Education

Re: Researching from Outside the Library

By Donald B. Hawthorne | August 31, 2007 |

As a former member of the East Greenwich School Committee, I read Justin’s post about Pat Crowley’s comments on the Burrillville teachers’ strike with a certain bemusement. Justin touches on one of the really big issues about RI teachers’ union contract negotiations: It is my experience that it was the teachers’ union who demanded that…

To Fix Education, Fix Families First

By Marc Comtois | August 27, 2007 |

Julia Steiny wrote in the ProJo on Sunday: Over the course of this summer, I studied a whole range of troubled kids. Instead of seeing them from the outside as the upsetting little pains-in-the-tush they are, I tried to get a glimpse of their lives. I met kids recovering from sexual abuse, neglect, violence, drug…

That Old-Time Education

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2007 |

Victor Davis Hanson takes a worthy (albeit brief) look at modern education and makes some suggestions: We should first scrap the popular therapeutic curriculum that in the scarce hours of the school day crams in sermons on race, class, gender, drugs, sex, self-esteem, or environmentalism. These are well-intentioned efforts to make a kinder and gentler…

An Archival Tete-a-Tete

By Justin Katz | August 12, 2007 |

In the comments to the previous post, Tom W provides a link to his Narragansett Times debate with Bob Walsh, which is still available on RI Policy Analysis as a PDF.

The Problems Go ‘Round and ‘Round

By Justin Katz | August 12, 2007 |

Following up on my (probably poorly stated) previous post, a specific instance of the conversation’s various subthreads is illustrative, beginning with the following, from Thomas: The average teacher salary in RI for 04-05 was $53,473 (I know Frank will say it’s higher, but I don’t think he’s given us figures and a source yet, so…

Toward Fruitful Conversation

By Justin Katz | August 11, 2007 |

I would never gainsay the importance of data and evidence to polemics, nor would I parade the pure primacy of reason, but I can’t help but be amused at the failure of evidentiary debate to advance the discussion concerning Rhode Island’s educational system. As is so often the case, skepticism and credulity appear to find…

What’s Wrong with RI Education

By Justin Katz | August 9, 2007 |

For anybody who has not already done so, wading through the comment-section discussion appended to my recent post on teachers and education is well worthwhile. Having followed it in progress, myself, I’ve observed a point that apparently needs stressing before such conversations proceed: Unions are not the only problem that requires fixing in Rhode Island’s…

New Charter Middle School Planned for Central Falls

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 9, 2007 |

Is Rhode Island’s statewide moratorium on charter schools, currently slated to end at the of the 2007-2008 school year, really going to be allowed to lapse? According to Rochelle Lefebvre of the Pawtucket Times, officials in Central Falls must believe so…Students may be soon be able to enroll in [Central Falls’] first charter school that,…

The Cost of a Job That Can’t Be Done

By Justin Katz | August 3, 2007 |

It is certainly worth reminding ourselves that parents, as a group, bear some of the blame — most of it — for children doing poorly in school. But inasmuch as parents don’t draw government salaries, receive paid days off, or claim retirement benefits for their efforts, the public rightly makes schools an area of particular…

Teaching American History and Government

By Mac Owens | July 11, 2007 |

I just returned from two weeks at Ashland University in Ohio where I taught two courses as part of an excellent program for teachers of American history and government. It is a program that serious teachers in Rhode Island ought to investigate: the Master of American History and Government (MAHG) degree program, a unique curriculum…