Alexander Russo

House, Senate ESEA Compromise Sails Through Conference Committee PK12: The compromise gives states acres of new running room on accountabililty, while holding firm on NCLB’s requirement for annual testing, and data that shows how at-risk kids are performing compared to their peers. See also Washington Post, AP, NYT. Study: Closing Low-Performing New York City High Schools Helped Students WNYC: According to […]

Trying not to be defensive, but I’m puzzled by the idea that we shouldn’t take Clinton’s education talk seriously: https://t.co/I7cWLwnlF8 — Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson) November 18, 2015 Vox’s Libby Nelson took to Twitter yesterday with some interesting responses to my post about how she had covered Hillary Clinton’s school reform critique: “Trying not to be defensive, […]

Now that the dust has settled somewhat, I thought it might be interesting and useful to reflect for a few minutes on last week’s dustup over the student photographer trying to cover the Missouri student protestors (see video above). So I asked education reporters — some of whom have been in similar situations — what […]

ESEA Conference Committee Kicks Off, NCLB One Step Closer to Extinction PK12: School districts and state officials have begged Congress to update the much-maligned No Child Left Behind Act, and it looks like they’re on the verge of getting their wish. See also: MinnPost, Slate. Is homelessness among U.S. kids declining, or surging? It depends on who you […]

DFER has got to be freaking out about the Clinton/AFT roundtable transcript. https://t.co/6djRhsvC1C — Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson) November 16, 2015 Over the weekend, the AFT released the partial transcript of a November 9 conversation Hillary Clinton had with members in New Hampshire in which the candidate discussed not only charter schools – the subject of her previous […]

L.A. Unified explores possibility of becoming an all-charter district LA Times:  On Tuesday, a board committee reviewed a report that outlines the process for becoming an entirely charter school district. Board members said the goal was primarily to identify how the district could benefit from the same flexibility currently provided to charters. See also LA Daily News. […]

In a recent Washington Post story about the latest warnings about the use of student test scores to rate teachers, reporter Emma Brown wrote that “A growing number of states have begun using value-added models, or VAMs, to judge and in some cases fire teachers.” Is that true? Are a growing number of states using VAMs to […]

Schools grapple with how to teach about Paris attacks Washington Post: Schools face a tough balancing act: Teaching about a scary event without scaring children. See also LA Times. How Is the Big Year for Common-Core Tests Shaking Out? PK12: n some cases, those previous results were also from common-core tests, since some states began giving common-core aligned exams […]

“I can’t speak for the business side. But that’s the sort of impact on people’s lives that only this kind of reporting can have. And if that’s not a case for doing journalism no matter where it gets distributed, I don’t know what is.” – BuzzFeed’s Shani Hilton on reporting that led to decriminalization of […]

Is @HillaryClinton right about charters? No. Fact checkers say “not supported by evidence.” https://t.co/VBbOUL2jOY — Greg Richmond (@GregRichmond) November 15, 2015 It seemed to take a while for mainstream news outlets to catch up to the charter school critique issued by Hillary Clinton a week or so ago, but advocates and then editorial pages pummeled her […]