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By Jesse Rothstein In his decision on Tuesday to strike down California’s teacher-tenure system, Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that laws protecting teachers from dismissal violated the state’s constitutional commitment to provide “a basically equal opportunity to achieve a quality education” and drew parallels with prior cases concerning school desegregation and funding levels. But there is a difference between recognizing students’ rights to integrated, adequately funded schools and…

Whenever President Obama proposes a major federal investment in early education, as he did in his two most recent State of the Union addresses, critics have a two-word riposte: Head Start. Researchers have long cast doubt on that program’s effectiveness. The most damning evidence comes from a 2012 federal evaluation that used gold-standard methodology and concluded that children who participated in Head Start were not more successful in elementary school than others. That finding was catnip to the detractors. …

New York City was abuzz with anticipation for Fashion Week. Everyone was excited -- except for me. In August 2008, I had heard then-Senator Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention and realized that I wanted to be a part of a new generation of leaders who can deliver creative public policy. That is an excerpt from the statement of purpose I wrote in my Goldman School application. I often get asked what made me want to leave the glamour…

It was a medical and public policy mystery. In the last decade, the rate of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has gone up by more than 40% nationwide. What could account for such a sharp increase? In their new book, The ADHD Explosion: Myths, Medication, Money, and Today's Push for Performance (Oxford University Press, March 2014), Professor Richard M. Scheffler, a health economist and Professor Stephen P. Hinshaw, a clinical psychologist combine their expertise to sleth out the…

The buzz in Sacramento is that early childhood education might get a healthy infusion of state funds this year. It's a top priority in the Legislature, and Gov.Jerry Brown, while not leading the charge, appreciates the potential impact of giving kids a running start. There's overwhelming evidence of the life-changing potential of good prekindergarten. Analyses of model preschools, which tracked youngsters from their preschool days to their 40s, have shown its lifelong benefits. Nobel Prize-winning economist …

Last month, the 25,000-member American Educational Research Association selected David Kirp’s “Improbable Scholars” for its 2014 Outstanding Book Award. The honor, reserved for education’s intellectual heavyweights, is not only a nod to Kirp’s scholarly achievement, but more, an acknowledgement of the power of marrying journalism and policy into a narrative that can drive public interest where there is seemingly so little: systems change. Kirp, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy…

The Goldman School congratulates Chancellor's Professor Robert B. Reich on his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed upon academics and those in public life.  "The American Academy was founded in 1780," says Dean Henry E. Brady. "It is one of the nation's oldest learned societies. The Academy convenes leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to address critical challenges facing our global society. It is a great…

The American Education Research Association (AERA) awarded its Outstanding Book Award to Professor David Kirp's 2013 publication, Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools (Oxford University Press, 2013). The Outstanding Book Award was created to honor the best book-length publication in education research and development of each year. David L. Kirp is the James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy and a national expert on education and children's policy.…

Corey Matthews is a first-year MPP student at the Goldman School of Public Policy and a regular blogger for the Wire. Photo Credit: Mike Groll/AP So, let me start my spill with the preface that the idea of prison education as a means to enhance rehabilitation and reentry of prisoners into society is not a new concept. In fact, it’s something that anti-prison advocates and criminal justice reformists have rallied behind for decades; but of course it…

The writing is on the chalkboard. Over the next few years, America can count on a major expansion of early childhood education. We embrace this trend, but as health policy researchers, we want to raise a major caveat: Unless we’re careful, today’s preschool bandwagon could lead straight to an epidemic of 4- and 5-year-olds wrongfully being told that they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Introducing millions of 3- to 5-year-olds to classrooms and preacademic demands means…