They’re for the children… or the adults. Well, which one is it, and where’s the scorecard when you need one?
There’s a deeper dynamic in urban school politics that reporters are missing, even the work of good beat professionals such as those who work for the St. Petersburg Times: When they talk about African American politicians who support vouchers, whether it’s members of the Florida legislature, Barack Obama, or David Paterson, they often forget that […]
A rescue for Swanson’s CPI?
(Note: I’ve changed a few things in the first graph, and someone pointed out to me that I had fallen prey to one of the many Excel glitches, but I’ll show the changes below…) I’ve written informally here on graduation measures, expressing my concern about Chris Swanson’s Cumulative Promotion Index, known among the grad-rate numerati […]
Playing chicken with a Mack truck and living to tell the tale
This year I’ve occasionally likened Florida politics and policymaking to playing chicken with a Mack truck. Usually, the truck wins. But twice in the past few months, the minority leader in the Florida House (Dan Gelber), has won the game, most recently by getting out in front of a mail-in redo of the Democratic presidential […]
Defending Effective Accountability and Assessment Practices
Saturday, March 29, 200810:45-12:15Hilton Washington Defending Effective Accountability and Assessment Practices is the title of the session I’m a participant in at the NEA/AFT Higher Education Joint Conference. AFT web page on conference NEA web page on conference From what I understand, the tentatively-slated participants include staff members of two institutional associations as well as […]
Essayist as Puck?
If we shadows have offended,Think but this, and all is mended,That you have but slumber’d hereWhile these visions did appear.-Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, V, i In trying to explain Why I Write These Columns, Stanley Fish argues that his goal as an essayist is to probe the logic of an issue, and that he […]