Education in America

Dave Weigel points out the hypocrisy of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s professed admiration for W. Cleon Skousen, the Glenn Beck ideological godfather and anti-Communist oddball, at this weekend’s Values Voters Summit. While many in the Christian right sidelined Mitt Romney because of his Mormonism, now Mormons like Skousen and Beck are all the rage. But […]

One of the major developments in education policy this year has been the Obama administration’s continued, focused attention on the issue of merit pay, despite a lack of strong evidence linking such programs to increased student achievement. On Sunday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appeared on “Face the Nation” and reiterated this agenda. So it’s […]

Education Next, a journal published by the Hoover Institute, has released a new public opinion poll on education issues. The reauthorization of No Child Left Behind has been delayed since 2007, and if members of Congress see this poll, they might conclude they don’t want to tackle the issue until after 2010 midterm elections. NCLB’s […]

The New Yorker‘s big political story this week is an attack on the New York City teachers’ contract, by Steven Brill. By now, most people who follow education news know about the “Rubber Rooms” in big city school districts — reassignment centers for teachers who have been found guilty of misconduct or incompetence but who […]

Maybe it’s his pro-basketball-playing past, but Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sure does like competition. Yesterday he appeared before a group of superintendents and edu-wonks — brought together by testing giant ACT — to herald the launch of “i3.” (Yes, it sounds like an Apple product.) Like Race to the Top, i3 is a competitive […]

I’ve written before about the outsize influence of Bill Gates on national education policy. That influence is growing. According to Education Week, as the Department of Education prepares to dole out $4.3 billion in federal grants as part of the Race To the Top program — an effort to foster education reform and innovation at […]

In his big speech to Congress last February, President Obama asked every American “to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.” He swore that by 2020, “America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” The stimulus package included billions for Pell Grants […]