NEW AND INTERESTING

2008-08-21T08:12:01.109+10:00

JANUARY 2012

Adrian Piccoli attacks Gillard Government education reform. SMH Jan 30. Tories using progressive language to attack regressive Labor policies.
Interesting piece by Frank Sal in The Brisbane Times, Jan 30. Sound analysis, wrong solution.
The Atlantic (Anu Partanen, Dec 29) reports on why Americans cannot learn from Finland.
Gillard is still banging on about reform (?) but at least is putting Gonski front and centre. The Oz, Jan 24
Now here is something we didn't know (?): 'Children less likely to make the grade if their parents left school early' SMH Jan 24. But all grist for the Gonski mill.
'NAPLAN results show top students' standards drop' SMH, Jan 24. Everything drops except the penny! Trevor Cobbold analyses the report. Anna Patty puts it in perspective in the SMH, Jan 28
Saul Eslake betrays little understanding of schools and Tasmania: 'New push to close schools' Mercury Jan 24.
Geelong is certainly a place of contrasing schools. Read 'Wrong side of the tracks makes all the difference....' The Age Jan 21
'School funding review out by early March' SMH Jan 20. Should be enough time for opponents to crank up the fear machine. The Greens have nailed their colours to the mast head.
'Schools found cheating on national tests' The Age etc Jan 18. Is anyone surprised: raise the stakes, raise the risk/rewards!
Interesting dialogue in the US, created by 'Big study links good teachers to lasting gain' NY Times Jan 6 (wow - that is new!). Then Diane Ravitch unravelled the study to find out more.
'Three steps to fix our schools' (Baltimore Sun Jan 9) - more evidence of a rethink in the USA.
New research briefs from Trevor Cobbold, on funding of private schools, the shambles in official funding figures, and some comments to balance the media reporting of Teach for Australia.
2012 Young Australian of the Year hits the ground running with reflections on public schooling - first step on road to success, SMH Jan 5

DECEMBER

'Faulty system in class of its own' SMH essay (Dec 31) by Connors and McMorrow spells out the genesis of our school problems and suggests solutions
No Child Left Behind - ten years on. Experts grade this flawed (fraud?) reform. National Journal, Dec 28.
The trials of our private bretheren 1: 'Schools face threat from lower intakes, unpaid fees' SMH, Dec 23. Trials 2: 'Schools to be quizzed on calls for HSC help' SMH, Dec 28
The annual festival of the HSC/VCE etc result is here again with the usual and repetitive headlines and (sometimes accurate/significant) stories. So we have 'Private schools all but vanquished from top 10 list' as well as 'Boys come out on top in ATAR table' SMH Dec 15. Ho hum! 71 of the "top 100" schools are also in the top 100 for ICSEA. Gee, are the two connected? Then The Age (Dec 17) reports that 'Balwyn's on a high' which suggests many reasons why this (undoubtedly good) school is popular, without mentioning it has an ICSEA of 1152.
'Our schools exam system is no longer fit for purpose' (Ed Guardian Dec 16) Yes it is England but just substitute Oz as you read. Another worrying read from England: 'No choice but to become an academy' Ed Guardian Dec 19.
The group of Eight universities say privileged school pathways limits university access to others. SMH Dec 14.
'Lesbian couple turn down enrolment offer' ABC News Dec 14. This fun little saga raises many unresolved issues.
Here it is in one speech: a consolidated critique of US 'reforms' by Diane Ravitch. Whose children have been left behind?'
'From Finland, an intriguing school-reform model' NY Times Dec 12.
December 10/11 Comments from Julia Gillard and from Peter Garrett - nothing new but some subtle shifts, with education firmly on the agenda in 2012.
'Private schools provides best academic results' reports the SMH (Dec 6). The actual story tells it more accurately but the research on which it is based used My School and ICSEA version 1.0. Didn't anyone tell them? More recent (Dec 14) is 'Public v private school? It's not as cut-and-dried as you may think' by Rachael Jacobs.
Some other good reports on fiddling with schools. The first from England is 'The Tory love affair with grammar schools is built on a lie' Ed Guardian. The second is 'Why school choice fails' NY Times Dec 4. More recent is 'Dodgy school admissions practices could become the norm once more' Ed Guardian, Dec 12.

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