WHAT WE’RE READING
Kelsey Piper and Freddie deBoer wonder, “Does anything we do in schools actually matter?” Freddie doesn’t think schools and teachers can do much to change relative student outcomes (where a student ranks among peers). Kelsey argues that relative rank is beside the point, and that good teaching can improve absolute outcomes like whether kids learn to read and do math. It should go without saying…that matters!.
EXTRA CREDIT:
Trevor Aleo and Nick Covington, “In Conversation: Sold a Story Season 2 (Ep. 4)”
Parker Baxter, “Lessons from the First Great Enrollment Decline”
David Blazar, “Are schools a great equalizer? They help kids catch up, but wealthier children still pull ahead”
Daniel Buck, “Exit Exams Out, Mediocrity In: The Decline and Fall of US Graduation Standards”
Joshua Dunn, “More First Amendment Folly in Colorado”
Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli, “The AP quandary and how to resolve it”
Joanne Jacobs, “Teach students to manage test anxiety, not avoid it”
Jennifer Jennings, “Dear American Parent: You’re Welcome!”
Henry Mack, “When it Comes to School Accountability, Florida Is Raising the Bar”
Eva Moskowitz, “The K–12 approach fails students. My school system is flipping it around.”
Benjamin Riley and James Shanahan, “Ed Reform is Dead—it’s Parent Choice or Public Schools”
Kenneth Shores and Amber M. Northern, “Should IES Advance a National-Interest Research Agenda?”
Joshua P. Starr, “Are Our Kids Quiet Quitting?”
Todd Truitt, “Spanberger’s Test—Will Virginia Keep Its Graduation Testing Requirement?”
Joseph P. Viteritti, “What was Hochul thinking?”
Conor Williams, “Can The ‘Dormant Decade’ Searching for a Meaty K–12 Policy Agenda Be Over?”
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation. Click here to subscribe for sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates, curated commentary from across the ed-policy world, and lively discussion—including reader reactions and pushback.
