American Society Today

An Evaluation of Merit Pay in Chicago Public Schools

"In 2007, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began implementing a school-wide reform called the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) using funds from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) and private foundations. Under the TAP model, teachers can earn extra pay and responsibilities through promotion to mentor or master teacher as well as annual performance bonuses based on a combination of their value added to student achievement and observed performance in the classroom. The model also includes weekly meetings of teachers and mentors (-"cluster groups"), and regular classroom observations by a school leadership team to help teachers meet their performance goals. The idea behind the program is that performance incentives, combined with tools for teachers to track performance and improve instruction, should help schools attract and retain talented teachers and help all teachers produce greater student achievement.

After the second year of CPS rolling out TAP, we found no evidence that the program raised student test scores. Student achievement growth as measured by average math and reading scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) did not differ significantly between TAP and comparable non-TAP schools."

Source: http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/education/tap_yr2_rpt.pdf

Stanford Study of Ohio Charter Schools

"A supplemental report [to the CREDO National Study of Charter Schools conducted by Stanford University], with an in-depth examination of the results for charter schools in Ohio found that math gains for students attending charter schools were significantly below their traditional public school peers, with no discernible difference in reading performance."

Source: http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/statepressreleases/Ohio.pdf

Stanford National Charter School Study

"The scope of the study makes it the first national assessment of charter
school impacts. Charter schools are permitted to select their focus, environment and operations and wide diversity exists across the sector. This study provides an overview that aggregates charter
schools in different ways to examine different facets of their impact on student academic
growth.

The group portrait shows wide variation in performance. The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students. Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their student would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools. These findings underlie the parallel findings of significant state‐by‐state differences in charter school performance and in the national aggregate performance of charter schools. The policy challenge is how to deal constructively with varying levels of performance today and into the future."

Source: http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_EXECUTIVE%20SUMMARY.pdf

Diane Ravitch on The Daily Show

Educational Historian Diane Ravitch was Jon Stewart's guest on The Daily Show on March 3, 2011 to discuss recent educational reform movements:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/diane-ravitch

Review of Waiting for Superman

"Waiting for Superman offers what appear to be straightforward, commonsense solutions to inequities in schooling. The film argues that heroic action can be taken to fix what it portrays as the disaster of public schooling. The film disregards poverty as a factor in school performance and connection—and therefore never addresses anti-poverty measures as potential solutions to the problems it identifies. While it raises issues that demand attention, including achievement gaps, high drop-out rates in some schools and districts, and the need for committed, well-prepared teachers, it offers solutions that are simplified, ignore research evidence, and are built on false assumptions."

Source: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-waiting-superman

The Origins and Severity of the Public Pension Crisis

"In sum, most states face pension shortfalls that are manageable, especially if the stock market does not face another sudden reversal. The major reason that shortfalls exist at all was the downturn in the stock market following the collapse of the housing bubble, not inadequate contributions to pension funds."

Source: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/the-origins-and-severity-of-the-public-pension-crisis

A Cash Cow for Wall Street

"Traditional pensions are more cost effective than 401(k)s. Individual savers need to contribute nearly twice as much to ensure similar retirement incomes."