Content Listing

Commentary

8.28.2019

Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, ESSA, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards

End-of-course exams benefit students—and states

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Very little previous research has looked at end-of-course exams. Our new study on their relationship to student outcomes helps remedy that. We learned much that’s worth knowing and sharing. Probably most important: EOCs, properly deployed, have positive academic benefits and do so without causing kids to drop out or graduation rates to falter.

Commentary

8.28.2019

Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, ESSA, Governance, Standards

The “left behind” kids made incredible progress from the late 1990s until the Great Recession. Here are key lessons for ed reform.

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This is the final post in a series looking at whether and how the nation’s schools have improved over the past quarter-century or so (see the others here,

Commentary

8.28.2019

Accountability & Testing, Governance, Standards

The proficiency bar is inching upward, yes, but…

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

A dozen long years ago, when people were just beginning to take serious stock of what good and not-so-good was emerging from 2002’s enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we at Fordham, in league with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), issued a 200-plus page analysis of the “proficiency” standards that states had by then been required to set and test for.

Commentary

8.28.2019

Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Standards

Influences affecting the educational trajectory of students

Jeff Murray

A new study from Georgetown University reaffirmed an uncomfortable but familiar finding: Socioeconomic status has a significant effect on students’ long-term outcomes, regardless of their academic performance in kindergarten or the quality of the schools they attend in K–12.

Commentary

8.28.2019

Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Can educational data mining predict student performance and enhance personalized learning?

Olivia Piontek

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are ubiquitous, playing a role in everything from Netflix and Instagram algorithms to transportation and healthcare delivery. But it’s also increasingly being used to improve educational pedagogy and delivery through a process called educational data mining (EDM).

Podcast

8.28.2019

Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

The Education Gadfly Show: Boosting student outcomes with end-of-course exams

On this week’s podcast Mike Petrilli and David Griffith talk to Adam Tyner about the new Fordham report he co-authored with Matthew Larsen on end-of-course exams and student outcomes. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines efforts to improve the college application process.