Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Links for 8/11/09

by Andrew Gillen

Frederick M. Hess and Michael J. Petrilli on Race to the Top efforts:
The Bush administration learned the hard way that while Uncle Sam can force states and school districts to do things they don’t want to do, he can’t force them to do those things well…

It’s easy to predict what will happen now. States will check as many boxes as they can, make many promises they can’t live up to, get the money, and then go through the motions. We have seen all this before…

Obama has enormous credibility on education, has used it to push the envelope on important issues like charter schooling and merit pay, and is striking promising chords. It would be a waste for those efforts to be undermined. More important, we’d hate to see the potential for ideas like merit pay and charter schools compromised by the familiar cycle of overselling, over-prescription, disappointment, and backlash…

Tim Ranzetta on the new student loan information requirements from the Fed.


Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Ed on the new accountability website
http://www.collegechoicesforadults.org/ for online schools. It’s definitely better than nothing, but a far cry from providing nationally comparable information on the things that matter to students. But it holds promise.


Ben Miller details a pork filled little program called the Fund for Improvement of Postseondary Education, or FIPSE.
Originally intended as a way to fund innovative reform projects through a competitive grant process, FIPSE instead became the main vehicle for Congressmen to direct a few hundred thousand dollars toward their favorite colleges and universities each year.

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