- Tennessee’s new “diploma project,” which requires students to earn two additional core credits in high school, isn’t playing out quite as expected. To comply with the mandate, Montgomery County is adding a class period to the school day—by shortening all other classes eleven minutes. There’s a phrase for this: Putting old moonshine in new bottles.
- Buzz words are tossed around like Frisbees in the eduwonk world. But what do terms like “twenty-first-century skills” and “next generation learning” actually mean? In a recent paper, Parthenon comes to the rescue with answers on how to define the latter—and how to bring this new-style learning to scale.
- Road trip to Byron, Minnesota anyone? The town’s senior high school recently combined two of Gadfly’s favorite edu-initiatives: When the school realized its textbooks didn’t align with the North Star State’s math standards—but that it didn’t have the funds to purchase new books—its teachers scoured the Internet for free web-based curricula, creating their own virtual textbooks. Productive innovation and school-level autonomy? Count it.
- Last week in the Atlantic, Kevin Carey proposed a match.com-type program for college placements. We’ll see your proposal, Kevin, and raise you another: Why not extend that down to secondary education? Parents navigating choice-rich districts or the complicated digital-learning table would be all in.
- The elephant in the room has finally been named. After a decade of ado over the achievement gap, smart folks are finally weighing in on whether top-performers are getting short shrift. Check out the latest New York Times “Room for Debate” for more. Or come to Fordham on October 17.
- Last Sunday, George Will laid down a doozey of an op-ed, stomping all over Arne Duncan’s “waiver” plan. “The expansion of federal power [something we’ve been doing since Taft] inevitably expands executive discretion that marginalizes Congress.” Those who forget (or ignore or choose not to heed) the past…
