A new national survey finds that school-issued devices, AI misuse, and grade inflation are undermining learning and leaving many students feeling unprepared for the future.
In 2022, the state of Missouri made a concerted effort to eliminate its charter school funding gap. But how much progress has it actually made? And what have charters done with the additional funds?
These profiles accompany Fordham’s report, A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026, which updates Fordham’s 2012 rankings of state teacher union strength.
Researchers use the latest publicly available data and a fresh survey of K–12 stakeholders in all 50 states to provide a comprehensive update to Fordham’s 2012 rankings of state teacher union strength.
Reading instruction is shifting toward the science of reading, and teachers are making progress. But gaps in training, materials, and implementation remain—especially in high-poverty schools.
Rapidly growing numbers of Ohio students attain industry recognized credentials during high school, reflecting recent policy incentives that encourage their attainment. Our latest report examines the college and workforce outcomes of Ohio students who earn such credentials.
For eleven years now, we at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute have hosted an annual Wonkathon on our Flypaper blog. Designed to generate substantive conversation around key issues in education reform, we invite policy “wonks” to submit responses to a question.
Fordham's 2025 Annual Report looks back on a year of research, commentary, Ohio policy work, and charter school authorizing, with a focus on rebooting the American Dream for the next generation.
Our latest report sheds light on the academic trajectory of high-achieving, low-income (HALO) students in Ohio. They have demonstrated their potential to reach college and use it as a springboard to the American dream. Yet due to the widespread neglect of their talents, our education system allows too many of them to fall through the cracks.
School boards have become ground zero for America’s education culture wars, with fiery debates over race, gender, curriculum, and pandemic policies making national headlines. But beyond the noise, how well do these elected bodies actually represent their communities?
Policies like "no zeros," eliminating late penalties, and allowing unlimited retakes aim to make grading fairer for disadvantaged students. Critics argue the changes inflate grades, erode accountability, and harm learning—and many teachers agree.
For many years, the conventional wisdom in education reform circles was that teachers stopped improving after a few years on the job. This brief challenges that notion.
This report explores advanced math pathways in the New England region. As a supplement to the primary report Calculus or Statistics: Does It Matter?, this targeted analysis examines access to and participation in advanced math courses, as well as ongoing efforts to develop and diversify these pathways across New England.
While calculus remains the gold standard in most college admissions offices, educators and employers increasingly champion advanced statistics as critical for navigating today’s data-driven workforce. So which math pathway actually shapes long-term success?
Everyone knows that standardized tests paint an incomplete picture of schools’ impacts on students. Yet the search for alternative indicators of school quality has been a disappointment. Might a new measure based on students' GPA's hold promise?
This brief challenges the notion that marginalized students of high ability are harmed by advanced education, with implications for better screening measures and expansion of programs.
Because public school enrollment hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels—and because underlying enrollment trends are negative—it’s likely that some public schools will need to be closed in the near future. But which schools should be considered candidates for closure?
Racial achievement gaps in schools are well documented and remain a significant cause of concern in education. Troubling too is that the role of socioeconomic disparities in mediating these gaps remains unresolved.
Reading comprehension depends on the acquisition of decoding, vocabulary, and knowledge, not “comprehension skills” as such. Yet the instructional practices and curricula that are the foundation for many English classrooms assume otherwise.
The state of advanced education in America’s school districts is mediocre. Most districts neglect valuable policies that could expand access and improve student outcomes, resulting in a broken pipeline in advanced education.
As the sector’s gatekeepers, charter school authorizers are responsible for ensuring that schools in their purview set students up for success. But can authorizers predict which schools will meet that standard?
This policy brief challenges four key ideas that underpin “equity”-motivated trends in grading reforms.
Because the housing and education markets are linked, evictions and other involuntary changes in residence often force students to change schools at a time when they are vulnerable. But is disrupting at-risk students' education in this manner necessary?
Exposing traditional school districts to greater competition is a central goal of education reform in the United States. Yet because of the complexity of reform efforts, quantifying "competition" is challenging.
This brief challenges the long-held notion that grade retention is “bad for kids.”
The signatories of A Generation at Risk—a diverse group of leaders from left, right, and center—seek bold action to quickly and dramatically improve the learning opportunities for today’s students, while we simultaneously begin putting in place the building blocks of a more responsive system that will help future generations of students address the challenges of the world to come.
This study uses NAEP data on eighth graders over the last two decades to trace the performance of America’s highest-achieving students by both race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
This brief challenges the notion that economically disadvantaged students receive less funding than other students, with implications for equalizing classroom resources and optimizing other social policies.
Thirty-six recommendations for how districts, charter networks, and states can build a continuum of advanced learning opportunities, customized to individual students’ needs and abilities, that spans the K–12 spectrum.
This study uses nearly two decades of student-level data to explore how charter school enrollment is related to Texas English learners’ achievement, attainment, and earnings.
