Older students do better through college, according to a new study by David Figlio, a Northwestern economist, reports John Ydstie on NPR. Florida children who just missed the Sept. 1 cutoff and had to wait a year to start school performed better than demographically similar students who just made the cutoff. The September-born students were more likely to attend college and to graduate… Read more →
The letter was thin and flat. The letter was thin and flat. I’m embarrassed to say it took a second for me to realize. Traditionally, they sent acceptance letters in big envelopes, but could things be different now? Maybe they sent the bulk of the information through email. By the time the letter had been in my hands for two… Read more →
Just months ago I went to their high school graduation parties and summer sendoff celebrations, and now they are coming home again. They are washing out of their four-year colleges and licking their wounds with a few courses at our local community college. They have lost face, lost money and lost momentum. This is happening in my hometown, and all… Read more →
Parents prefer relationships to data. Most of us enjoy people more than numbers and like parent-teacher conferences better than bar graphs. We take comfort in knowing that our kids are being educated in a safe space and worry very little about the high school profile or SAT participation rate in our town. It’s human nature to listen to our hearts… Read more →