednesday that I believed Caroline Kennedy just might make a very good senator. Nepotism is unseemly. But in real-life politics, a smart, well-connected senator with star power and the ear of the president is better situated to be an effective legislator than a member […]
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HILDA SOLIS TO LABOR.
I’ve met Hilda Solis, and I can say that she’s very smart and committed to an issue dear to my own heart: the intersection of feminism and labor rights. She has highlighted the way women of color are disproportionately affected by the wage gap between men and women, writing, “Latinas earn on average 57 cents […]
