Daily Archives: 09/06/2011

(Community Matters) Important research about the government’s role in supporting entrepreneurship – I’m applying this to my thinking about the public/private partnership Startup America

From David Brook’s column in today’s NYT: In 2009, Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School published a useful book called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” He found that for each instance in which the government has successfully promoted entrepreneurial activity, there is a pile of instances in which it failed.

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(Community Matters) While many Central Texans enjoyed the best weather in months during the Labor Day weekend, thousands fled their homes and literally hundreds of homes have been consumed by wildfires. It’s horrible. We know several people displaced and still waiting to hear whether or not their house survived.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” – is there a contemporary allegory?

AAS Story

(Community Matters) In today’s NYTimes, article about Harvard Professor Roland Fryer’s innovative Houston experiment.I’m not sure what happened re: Austin. I seem to recall Prof Fryer wanted to launch an initiative with AISD, even knew a philanthropist very interested in funding the program.

In 2009, Dr. Fryer identified five policies common to successful charters, including those run by KIPP and the Harlem Children’s Zone: longer school days and years; more rigorous and selective hiring of principals and teachers; frequent quizzes whose results determine what needs to be retaught; what he calls “high-dosage tutoring”; and a “no excuses” culture.

The [Houston] experiment, which is known as Apollo 20 and cost $19 million in its first year, has had mixed results: Lee High School saw double-digit gains on state tests last spring, moving to “acceptable” on the Texas school report card system after many years of being rated “unacceptable.” But four of the nine Apollo schools remained on the unacceptable list, and at some the percentage of students passing state tests actually dipped.

earlier CM posting

(Community Matters) from Andy Tobias’ blog

And speaking of income inequality, here’s a rant by a public school administrator who I suspect works rather hard at his job, and ! deserves a listen.  Or just read it here:

UNACCEPTABLE TEACHERS by John Kuhn

Let me speak for all public school educators when I say unequivocally: We will.  We say send us your poor, send us your homeless, the children of your afflicted and addicted.  Send us your kids who don’t speak English. Send us your special-needs children, we will not turn them away.
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