What we're reading this week: May 9, 2024
The Education GadflyA columnist recommends a reading list for ambitious teenagers to counter group think. —Ross Douthat, New York Times The El Paso School District plans to close and consolidate several schools due to declining enrollment.
Where teacher evaluation went wrong
Tim DalyEditor’s note: This is the third and final part in a series on teacher evaluation reform.
Schools are largely neglecting advanced learners before high school
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. PetrilliFordham is among a wee group of reformers that’s paid attention to advanced education over the last twenty-five years. This disregard has resulted, among other problems, in a lack of informative research for the field. Our latest report addresses one of many unknowns: whether districts across the nation have adopted policies and programs to identify, support, and cultivate the talents of all students capable of tackling advanced-level work.
A new lost generation: Disengaged, aimless, and adrift
Robert PondiscioMore than a quarter of America’s school-aged children were absent from school 10 percent or more of the time last year. There’s no shortage of explanations on offer for this surge in “chronic absenteeism,” mostly blaming the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath: lockdowns; lowered expectation; health and hardship; bullying and school safety issues.
LIFO policies harm teacher diversity, teacher quality, and student learning
Heather PeskeIt may seem tone-deaf to focus on layoffs when the news is fraught with reports of teacher shortages, but much as pandemic recovery funds helped drive these shortages by opening new positions to staff, so too will the end of those funds bring about a painful wave of
How some schools are changing staffing styles due to shortages
Jeff MurrayWhile it seems likely that the end of ESSER funding in September will engender a(nother) seismic shift in the school staffing conversation, education leaders are—for the moment—still talking about teacher shortages, long-term vacancies, hard-to-staff specialties, burnout, dissatisfaction, and attrition.
What we're reading this week: May 2, 2024
The Education GadflyNew York State’s budget law weakens mayoral control of the Big Apple’s schools and empowers the United Federation of Teachers. —Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg Teachers unions are hopping onto the “ban phones” bandwagon.
The Broken Pipeline: Advanced Education Policies at the Local Level
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.The state of advanced education in America’s school districts is mediocre. Most districts neglect valuable policies that could expand access and improve student outcomes, resulting in a broken pipeline in advanced education.
Left out by design: How to better identify advanced students from marginalized backgrounds
Janet L. KragenThe disparities in gifted education by race and class are well known. For many districts, there is a disconnect between their gifted program demographics and the demographics of the district at large. All too often, those identified for these services skew White and Asian, and Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are underrepresented.
When it comes to charter schools, slow and steady wins the race
Alex Quigley, David Griffith, EdNC.orgEditor’s note: This was first published by EdNC.org. North Carolina’s charter school movement is at a crossroads.
Time for a ceasefire in the civics wars
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The conflict over civics education is unnecessary, driven more by cultural combatants and politicians than by vast divides among parents and citizens regarding what schools should teach and children should learn. If those who inflame these debates would hold their fire, we could build on a latent accord among the clients of civics education.
The history of ed reform shows that progress is possible
Andrew J. RotherhamWhen my daughters were preteens, they came home from school one day alarmed. During a lesson on climate change, the teacher or some part of the lesson, it was never quite clear, had basically stated that, absent radical attention to warming, there would be little hope for survivability on earth after 2030. This was during peak Greta Thunberg–mania.
Teacher evaluation reform was very successful—on paper
Tim DalyEditor’s note: This is the second part in a series on teacher evaluation reform. Part one recalled how teacher evaluation became a thing.
Examining the evolution of the college wage premium—and its biggest beneficiary
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.As the downsides of a “college for all” perspective become clear, it’
What we're reading this week: April 25, 2024
The Education GadflyA new survey of American teenagers reveals interesting opinions and trends in cellphone and social media use, bullying in schools, and absenteeism. —EdChoice Vying and jockeying for Trump’s secretary of education have begun.
Next, curtail the Chromebooks
Daniel BuckPhone bans are the hottest education policy since banning critical race theory. Districts across the country are strictly limiting their use, locking them in Yondr bags, or confiscating and sealing them away before the first bell. The next step in making classrooms conducive to teaching and learning: limiting the laptops.
Are America’s schools ready for World War III?
Dale ChuNoah Smith, writing in his Substack newsletter last week, argues that Americans are imprudently burying their heads in the sand at the increasing prospect of a global Sino-American clash.
Books can save democracy
James TraubA few weeks ago, I was sitting in an eleventh-grade history class at a high school in the suburbs west of Chicago. Mr. DiTella was firing off questions about the civil rights movement and getting precious little in return, despite the fact that he had assigned a reading on the subject. When we spoke afterwards, Mr.
High-dosage tutoring can help remediate learning loss, but funding is running out
Jeff MurrayAcross the country, schools are working to help students recover from pandemic learning losses.
Early childhood education matters. Is “transitional kindergarten” a feasible option?
Meredith Coffey, Ph.D.High-quality early childhood education (ECE) offers a promising means of boosting both achievement and equity, yet districts and states across the nation face educator
What we're reading this week: April 18, 2024
The Education GadflyThe Supreme Court appears likely to kill “Chevron deference.” What that would mean for the U.S. Department of Education. —Education Next Ed reform has done a poor job defining success, equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome.
How did teacher evaluation become a thing?
Tim DalyEditor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, The Education Daly. Are teachers interchangeable parts?
Doing educational equity wrong
Michael J. PetrilliFor the past several months, Petrilli been pumping out posts about “doing educational equity right.” This series concludes with a twist by looking at three ways that schools are doing educational equity wrong: by engaging in the soft bigotry of low expectations, tying teachers’ hands without good reason, and acting like equity isn’t just an important thing, but the only thing.
The “case for curriculum” is about reducing teachers’ workload
Robert PondiscioLast weekend, I gave a talk at the U.S.
Schools must go beyond surface-level learning, and better tutoring can help
Laurence HoltIn the mid-1970s, Ference Marton and Roger Säljö of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden noticed that their students took different approaches to learning.