edreform

in Charters

The Problem With Independent Authorizers Keeping a Tight Rein on Charter Authorizing Is Essential For Success

by Peter Cook 8 January 2016, 15:07

Although I like Jennifer “Edushyster” Berkshire personally, it’s safe to say that when it comes to education policy, we agree to disagree on most points. However, I think I finally found an education issue on which we are more-or-less aligned: independent charter school authorizers. On Tuesday, Salon published an interview Berkshire conducted with the authors […] More

in NOLA

Which New Orleans Schools Made The Grade In 2015? LDOE Releases Letter Grades & SPS Scores

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by Peter Cook 17 December 2015, 17:33

Just in time for Christmas, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) released 2015 school letter grades and School Performance Scores (SPS) earlier today. Schools were assigned grades on a curve again this year, based on a temporary policy adopted to ease the transition to the higher demands of the Common Core standards. LDOE calculates elementary […] More

in NOLA

Quick Take: Kathy Riedlinger’s Pre-Emptive Strike Lusher Officials Exaggerate Impact of Changes to Funding Formula

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by Peter Cook 10 December 2015, 15:57

Dear Lusher Parents: No, the sky is not falling. Contrary to what you might have read on Saturday in the Uptown Messenger, Lusher is not about to be pushed off the edge of a $1.2 million fiscal cliff. Lawmakers in Baton Rouge have not conspired to punish New Orleans with a law all its own. […] More

in Politics

Calling All Pro-Reform Louisiana Democrats Consider Running for the Democratic State Central Committee

11 Comments

by Peter Cook 2 December 2015, 00:49

If you follow this blog, you know I’ve repeatedly called for the Louisiana Democratic Party to once again wholeheartedly embrace common sense education reform policies. Instead, over the past four years, LaDemos have said things like this: .@DavidVitter has fought for mandatory testing, paving the way for Common Core. #lagov — Louisiana Democrats (@LaDemos) November […] More

in Politics

Evaluating Hillary on Teacher Evaluations Clarifying How We Assess Teacher Performance

6 Comments

by Peter Cook 18 November 2015, 10:40

I’ll admit, I had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride on Twitter on Monday. It all started when I saw this tweet, which made me angry: Hillary Clinton is planning a huge break with Obama on education: https://t.co/95vi3UPyqW pic.twitter.com/9DZAgdhWCN — Vox (@voxdotcom) November 17, 2015 However, when I saw this tweet, I was hopeful […] More

in Louisiana

The Naked Ambition of Hollis Milton West Feliciana's Superintendent Takes Aim at Accountability & John White

31 Comments

by Peter Cook 28 September 2015, 14:00

There’s a difference, of course, between ambition and naked ambition. The former is a quality we admire in an individual who is willing to push themselves to the heights that their talents can take them. The latter is much less flattering; it denotes a gracelessness in pursuit of those ends, a willingness to jettison principles […] More

in Louisiana

Quick Take: No, Poverty Isn’t Destiny…Or An Excuse John Bel Edwards argues "poverty trumps education." He's wrong.

59 Comments

by Peter Cook 17 September 2015, 14:52

When the Democratic candidate for Governor, John Bel Edwards, met with the Editorial Board of Lafayette’s Daily Advertiser on Tuesday to explain how “things would be different in an Edwards administration,” the two-term State Representative had a lot to say about the state of public education in Louisiana. Some of the points he made were […] More

in Explainer

Explainer: The Disconnect on Opportunity Youth There are not 26,000 young adults out-of-school or unemployed in NOLA

17 Comments

by Peter Cook 17 September 2015, 08:00

In the face of overwhelming evidence that the New Orleans’ education reforms have worked, critics have been forced to change their messaging strategy. Instead of denying the results outright, opponents now maintain the district’s academic gains amount to a Pyrrhic victory, bought at the expense of local teachers and the city’s most disadvantaged students. Thus, […] More

in Louisiana

Education Reform in Louisiana is Working So Why Are Some Politicians Denying It?

38 Comments

by Peter Cook 15 September 2015, 15:04

With all of the attention given to New Orleans this summer around the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, you may have missed the good news that’s come out about the performance of students from across Louisiana. The positive results released over the past several months show that the policies advocated by Superintendent John White and […] More

in Media

Inaccuracies, Misrepresentations & Glaring Omissions of Fact Setting The Record Straight On Andrea Gabor's Latest Attack

97 Comments

by Peter Cook 23 August 2015, 17:03

Well, Andrea Gabor is at it again. A few years ago, Andrea Gabor wrote an article for Newsweek that maligned the transformation of New Orleans’ public schools since Hurricane Katrina. At the time, I wrote a response that exposed the “inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and glaring omissions of fact” in her Newsweek piece – issues that made […] More

in NOLA

Going Backwards: A Year in the Old New Orleans Public Schools

112 Comments

by Peter Cook 18 August 2015, 18:32

“Dozens of employees indicted or convicted on corruption charges. Tens of millions of dollars unaccounted for. Eight superintendents in seven years. Rock-bottom test scores. Shootings, sirens and police uniforms, often. The threat of bankruptcy and bounced checks, constantly. “In the dismal gallery of failing urban school systems, New Orleans may be the biggest horror of […] More

in Policy

Annotating Edushyster Clarifying Jennifer Berkshire's Piece On New Orleans' School Reforms

14 Comments

by Peter Cook 6 August 2015, 03:48

In case you missed it, on Monday Salon published a lopsided piece (In Salon? No kidding.) by Jennifer “Edushyster” Berkshire on New Orleans’ school reforms that painted a very misleading portrait of things on the ground in the Big Easy. I thought I would add much needed clarifications and context to the piece (which I’ve […] More

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