Charter schools at 30: Looking back, looking ahead
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Bruno V. MannoToday, forty-four states—plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam—have public charter school laws on their statute books, laws that have led to more than 7,500 schools employing 200,000-plus teachers and serving 3.3 million students.
Zombie ideas in education
Bryan GoodwinEditor’s note: This was first published in Educational Leadership.
The Education Gadfly Show #772: What’s going to happen to the NAEP reading test?
A new look at the question of the effectiveness of school turnarounds
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Turnaround efforts for low performing schools have been the subject of research interest since their advent in the No Child Left Behind era.
We need to admit that school is alienating
Jeff McGuireEditor’s note: This was the second-place submission, out of twenty-five, in Fordham’s 2021 Wonkathon, in which we asked participants to answer the question, “How can schools best address students’ mental-health needs coming out of the
The Education Gadfly Show #770: Hooray for Florida’s new school choice legislation
On this week’s podcast, Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, joins Mik
Was Eli Broad right to try to improve urban districts or should he have focused solely on charter schools?
Dale ChuEli Broad, who passed away late last month at the age of eighty-seven, long sought to rectify the excessively bureaucratic, overly politicized, and woefully underperforming big city school district. But should he have pivoted instead to charter schools?
The effects of immigrant students on the educational performance of their U.S.-born peers
Jeff MurrayAccording to U.S. Census data, 23 percent of students in America’s K–12 schools were either first- or second-generation immigrant children in 2015. That was up from 11 percent in 1990 and 7 percent in 1980.
Improving assessments and accountability in the post-Covid era
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As U.S. schools reopen in the fall, a year and a half after nearly all of them closed due to the pandemic panic, what should be different? What needs to change if kids are actually to catch up? What’s important to retrieve from pre-Covid days? And what other changes, changes that should have been made pre-Covid, is there now a rare opportunity to initiate?
The culture wars come for the Nation’s Report Card
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Trouble continues at the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the policy body for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Evidence-based ways to assess student progress
CAO CentralEditor’s note: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently launched “The Acceleration Imperative,” a crowd-sourced, evidence-based resource designed to aid instructional leaders’ efforts to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year.
Cancel culture versus parent choice
Terry RyanCan parent choice survive the cancel culture that is becoming ever more prevalent on both the political left and political right? What happens when the principles of diversity and choice in schools conflict with either the left’s or the right’s firm view of truth and falsehoods?
Inaugural PISA data on students’ growth mindset and teaching practices
Jeff MurraySince 1997, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has tested students around the globe every three years to determine the educational status of fifteen-year-old students in dozens of countries and economic regions that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Long-term trends in American students’ achievement, as measured by four major assessments
David GriffithA recent study uses data from math and reading tests conducted between 1954 and 2007 to explore long-term trends in American students’ achievement.
Don’t let them make you do it, Haley!
Chester E. Finn, Jr.You wouldn’t expect a conservative Republican like former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour to turn into a facsimile of Chairman Xi as muzzler of dissent and monitor of communications, but something of the sort has reared its head at the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), which Barbour chairs. (He’s a DeVos appointee, and last I looked, those terms run a year at a time.
Don’t believe the haters. The federal Charter Schools Program deserves full funding.
Libby SobicIn the coming weeks, the House Appropriations subcommittee that decides on education spending will consider how much money to allocate to the federal Charter School Program (CSP).
The Education Gadfly Show #767: The fight to get kids back in class five days a week
Testing, SpaceX, and the quest for consensus
Chester E. Finn, Jr.A suite of technologies that are already widely used in some private-sector testing can and should be embraced by state and national assessments, as well as the private tests that aren’t yet making maximum use of them. Read more.
Not all non-traditional schooling is created equal
Julie FitzWhen we imagine the typical school, at least one from the pre-pandemic era, generally the first thing that comes to mind is a teacher instructing a classroom full of students.
The Education Gadfly Show #766: The U.S. Department of Education’s puzzling take on testing in 2021
Uncle Sam goes soft on state tests
Dale ChuThings are getting messy in the world of assessment.
The high cost and low performance of online charter schools in California
Julie FitzFull-time virtual charter schools received a great deal of attention as schools scrambled to transition classes online back in the Spring of 2020, and have experienced booming enrollments over the past year.
The unanticipated benefit of the “Colorado Compromise”: Time to address learning loss
Joel RoseThe Biden administration recently approved Colorado’s request to ease the burden of administering state assessments because of the pandemic.
Drawing a line in the sand on state testing
Dale ChuThe Biden team has issued its first responses to state requests to waive federal testing requirements because of the pandemic. Dale Chu reads the tea leaves, and concludes that the new Administration is trying to eat its cake and have it too.
What we're reading this week: April 1, 2021
The Education GadflyHow can we do more to prevent teen suicides? —New York Times Pandemic pods are less sustainable and are harder to run than many parents thought.
Our full rebuttal to a flawed critique of “Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances”
Earlier this month on her “Answer Sheet” blog in the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss ran a lengthy rebuttal written by Carol Burris about a study that we recently published. Robbers or Victims?
CDC school guidelines, acceleration, stimulus, and other goings-on
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The CDC’s revised guidelines for pupil spacing in school—three feet under most circumstances rather than six—opened a floodgate of gratitude from superintendents and parents.
School choice proves no match for wokeness
Robert PondiscioSchool choice proponents argue that when parents vote with their feet—and dollars—schools listen. But choice is no match for the pandemic of wokeness that has seized K–12 education. The most advantaged, privileged, and powerful parents in America have been cowed into submissive silence when elite schools of choice adopt neoracist practices masquerading as “anti-racism.”
Power to the people: Further reflections
Bruno V. MannoThe Fordham Institute has published a two-part piece by Checker Finn on giving “power to the people,” as well as