Use facts, not courts, to fix affirmative action

yes Michael J. Petrilli / June 3, 2013

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to announce its decision in the biggest affirmative-action case in years: Fisher v. University of Texas. Before it does, let's consider two important findings about the real world of higher education.

The Supreme Court is set to decide in the biggest affirmative-action case in years. Photo by Scott* on Flickr

The most recent one is a Brookings Institution study published this month showing that several long-standing federal programs intended to prepare low-income students for college don’t work. These programs send funds to colleges and universities, which run summer schools, counseling programs, and other initiatives to help disadvantaged high schoolers get ready for college. Despite the billion-dollar-a-year investment, they make no apparent difference.

The other finding was in the blockbuster research by Stanford's Caroline Hoxby and Harvard's Christopher Avery released in December. The study identified tens of thousands of qualified low-income students, 30 percent of them racial minorities, who aren’t even applying to elite colleges. If they did, the study concluded, they would almost surely be admitted, receive a lot of financial aid, and have the potential to perform well.

The takeaway from both studies is that higher education is spectacularly bad at “affirmative action,” as originally envisioned:

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Use facts, not courts, to fix affirmative action

First Bell 6-3-13

yes Pamela Tatz / June 3, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

In New York City’s new teacher-evaluation system, issued on Saturday by the state’s Education Commissioner after the union and city “failed to agree [on a system] after three years of negotiations,” 20 to 25 percent of teachers’ ratings will be determined by students’ scores on state test; the city will also develop new tests for subjects like music and gym. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times)

Following a trend of backlash against the Common Core, some Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill that could block funding for the standards. (AL.com, StateImpact Indiana, and HechingerEd)

LAUSD school-board members are divided over how to spend new Prop 30 funds. (Huffington Post)

Wisconsin lawmakers are working on a deal that would expand the voucher program to the entire state and allow an increase of $150 per student for the next two years. (Associated Press)

A summit cohosted by the Department of Education and the MacArthur Foundation the

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First Bell 6-3-13

First Bell 5-31-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 31, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

Colleges in states that have banned affirmative action encourage diversity by reaching out to disadvantaged high school students—but universities’ levels of effort vary. (New York Times)

The Washington Post reports on tea-party groups’ recent mobilization against the Common Core standards.

Coursera touts the potential of MOOCs to provide dual-enrollment opportunities to students in underprivileged high schools. (Digital)

In response to Coursera’s recent addition of ten more public universities, Arne Duncan expressed interest, so long as the MOOCs are quality. (Coursera Blog and Digital Education)

Studies find that kids in elementary and preschool learn more by explaining. (Education Week)

The Helios Foundation and NASA are offering grants in support of STEM education. (Curriculum Matters)

An eight-year-old boy who had been suspended for two days for chewing a pop-tart into the shape of a gun has been given a lifetime membership to the NRA; when pressed for a reaction, the boy replied, “I don’t know why I did

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First Bell 5-31-13

What we talk about when we talk about poverty

yes Michael J. Petrilli / May 31, 2013

This article originally appeared on Education Week’s Bridging Differences blog, where Mike Petrilli is debating Deborah Meier through mid-June.

Dear Deborah,

I want to return to the perennial question of poverty as it relates to educational outcomes. One of the main arguments against education reform is that it misdiagnoses the problem. We have big “achievement gaps” in terms of test scores, graduation rates, college-going, and much else, but that’s primarily because of inequities in our society, not because of the failings of our schools—so goes the thinking.

As I indicated in my first post for Bridging Differences, I’m not opposed to tackling these larger issues of poverty and inequality. (Neither are most reformers.) But we’d better have a good understanding of what we’re tackling. I would argue that clarity is sorely lacking.

Is the issue really poverty, per se? The fact that many families in the U.S. don’t have enough income to provide the advantages that other children enjoy? If so, are we satisfied with delineating the problem with the poverty line (currently about $20,000 for a family of three)? That qualifies 23 percent of all children (as of 2011), up from 18

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What we talk about when we talk about poverty