WHAT WE’RE READING
Why do most education interventions fade out over time? A team of researchers shares must-read insights about the “fadeout effect” of education interventions in what might be the most important article of the year. One thing to know: It’s not just pre-K! Across a range of interventions, initial impacts (on test scores, but other outcomes, too) tend to fade. But some interventions (including pre-K) still produce positive long-term results, like increased graduation rates and adult earnings. But we don’t really understand why this happens or how.
“If evaluations are not large enough to detect realistically sized positive long-term impacts, skeptics will continue to cite nonsignificant medium-term impacts as evidence of program ineffectiveness. At the same time, advocates and many researchers will cite selected (and thus upwardly biased) [short-term] impacts as evidence of program effectiveness. We have spent enough time in this spin cycle.” The solution, the authors argue: more long-term studies of interventions’ impacts. —Drew Bailey, Tyler Watts, and Emma Hart, Education Next
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Education Freedom Accounts are among the most generous education savings accounts in the country. Jessica Ma reports on why many of Dallas-Fort Worth’s top private schools—where autonomy is a priority and tuition far exceeds the $10,500 ESA—are hesitant to accept the funds. —The Dallas Morning News
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Does incentivizing top teachers to move to struggling schools raise student achievement? Matt Barnum speaks with Matthew Kraft, co-author of a new paper reexamining how the “Talent Transfer Initiative,” a federal program paying large bonuses to teachers who moved, impacted teacher performance over time. Student test scores did rise, but the transferring teachers were less effective than in their prior schools. Matt Kraft calls on policymakers to “move beyond thinking about teacher effectiveness as a fixed characteristic,” and instead think about teaching as “a team sport.” —Chalkbeat
Teacher effectiveness as a fixed characteristic is on Meredith Coffey’s mind as well, sharing her reflections on teacher improvement over time. She draws from Fordham and Learning Policy Institute’s recent brief, which looks at whether the returns to teacher experience fizzle out.
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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Sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates
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Curated commentary from across the ed-policy world
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Lively discussion—including reader reactions and pushback
