No Matter What Anyone Says, the Money Ought to Follow the Kid Regardless of What Kind of Public School They Choose

I am punching above my weight. I am no education policy wonk, nor am I a mover or shaker in America’s larger educational conversation. But…

Turns Out Privatizing Education Is Harder Than It Looks

According to The Washington Post’s anti-education-reform columnist, Valerie Strauss, there’s a “movement to privatize public education in America.” Unfortunately, none of us who are supposedly…

Nice to See the Right and the Left Agree on Something, Too Bad They’re Both Wrong

Two former U.S. secretaries of education, Margaret Spellings, who served under President George W. Bush, and Arne Duncan, who served under President Barack Obama, think…

Finally, the Candidates Discuss Education Policy

Well, folks, we’re 288 days into the worst election year of all time but we’ve finally got some answers on education that will knock anything…

If Charter Schools Aren’t Public, Then Neither Are Elite Magnets

At a recent book club meeting, we were wrapping up a spirited discussion of James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” when our talk veered to…

3 Reasons Why You’re Better Off Giving Teachers a Say

In February, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) announced sweeping changes to its teacher training and evaluation systems. Since this is a policy area that…

Mark Walsh is the only journalist that I know of who focuses on education-related Supreme Court cases, though his writing at EdWeek (@SchoolLawBlog) and on SCOTUSblog. So it was great to get Walsh’s take on last week’s big Supreme Court case and on media coverage of school law cases in general. https://twitter.com/SchoolLawBlog/status/686635083059429376 (See my previous post on this: How to Be  Smart Supreme Court Coverage…

Suburban Secrets: How We Hide Our Achievement Gaps in Montgomery County

The back-to-school packet came the same day as The Washington Post article about kids in our district—Montgomery County, Maryland—failing the algebra I end-of-year exam at…

A Complete Response to the Washington Post

I recently wrote a letter to the editor at The Washington Post about a recent article that I felt unfairly portrayed student poverty as the…

Of Course There’s Poverty, But Everything We Do In School Matters Too

Is it possible to speak honestly about barriers to student achievement and then ignore all school factors when doing so? No, it isn’t. Everything we…