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Data and thoughts on public and private school funding in the U.S.
When Real Life Exceeds Satire: Comments on ShankerBlog’s April Fools Post
Yesterday, Matt Di Carlo over at Shankerblog put out his April fools post. The genius of the post is in its subtlety. Matt put together a few graphs of longitudinal NAEP data showing that Maryland had made greater than average national gains on NAEP and then asserted that these gains must therefore be a function […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
In Connecticut, Where There’s a Reformy Con, There’s a CAN!
March 7, 2013
I was intrigued a few days ago when I saw this headline in my news alerts regarding school funding. Headline: Report: Funding helps low-performing school districts I was particularly intrigued because the headline comes from a Connecticut newspaper where I am fully aware that the state really hasn’t done crap to substantively increase resources for […]
Posted in: CTEdReform
School Finance Illiteracy Reaches New Low! (But it was the NY Post?)
March 7, 2013
Okay, it’s not entirely surprising to find mind-boggling ignorance conveyed in the editorial pages of the New York Post. Today’s example comes to us in an Op-Ed written in response to a report released by the Alliance for Quality Education. Usually, I’d just let it pass. It’s the Post after all. But, for two important […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
Civics 101: School Finance Formulas & the Limits of Executive Authority
March 2, 2013
This post addresses a peculiar ongoing power grab in New Jersey involving the state school finance formula. The balance of power between state legislatures and the executive branch varies widely across states, but this New Jersey example may prove illustrative for others as well. This post may make more sense if you take the time […]
Posted in: Jersey
The Non-reformy Lessons of KIPP
March 1, 2013
We’ve all now had a few days to digest the findings of the most recent KIPP middle school mega-study. I actually do have some quibbles with the analyses themselves and the presentation of them, one of which I’ll address below, but others I’ll set aside for now. It is the big picture lessons that are […]
Posted in: Charter Schools
Revisiting the Foolish Endeavor of Rating Ed Schools by Graduates’ Value-Added
February 25, 2013
Knowing that I’ve been writing a fair amount about various methods for attributing student achievement to their teachers, several colleagues forwarded to me the recently released standards of the Council For the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, or CAEP. Specifically, several colleagues pointed me toward Standard 4.1 Impact on Student Learning: 4.1.The provider documents, using value-added […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
What does the New York City Charter School Study from CREDO really tell us?
February 25, 2013
With the usual fanfare, we were all blessed last week with yet another study seeking to inform us all that charteryness in-and-of-itself is preferential over traditional public schooling – especially in NYC! In yet another template-based pissing match (charter vs. district) design study, the Stanford Center for Research on Educational Outcomes provided us with aggregate […]
Posted in: Charter Schools
April 2, 2013
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