The Answer Sheet: School turnarounds/reform


Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 03/02/2011

The Bill Gates problem in school reform
By Valerie Strauss
How our celebrity-obsessed culture affects school reform: If Bill Gates had no money, would anybody care what he has to say about how to fix public schools (especially since he lacks strong evidence to back his positions)?

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 03/02/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  bill gates, gates foundation, gates interview, school reform, teacher evaluation teacher effectiveness

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/02/2011

Obama's mistimed Miami school visit -- with Jeb Bush
By Valerie Strauss
What a tag team. At a time when Wisconsin teachers are protesting to keep their collective bargaining rights, President Obama is traveling to Florida to share a stage with the anti-union Jeb Bush, the former governor who led corporate-driven, standardized test-obsessed school reform and tried to reduce teachers union influence.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 03/02/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, Standardized Tests | Tags:  arne duncan, president obama, president obama and teachers, rick scott, scott walker, wisconsin protests, wisconsin teachers

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/28/2011

Film critic Ebert rescinds positive ‘Superman’ review
By Valerie Strauss
More bad news for “Waiting for Superman.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/28/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  academy award, davis guggenheim, oscar, oscar snubs, roger ebert, waiting for superman, why oscar snubbed superman

Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 01/25/2011

Why Oscar snubbed ‘Superman’ -- deservedly so
By Valerie Strauss
The documentarians get it: “Waiting for Superman” was not a good/accurate enough documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:30 AM ET, 01/25/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  academy award nominations, academy awards, davis guggenheim, diane ravitch, documentaries, feature documentaries, films that were snubbed, inside job, michelle rhee, movies snubbed, oscar nominations, oscar snubs, oscars, randi weingarten, superman, waiting for superman

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 01/16/2011

Why 'Inside Job' bests 'Waiting for Superman' on school reform
By Valerie Strauss
Now that "Waiting for Superman" has made the short list of documentaries up for an Academy Award, an educator explains why another film on the list, "Inside Job," does a better job of explaining the school crisis even though its not about education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:30 PM ET, 01/16/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  academy awards, critics choice awards, davis guggenheim, golden globe awards, inside job, oscars, public schools, school reform, schools, waiting for superman

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 12/15/2010

Joel Klein's business model and the drowning of Nicole Suriel
By Valerie Strauss
The principal of the New York City elementary school where a field trip to a beach ended in the drowning death of a sixth grader has finally been fired. But not because of his responsibility in the botched trip.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:00 PM ET, 12/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  joel klein, mayor bloomberg, new york city schools, nicole suriel, nyc schools, school reform, student drowning

Posted at 05:15 PM ET, 12/01/2010

Sponsors tell story of Jeb Bush ed convention
By Valerie Strauss
If you have any doubt about the direction of where school reform is headed in this country, look at the sponsors of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s two-day education conference in Washington D.C.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:15 PM ET, 12/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arne duncan, educational reform, jeb bush, school reform

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010

A new mess at Central Falls High in Rhode Island
By Valerie Strauss
Things aren’t going well at Central Falls High, the Rhode Island school that became famous last spring when all of the teachers were fired and President Obama praised the “accountability” move.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arne duncan, central falls, central falls high school, president obama, school reform, school transformation, school turnaround, teachers

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/15/2010

Lisa Simpson and why reform isn't really reform
By Valerie Strauss
What we’re seeing today in the world of education is most accurately labeled “intensification,” not reform. It’s changing things, but it’s changing them in the same direction we’ve been moving for well over a decade. Lisa Simpson

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  charter schools, kevin welner, lisa simpson, school reform, the simpsons

Posted at 07:38 PM ET, 11/09/2010

Bloomberg errs again with NYC public schools
By Valerie Strauss
There is unfortunate symmetry to today’s news that Joel Klein had resigned as New York City Schools Chancellor today to join Rupert Murdoch’s outfit, and that he was being succeeded by Cathie Black, chair of Hearst Magazines. Klein, who is becoming an executive vice president for News Corp., had taken the job as chancellor without any experience in education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  07:38 PM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  bloomberg appoints black, cathie black, chancellor and black, chancellor black, chancellor klein, hearst magazines, joel klein, klein and murdoch, klein quits, klein resigns, klein to news corp., mayor bloomberg, michael bloomberg, new york city chancellor, new york schools, news corp., nyc chancellor, nyc schools

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010

Harvard’s strange ‘Strange Bedfellows’ education event
By Valerie Strauss
You might think, or at least I would, that a ticketed discussion at the Harvard University Institute of Politics on education would include people with different views. But with Michelle Rhee, Jeb Bush and John Podesta as the panel, the "discussion" will sound more like an echo chamber.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 11/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arne duncan, charter schools, education department, harvard, harvard university, institute of politics, iop, jeb bush, john podesta, margaret spellings, michelle rhee, no child left behind, obama education reform, president obama, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/20/2010

The Chamber of Commerce's flawed 'Superman' school reform guide
By Valerie Strauss
In a shameless act of movie flacking, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just published a guide for business leaders on school reform that is linked to and reinforces the skewed vision of public education portrayed in the movie “Waiting for Superman.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  batman, business leaders, business leaders and school reform, chamber of commerce, charter schools, clark kent, davis guggenheim, effective teachers, finland and teachers, reform guide, school reform, superman, superman and clark kent, teach for america, waiting for superman, what superman would do

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/19/2010

How billionaire donors harm public education
By Valerie Strauss
Today the foundation set up by billionaires Eli and Edythe Broad is giving $2 million to an urban school district that has pursued education reform that they like. On Friday a Florida teacher is going to run 50 miles to raise money so that he and his fellow teachers don’t have to spend their own money to buy paper and pencils, binders (1- and 2-inch), spiral notebooks, composition books, printer ink. Together the two events show the perverted way schools are funded.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  bill gates, broad prize, charter schools, eli broad, facebook, mark zuckerberg, newark schools, school reform

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/18/2010

Why 'Superman' film should be 'Waiting for Batman'
By Valerie Strauss
A veteran teacher writes that Davis Guggenheim mixed up his superheroes and should have named his film "Waiting for Superman" after Batman.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  batman, davis guggenheim, heroes, superheroes, superman, susan graham, teacher leaders network

Posted at 09:17 AM ET, 10/17/2010

Rothstein: Why teacher quality can't be only centerpiece of reform
By Valerie Strauss
Richard Rothstein on the Klein/Rhee manifesto: "Making teacher quality the only centerpiece of a reform campaign distracts our attention from other equally and perhaps more important school areas needing improvement, areas such as leadership, curriculum, and practices of collaboration.... ut most important, making teacher quality the focus distracts us from the biggest threat to student achievement in the current age: our unprecedented economic catastrophe and its effect on parents and their children’s ability to gain from higher-quality schools."

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:17 AM ET, 10/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  achievement gap, joel klein, manifesto, michelle rhee, poverty, richard rothstein, school manifesto, school reform, teacher quality

Posted at 11:34 AM ET, 10/16/2010

Supt. Ackerman's critique of 'manifesto'
By Valerie Strauss
Philadelphia Schools Supt. Arlene Ackerman writes why she doesn't agree with the "reform manifesto" approved by 15 other big city school district chiefs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:34 AM ET, 10/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arlene ackerman, charter schools, joel klein, manifesto, michelle rhee, school reform, teachers

Posted at 02:02 PM ET, 10/15/2010

Superintendent Ackerman withdraws name from 'manifesto'
By Valerie Strauss
So it turns out that Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman doesn’t really agree with the “reform manifesto” that appeared this week in the Washington Post and signed by 16, scratch that, now 15, big-city school district chiefs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:02 PM ET, 10/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  arlene ackerman, buffalo public schools, james raymond, joel klein, jonathan raymond, klein manifesto, manifesto, philadelphia schools, reform manifesto, sacramento schools, school manifesto, school reform

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 10/15/2010

Two superintendents who rejected the "manifesto"
By Valerie Strauss
A lot has been written about a school reform “manifesto” signed by 16 big-city public school district bosses, but little has been said about the superintendents who refused to sign on. Here, two explain why they rejected the document.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 10/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 10/13/2010

A different vision from a different superintendent
By Valerie Strauss
Jonathan P. Raymond, superintendent of Sacramento schools, offers a starkly different vision of school reform than that portrayed in a manifesto signed by 16 of his colleagues, including the soon-to-be-departing Michelle Rhee of Washington D.C.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 10/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  jonathan p. raymond, klein rhee manifesto, manifesto, michelle rhee, reform manifesto, sacramento schools, school reform, supt. raymond

Posted at 02:55 PM ET, 10/09/2010

The bankrupt 'school reform manifesto' of Rhee, Klein, etc.
By Valerie Strauss
There are so many things wrong with the new “school reform manifesto” signed by 16 school district chiefs -- including New York’s Joel Klein and Washington’s Michelle Rhee -- and published in The Washington Post that it is hard to know where to start.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:55 PM ET, 10/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  baltimore contract, baltimore schools, council of great city schools, joel klein, klein and rhee, michael casserly, michelle rhee, reform document, reform manifesto, school manifesto, teachers, teachers and assessment, washington post

Posted at 02:55 PM ET, 10/08/2010

P.S.: Stephen Colbert blew it on schools, too
By Valerie Strauss
It wasn't enough that Lewis Black was unsuccessful in adequately skewering modern school reform on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" earlier this week. Last night Steven Colbert blew it too.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:55 PM ET, 10/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  charter schools, colbert nation, comedy central, davis guggenheim, jon stewart, lewis black, school reform, steven colbert, the colbert report, the daily show, waiting for superman

Posted at 02:30 PM ET, 10/07/2010

Jon Stewart and Lewis Black blew it on schools
By Valerie Strauss
Lewis Black’s piece on “the public school crisis” that aired on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” the other night left me wondering why education reform hasn’t been more of a high value target for Stewart or, for that matter, Steven Colbert.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:30 PM ET, 10/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  charter schools, colbert report, jon stewart, lewis black, school reform, steven colbert, the colbert report, the daily show, waiting for superman

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 10/07/2010

An education film that gets it (No, not 'Superman')
By Valerie Strauss
Educator Mark Phillips writes that real success in improving schools requires attention to the emotional and psychological lives of kids, a point captured in the film "Race to Nowhere." It demonstrates an understanding of real learning that other education films, such as "Waiting for Superman," don't.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 10/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  madeleine levine, race to nowhere, school reform, the cartel, the lottery, waiting for superman

Posted at 11:49 AM ET, 10/01/2010

The poverty gap: There are always exceptions, but they make bad education policy
By Valerie Strauss
Part 2 of the elephant that President Obama and Matt Lauer failed to acknowledge in this week's interview: Of course there are some teachers and schools in impoverished areas that are successful. But they are exceptions that don't prove the rule.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:49 AM ET, 10/01/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  harlem children's zone, hcz, obama, obama and eform, promise neighborhoods, race to the top, school reform

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/30/2010

The strange media coverage of Obama's education policies
By Valerie Strauss
School reform has suddenly caught the attention of mainstream news organizations in a big way. Why aren't they more skeptical about President Obama's reform agenda?

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  $100 million newark, education nation, journalism, nbc, school reform, waiting for superman, zuckerberg

Posted at 05:13 PM ET, 09/14/2010

About that Time magazine education poll
By Valerie Strauss
Here are some questions about Time magazine's recent education poll.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:13 PM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform, School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  merit pay, time and education poll, time magazine education poll, time poll and schools

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010

Obama picked wrong school to give speech
By Valerie Strauss
The Philadelphia school chosen for President Obama’s second annual “back to school” speech to students around the country is consistently ranked as a great public college-preparatory institution. That’s why he should have picked a different school to visit.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 09/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  central falls high school, elliott school, obama and back to school, obama and back to school speech, obama and masterman school, obama and school reform, obama and speech, obama and speech and students, obama speech, president obama and back to school, president obama and school reform, restructured schools, t.c. williams, t.c. williams high school, urgent need of reform list

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010

School board president: Ed reformers ‘just don’t get it’
By Valerie Strauss
A school board president blasts current education reformers, saying "They simply just don’t get it. They don’t realize what true education is and they have no clue the challenges we face in helping students engage in it."

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  School turnarounds/reform | Tags:  charlotte hummel, education reform, school reform, william penn school district