Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Governance, Advanced Education
Ramaswamy nailed the education challenge
I’m no “tech bro,” nor a fan of Ramaswamy (or Musk), but Vivek was right this time:
Commentary
Top 20 Fordham articles of 2024
Today’s light-speed media cycle means that stories often come and go in an instant, making it difficult to determine how much a piece resonates with readers and whether it has staying power. That’s one of the things that makes lists like this so illuminating and fun to create and peruse.
Commentary
Closing out 2024 with both eyes closed
Well, anno domini 2024 was another discouraging one in the annals of school reform.
Commentary
A dozen of the best opinion pieces on education that we read in 2024
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of articles in our “What We’re Reading” section. Many of these are opinion pieces, usually from leading newspapers and magazines or high-profile Substacks. Here’s our list of our favorites for the year, presented in chronological order.
Commentary
The best and worst of education reform in 2024
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of news items for our “Cheers and Jeers” section. Here are the ten most praiseworthy (or dunk-worthy) developments of 2024, presented in chronological order. Best
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance
Elon should stick to cars, rockets, and tech
Any hope that Musk would find success in revolutionizing education is unlikely. His educational experiments may succeed on Space X grounds with the children of Space X employees—with all of the cultural capital that comes with such an upbringing—but would almost certainly explode on lift off were they launched at scale.
Commentary
Facilities, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Don’t want to close underenrolled schools? Here’s how to make the math work.
As enrollments drop, city after city is facing pressure to close half-empty schools. Fewer kids means fewer dollars. Consolidating two schools saves money because it means paying for one less principal, librarian, nurse, PE teacher, counselor, reading coach, clerk, custodian… you get the idea.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The state of global education in a post-pandemic world
The recently released results from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 highlight a concerning decline in U.S. students’ performance in science and mathematics, with the country falling further behind peer countries. But it isn’t just America.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
New international data on the persistent link between Covid school closures and learning loss
Emergency school closures aimed at minimizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education trajectory of over one billion children worldwide starting in March 2020. However, the length and manner of closures varied greatly from country to country and education system to education system.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: December 19, 2024
Severe aggression in children may be linked to neuro-cognitive difficulties that require treatment. If educators can recognize the underlying factors and advocate for appropriate interventions, they can support these students and reduce classroom disruptions. —R. J. R. Blair and Daniel T.
Event
Bringing High Expectations Back to Education
Over the past decade, American schooling has abandoned its focus on safe, orderly schools and high academic expectations in favor of social and emotional learning and trauma-informed pedagogy, particularly in schools serving low-income students and children of color.
Podcast
#950: The best and worst of ed reform in 2024, with Checker Finn
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s p
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
Why education R & D should be on Trump’s agenda
As President-elect Trump and his team prepare for the first 100 days of office, they are setting their policy agenda and striving to make good on their campaign promises. In education, that will include decreasing the federal role (if not eliminating the U.S.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
After a “lost decade,” let’s restore high expectations for students
There has been a fierce and counterproductive backlash to “no excuses” charter schools, stemming from the idea that student discipline and orderly classrooms are culturally insensitive, particularly when imposed on students of color. This critique drove the rise of social justice education with its focus on reducing racial harm while functionally neglecting academic instruction and enshrining low expectations.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Will Trump eliminate the federal role in education or weaponize it?
Perhaps you’ve been wondering why many recent articles, predictions, and speculations about Trump’s plans for the U.S. Department of Education focus on its abolition, while others predict that it will be forcefully deployed to reshape what schools teach. Consider the Washington Post’s excellent education reporter Laura Meckler, writing on November 12:
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Why teachers don’t use the high-quality instructional materials they’re given
An increasing number of districts across America are rightly procuring so-called high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) for use in their schools.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
The connection between preparatory experiences and student perceptions of college readiness
Millions of American high school students annually participate in preparatory coursework intended to build and document their readiness for college, including Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Algebra for most: A closer look at one California district’s new math initiative
California has a long history of attempting to reform Algebra I in the name of equity.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: December 12, 2024
Nearly five years after the pandemic forced school closures across the country, many Ohio students continue to struggle with chronic absenteeism and academic gaps, despite efforts to address these issues at the state level.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
NYC’s advanced education gap: Why are middle schoolers being given short shrift?
New York City is awash in “gifted and talented” children, otherwise known as high-achieving public school students who would benefit from advanced education. In some neighborhoods, for example, over 50 percent of students test in the top 10th percentile nationwide.
Podcast
#949: Building positive school cultures, with Philip K. Howard
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Philip K.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education
New accountability system supports advanced math learners
Virginia’s new accountability system incentivizes schools to provide valuable middle-school math pathways, resulting in more opportunities for Virginia students, especially the most underprivileged.
Commentary
Advanced Education
What David Brooks gets so wrong
Editor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, Governing Right.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The end of MCAS is the end of an era. Now let’s figure out what comes next.
With the number of states requiring students to pass exams in order to earn a diploma now down to the single digits, this feels like the end of an era. What should we do now? Let’s start by getting the gang back together—a bipartisan group of governors and state education chiefs—to work on a rational set of high school graduation requirements reflecting the multiple pathways to upward mobility and post-secondary success.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing
How to interpret—and not misinterpret—forthcoming NAEP results
Recently my daughter asked me to describe my job. I had to think for a minute. Statistical interpreter? Results translator? None worked. I needed an elevator pitch, one my quasi-curious teen would understand easily, without too much side eye.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Knowledge-rich curriculum and direct instruction depend upon each other
Some days, when you’re rocking a seven-day-old infant to sleep at three in the morning, the only thing to do is pick away at instruction manuals in a bleary-eyed daze.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning
PISA is wrong about China
AEI’s foremost and very distinguished demographer, my long-ago colleague Nick Eberstadt, joined by several colleagues, has released a devastating analysis/critique of the much-cited OECD assertion that China’s K–12 education performance—based on PISA scores—
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
In which states do students spend the most and least time in school?
The amount of time students spend in school is a popular lever of change pulled by education policymakers of all types.
