To the cultural Left, university is an extension of secondary school – and is therefore seen as a "right", argues Timothy Stanley.

This has been the most devastating reality check on the performance of our schools. While vast extra spending was being poured into the system our performance was sliding down the international league tables.

The education establishment is pushing back against common-sense education reforms that have proved successful in Florida. Dr. Madhabi Chatterji, a professor at Columbia Teachers College, has written a paper critical of a Heritage study of these reforms by Matthew Ladner, Vice President of Research at the Goldwater Institute and I. Last week, The Washington Post’s

Peter Meyer – Sam Dillon tackles the question of teacher evaluations in the Times today with a front-page story pegged to Bill Gates’ investment of $335 million in overhauling teacher evaluation systems.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have been chosen to receive Race to the Top funds to create a nation of effective teachers that will produce student achievement. What will happen to the teachers and children in the remaining states and US Territories?

Dropout Nation usually reserves commentary on education historian-turned-thoughtless polemicist Diane Ravitch for the Twitter feed, not on these pages.

Paul E. Peterson – If one wants to read a fleshed-out version of the broader, bolder case for reforming our urban schools without doing anything about their internal operations, there is no better place to go than to David Kirp’s forthcoming book, Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children’s Lives.

In 2009, a new headmaster arrived to rock the boat once again. Over the years, these sometimes illogical, whimsical changes produced an exodus of staff.

Peter Wood warns about the damage that “greenlining” activists can do to American philanthropy. American higher education depends profoundly on philanthropy, and whatever threatens philanthropy threatens American higher education. The threat that perhaps looms largest at the moment is the steep drop in interest rates and the declining value of the portfolios of many foundations.

WASHINGTON – Their attacks include efforts to remove Christian symbols from public places, denying citizens the right to mention the name of Jesus in public, causing Christian teachers and school principals to deny their own basic religious freedoms for fear of lawsuits

Peter Meyer – It’s one thing to think about the achievement gap between races and socio-economic groups, but our relatively recent headlong rush to celebrate diversity—and integration and “mainstreaming”—has brought with it new achievement gap challenges.

Chester E. Finn, Jr. – The Coleman Report and its data have been exhaustively analyzed and reanalyzed. But this key finding has never been successfully challenged: School inputs have little correlation with pupil achievement and differences in achievement cannot be significantly accounted for by differences in school resources.

Jay P. Greene – Back in March I predicted, prematurely, that the wheels were coming off of the national standards train. Andy Rotherham had declared that the adoption of national standards was “close to a done deal,” but then the Wall Street Journal came out with an editorial strongly opposing national standards.

Donna Garner – What parents and educators all across this country need to do is to read my three articles — links posted below. After reading these articles and seeing the HIV data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the question and answer should be clear to parents and school educators alike.

Donna Garner – People who are pushing the adoption of Common Core Standards (CCS), such as the Alabama Dale County Schools Superintendent, justify their position by saying that Alabama’s present standards are already 90% aligned with the CCS — therefore, not to worry.

Paul E. Peterson – No sooner does Mayor Bloomberg appoint Cathleen Black to head the New York City school system than elite liberals withdraw their long swords from the scabbard.

Tom Sticht – The New York Times online published an article by Trip Gabriel on November 9, 2010 entitled: “Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected.” The article refers to research by the Council of the Great City Schools

Jason Fertig calls for long-term thinking about faculty employment and evaluation. If tenure were to be abolished, what would take its place?

Joe Nathan – What an unusual but remarkable trio – drums, drama and dancing. I watched all three kinds of student performances last week in the space of 30 minutes. Each performance received a lengthy ovation. And I was struck by the incredible value of arts for young people.

Donna Garner – On Nov. 6, 2010, the New York Times weighed in on the bullying issue in schools, and the article affirms what I have been saying in my articles: The Obama administration aligned with Kevin Jennings’ gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender agenda is being forced into schools under the guise of the “bullying” issue.

Peter Wood – That wasn’t how Sasha Abramsky saw it back in July, when The Chronicle Review published an issue on the theme, “How We Became the University States of Fury.” Abramsky, a lecturer in the writing program at the University of California Davis