Alexander Russo

I’m all for journalists and others reporting out what groups of seemingly-independent education and civil rights groups are getting funded by the AFT, as RiShawn Biddle (pictured above) does in this recent Dropout Nation post (AFT Front Groups Against Minority Kids). I’ve done the same myself, and think that if journalists are going to cover […]

Today’s education news includes a slew of coverage of the first day of Senate debate over ESEA (currently known as No Child Left Behind), as well as updates on the never-ending Texas textbook debate and some interesting (if implausible) comments about education from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Day One of Senate ESEA Debate: Rift Over […]

The controversy over a recent WBEZ Chicago/Daily Herald package of stories about poverty and schools centers on whether the series gave enough attention to the relative success of Chicago schools (pink dots above the slanted line) compared to the overall trend of increasing poverty and the strong poverty-achievement correlation (blue dots clustered around the slanted […]

As you may have seen, Humans of New York’s latest viral portrait is of a young boy (above) who’s quoted saying “I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me.” Among many who’ve responded is Hillary Clinton. That’s raised the ire of Rush Limbaugh, who claims that the image […]

Today’s news roundup includes stories about the possible revamp of federal education law — for better or worse — and the first few states releasing the results of their Common Core tests. Meanwhile, the NEA’s annual convention is just wrapping up: White House: ESEA Rewrite Needs to Focus on Struggling Schools and Students PK12: The Obama administration […]

Happy Fourth of July Weekend to everyone! I’m away Friday through Monday but will be back Tuesday morning with all the great news, commentary, and analysis that you need. 

Education loses veteran journalists all the time — WSJ’s Stephanie Banchero, Politico’s Stephanie Simon, EdWeek’s Michelle McNeil come to mind as recent examples — but their departures sometimes provide a good opportunity to glean their thoughts and insights on the beat and media coverage in general.  That’s the silver lining that accompanies the news that […]

The photo accompanying the AP story about troubled postsecondary institutions (Why the government let many trade schools become diploma mills) is now a ho-hum image of the USDE building in Washington DC. But the original image was of the University of Phoenix — a controversial institution struggling to get its good name (and business) back.  The […]

Today’s education news includes some updates on Jeb Bush’s education foundation donors, Clinton emails that include AFT head Randi Weingarten, and Idaho Common Core test score results that aren’t that bad (depending on how you look at them): Jeb Bush’s education foundation releases donor list a day after his tax returns Washington Post: The new donation records show that […]

According to Vox, here are the states that allow nonmedical exemptions to school vaccination requirements. Just three states ban nonmedical exemptions (CA, MI, WV). Most other states allow some combination of religious and philosophical exemptions. Exemptions are relatively high in Oregon, Michigan and Vermont. Idaho, Illionois, Maine, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Alaska. (California just made it […]