Kate Pennington and Max Marchitello argue that choice and integration aren’t at odds, they need each other. Related: Michelle Perone on why it matters that access to arts, social studies, etc…are not equitably distributed in today’s schools.
Marnie Kaplan on the case for pre-k in the current debate.
Alyson Klein notes that the testing wars have quieted down. Yes, but. Might it be that they’ve quieted down because tests are increasingly not consequential in many (though not all) places? In other words, people said they didn’t want ‘testing for testing’s sake’ but that seems to be in effect the compromise regime in a lot of places.
Here’s an interesting push on what reform needs from Bill Jackson.
New look at school district consolidation and equity.
Megan McArdle previews some of the contours of the next round of the affirmative action debate.
Parag Pathak on school choice.
David Leonhardt on charters, part 2:
I find the New Orleans story encouraging because of both the academic progress and the willingness to grapple with these shortcomings. Parents here know the progress is real, because their children have benefited from it. But they also know that the charter schools aren’t a magic bullet.
Where theory meets reality: Here’s an article worrying that teachers don’t get a say on state boards of education. I guess that’s true if you ignore the lobbying apparatus around those boards and the backgrounds of people on the boards themselves – many of which are a textbook example of regulatory capture. To be clear, teachers should have a voice on these boards – so should other stakeholders and arguably a bigger problem is the lack of meaningful student input – it’s just awfully hard to argue they don’t now in practice.
Ref Rodriguez is off the LA school board after reaching a plea deal.
Joanne Jacobs on Summit.
