Dan Gilgoff has a thinly reported post in which he speculates, based on one anonymous congressional source, that the White House is “leaning” towards supporting the Pregnant Women’s Support Act (PWSA). If true — and Gilgoff offers little evidence it is — this would represent a remarkable about-face for the administration. Since President Obama’s Notre […]
Education in America
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RANDI, RHEE, AND KLEIN: WE DON’T TRUST STATE-LED STANDARDS PUSH.
Yesterday afternoon I attended a round table debate between American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, New York City schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and D.C. schools Superintendent Michelle Rhee. The event was hosted by Democracy. If you don’t follow education policy, let me break down for you, briefly, why the theatrics here were exciting: Weingarten, […]
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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DESEGREGATION ENDS?
Debra Viadero of Education Week highlights a new study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina. When the district ended its 30-year old busing program — reverting to racially segregated neighborhood schools — high-performing teachers fled schools that became predominantly black and poor. This research, by Cornell labor economist C. Kirabo Jackson, is significant […]
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ARE DOCTORS BIASED AGAINST NON-HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL?
As a young teenager, I had a really cheesy poster on my bedroom wall entitled “How to Be a Fabulous Feminist.” One of the items on the list was “Visualize perfect birth control.” At the age of 14, this confounded me. Weren’t the pill and condoms supposed to work pretty much perfectly? Of course, adults […]
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Exit Strategy
A new study assessing the withdrawal method finds it is nearly as effective as condoms. Should we teach it to teenagers?
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ADMIN TAPS “VENTURE PHILANTHROPIST” FOR EDU REFORM JOB.
Speaking at an education reform convention in Los Angeles hosted by the New Schools Venture Fund, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced yesterday that he has hired that group’s COO, Joanne Weiss, as the administrator of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund — the segment of the stimulus package aimed at “scaling up” […]
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The FundamentaList (No. 80)
This week in religion and politics: Religious leaders react to evangelicals’ permissive attitudes toward torture, and the Notre Dame commencement controversy stokes the abortion-reduction debate.
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The FundamentaList (No. 78)
This week in religion and politics: Religious drama surrounds Kathleen Sebelius’ Cabinet confirmation, and the “religious left” seems to lean toward the right.
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YOUR WORLD IN CHARTS: EDUCATION INEQUALITY IS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY EDITION.
From a talk Peter Orszag recently gave to the Association of American Universities: The data comes from a paper by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz. In the study, they examine what they call “the race between education and technology.” From 1915 to 1980, they say, educational attainment outpaced technological change. As such, lower income groups […]
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The Questioning Spirit
Hebrew schools have long discouraged American Jewish children from thinking critically about Israel. This Passover season, it is time for a change.
