A concluded battle in the curriculum wars
Mark BauerleinIn the Hoover Institution’s Defining Ideas journal, Tom Loveless has a brief, measured examination of today’s curriculum debates.
We all have a stake in ensuring the Common Core debate rests on facts
Kathleen Porter-MageeYesterday, National Review Online posted an article entitled, “The Eleven Dumbest Common Core Problems.” This is the latest in a series of posts making their way around the internet aimed at demonstrating how the Common Core ELA and math standards are &
There’s a new sheriff in town: Louisiana judges Common Core alignment
Kathleen Porter-MageeAs followers of the Common Core debate know all too well, when it comes to the veracity of publishers’ claims of “Common Core alignment,” the most we supporters have been able to offer in the way of advice is: “buyer beware.”
Common Core 'spring training': Maintain realistic expectations
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. PetrilliEveryone knows that the Common Core State Standards initiative has turned into a political football. But a more apt analogy might be baseball—spring training, to be exact. That’s because, for all the colorful commentary, the Common Core is still in the very earliest phases of implementation.
How Well Aligned Are Textbooks to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics?
Alyssa SchwenkJust because the label on that pint of ice cream says it’s “fat free” doesn’t mean it won’t expand your waistline—and just because a textbook is labeled “Common Core aligned” doesn’t mean it actually covers the material it’s supposed to.
The invaluableness of 'obscure' words and the SAT
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
The most important resolution: STEM education
Our nation’s education crisis is not exaggerated, nor is the risk to our economic prosperity and national security.
Knowledge at the Core
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Michael J. PetrilliOur slim new book Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core has three large aims. First, it pays tribute to three decades of scholarship and service to American education by E. D. (Don) Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy (and three other prescient books on education reform) and founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation.
Policymakers: Stop being agnostic about curriculum
Pop quiz! Which of the following statements is in the Common Core State Standards?(a) Through extensive reading of stories, dramas, poems, and myths from diverse cultures and different time periods, students gain literary and cultural knowledge.
Who in the world is Carmen Fariña?
Sol SternIn his press conference introducing Carmen Fariña as New York City’s next schools chancellor, Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested that he had picked her over several other candidates because she was on the same page with him in opposing his predecessor Michael Bloomberg’s education reforms.
Public accountability & private-school choice
Adam EmersonThe Fordham Institute supports school choice, done right. That means designing voucher and tax-credit policies that provide an array of high-quality education options for kids that are also accountable to parents and taxpayers.
Little learners need better curriculum
Michael J. PetrilliMayor Bloomberg is justifiably proud of the big gains New York City made in boosting the high-school graduation rate on his watch, with about two-thirds of students now graduating in four years, up from half a decade ago.
How bad are the Common Core lessons on the Gettysburg Address?
Tim ShanahanWelcome to the new Common Core kerfuffle.
Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments
Tim Shanahan, Ann DuffettIn Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments, researchers analyze what texts English teachers assign their students and the instructional techniques they used in the classroom.
Knocking the textbooks out of the park
The Education GadflyJournalist and author Amanda Ripley has received well-deserved attention for her book The Smartest Kids in the World—but we’re not sold on he
Standards, reading lists, and censorship
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Among the many arguments raging—and more than a little mud-slinging—around the Common Core State Standards, perhaps the most arcane involves the blurry border between academic standards and classroom curricula.
The Effectiveness of Secondary Math Teachers from Teach for America and the Teaching Fellows Programs
Dara Zeehandelaar Shaw, Ph.D.This study of Teach For America (TFA) and Teaching Fellows secondary math teachers explores how their students compare to peers taking the same course, in the same school, from teachers who entered the profession through traditional certification programs (or other programs not as rigorous as TFA or Teaching Fellows).
We add to Duncan's statement: Making sense of tragedy requires a solid education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Arne Duncan was right to call attention to 9/11 as an important opportunity for teaching children about the heinous events of that day twelve years ago, about honoring those who perished, and about the value of "coming together" as Americans.
What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-offs
Dara Zeehandelaar Shaw, Ph.D., Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.This groundbreaking study finds that nearly all parents seek schools with a solid core curriculum in reading and math, an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and the development in students of good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Next Generation Science Standards Revisited
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Kathleen Porter-MageeCan you spell “C” as in “chemistry”?
Three pollsters walked into a school…
Michael BrickmanTriangulating a trifecta of survey results
Next steps for the Next Generation (Science Standards)
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Today we kept both promises by issuing a pair of additional analyses related to NGSS.
Praise the exception, but remember the rule
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Let's not overlook the reality that worthy effort requires sound policy, not just praise for those who do a great job despite its absence
By the Company It Keeps: Kathleen Porter-Magee
Andy Smarick interviews Kathleen Porter-Magee, senior director of the High Quality Standards program and Bernard Lee Schwartz policy fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Teacher Prep Review: A Review of the Nation’s Teacher Preparation Programs, 2013
Pamela TatzThe report heard ‘round the ed-reform world
Debunking common anti-Common Core myths, one fact at a time
Michelle LernerYesterday, Mike Petrilli argued the conservative case for the Common Core on the Rod Arquette Show
Disappointing science standards
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Kathleen Porter-MageeStates can do better than the NGSS
Repairing the conservative school-reform coalition
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Michael J. PetrilliRecent events have divided conservative school reformers, but it’s not too late to stitch it back together
Muddying the Waters on Common Core
Peter Cunningham responds to an anti-Common Core article in the New York Times