The rise and fall of Finland mania
Editor's note: This was first published on the author's Substack, The Education Daly.
Editor's note: This was first published on the author's Substack, The Education Daly.
Editor’s note: This was first published by ExcelinEd.
Last week, Petrilli identified three rules for “doing educational equity right” that will result in smart policy designs and make it likelier that the political right will get on board the equity train. Now let’s apply those rules to the topic of school finance.
Shortly before schools—and Fordham—shuttered their doors for the holiday break, Tim Daly asked a simple question in these pages: Should schools ban smart phones?
As former teachers in a variety of settings—charter, traditional public, and “transfer” schools—we read with great interest our colleague Daniel Buck’s recent piece, “In defense of the traditional classroom
Whether school discipline falls differently on students from different racial groups is an ongoing concern for families, school and community leaders, and policymakers.
Thousands of schools across the country, including schools in Mississippi, Baltimore, Boston, and other jurisdictions, are at risk of closing because of declining enrollment.
 On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan institute, joins Mi
The education world lost a true reformer on Christmas Day—and the charter-school world lost one of its true heroes—when Linda Brown passed away at eighty-one at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Suitcase words” have different meanings for different people. They’re everywhere in our political conversations and in K–12 education, and they include “social justice,” “parental rights,” and “accountability.” But the granddaddy of them all is surely “educational equity.” In coming weeks, this series will aim to unpack this phrase, and discuss what it would mean to do educational equity right.
“Truancy” may no longer be the right word for it, maybe not even “absenteeism,” for both imply being missing from a place where one is supposed to be. “Truancy,” with its overtone of misbehavior and illegality, suggests willfulness, i.e., that one is intentionally missing, while “absenteeism” is a more neutral term with no suggestion of motive.
A new report from the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice adds to the robust literature on school choice in New Orleans, shedding light on the ways in which the centralized enrollment system in the Crescent City has grown and evolved, as well a
The Covid-19 pandemic created innumerable disruptions to the education system. Among them were challenges faced by teacher candidates trying to complete licensure requirements. In response, those requirements got waived in many places.
After a year spent campaigning for the issue, deal cutting, and threats of primary challenges, Greg Abbott failed to pass school choice legislation.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Debbie Veney, a senior vice president at the National Alliance for Public
This year marked the fortieth anniversary of “A Nation at Risk,” the seminal report that did so much to reshape America’s modern education landscape.
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of news items for our “Cheers and Jeers” section. Here are the ten most fantastic or horrendous developments of the year that was, presented in chronological order. Best
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of articles in our “What We’re Reading” section. Mostly these are opinion pieces, usually from leading newspapers and magazines, or occasionally high-profile Substacks. Here’s our list of our favorites for the year, presented in chronological order.
The venerable hosts of the Education Gadfly show have been winging it for seventeen years.
A new Rand Corporation survey finds that roughly three in ten teachers thinks that their school’s curriculum is too difficult for students. —Education Week
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s president emeritus—and the original Education Gadfly—joi
Since the Spring of 2022, I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Homero Chavez as part of the National Working Group on Advanced Education.
Earlier this year, Jill Kafka, the tireless Executive Director of Partnership Schools, announced that she is stepping down after twenty-seven years of dedicated service.
The welcome rise of the science of reading has been a sober reckoning for teachers and administrators. It also raises uncomfortable questions, seldom asked: How much faith should parents have that their child’s school and teachers understand good literacy instruction? And how much do parents need to know to advocate for their children and raise strong readers?
Many futuristic reformers love to hate the classroom.