Full Review: https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BBaker.NPE_.NOLA_.pdf SUMMARY In July of 2018, the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans released a comprehensive, summative longitudinal report on the effects on student outcomes of the package of reforms implemented in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005. The following policy brief reviews the findings of this recent report … Continue reading WHAT SHOULD WE REALLY LEARN FROM NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE STORM? →

A few weeks back, I noticed several tweets about this recent article in Harvard Education Review which takes a look at racial politics and the rebuilding of New Orleans in the Post-Katrina era. Here’s the dropbox link tweeted by Diane Ravitch: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11116752/Buras_2011-Race_Charter_Schools_Conscious_Capitalism.pdf.pdf The article is by Kristen Buras of Georgia State University. Buras, like at … Continue reading Friday Afternoon Maps: New Orleans, Race & School Locations →

The blogging has been quiet for a while. This is partly because I feel like most issues that arise have already been dealt with somewhere on this blog. Also because I’ve been involved in several, simultaneous, long-term projects. These projects intersect with many topics I’ve addressed previously on this blog. At times, this blog serves … Continue reading Pondering Chartering: Balancing Portfolios →

The blogging has been quiet for a while. This is partly because I feel like most issues that arise have already been dealt with somewhere on this blog. Also because I’ve been involved in several, simultaneous, long-term projects. These projects intersect with many topics I’ve addressed previously on this blog. At times, this blog serves … Continue reading Pondering Chartering: Importance of Public/Private Distinctions →

Education policy research and the rhetoric emergent from that research typically fails to represent the realities – the real distribution – of schooling across our nation. We focus extensively on urban schooling most often ignoring what might or might not work in the suburbs or rural areas. We focus on development of reading and math/STEM … Continue reading Pondering Chartering: Who’s actually running America’s charter schools? →

There’s always plenty of bluster about the post-Katrina NOLA miracle. I’ve done a few posts on the topic, but none recently. See: Thoughts on NJ Failure Factories and NOLA Miracles New Orleans, Race & School Locations The NOLA model of “relinquishment” continues to be pitched as a handy-dandy reformy solution for dismantling the dysfunctional urban … Continue reading Relinquishing Efficiency: NOLA Data Snapshots →

Urban school districts are easy targets – often the whipping boy – exemplars of the failures of big government bureaucracy. Kansas City Missouri is a frequent target when it comes to education policy. But as I’ve discussed in more than one peer reviewed article (one, another), and other reports, tales of Kansas City’s failures are … Continue reading Come with me… if you wanna go to Kansas City? Thoughts on BBQ, Baseball and Reformy BS →

As the new year begins, I’ve been pondering what I might recommend as guiding principles for the path forward for education policy in New York City under its new Mayor, Bill de Blasio, who is often referred to on Twitter as BDB. So here are my thoughts for the way forward, from one BDB (Bruce … Continue reading Data, Portfolios & the Path Forward for NYC (& Elsewhere) →

We all know… by the persistent blather emanating from reformy-land that some common truths exist in education policy. Among those truths are that New Jersey’s urban public school districts are absolute, undeniable Failure Factories, while New Orleans’ Post-Katrina charter invasion is the future of greatness in public (well, not really public) education – the ultimate … Continue reading Failure is in the Eye of the Political Hack: Thoughts & Data on NJ Failure Factories & NOLA Miracles →

I suspect there are a lot of readers of my blog and twitter followers who frequently use the phrase “corporate reform” to characterize the current heavily privately financed movement to push specific “reforms” to public education systems.  My readers may not have noticed, but I tend not to use this phrase. I have a few … Continue reading “Corporate Reform” or Failed, Desperate Corporate Management? →