insight and advocacy through reporting and media
An analysis of federal data reveals how poorly both states are doing in providing all kids with college-preparatory curricula. (Read More)
Far too few kids are getting the Algebra 1 courses they need for future success. (Read More)
The Supreme Court signals that it will soon cut off the teachers' unions' gravy train (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Former California State Sen. Gloria Romero and I explain why expanding high quality options matter. (Read More)
Defecting locals add to the woes of the NEA and AFT. (Read More)
The once-respectable education historian gets racial in her latest bit of nastiness. (Read More)
New York City's proposed contract with the AFT local won't either advance reform or address its long-term fiscal woes. (Read More)
Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, and Detroit among districts excluding more than a fifth of kids in special ed and English Language Learner ghettos from the federal exam. (Read More)
The high cost of weakening accountability. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss how we can give all children three gifts that can help them succeed. By providing all children with the gifts of literacy, caring, and being firewalkers advocating for systemic reform, we are building brighter futures for all children — especially our own. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I take a look at the reaction from traditionalists and reformers to the 2012 PISA, and explains why their respective silver bullets for the nation’s education crisis won’t work. It will take multiple solutions to help all children gain the knowledge they need to write their own stories — and help America remain competitive in an increasingly global economy. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
The nation's largest teachers' union spends big to preserve influence. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast -- and part four of the special series on Common Core -- I explain the three challenges facing implementation of the standards and how families can help reformers overcome them. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss how data can help families transform education for their children — and why reformers must do more to provide comprehensive-yet-simple information parents and caregivers need. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain why U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was right to point out some of the underlying reasons behind opposition to Common Core standards – and why we should also be unafraid to call out failed policies and practices that condemn 120 children an hour to poverty and prison. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
|
The revised
regulations governing renewal of No Child
waivers will allow states to just skate by
without helping kids succeed – and that’s a
consequence of faulty policymaking. |
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain the wrongheaded reasons why movement conservatives, hardcore progressive traditionalists, and others oppose the standards. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
How does the Old Line State
do so well on the federal exam of student achievement?
By excluding at least 60 percent of kids condemned to
special ed and English Language Learner ghettos from the
test. (Read
More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss how Common Core's math standards can improve numeracy and math skills for all children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
The stalemate between
congressional Republicans and the Obama Administration
over both fiscal and education policy – along with the
internal battles and mistakes that fuel the sparring –
will only continue. (Read
More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss how Common Core's reading standards can help all children achieve success. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Nonprofits run by Bill Clinton and Al Sharpton among those receiving some of the $32 million given out by the American Federation of Teachers last year. (Read More) Also read more.
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I consider nine important lessons new players and established reformers must keep in mind in order to transform education for all children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Overhauling a failinng school system -- and redressing the federal government's educational abuse of Native children. (Read More) Photo courtesy of the Argus-Leader.
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I look at at the latest debate over gun control arising out of incidents such as the massacre at the Washington Navy Yard, and explain how all sides are failing to deal with both the real violence that happens daily that takes the lives of young black men – and how the education crisis perpetuates the conditions that lead to death and despair. (Listen, Download or Subscribe) Photo courtesy of the Washington Post.
On this edition of The Conversation, I chat with No Child Left Behind Act mastermind Sandy Kress about why accountability matters, the consequences of the Obama Administration's efforts to eviscerate No Child's Adequate Yearly Progress provisions on advancing systemic reform, why Common Core supporters must remember that standards won't work without common measures of achievement, and what must be done to end the soft bigotry of low expectations for poor and minority children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I look at the contrasting moves on reform by California Gov. Jerry Brown and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and explains why leadership at the gubernatorial level matters. Reformers need to take five key steps to bring more reform-minded governors and other state leaders into office to advance systemic reform. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this edition of On the Road, I join Shirley Ford of Parent Revolution, and Carrie Remis of Rochester’s Parent Power Project at StudentsFirstNY’s first annual Parent Empowerment Conference to discuss how families can take power in American public education, focus on the opportunities and challenges of taking on traditionalists opposed to systemic reform, and explain how parents can gain the knowledge they need to build cultures of genius for their children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
False accusations, bad decisions, well-deserved apologies, and the consequences of hasty implementation. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain why traditionalists and even some reformers have misplaced concerns about teacher turnover and attrition. Instead of focusing on whether teachers leave the profession, the focus should be overhauling how we recruit and train teachers as well as build a pipeline of talent that leads to high-quality teachers and school leaders into American public education. (Listen, Download or Subscribe) (Photo courtesy of the New York Times.)
On this edition of The Conversation, I chat with New York University psychology professor Scott Barry Kaufman about his new book, Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, and explains why American public education must change how it looks at the potential of all children, talks about how the misuse of IQ tests have contributed to the condemnation of children to special ed ghettos, and discusses what factors into intelligence. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain how the consequences of the nation’s education crisis can be seen in the abysmally high numbers of long-term unemployed — especially dropouts and high school grads without some higher ed experience for who the future is bleak. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Reformers should embrace the go big and go smart approach in advancing reform. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I turn attention to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and James Meredith's graduation from Old Miss, then discusses the lessons reformers can learn from the last century's civil rights struggle. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Perpetuating the soft bigotry of low expectations for
our children. (Read
more)
All solutions are needed for overhauling American public
education for our children. (Read
more)
The Old Dominion stubbornly resists systemic
reform. (Read
more)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I look at the financial insolvencies of districts such as Philadelphia and Pontiac, Mich., and explains why their failures exemplify the obsolescence of the traditional district model. It is time to move away from an approach to providing education that has failed children both fiscally and academically.. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Do I have to say it again? (Read
more)
The CORE waiver and the failures of three states to
undertake promised reforms highlights problems with the
administration's entire effort. (Read
more)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I come back from a Parent Power conference and talk about the seven key steps mothers and fathers need to take power in education for their children. From remembering that Parent Power is about fighting for everyone’s children, to understanding how to take their rightful place at the table of education decision-making, embracing these steps can help every parent transform American public education. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
The bad and ugly of eviscerating the No Child Left
Behind Act's accountability rules. (Read
more)
I chat with the WSJ“s Jason Riley about the latest round of the Obama administration’s wrongheaded move to weaken the No Child Left Behind Act’s accountability provisions, opines on the legality of the waiver effort, and discusses whether the tacit effort by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to advance Common Core standards is the right move. (Watch on YouTube or download.)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I challenge the view of the Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers' unions, and school reformers who oppose revealing the names -- and performance -- of high-quality and laggard teachers. Presenting good-to-great teachers (and poor-performing counterparts) to the public will provide information that helps families, the teaching profession, and, most importantly, all of our children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
A lack of intellectual honesty from the education
historian. (Read
more)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I take aim at dueling mythologies on the role of families in education and student academic failure offered up this month by Fordham's Mike Petrilli and Dana Goldstein of the Nation. Contrary to what they argue, neither values nor poverty are at the heart of the nation's education crisis and achievement gap. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Abhorrent treatment of our kids extends beyond Happy
Valley. (Read
more)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, a Webinar I conducted for Students For Education Reform leads me to offer some important reasons why now, more than ever, we must focus on stemming achievement gaps. Contrary to what some may think, we must address the gaps of literacy, opportunity, teacher quality, and practices that has condemned 1.2 million sixth graders alone (and, according to the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, millions more) to the educational, economic, and social abyss. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain why we need to foster good-to-great principals and superintendents capable of overhauling American public education. From the abysmal record (and recent statements) of Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White, to Los Angeles Unified School District's lousy handling of teacher performance management, we have far too many school leaders who aren't worth of their titles. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
They're in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, which actually should be camping out in front of their offices. (Read More)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I begin mapping out a path for the school reform movement as the Obama Administration and congressional leaders begin eviscerating the No Child Left Behind Act and its powerful accountability provisions. The scale-back of federal education policy offers opportunities for reformers to use grassroots activism and political savvy -- especially learning from the Freedom Rides and 20th-century political mastermind Wayne Wheeler -- in sustaining a decade of gains in overhauling American public education. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
We're not just talking about a few kids. (Read
more)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss the importance of keeping school reform focused on giving all children schools fit for their futures. Discussions over revamping the No Child Left Behind Act and achievement gaps have split the movement — and at the same time, taken away the ultimate focus of reform. It’s time to get back to business. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I consider a conversation with fellow vacationers about American public education’s global standing. While our traditional public schools are better than those in developing countries such as South Africa, they are falling behind rival economic powers such as China, India and Singapore. It’s time to live up to the ideals among those around the world who perceive American education as opening doors to liberty and economic success for all of its children. (Listen, Download or Subscribe) (Photo is of the SS Peter and Paul Catholic School in St. Thomas, USVI)
Lessons for today's reformers from a turning point in
the civil rights struggle. (Read
more)
On school reform and other issues, he may be more suit than substance. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I glean some lessons from a sermon by Dallas pastor Frederick D. Haynes III and discuss the need for servant leaders for overhauling American public education. As important as education policy is to spurring systemic reform, it is even more important to embrace people such as Geoffrey Canada, Howard Fuller, and Parent Power activists who can serve our geniuses and lead them to brighter futures. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Decimating the No Child Left Behind Act doesn't help
kids or the president's re-election prospects. (Read
more)
What Michigan's effort to seize control of failed
local governments and school districts may mean for
other states with similar problems. (Read
More) Painting courtesy of Roger Bansemer.
Helping poor and minority children helps all kids succeed. (Read more)
Geoffrey Canada, Steve Perry and others move the NAACP
crowd aside. (Read
More)
On this month’s Conversation, Capital Prep principal, school reformer and CNN commentator Dr. Steve Perry discusses his new book, Push Has Come to Shove, explains the steps parents, policymakers, and think tankers must take in overhauling American public education, and takes aim at teachers’ unions, principals and education traditionalists such as Diane Ravitch who defend failure and the Poverty Myth of Education. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I discuss the two additional steps needed to help every child get the high-quality teachers they deserve. It isn't enough to just address traditional teacher compensation, overhaul evaluations, and improve support for teachers already in the classroom. Additional steps must be taken not only to help our kids, but even elevate the teaching profession itself and attract talented collegians into the ranks. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Concerns about school data points to deeper problems. Watch on YouTube or Download)
Concerns about school data points to deeper problems. (Read more)
Listen in on the conversation with the Top Story host about education and pensions. (Download)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain why school reformers should be strident and unapologetic in advocating for overhauling American public education. Contrary to what education traditionalists may say, strong arguments such as those brought by Whitney Tilson, Steven Brill and others is not "rank demagoguery", but the kind of passionate polemicism needed in order to help every child get the education they deserve. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
The
civil rights leader who disdained this country was like
mom and apple pie. (Read
More)
Anti-poverty programs aren't enough to help children
emerge from despair. (Read
more)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, a viewing of The Help leads me to think about how we must overhaul education to end the economic-based segregation that is leaving poor and minority communities — and America as a whole — behind. Low-quality teaching, abysmal curricula, the lack of choice, and cultures of mediocrity are perpetuating a class divide as pernicious as Jim Crow segregation. (Listen, Download or Subscribe)
Why
Republican presidential candidates will end up embracing
G.W. Bush's school reform mantra. (Read
More)
A once-and-future Oregon governor may show the way on
a school reform. (Read
more)
Listen in on the conversation with the KNRS-AM radio host about education and employment. (Download)
School reform is critical to reviving the economy. (Read More)
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I take a look back at last week's revelation of the American Federation of Teachers' cynical strategizing against Parent Trigger laws and school reform, then explain how reformers and activists can turn that cynicism to their advantage. Becoming more-politically savvy can advance the systemic reforms our kids need to succeed in school and life. (Listen, Download or Subscribe) Also, read the stories, the coverage and the commentaries from The Wall Street Journal, Daily News, National Review and elsewhere. And here is the infamous presentation.
One-size-fits-all education isn't so bad. (Read
more)
On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I offer some steps parents and caregivers can take to get their kids a great education once school starts back up. From asking about math instruction to seeking out information on magnet schools, it is critical for parents to pose simple questions and use the answers to transform American public education. (Listen or Download)
What
the Save Our Schools rally really is (Read
More) (Photo courtesy of GothamSchools.org)
How a legendary auteur's entrepreneurial social change applies to today's challenges. (Read more)
Joining the HTML5 revolution, this site now offers a new, easy-to-use radio page from which you can access Dropout Nation Podcasts and radio appearances on such shows as Top Story with Chris Reed. New podcasts are made available in descending order with new podcasts and interviews on at the bottom of the list. Check it out. For the time-being, you can also access the old Flash-enabled radio page for last year's Dropout Nation Podcasts and RiShawn's other appearances.
