Board's Eye View

Just when academic excellence ?seemed to be making a comeback with our educators and policymakers we face the challenge of another wave of education tool and die makers whose products are confused with, er, knowledge.? Yesterday, I was happy to report that differentiated instruction guru Carol Tomlinson recognized that DI [differentiated instruction] was just a tool and that the nation had better get its content house in order before DI could do much good.

Today we are treated to a long, front-page story in the New York Times featuring cracks in another idol of modern education: technology; in this case, the ?software? that hides in said magic box.

What the Times says is already a $2.2 billion industry may just be producing more educational snake oil. The paper cites the federal Education Department's What Works Clearinghouse, which conducts rigorous studies of the research that many of the software developers allude to in their promotional materials, and concludes,

Some firms misrepresent research by cherry-picking results and promote surveys or limited case studies that lack the scientific rigor required by the clearnhouse and other authorities.

An interesting irony here is that the Times has a story in the same edition of the paper about a growing chorus of Republicans calling for the abolition of the federal Education Department. ?It would seem that some members of the GOP have gone back to a rather narrow states-rights parochialism, forgetting their party's individual rights roots and the core values...


I am not one to blame the press for problems, but I do take seriously the founders' belief that the democratic experiment won't work without an informed public.? It is not about taking a stand for or against; it's about reporting the facts -- all of them, including those from dissenters, reformers, and researchers.? As the Fox News anthem has it, ?We inform, you decide.? The problem is that even if the public is...



2.? Dillon is Back.? It's nice to see that Sam Dillon survived his kerfuffle with Jay Green (see here).? And this profile of William H. Fitzhugh, ?the cantankerous publisher of a journal that showcases high school research papers,? should be safe enough?though it is depressing. As Fitzhugh tells Dillon, ?Most kids don't know how to write, don't know any history, and that's a disgrace ? Writing...



A pro-cap vote by the state's Assembly, still controlled by Democrats, is not a slam dunk, but why does the Times call the tax cap a ploy?? As I read the editorial, it doesn't like the fact that?the legislation requires a 60 percent majority by local voters to increase the local tax by more than 2 percent. ?That would give people who oppose school spending more voting power than people who support it.? reasons the Times, which goes on to complain that the bill ?would also do away with the traditional school budget vote and require districts to simply ask voters to support a tax increase.?

The Times conveniently forgets that New York school?budget votes are already a charade.? Currently, even if local voters...



Now comes research to document the social status implications of our anti-bullying binge -- and will, hopefully, sound the alarm about our latest witch hunt.? First reported in Education Week last week, the new studies are also discussed in this morning's New York Times by...




Though the cheating scandal du jour is in Atlanta (not to be confused with the education leadership forum Checker is moderating there on Monday), the range and depth of the problem, especially given the improbability of a conspiracy, is troubling.? Lacking a conspiracy, we are left with an explanation of ?moral and ethical breakdown of epidemic proportions.? And the...





More interesting, perhaps, is the story of Tisch's visit to Automotive High, during which she was accompanied by the state's new commissioner of education, John King. The visit actually took place a couple of weeks ago. ?And Tisch remarked:

Where do you think these kids are going? They have no education and they aren't getting one?? I'm not saying they're going to be college- and career-ready; I'm not a fool. So put a G.E.D. program in there; teach them skills.




Whether the List research will help in Newark, I'm not sure, but according to the Bloomberg report, ?List says that his experiments will give policy makers, executives and investors much greater certainty about why students, donors and shoppers make the decisions they do? and ?may show that the U.S. doesn't spend enough on helping parents.?

?We have too many eggs in the kid...





Do we have a cheating scandal here or not?

We may...



To start, we need to be aware of what Winerip leaves out, beginning with the facts. How many students go to Oyster River Middle School, the subject of his story? How many are minority, Free and Reduced lunch?? We don't know. Has the school's proficiency rate ? which Winerip says is ?about 85 percent? ? gone up or down?? Which grades does it apply to? Which subjects? We also...