“A supernova is what happens when a star has reached the end of its life and explodes in a brilliant burst of light. Supernovas can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.” —Nancy Taylor Tillman, Space.com
The forthcoming results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress—due out on January 29—are likely to be bad, bad, bad. The term we may hear a lot is that “the bottom is falling out,” if the scores for low-performing students in particular continue to plummet.
President-elect Donald Trump is about to return to Washington with a ragtag coalition, united in their rejection of the status quo. Yet this shared opposition has also led to a rash of infighting over a range of policy issues.
It’s not with pleasure that I tackle the too-frequent topic of school shootings. The latest in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed the lives of two and left six others injured, just a stone’s throw away from my own school. Friends of mine were on the scene.
The Advanced Placement (AP) program, celebrating its seventieth anniversary this year, has largely lived up to the promise of encouraging and rewarding ambitious high school students looking to prepare themselves for college rigor.
Professor Douglas Fuchs is challenging the prevailing belief that inclusion is best for students with disabilities, arguing that the evidence supporting it is weak and that many students may benefit more from specialized instruction in separate settings.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Barbara Biasi, assistan
After more than a decade of trying to launch some form of education savings account/tax credit program for parent choice, it looks like Idaho’s legislature is likely to pass legislation this year to get it done.
Once upon a time, such as when I entered college in 1962, it was possible—correction: it was relatively easy—to graduate in three years with the help of Advanced Placement scores that you submitted upon arrival.
Is the conventional wisdom right that both parties have abandoned education reform? The evidence indicates that it’s mostly fair when it comes to Democrats, but not so fair when it comes to the GOP—at least if we look beyond Washington to the states.
I’m going to give you a reading test. Ready? Say these words out loud: Chip Hill Jars Bep Fod Glork
Allowing families to express their preferences for various schools—whether inside or beyond their geographically-zoned building or district—sounds good in theory. Indeed, we’ve been hearing for decades that a zip code should never determine the quality of a child’s education.
De facto segregation persists in schools across the United State
Girls’ math, reading, and science test scores have declined sharply since the pandemic, possibly driven by a greater focus on boys’ educational outcomes in recent years or the increased household responsibilities many girls took on during the pandemic. We also wonder about the impact of social media.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alyson Klein, assistant editor
I’m no “tech bro,” nor a fan of Ramaswamy (or Musk), but Vivek was right this time:
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.
Well, anno domini 2024 was another discouraging one in the annals of school reform.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s p
