World News Center
Gerald Bracey, 69, Dead; Acidic Critic of Education Policy
March 9, 2010Gerald W. Bracey, 69, one of the most erudite, prolific and acidic critics of national education policy, died unexpectedly early Oct. 20 at his home in Port Townsend, Wash.
Jay Mathews: What should Fairfax do about Jefferson grades?
March 9, 2010Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has the highest SAT scores in the country and probably is the best high school in many other ways. But is it too good for the rules that govern the other high schools in Fairfax County?
Jay Mathews
March 9, 2010Politicians and pundits are using results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests to say our kids are falling behind the rest of the world, so maybe we should get some PISA practice. Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless, a member of the U.S. advisory board to PISA, offered this sample question for 15-year-olds from the mathematics literacy section of the exam:
Jay Mathews on Campaign Promises and Virginia Schools
March 9, 2010 Political candidates, like the two gentlemen running for governor of Virginia, are always sincere about their education platforms. Their to-do lists are long. Their concern about the state's children is deep. But the proposals they offer, like more efficiency at school headquarters or more pay for teachers, seem to be focused on appealing to voters and not improving schools.
Gifted Student Is Being Held Back By Graduation Rules
March 9, 2010Anyone who wants to appreciate how strong a grip high school has on the American imagination -- and how clueless some school districts are about this -- should consider the story of Drew Gamblin, a 16-year-old student at Howard High School in Ellicott City.
Donald Fisher, 81; Gap Founder Championed Charter Schools
March 9, 2010Donald G. Fisher, 81, a founder of the Gap clothing store chain and a power behind the growth of U.S. public charter schools, died of cancer Sept. 27 at his home in San Francisco.
Jay Mathews: Looking Beyond the Numbers for Progress
March 9, 2010On July 11, Brian Betts, principal of the District's Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson, was at Dulles International Airport about to leave for a vacation in Spain. He was feeling good. His first year running a school whose students struggle with poverty and neighborhood strife had gone well, he thought. Quarterly test results were encouraging. Attendance was up. Parents were happy. Some of his staff had gone so far as to enroll their children at Shaw.
Class Struggle: 10 Ways to Pick the Right Public School District
March 9, 2010 We say we are buying a house. But for most of us parents, the house is not the whole story. It is the local public school we are investing in, and sometimes it can be a very daunting financial and personal decision.
Jay Mathews: Elite Colleges Don't Make Elite People
March 9, 2010I promised a high school counselor in California I would update a very old online column whose printout on her wall is too faded to read. It asked a question I think students immersed in college visiting and application writing should consider: Where did your heroes go to college?
Jay Mathews: Retest D.C. Classes That Had Dubious Exam Results in '08
March 9, 2010My colleague Bill Turque's energetic coverage of suspicious erasures on D.C. school standardized tests in 2008 reminds me of my attempt many years ago to delve into the only classroom cheating scandal ever to become a major motion picture.
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