The “big quit” is an opportunity to fix our broken education system
Bruno V. MannoCovid-19 sent a shock wave through an already changing U.S. job market, provoking “a great reassessment of work in America.”
Not everyone’s on board with turning schooling into therapy
Robert PondiscioSchools have been concerned with character formation and values since Plato sat with students under an olive tree. Today’s “social and emotional learning” is consistent with this age-old impulse. But in its form and function it can represent something different—and more worrisome—than its progenitors, especially when employed without full discussion of its priorities and methods.
The case for K–2 testing
Dale ChuUnder federal law, states must assess students annually in reading and math in grades 3–8 and at least once during high school, as well as testing science once in elementary, middle, and high school.
The fault in our genes: Should education policies consider DNA?
Matthew LeveyKathryn Paige Harden is a behavioral genetics rock star at UT Austin. Unsurprisingly for a college professor in a liberal town, she identifies as progressive. The seeming contradiction between her research interests and her political views has drawn broad attention to her first book, The Genetic Lottery.
How reopening decisions affected public school disenrollment
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.During the first full school year after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, enrollment in U.S. public schools fell by about 1.1 million students, or 2 percent of prior K–12 enrollment.
Declining NAEP scores are flashing red lights for the Covid generation
Michael J. PetrilliLast week brought the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s Long Term Trend series, and they were sobering. Just before the pandemic kicked in, U.S. thirteen-year-olds saw statistically-significant declines in both math and reading—a first in the study’s nearly 50-year history. Black, Hispanic, and low-achieving students saw the largest declines. Here’s the case that the Great Recession was largely at fault.
How do parents use education savings accounts?
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Whether due to the pandemic, political opportunism, popular demand, or a combination, education savings accounts (ESAs) are enjoying much attention and growth
Reforming licensing policies will help alleviate teacher shortages
Shannon WhitworthWith the effects of the pandemic dragging on for another year, labor markets are acting strange and organizations are struggling to find qualified workers. Schools are no different. The teacher pipeline has slowed to a trickle as teacher preparation programs see fewer and fewer candidates. Teachers have been leaving the profession early.
Bill de Blasio is decimating gifted education in New York. Will Eric Adams save it?
Brandon L. WrightMayor de Blasio is axing New York City’s long-standing gifted education programs. He plans to replace them with something else, but his proposal is almost entirely wrong. Fortunately, Eric Adams, who’s almost certain to replace him in January, has a vision of gifted education that’s mostly right, and he’ll enter office in time to fix de Blasio’s blunders.
Seeking a constitutional shortcut to educational excellence
Dale ChuDo students have a right to a high-quality education? A proposed ballot initiative filed in California last Thursday says yes.
How well are schools teaching disadvantaged students to read? In California, it depends where you live.
Todd CollinsHow do we know if a school district is doing one of its most basic jobs—teaching students to read? That’s one of the main questions the California Reading Coalition, which I helped organize earlier this year, set out to answer with the California Reading Report Card, released in September.
The college gender gap begins in kindergarten
Michael J. PetrilliA recent Wall Street Journal article set off a pundit-palooza on the topic of the female advantage in higher education, with many suggesting that young men have “given up on college.” But American students who are academically well-prepared for college continue to matriculate and graduate. It’s just that many more of them are female. The reason for that starts in kindergarten.
Critical race theory distracts from academic underachievement
Bob Woodson, Ian RoweWith a new school year underway, parents, teachers, and children anxiously return to classrooms amidst an ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But this year, school board members, teachers, academics, politicians, and parents continue to argue over critical race theory and how to enact its version of equity.
Do experts share responsibility for pitchfork-wielding mobs?
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.Angry citizens, enraged over everything from mask mandates to “critical race theory,” have been storming school board meetings, threatening members, and driving some to quit, reports a
The impact of voucher programs: A deep dive into the research
Pedro EnamoradoLast month, my colleagues Mike Petrilli and David Griffith had a conversation with Patrick Wolf, a leading school choice scholar at the University of Arkansas, about the impact of voucher programs on the Education Gadfly Show podcast.
We are squandering the talents of too many low-income high achievers
Aaron Churchill , Michael J. PetrilliFar too many high-achieving children are drifting through middle and high school. Despite their potential, they don’t end up taking AP exams, achieving high marks on their ACTs, or going to four-year colleges. This limits their ability to move up the social ladder, threatens U.S. economic competitiveness, and derails our aspirations for a more just society. We must stop buying into the false assumption that high-achieving kids will do fine on their own.
Use pandemic recovery funds to empower both schools and families
Bruno V. MannoCovid-19 school shock disrupted our way of doing education, unbundling the familiar division of responsibilities among home, school, and community organizations. Nearly every parent of school-age children had to create from scratch a home learning environment using online technology and rebundling school services to meet their needs.
Measuring the social, emotional, and academic toll of remote learning
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.After more than eighteen months of pandemic-induced commotion to education, data continue to roll in regarding various negative impacts on young people.
Performative teaching is undermining trust in schools
Robert PondiscioIncreasingly, teachers are not shy about expressing their views on charged racial and political views. This may be a symptom of a profound shift in our relationship with institutions and the role they play in our lives. Where institutions once functioned as molds of our character and behavior, they’re now platforms on which we stand to be seen. And this could be cratering our trust in them.
There’s a fiscal cliff coming, and some districts appear hell-bent on making it worse
Marguerite RozaWe’ve been polling district finance leaders about their biggest concern in this moment, and the most common answer is financial problems down the road.
A flawed study of Indiana’s voucher program
Jeremy SmithA recent study looks at the impact of
The rise in Black unemployment is about more than race
Walter Myers IIIRecently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its disappointing monthly jobs report, which showed that the economy had added only 250,000 jobs in August, far fewer than the 750,000 expected.
Five crucial considerations to protect social and emotional learning
The Master Teacher, Inc.The growth in popularity of social and emotional learning (SEL) is bringing with it increased attention to and scrutiny of what exactly SEL means and questions about whether it is something more than just another educational fad or ideological movement.
School choice is a better instrument for racial justice than critical race theory
Daniel BuckThe outlook has gotten bleak for the anti-racist and CRT movements in U.S. classrooms, as Americans saw these ideas in action and largely recoiled from them. But there's another K–12 strategy for achieving racial justice: school choice.
Blinding ourselves to America’s achievement woes
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Much as happened after A Nation at Risk, the U.S. finds itself facing a bleak education fate, even as many deny the problem. Back then, however, the denials came mostly from the education establishment, while governors, business leaders, and even U.S.
Ohio data show the pandemic's heavy toll on student achievement and the importance of in-person learning
Vladimir Kogan, Stéphane LavertuThe Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions to teaching and learning across America, including school closures, sudden changes to instructional delivery, economic hardship, and social isolation.
What U.S. teens think about their futures—and the country’s
Jeremy SmithThe Washington Post and Ipsos recently surveyed fourteen to eighteen year olds on their attitudes toward the state of the U.S.
What 9/11 means for America’s schools twenty years later
Dale ChuThis week, we remember and reflect upon an unforgettably tragic day. This comes amid throes of national conflicts over information, misinformation, even the nature of facts and truth themselves. Schools can’t fix all this, but they must reclaim their vital role in ensuring that Americans understand their history and the interconnectedness of today’s world.