News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Doing the Troops Wrong by Bob Herbert, The New York Times | May 7, 2008
Who wouldn't support an effort to pay for college for G.I.'s who have willingly suited up and put their lives on the line, who in many cases have served multiple tours in combat zones and in some cases have been wounded? Well, you might be surprised at who is opposing this effort. Or you might not. read more »Liberating the Schoolhouse by Wellford Wilms, truthdig.com | May 2, 2008
The dominant belief is that top-down control is the only way to hold principals and teachers accountable for measurable results. The less prevalent belief is that bottom-up collaboration between teachers and administrators is a source of innovation that builds commitment to and support for successful reforms. The conflict has become especially important in the face of the federal No Child Left Behind initiative, which requires administrators to produce high test scores or risk their jobs. read more »A Diploma in Debt by Shonu Gandhi, tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com | April 17, 2008
Significant policy changes — the systematic inclusion and a substantive financial literacy curriculum in every state's public high school education requirements — are needed in order to give young people a real chance at building solid financial futures. read more »Education: Losing Ground in Global Competitiveness by Alex Carter, OurFuture.org | March 28, 2008
Newly released data by the Department of Education illuminates the educational landscape of America. read more »The Degeneration of American Education by Gerald Bracey, Huffington Post | March 28, 2008
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities," said Voltaire. In a world that contains Clear Skies, Clean Waters, Healthy Forests, an Axis of Evil, Iraqi Freedom, Family Values, Patriot Act, and No Child Left Behind, it is a good reminder for our time. read more »Decoupling Education & Upward Mobility by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | March 26, 2008
If "making the grade" is no longer a path to "moving on up," then it looks like the decoupling of education from employment, upward mobility, and the American Dream is at least underway. Or maybe it's already happened. read more »Do Wall Street Dealers Ever Create Jobs? by Sam Pizzigati, cipa-apex.org | January 31, 2008
A landmark new study, released at the annual Davos high-finance summit, scrutinizes the high-flying private equity industry—and complicates life for our global greedy. read more »The Soldier and the Student by Aaron Glantz, <i>The Nation</i>, The Nation | November 28, 2007
Today's military education benefit is not your grandfather's GI Bill. read more »The GOP's School Daze by Robert L. Borosage, home.ourfuture.org | November 16, 2007
Ideas have consequences. Perhaps the most important advice for students as they enter college this fall is to take ideas seriously. For proof, they need only to look at their own pocketbooks as their families struggle to pay for their college costs. Ideas-specifically, conservative ideas-put into practice are pricing college out of the reach of more and more working families. read more »Unintelligent Design by Greg Anrig Jr., <i>TPM Cafe</i>, feeds.feedburner.com | November 15, 2007
The marketing of "intelligent design" reveals much about the conservative movement. read more »
The Latest
No Child Left Behind Doomed?, time.com | June 9, 2008
There was always something slightly insane about No Child Left Behind, the ambitious education law often described as the Bush administration's signature domestic achievement. Educators cited its unattainable goals for schools and unrealistic expectations of students. read more »
Student Loans to Bypass 2-Year Colleges, The New York Times | June 2, 2008
Some of the nation's biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the nation's top universities. read more »
Government Enters Student Lending, The Washington Post | May 21, 2008
The Department of Education is preparing to exercise broad new powers in the coming weeks that could fundamentally recast how millions of students pay for college. This initiative could transform the federal government from a guarantor of student loans into the dominant provider, replacing the outside lenders to whom students and their families have long turned. read more »
More Schools Failing, MSNBC News | May 20, 2008
The federal No Child Left Behind law says that by the 2013-14 school year all students must pass state tests in these subjects. According to a recent study, about half of the states have steady annual goals for increasing the percentage of students passing, or working at their proper grade level. read more »
Failing Grade for Reading Program, The Washington Post | May 2, 2008
Students enrolled in a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind law are not reading any better than those who don't participate, according to a U.S. government report. read more »
Education Act Reformed, MSNBC News | April 23, 2008
Unable to push education fixes through Congress, the Bush administration is taking its own pen to the No Child Left Behind law. The Education Department plans to make a host of changes to the education law through regulations. Among the biggest changes is a requirement that by the 2012-13 school year, all states must calculate their high school graduation rates in a uniform way.
1 Million Drop Out Annually, news.newamericamedia.org | April 20, 2008
A recent study found urban schools in metropolitan areas surrounding 35 of the nation’s largest cities have lower graduation rates than schools in nearby suburban communities. Approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year–about 7,000 every school day, or one every 26 seconds. read more »
Student Loan Bill Passes House, The Washington Post | April 18, 2008
The House, trying to avert a looming shortage in available student loans, approved a measure allowing the Department of Education to buy federally guaranteed loans that lenders are unable to sell to private investors. read more »
Student Loan "Train Wreck" Predicted, MSNBC News | April 17, 2008
Sallie Mae says it cannot write money-losing student loans indefinitely. Top executives are holding “daily deliberations” about how long the nation’s largest student lender can afford to sacrifice its bottom line for the sake of college-bound Americans, Sallie Mae CEO Albert J. Lord said. read more »
Hedge Funds Eye Student Loans, Politico | April 17, 2008
Some financial prognosticators see the struggling student loan market, hit by the same credit crunch that’s battered Wall Street, as a potential moneymaker. As many as a dozen hedge funds are watching intently to see if Congress cobbles together a rescue package that adds liquidity to the market for student-loan-backed securities.
