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Rewarding Strivers
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
Century Foundation Press,
6/17/2010
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Today, higher education is a major force in promoting social mobility, yet colleges and universities seem more concerned with prestige than finding ways to make higher learning more accessible. Rewarding Strivers outlines two high-profile models that colleges and universities can follow in making the American Dream a realistic one for all students.
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False Impression:How A Widely Cited Study Vastly Overstates The Benefits Of Charter Schools
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Marco Basile,
Economic Policy Institute,
The Century Foundation,
8/1/2010
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One significant change in American education in recent years has been the proliferation of charter schools
throughout the country. Although charters are publicly funded, they are allowed to operate independently
from traditional public school systems while abiding by rules that vary from state to state. Advocates of
charters argue that their independence enables them to innovate and be more flexible in serving their
students. Many charter supporters also believe that, by relying on teachers who in most cases are not
unionized, better results will arise, in part because it is easier to fire ineffective non-unionized instructors
unprotected by tenure and due process dismissal rules.
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The Feds Move to Protect Students against the For-Profit Educational Industry
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
6/24/2010
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On June 16th the Obama administration filed a reversal of policy with proposed rules that would ensure protection to students enrolled in for-profit schools. In a new issue brief, Century Foundation fellow Gordon MacInnes explains how for the past thirty years Congress and federal regulators have jiggered the rules to favor aggressive proprietary schools at the expense of poor, vulnerable students. MacInnes discusses how the Department of Education’s new proposal, if passed, will protect the hundreds of thousands of low-income students who seek financial aid to pursue higher education.
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Four Lessons from New York's Test Results
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
8/11/2010
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On July 28, New York State chancellor Meryl Tisch and commissioner of education Joseph Steiner released state test results and in doing so exposed that a majority of states have been lowering proficiency standards as a part of the No Child Left Behind game. Tisch and Steiner’s effort to align New York’s tests to what students need to know in order to be college-ready sets an example for every state as well as for federal education officials. In a new issue brief, Four Lessons from New York’s Test Results, Century Foundation fellow Gordon MacInnes writes that, “The sensible honesty of the New York leadership deserves national attention, particularly from advocates of ‘transformational reform.’”
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A Turn in the Road? Rerouting Federal School Reform
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
7/15/2010
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Since July 1, three developments suggest that the first-year victories of the Obama-Duncan “transformational reform” effort may be in jeopardy. First, the House of Representatives adopted a supplemental appropriations bill that includes an emergency infusion of $10 billion for saving teachers’ jobs, $800 million of which is financed by modest reductions in Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and one other embryonic administration program. The White House threatens a veto. Download the Issue Brief.
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Keeping the Spotlight on Student Loans
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
4/15/2010
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With the signing of the budget reconciliation bill on March 30, the federal student loan program basked briefly in its reflected glory. Student loans were the sidekick of health care reform. Reconciliation ends the nonsensical practice of subsidizing banks to originate loans that are almost fully guaranteed by the federal government. By this July, all student loans will be issued directly by the government. The $6 billion in annual savings will be used to increase Pell Grants, assist historically black and community colleges, and ease re-payments by borrowers in public service or other lower-paid jobs.
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Four Lessons From New York's Test Results
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
8/11/2010
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New York State Chancellor Meryl Tisch and Commissioner of Education Joseph Steiner deserve the “Whistle Blower of the Year” award for laying bare the deception and softness of state standards and testing. In releasing the 2010 state test results on July 28, they expose the majority of states that have been lowering proficiency standards as a part of the No Child Left Behind game. Their effort to align New York’s tests to what students need to be college-ready sets an example for every state and, one hopes, federal education officials. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Does Affirmative Action Matter?
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
7/29/2010
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In a recent post, Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress Action Fund argues that the battles over affirmative action in higher education don’t matter much in the fight for a fairer society. But is the issue of who gets in to elite colleges a mere sideshow, or are there important ramifications for individuals and communities? Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Ross Douthat and Affirmative Action
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
7/22/2010
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The issue of affirmative action in higher education is about to explode on the scene once again – as an article in this morning’s Texas Tribune notes. A challenge to the use of race at the University of Texas at Austin will be argued before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on August 3, and the case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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A Turn in the Road? Rerouting Federal School Reform
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
7/15/2010
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Since July 1, three developments suggest that the first-year victories of the Obama-Duncan “transformational reform” effort may be in jeopardy. First, the House of Representatives adopted a supplemental appropriations bill that includes an emergency infusion of $10 billion for saving teachers’ jobs, $800 million of which is financed by modest reductions in Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and one other embryonic administration program. The White House threatens a veto. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The Feds Move to Protect Students against the For-Profit Educational Industry
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
6/24/2010
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For most of the past thirty years, Congress and federal regulators have jiggered the rules to favor aggressive proprietary schools at the expense of poor, vulnerable students. The federal government’s seeming role was to assure the Education Industry (not to be confused with the nonprofit education “sector”) that its revenues and profits would swell using taxpayer grants and guaranteed loans. It worked. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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White Flight in Higher Education
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
6/4/2010
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The other day, I commented in this space on a disturbing new U.S. Department of Education report finding a 42% increase in the proportion of students attending high poverty elementary and secondary schools since 2000. Black and Latino students attend these schools in disproportionate numbers.But as I note in a new post in the Chronicle of Higher Education, something similar appears to be happening in higher education: as whites are increasingly fleeing less selective and non-selective schools and African Americans are increasing their representation at those schools. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The Ominous Increase in High Poverty Schools
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
5/27/2010
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Richard Kahlenberg responds to Thursday, May 27th's U.S. Department of Education report on the increase of students attending high poverty schools. Listen to it here: Kahlenberg Department of Education Podcast
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Rewarding Strivers
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
5/24/2010
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In Sunday's Washington Post Outlook section, I outlined five myths about who gets into college. The myths include: 1. Admissions officers have figured out how to reward merit above connections and wealth.
2. Disadvantages based on race are still the biggest obstacles to getting into college.
3. Generous financial aid policies are the key to boosting socioeconomic diversity.
4. Selective colleges are too expensive and aren't worth the investment.
5. With more students going to college, we're closer to the goal of equal opportunity. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Charles Murray Sort of Making Sense?
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
5/6/2010
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It is striking that just as a Harvard Law School student was being rightly condemned for suggesting in a brief private email that African Americans might be genetically less intelligent than whites, the New York Times offered space on its op-ed page to Charles Murray, who in The Bell Curve publicly and at great length made precisely that argument. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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DOE vs. DOJ on School Integration
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
4/20/2010
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This morning’s Washington Post features a superb front page story on policies in a small Mississippi school district to segregate students – and the efforts of the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice to stop it. But as I note in a guest blogpost for Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss’s “The Answer Sheet,” the DOJ’s action to fight de jure segregation stands in stark contrast to Obama’s Education Department’s failure to address the much larger issue of de facto (residential based) school segregation by race and class. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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Keeping the Spotlight on Student Loans
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
4/15/2010
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With the signing of the budget reconciliation bill on March 30, the federal student loan program basked briefly in its reflected glory. Student loans were the sidekick of health care reform. Reconciliation ends the nonsensical practice of subsidizing banks to originate loans that are almost fully guaranteed by the federal government. By this July, all student loans will be issued directly by the government. The $6 billion in annual savings will be used to increase Pell Grants, assist historically black and community colleges, and ease re-payments by borrowers in public service or other lower-paid jobs. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Obama's Affirmative Action Trap
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
4/6/2010
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Last week, a small article appeared in the Wall Street Journal outlining a development that could have very have very large political and policy significance in 2010 and 2012. The article describes the Obama Administration’s decision to file an amicus brief before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals supporting a racial affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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ESEA Reauthorization: The Feds Leverage Their 7.5 Percent
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
3/17/2010
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The federal government pays 90 percent of the bill for interstate highways, and even secessionist
states such as Texas and South Carolina go along with its specifications for lane width, signage, and
speed limits. Now, the Obama Administration seeks to greatly extend the reach of federal policy
with an ante of just 7.5 percent or so of the annual bill for public education. The vehicle for this
audacious play is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), formerly
known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Firing Teachers in Rhode Island
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
3/5/2010
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Last week, the school board in Rhode Island’s poorest city, Central Falls, made national news by firing all 74 teachers and 19 staff members at Central Falls High. The move was part of a “turnaround” plan of the type being pushed by the Obama Administration. Education Secretary Arne Duncan applauded the action, arguing “the status quo needs to change.” The local school board and Duncan may get political points for being seen as “tough,” and “demanding action,” but is it fair to blame the teachers in Central Falls, and, more importantly, will the effort work to help students? Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Raleigh's Innovative Economic Diversity Plan
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
3/1/2010
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On Sunday, The New York Times outlined the growing threat to Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina’s innovative and successful plan to integrate schools by economic status. The program, which was lauded in the Times five years ago for its ability to increase minority achievement, while maintaining high achievement for whites, seeks to ensure that no school has more than 40% of students eligible for subsidized lunches. This past October, however, the plan came under attack in the ostensibly nonpartisan school board election, where opponents of the diversity plan were heavily funded by the Republican Party. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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What Educators Should Learn from ER
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
2/1/2010
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Educators could learn a thing or two from the craft of medicine, even medicine practiced on television. Doctors on the popular television series ER, for example, are not surprised to learn that mortality rates are higher at County General Hospital than at Pleasant Valley Community Hospital. Doctors at County see a lot more drug abusers, gunshot victims, obese diabetics, alcoholics, and the homeless, not to mention heart attacks, strokes, and concussions. Pleasant Valley might see more lawn mower and hockey injuries, to go along with heart and cancer problems. Its patients arrive in better overall health, have regular check-ups, and better insurance coverage. These factors make a difference—a huge difference—in outcomes between the two hospitals. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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Obama's No Child Left Behind Revisions
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
2/1/2010
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According to today’s New York Times, President Obama will propose a number of important changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which under the Bush Administration was known as No Child Left Behind. The good news is that Obama plans to eliminate some of the most problematic features of NCLB. The bad news is that he may introduce some new problems, drawing on the administration’s current “Race to the Top” education program. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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SOTU and Education
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Richard D. Kahlenberg,
The Century Foundation,
1/28/2010
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On the education front, President Obama's State of the Union address was notable in three respects. First, he adroitly tied his reforms in higher education to his larger message about holding banks accountable. Currently, the government subsidizes banks to make low interest student loans for college. Cutting the banks out and making loans directly will save billions of dollars that Obama directs to increasing Pell Grants and other education programs, such as better pre-K. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Bloomberg’s Flawed Teacher Evaluation Mandate
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
12/1/2009
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Better a mayor or governor willing to fight for improved teaching and learning than one trapped by the status quo. However, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s newly proposed policies seem destined to out-run the capacity of educators to implement the fair and workable system of teacher evaluation he promises.Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Avoid Top-down Policies that Disrespect Teaching
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
10/7/2009
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Education Secretary Arne Duncan has a point--the prevailing system for preparing, recruiting, evaluating, retaining, and compensating teachers does not work well. There is broad agreement that prospective teachers require more clinical experience; that inexperienced teachers need more and better mentoring; that evaluations of classroom teachers are routinized and of little value; that accumulated course credits do not usually pay off in better classroom performance; that seniority doesn’t guarantee quality instruction; and, that it is too cumbersome and expensive to dismiss bad teachers. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Secretary Duncan: Keep Charters out of the Muck, Please
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Gordon MacInnes,
The Century Foundation,
7/9/2009
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Secretary Arne Duncan used his speech before the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to spotlight the “bottom 5%” of America’s public schools. Numbering about 5,000, Duncan urged the charter school community to consider taking on some of these schools and turn them around. He was clear that not every charter school operator is up to this challenge, naming a few multiple-site groups like KIPP and Green Dot as possible candidates.Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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| > All Education News & Commentary | |
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| School Turnaround Strategies: A Debate
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The Century Foundation & The Center for American Progress
- 11/12/2009
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The Obama administration has made it a major priority to turn around the nation's lowest performing schools but there is considerable debate over how to accomplish this goal. Some argue for bringing in new teachers or new organizations such as charter schools to turnaround failing institutions, contending that improved educational opportunities do not require a change in the mix of students in a school. Others argue that it is very difficult to take successful high poverty de facto segregated schools to scale and that magnet approaches can turn around failing institutions by attracting a different mix of students, parents, and faculty.
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| Are Efforts to Increase Equity in Higher Education Working?
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The Century Foundation
- 6/17/2010
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Over the last several years, new policies have been enacted to make higher education more equitable. Roughly 100 colleges and universities have reached out to lower and moderate-income students with more generous financial aid packages. Likewise, the Obama Administration has recently boosted funding for Pell Grants and community colleges. But is stratification increasing or decreasing in higher education? Moreover, with a new legal challenge to racial preferences at the University of Texas possibly headed to the Supreme Court, what is the future of affirmative action and what alternative forms may it take in coming years? View the invitation (PDF).
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| Closing the Achievement Gap Through Additional Funding, High Quality Instruction, and a Focus on Early Literacy: Lessons From New Jersey Districts
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The Century Foundation & The Center for American Progress
- 4/7/2009
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On April 7, The Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation held a discussion of the book In Plain Sight, Simple, Difficult Lessons from New Jersey's Expensive Effort to Close the Achievement Gap by Gordon MacInnes. The author and our expert panelists will discuss the lessons learned by these districts as well as the implications for state and federal policy.
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| 90 Years of Progress
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- 12/1/2009
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This year marked the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of The Century Foundation (which was known for most of its history as the Twentieth Century Fund). Our founder, Edward Filene, created this organization with the goal of supporting studies and analysis that could lead to constructive action on our nation’s public policy. That heritage has compelled us to educate, provoke, and develop better answers when evidence and reason show that public debates are badly off track. Over the past nine decades, we have called attention to facts and analyses to correct widespread misconceptions and provide policymakers with new ideas for addressing the challenges facing the nation.
We have created this video to provide a glimpse into our story and how it is intertwined with America’s story for much of the twentieth century and beyond.
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| New Policy Brief from The Century Foundation Makes the Case for the Federal Government to Build on the Success of State and Local Education Initiatives
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3/5/2009
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March 5, 2009 — As President Barack Obama continues to shape his domestic agenda, he has indicated that he plans to identify, support and expand programs that work, while eliminating things that don’t work. In a new policy brief from The Century Foundation, Greg Anrig, vice president for policy, looks at three highly successful state education initiatives that are working for children, their families, and their communities.
Download the Press Release.
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| Eight Reasons Not to Tie Teacher Pay to Standardized Test Results: A New Issue Brief from The Century Foundation
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10/28/2009
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Should teachers be judged by how well their students perform on standardized test? The U.S. Department of Education has determined that the answer is “yes.” In the proposed rules for the Race to the Top Fund—the federal program that is seeking to distribute $4.3 billion in aid to states that are implementing innovative and ambitious plans for increasing student achievement—Education Secretary Arne Duncan insists that in order to receive these funds, states should be ready evaluate and compensate teachers based in part on how well their students perform on standardized tests.
In a new issue brief, Eight Reasons Not to Tie Teacher Pay to Standardized Test Results released today by The Century Foundation, Fellow Gordon MacInnes points out why this plan doesn’t make the grade.
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| Is Race to the Top Prompting a Rush to Judgment on Charter Schools?
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8/9/2010
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Six of the 19 finalists announced in the second round of the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top competition raised or eliminated caps on charter schools in order to improve their chances of winning up to $700 million through the controversial competition for federal money to help states overhaul their education systems. The Obama administration strongly supports expanding charter schools, as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made clear at the beginning of the process a year ago when he said that states that limited the growth of charter schools would jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund. But is the race to increase charter schools prompting a rush to judgment about their effectiveness?
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| Are Efforts to Increase Equity in Higher Education Working? New Report From The Century Foundation Offers Plans to Help Low-Income Students Succeed in College
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6/17/2010
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June 17, New York City — Over the last several years, new policies have been enacted to make higher education more equitable. Roughly 100 colleges and universities have reached out to lower and moderate-income students with more generous financial aid packages. Likewise, the Obama Administration has recently boosted funding for Pell Grants and community colleges. But are these and other efforts to increase equity in higher education working? Download the Press Release (PDF).
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| Turnaround Schools That Work: Moving Beyond Separate but Equal
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11/12/2009
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Nov. 12, 2009, Washington, DC — Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s far-reaching efforts to transform the country’s lowest-performing schools into successful ones don’t reach far enough, according to a new report from The Century Foundation. In “Turnaround Schools That Work: Moving Beyond Separate but Equal,” TCF Senior Fellow Richard Kahlenberg details why “turnaround” approaches that focus on changing principals and teachers but fail to address issues related to parents and students have fallen short of expectations. In the report, he also looks at charter schools, such as Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools and the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) Promise Academies. He finds that, while these schools have been highly successful with low income students, the models would not likely be successfully employed to improve student achievement in the nation’s five thousand lowest-performing public schools, which are the focus of Duncan’s current efforts.
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| Digital Promise Project Reaches Goal for Creation of National Center For Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies
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1/27/2010
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After more than a decade of nationwide effort, the Digital Promise Project has achieved an essential goal the creation of the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. The Digital Promise Project had its beginnings as a project sponsored by The Century Foundation. This year the Department of Education, as provided by their 2010 appropriations legislation, will make available the initial funding required to launch the National Center. In the words of the Centers authorizing legislation, The purpose of the Center shall be to support a comprehensive research and development program to harness the increasing capability of advanced information and digital technologies to improve all levels of learning and education, formal and informal, in order to provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy
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| > All Education Press Releases | |
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| Visit The Century Foundation's Equality & Education Web site for Education issues in depth |
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Taking Note
