Boston’s Renaissance Charter School initially foundered when it apparently attempted to discourage the enrollment of disabled children (although the school’s Edison Project sponsor has always insisted that these efforts violated its policies). This year Renaissance reformed its special education program in an attempt to bring it more in line with Edison’s own stated ideals and […]
Education in America
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Charter Conundrum
In exchange for autonomy from school districts, charter schools promise to achieve measurable progress in children’s performance. But the movement is based on a dubious premise.
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The Voucher Seduction
Vouchers have new political power derived from their potent appeal to minorities and the poor. Liberals and defenders of public education had better take notice.
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Controversy: The Black-White Test Score Gap
Claude M. Steele Some people who would like very much to right racial inequality will not like the idea, proposed by Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips, that reducing the black-white test score gap could be a prime target of public policy. African Americans have been hammered by this test score gap for decades. Focusing on […]
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A Conversation with David Ellwood
After the Safety Net: A Welfare Reformer Reflects on What Washington Wrought David T. Ellwood is the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy and former academic dean at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He previously served as assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services. After serving as […]
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The New School Wars: How Outcome-Based Education Blew Up
It seemed like a conservative idea; then progressive educators got hold of it. Now a firestorm has erupted that could jeopardize the effort to raise national curriculum standards.
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Separatist But Equal?
Detroit’s all-black academies are neither as bad as the critics claim nor as uplifting as their defenders insist. Considering the alternatives, they are worth a try.
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The Myth of Public School Failure
Public schools are actually performing remarkably well. What they need is not radical reform but more support.
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Blackboard Jingle
It seems as if every conference I attend on the subject of American competitiveness (and there are many — the competitiveness industry is surely one of America’s most competitive) begins or ends with a speech by a prominent chief executive of a large American corporation about business’s stake in improving the quality of the American […]