I just returned from Washington, DC, where, although ticketed, I was not able to attend President Obama’s inauguration. I had a purple ticket. That disappointment aside, change and hope are here. Here are some highlights for what the Obama administration is working on for education: Zero to Five Plan: The Obama-Biden comprehensive “Zero to Five” [...]

Whitney Stark at Minnesota Public Radio wrote me to ask what I think about the increase in schools that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind: Minnesota Public Radio News is interested in learning more about what is going on with Minnesota’s declining and low Adequate Yearly Progress results. What [...]

Few topics are as political as education, in which at least basic schooling is compulsory for all Americans. It is fitting, then, that we conclude this week’s focus on change with a look at the changes that presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama each propose for U.S. education. After analyzing educational policy statements on [...]

In our first post this week on the United States’ unstable orbit around mediocrity, we present a short set of slides on how No Child Left Behind is endangering America’s ability to compete academically. (To view a larger version, download the file here.) | View | Upload your own Next week, we will focus on [...]

Katherine Lindsay writes: My alma mater, Lawrence University, will stop requiring ACT/SAT scores as part of the undergraduate admission process in 2006. This is, in part, a reaction to the “overemphasis of testing” by the Bush administration. Several other liberal arts colleges are following suit. I wonder how moves by small liberal arts colleges like [...]