Education Policy Links, 3-25-12

Education Week examines the growing focus on the role of poverty in education.  As does the NY Times.

Here's an excellent, information-dense piece on the influence of income on education and the influence of education on future earnings.

Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp pens "In Defense of Optimism" and education historian and NYU professor Diance Ravitch, "In Defense of Facing Reality" -- they argue mainly over whether programs like TFA can overcome the obstacles faced by children living in poverty.

A new study finds that "preschool attendance may help to reduce achievement gaps"

Here's an interview with prominent education writer Lisa Delpit on "educating other people's children"

David Brooks, long an advocate of "no excuses" charter schools that eschew teachers' unions, writes about the good things happening at a local school that emphasizes relationships and uses teams of 4 teachers to work with 60 kids per classroom.

The New American Academy has two big advantages as a reform model. First, instead of running against the education establishment, it grows out of it and is being embraced by the teachers’ unions and the education schools. If it works, it can spread faster.
Second, it does a tremendous job of nurturing relationships. Since people learn from people they love, education is fundamentally about the relationship between a teacher and student. By insisting on constant informal contact and by preserving that contact year after year, The New American Academy has the potential to create richer, mentorlike or even familylike relationships for students who are not rich in those things.

A new study finds that college freshman are not learning how to critically analyze the sources they cite.  Students "don't know how to do anything but grab a few sentences and go," writes one of the study's authors.

Education reporter Alexander Russo writes that those who argue for charters and merit pay and those who argue for social reform and fixing poverty are becoming more polarized.

There's no one I can think of who's acceptable to both sides.  And the absence of a unifying figure -- and some sort of a joint rallying cry -- is a problem that most of those currently engaged in battle don't seem to appreciate. This is in large part because both sides of the fight seem to think that they're winning.

Leonie Haimson, executive director of the nonprofit Class Size Matters argues that -- you guessed it -- class size matters.

A new survey of teachers finds job satisfaction plummeting.

New accountability measures for Head Start programs are, according to Sara Mead, making it obvious that there's a lack of quality providers.