Two decades after “Origins of the ‘dropout problem'”
A Facebook comment today by Alexander Russo reminded me that this fall is the 20th anniversary of Origins of the “Dropout Problem” ($ or JSTOR’s Register and Read program), published by the History of Education Quarterly. The article came out of the part of my dissertation that asked when, how, and why “dropping out” became […]
What “average effect” means and does not mean
Earlier this month, Politico education reporter Stephanie Simon wrote an article on what she describes as minimal positive effects of vouchers on student achievement. Rick Hess wrote one of the more visible responses, which repeated the following from an Ed Week column last year he was a co-author on: Among voucher programs, random-assignment studies generally find modest […]
Whom the gods would destroy, they first give international comparisons
The first question these kinds of studies raise is, ‘If we’re so dumb, why are we so rich?’ — Anthony Carnevale, quoted in New York Times, October 8, 2013 Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published an initial international comparison of adult skills in several areas. The Survey of Adult Skills has […]
I did not have to apply to be Florida’s education commissioner
Fortunately, Florida’s Board of Education decided not to conduct a full search for a new state commissioner of education. Instead, they decided that their second-time-around interim commissioner Pam Stewart would have the job. Whew! When Tony Bennett resigned in the summer, I wondered if the board of education would try to snag a supposed star […]
Confusion about the cognitive utility of test-prep
Late one Wednesday night in late July, I became entangled in an interesting Twitter thread about testing. It began with Jennifer Borgioli’s tweet: https://twitter.com/DataDiva/status/360208829687926784 … which she followed up with https://twitter.com/DataDiva/status/360210628901744640 NSVF’s Benjamin Riley approved at least of the first: +1 RT @DataDiva: If test is worthy of students, how is teaching to the test […]