What we're reading this week: January 20, 2022
The Education GadflyPartisan overtones in the National School Boards Association’s letter to President Biden has led many members to withdraw or refuse to renew their membership.
Now is not the time for OCR to meddle in school disciplinary policy
Michael J. PetrilliAny day now, Catherine Lhamon, the assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights, is expected to release new guidance for school districts that’ll reinstate an Obama-era policy limiting the use of suspensions and the like in the name of reducing racial disparities in “exclusionary discipline.” It couldn’t come at a worse time.
Mission, vision, and virtue
Jennifer FreyEducation in the classical sense is padeia: a holistic approach to student formation that is geared towards the cultivation of the student’s mind, imagination, perception, and emotions so that they become the type of person who can flourish and thrive inside the school community and well beyond.
Stop focusing on class size
Daniel BuckThe Nation ran quite a headline last month: “To Reduce Inequality in Our Education System, Reduce Class Sizes.” Surely we might expect substantive evidence to follow such a pronouncement, especially in the midst of a staffing shortage.
Not much to show nationally from a decade of teacher evaluation reforms
Victoria McDougaldSpurred in large part by an infusion of over $4 billion in federal Race to the Top funds, beginning in 2009, nearly all states and the District of Columbia implemented major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems.
Sharpening the picture of early pandemic schooling
Jeff MurrayWhile it’s no secret that pandemic-induced remote learning was a disaster for almost all students in 2020 and 2021, we must remind ourselves that in-person education models weren't so great
What we're reading this week: January 13, 2022
The Education GadflyDemocrats are losing the Asian American vote, and their position on education is a key reason.
Why authorizers shouldn’t shy away from helping their charter schools improve
Alex MedlerA decade ago, most charter school authorizers agreed it was not their job to help struggling charter schools. But times have changed, and best practices in charter school authorizing are evolving.
Republicans and school boards
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Recent months have brought much hand-wringing and ink spilling over the possibility that hordes of Republicans are gearing up to plunge into local school board elections, this as part of their discovery that public education is rich with political opportunity (cue incoming Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, his campaign advisors, and observant GOP strategists).
Colorado’s curriculum crackdown
Dale ChuTo start the year off on an upbeat note, Colorado’s muscular effort to improve K–3 reading curriculum finally appears to be paying off.
Student retention and third-grade reading: It’s about the adults
Todd CollinsImproving reading results, especially for Black and Hispanic students, is one of our top educational priorities. The numbers are dire, as we see almost half of these youngsters performing “Below Basic” on the fourth grade NAEP—a truly alarming level of performance.
Early childhood education and later educational outcomes
Julia WolfMuch attention has recently focused on early childhood education (ECE), thanks in part to its inclusion in President Biden’s Build Back Better bill. A new study by Robert C. Carr and colleagues investigated how the longitudinal effects of ECE are mediated by the quality of the K–12 schooling that follows.
An enlightening look into school funding inequalities
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.It is widely taken for granted that schoo
What we're reading this week: January 6, 2022
The Education GadflyKeller Independent School District, under pressure by the state of Texas, is convening an anonymous committee to ban books they deem questionable.
Education Gadfly Show #801: Grumpy New Year with Checker Finn