Copyright 2010 Frederick M. Hess Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:40:02 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Frederick M. Hess :: Writings http://www.frederickhess.org RHess@AEI.org (Frederick M. Hess) webmaster@pundicity.com en-us http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-supersecretary Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:28:00 EST Every time our earnest Secretary of Education speaks of late, he seems to unearth new things that Washington can and should do to schools. Earlier this month, he promised the NAACP that the administration would see that NCLB reauthorization required... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/tackling-that-stubborn-research-policy-divide Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:56:00 EST Just spent the past couple days with a top-shelf group of young researchers that I hosted in a partnership with my good friends at the Fordham Institute. Together, we held the first gathering of the Emerging Education Policy Scholars (EEPS), which... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/book-review-bringing-school-reform-to-scale Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:43:00 EST If you haven't yet read Heather Zavadsky's savvy 2009 Harvard Education Press book Bringing School Reform to Scale, it deserves a careful look. Zavadsky, who helped build out the Broad Prize methodology and spent several years elbow-deep in these... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/should-conservatives-cuddle-up-to-the-common-core Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:52:00 EST During the past week, my pals Checker Finn, Mike Petrilli, and Jay Greene have been sparring over the question of whether conservatives ought to embrace the Common Core standards. Petrilli and Finn have argued in a thoughtful National Review Online... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/michelle-rhee-walks-the-walk Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:42:00 EST On Saturday, the Washington Post's Bill Turque reported that D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee used the district's IMPACT evaluation system to terminate 165 teachers based on performance and identified another 737 as "minimally effective," giving them one... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/liking-the-ngas-tune-on-complete-to-compete Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:27:00 EST Last week, National Governors Association Chair Joe Manchin (a Democrat from West Virginia) announced his "Complete to Compete" initiative, which will enlist "governors, higher education leaders, and other key groups in an effort to boost college... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/frog-i-said-stay-in-that-wheelbarrow Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:27:00 EST This week, over on the National Journal "education experts" blog, we're debating our earnest Secretary of Education's declaration to the NAACP last week that the administration wants a reauthorized NCLB (nee ESEA) to "require parent and community input"... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/its-the-legislation-stupid Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:34:00 EST In the terrific new Education Next article "Invisible Ink in Teacher Contracts," teacher quality savants Emily Cohen and Kate Walsh instruct would-be reformers intent on boosting teacher quality not to fixate on contracts or nifty new data analysis... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/bleak-omens-for-obamas-ed-agenda-on-the-hill Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:56:00 EST Congressional Quarterly reported yesterday that House Democratic leaders will accept the Senate's plan to pass a stripped-down supplemental spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and seek another way to funnel $10 billion in edu-aid to the... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/book-review-the-virtue-of-speaking-plain-truths Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:29:00 EST Last week, I was grumbling about the potentially unhealthy influence of edu-agitprop and the inclination of many would-be reformers to approach education reform as a simple, and simple-minded, moral crusade. I'll start the new week on a happier note, as... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/a-stellar-rebuttal-to-my-concerns-about-agitprop Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:22:00 EST My posts this week on Waiting for Superman, The Lottery, and their kin have resulted in a pretty impressive wave of e-mail. Much of it is heated and some is downright ticked off. Indeed, it all reminds me why most folks find it advisable to avoid raising... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/agitprop-slipping-its-leash Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:09:00 EST On Monday, I argued that Waiting for Superman, The Lottery, and all their edu-agitprop brethren can have a constructive role to play so long as the practitioners evince good nature and humility and the cheerleaders retain a sense of irony and don't start... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/good-news-over-at-nces Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST In a great piece of news, Debra Viadero broke the story yesterday that the Obama administration has finally named a nominee for the vacant post of Commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics. After six months of stutter-stepping since... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/we-dont-do-propaganda Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:55:00 EST Epstein: "We don't do propaganda. Our enemies disseminate propaganda. We provide information." Spenser: "It's good to be us." -exchange from Robert Parker's Rough Weather. In the last two or three months, I think I've been invited to a dozen or more... http://www.frederickhess.org/2010/07/can-dcps-teachers-still-grieve-dismissal-for-poor Tue, 6 Jul 2010 17:58:00 EST A few weeks ago, the Washington Teachers Union and hard-charging D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Michelle Rhee agreed to a dramatic new contract that was celebrated by reformers for giving the district much more freedom to reward effective teachers...