World News Center
Jay Mathews on Campaign Promises and Virginia Schools
March 16, 2010Political 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 16, 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 16, 2010 Donald 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 16, 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 16, 2010We 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.
Today's Class Struggle
March 16, 2010This Class Struggle RSS subscription has changed. To continue getting Class Struggle by Jay Mathews visit washingtonpost.com/class-struggle.
Banging on the PK-16 Pipeline
March 16, 2010 Looking for this week's Class Struggle? You can find it on Jay's new blog at washingtonpost.com/class-struggle.
More optimistic label for 'at-risk' kids draws skepticism
March 16, 2010 I sympathize with those who might not be comfortable with the latest plan to rid our schools of at-risk kids. Several educators across the country, including Alexandria Superintendent Morton Sherman, have decided not to call them that anymore. Henceforth they will be known as "at-promise" children.
Class Struggle: A valuable lesson pays off for Md. students
March 16, 2010I often interview educators and gather data to find which high schools are doing the best job teaching kids. It is satisfying work, with the biggest payoff in visiting those schools and telling them how good they are compared to others. This is often a surprise to the teachers and administrators, who are too busy helping students to sift the numbers themselves.
Evaluations have little role in promoting better teaching
March 16, 2010Those unfortunate people in the District might worry about the quality of their teachers and wait anxiously for the results of the school system's controversial new evaluation of classroom techniques and test score improvement. But those of us in the Washington area suburbs don't have to worry because we already know that close to 100 percent of our teachers are entirely satisfactory. How? Our school districts say so.
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