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Accountability Frankenstein

How to steer CYA-oriented bureaucracies, or why NCLB supporters need to think about libel law

Someone at USDOE sent me an invitation to listen to the June 14 phone conference where Arne Duncan explained how disappointed he was in Tennessee, Indiana, and other states with charter caps, let alone states such as Maine with no charter law, and how that disappointment might be reflected in the distribution (or lack of […]

See-no-knowledge in education policy?

I seem to be reading several “we don’t know anything so let’s plow ahead” arguments in education think-tankery, from Mike Petrilli’s argument that because we don’t currently have a solid research base about how to turn schools around, we shouldn’t try, to Kevin Carey’s consistent argument in Education Sector’s blog that because there is no […]

The world is complicated, part 752

So the Center for Research on Education Outcomes has a report on charter-school performance, the Center on Education Policy has released a report on student achievement trends, NAEP released art-education data, and the spin has begun. Missing from almost all the reporting: Statements about the extent of peer reviewing for any of these reports. I’m […]

On graduation rates and auditing state databases

I sympathize with Florida’s Deputy Commissioner of Education Jeff Sellers, finding himself defending the state’s official graduation rate the week that Education Week published its Swanson-index issue and pointed to Florida as a low-graduation state, using numbers far below the state’s official numbers. Some perspective: Florida’s official graduation rate is inflated, but it’s still better […]

No one ever accused Arne Duncan of impersonating an education researcher

Hopefully some day we can track kids from pre-school to high-school and from high school to college and college to career. Hopefully we can track good kids to good teachers and good teachers to good colleges of education. This was an excerpt from a speech Duncan gave today to IES staff about the need to […]