You Have to Admit It’s Getting Better

Why vote “yes”?…because we want to have the best!

Castles Made of Sand

I’m Thankful …. for the Discord?
Yes, as an academic, and as someone interested in the well-being of schoolchildren across the state, I am thankful for the cacophony of voices entering the education policy discussion in NW Arkansas and beyond. I know that this is not a universal view.  Many of our friends and colleagues working in Arkansas public school districts may not share my rosy view.  Those working in local school districts or at the state level may not be too thrilled that our “genius little bloggers” or faculty in the Department of Education reform are injecting themselves into important policy discussions related to racial integration,

School Building Blogger Imprisoned
We’ve had some lively debates here at mid-riffs and in the community at-large about the quality of school buildings. While those debates have often been heated and full of disagreements, we ought to be thankful we live in a place that respects and encourages  a diverse set of viewpoints. The situation in China is far worse. Chinese activist Huang Qi just received a three-year prison term for blogging about the qu

Diane Ravitch — Wrong Again on Charter Schools
Diane Ravitch has a new post full of criticisms of charter schools. Unfortunately, the arguments are unsupportable and contradictory. 1.   Ravitch has gone to the NAEP website and downloaded snapshots of how students in public charter schools scored compared to students in other

More on Charters
The Northwest Arkansas Times had an editorial today about the Arkansas Board of Education and their stance on charters. Something tells me they’ve been spending some time here at mid-riffs. It’s nice to see them enter the debate. A few thoughts: The editorial uses circular logic to defend the actions of the board. First the editorial says the board must be highly selective because the charter sc

A Comment from Elsewhere
Brenda Gullett of the State Board of Education left a lengthy comment on Jay Greene’s blog. Most of the comment, which is reprinted below, was really addressed to the Mid-Riffs bloggers. I would invite Ms. Gullett to write to us directly — particularly if she feels that she has been misrepresented by the local newspaper — with a full defense of her and her fellow Board members’ actions in rejecting every single charter school application last week. We will be happy to print her words unedited as a guest post. Indeed, public officials should welcome the opport