By Catherine Gewertz
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/12/08backfill.h29.html?r=864785946

Several states are defending their use of federal stimulus money after receiving an official scolding from the U.S. Department of Education’s internal watchdog.

The memorandum issued by the department’s inspector general pointed to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as examples of how states are undermining the school improvement aims of the American Recovery and [...]

BY Raymond Domanico
October 12 2009
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/10/12/2009-10-12_mayor_mike_bloombergs_next_big_test_he_and_joel_klein_have_to_prevail_over_the_u.html

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have passed the test of mayoral control. It was difficult, but the issue was simple: Who’s in charge?

Their next test is very different.

The mayor and chancellor must now preserve - and even strengthen - their Fair Student Funding formula in the face of a [...]

By DIANE RAVITCH
October 15, 2009
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/ny_testing_mess_xlGmMitC04B4VHD2YDi5CM

There’s something rot ten in the state Education Department. Year after year, New York officials have been claiming impressive gains in student achievement — claims we now know to be false. Based on these misleading claims, however, tens of millions of dollars in bonuses have been handed out to teachers and [...]

By David Bloomfield
October 15, 2009
http://gothamschools.org/2009/10/15/graduation-time-bomb/

Mayoral candidates Thompson and Bloomberg have so far avoided the most important failing of New York City’s public schools: Under new state standards, a third of today’s high school graduates will soon be ineligible for diplomas. The so-called Local Diploma, requiring a 55 on Regents exams, is being phased out and [...]

October 12, 2009
http://www.1010wins.com/pages/5422146.php?

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS)  — New York City schools have improved faster than those anywhere else in the state during the seven years since Mayor Michael Bloomberg assumed control of them, Chancellor Joel Klein said Monday.

In a speech to business leaders at the Partnership for New York City, Klein said the number of [...]

by Maura Walz
October 13, 2009
http://gothamschools.org/2009/10/13/doe-likely-to-increase-class-size-targets-official-says/

The city’s Department of Education will likely lift the ceiling on class sizes this year, a department official said today.

DOE chief operating officer Photeine Anagnostopoulos told the City Council education committee this morning that it was realistic to expect the city to “adjust” its class size targets. How dramatic the increases [...]