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After seeing a tremendous show in Madison, Wisconsin last Sunday evening with opening act Tift Merritt and headliner Amos Lee , it would be inappropriate not to give both artists kudos by recognizing their status as past Musical Electives. That accomplished, the Musical Elective of the Month (just under the wire!) for April 2010 is Luka Bloom . One of many in a line of fine Irish troubadours, Luka (née Kevin Barry Moore) is a 55-year-old Irish singer/songwriter. Appropriately categorized as folk, he brings heartfelt lyrics and a rich, grand voice to bear in his music. He was noticed in America and internationally beginning around 1990. Prior to and after that time, he has recorded 15 studio albums, including 1990's Riverside , 1994's Turf , and his latest, Dreams In America , released in 2010. He also has embraced numerous covers both on his albums and in concert, including U2's "Bad," Hunters & Collectors' "Throw Your Arms Around Me," and Bob D

So far in 2010, it appears that the state of Arizona's contribution to public policy is two-fold: (1) First, the Legislature and Governor said: "Show me your papers (unless you look like you'd fit in at a Tea Party rally)" and (2) Now, the Arizona Department of Education is asking teachers to " say 'toy boat' three times in a row -- or you'll be reassigned." Am I missing something? But, lest one gets too depressed, there is plenty of good work happening in Arizona, in places like the Arizona K-12 Center and Expect More Arizona . So, chin up, Arizonans!

The College Board's Advocacy and Policy Center reports that "too many students are borrowing more than they are likely able to manage" and this is particularly true for black undergraduates. According to researchers, fully 27% of black BA recipients borrow more than $30,000 for college, compared to 16% of white BA recipients. The gap is especially large among independent students (those who are a bit older, are parents, or independent for other reasons)-- more than 1 in 3 black independent students who earn BA's graduate with high levels of debt, compared to less than 1 in 4 white independents. This is a trend we need to know more about. There have been a few articles written about race differences in college financing patterns and receptivity to financial aid, but none have been especially adept at sorting out the underlying reasons for variation by race/ethnicity. Are the patterns attributable to factors which map onto race in this country (e.g. pov

Illinois is sure to be disappointed if it continues to move forward with a private voucher program ( SB 2494 ) for Chicago Public Schools. Just ask Wisconsin-- and Milwaukee . Clearly, the Chicago Tribune editorial board ( 'Liberate the kids' ), which is cheering the process on, has not done its homework, not checked its sources, and not looked to its neighbor to the north for guidance. Or it is simply drinking the Kool Aid mixed by Voucher Inc.: And there's evidence that vouchers improve public schools. A 2009 report by The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice examined 17 studies on the impact of voucher programs. Sixteen studies found that vouchers improved student achievement in public schools; one study found they had no positive or negative impact. In other words, competition works. There is also plentiful evidence that vouchers do NOT improve public schools, including the on-going evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program -- the longest-stan

Congratulations to my wife, Sara Goldrick-Rab , who was one of only four academics named yesterday as a 2010 William T. Grant Scholar ! UPDATE: University of Wisconsin-Madison press release . The W. T. Grant Scholars Program supports promising early-career researchers from diverse disciplines, who have demonstrated success in conducting high-quality research and are seeking to further develop and broaden their expertise. Candidates are nominated by a supporting institution and must submit five-year research plans that demonstrate creativity, intellectual rigor, and a commitment to continued professional development. Every year, four to six Scholars are selected and each receives $350,000 distributed over a five-year period. The four new William T. Grant Scholars and their research projects are: Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat, Ph.D. , Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, Duke University -- “Economic and Social Determinants of the Educational, Occupational, and Residential

Where do I begin in critiquing such wrong-headed and vitriolic analysis of Florida Governor Charlie Crist's veto of SB 6 , which would have eliminated tenure for teachers and based their evaluations primarily on a single year of student test scores? One cannot accurately and fairly evaluate an individual educator's performance by test scores alone, especially based on a single year's worth of data (as the Florida legislation would have done) and particularly for new teachers . I've said it before and before that -- and I'll undoubtedly say it again. On this specific issue, I'll take the "what they said" approach. Read Claus von Zastrow , Sherman Dorn , David Kirp , and Steve Peha who provide the right amount of counsel and insight. Today's blog post by Rick Hess on value-added methodologies is also worth reading. But, first, I'll say a little more. It appears that a fair number of the forces pushing SB 6 and now bemoaning its veto admi

It was really hard to watch the American Graduation Initiative get cut from SAFRA. It was one of the most promising initiatives for higher education in decades, representing a real shift from a culture of focus on college access to one focused on student success. I was crushed to see it go unfunded. Of course, I'm feeling a little better since Jill Biden called for a White House summit on community colleges, to be held this fall. An Obama conference is a decent consolation prize. It's actually a coup, when you think about how seriously community colleges have been taken by policymakers in the past (read: not at all). Washington needs to make the most of this opportunity. Doing this requires pushing far beyond a pleasant conversation about " best practices and successful models. " Because let's be honest-there aren't very many "best practices" we can feel confident in scaling up right now. That's why building the body of resea

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is holding a hearing this morning on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind. Today's hearing focuses on the teacher and school leader elements of ESEA. Among the witnesses are: Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers Stephanie Hirsch, Executive Director, National Staff Development Council Jon Schnur, CEO, New Leaders for New Schools Ellen Moir, CEO, New Teacher Center Timothy Daly, President, The New Teacher Project Thomas Kane, Professor of Education and Economics, Harvard University and Deputy Director, U.S. Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation UPDATES: A video replay of the hearing -- as well as links to the participants' testimony -- is available here .

The New Teacher Project (TNTP) this week released an excellent analysis of Race to the Top, Phase One state applications, debunking some myths about why some states failed to succeed and offering lessons for states that apply in Phase Two. My only quibble is the absence of any disclosure from TNTP acknowledging that it has a proprietary interest in the outcome of the Race. Specifically, it touts the states of Louisiana and Rhode Island on its "honor roll," but fails to note anywhere in the document that TNTP is written into both state's applications. It has a stake in those states winning in Phase Two. As an employee of an organization (New Teacher Center) written into numerous Race to the Top state applications, I am well aware of and try to constantly attend to the need to separate sound, dispassionate policy analysis from proprietary interests. Personally and professionally, I hope that the state of Rhode Island is funded in round two as well, not only because NTC t

I'm catching up on education news and blogging after some well-spent time with our family in New York and Vermont last week.... Both successful Phase One Race to the Top (RttT) states -- Delaware and Tennessee -- plan to conduct a statewide teacher working conditions survey. Was this the secret to each state's victory? Well, not exactly, as the states of Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Ohio also built such a survey into their applications. Of course, each of those states were among the 16 Phase One semifinalists. So, maybe there is something there. Independent of RttT, however, such efforts are in line with President Obama’s recent Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act , which would require states and districts to collect and report teacher survey data on available professional support and working conditions in schools biennially. Research has demonstrated a connection between positive teaching and learn

Are students attending for-profit institutions getting their money's worth, especially compared to attending community college? I've tackled this one before . Now, another study commissioned by a for-profit has appeared, claiming to fill gaps in our knowledge. Since I only have a powerpoint presentation of the findings to review, and my opinion is pretty-well expressed in other media coverage , I'll just hit a few notes I've not yet seen mentioned elsewhere. 1. The authors want to claim that the for-profit sector is outpacing community colleges' capacity for enrollment expansion. To back this up, they compare recent enrollment growth in the two sectors. But they fail to mention the very different levels of overall enrollment --community colleges enrolled approximately 1.2 million more students in 2009 than were enrolled in 2007-- in comparison there were 1.4 million students total in for-profit institutions in 2007. Growth is affected by the starting point, a