Charter schools and teacher diversity
A new study of North Carolina public schools finds that black students in charter schools are more likely to have black teachers than their regular public school counterparts, and that the positive
Sounding the alarm for boys in our schools
Erika SanziLegendary actress Meryl Streep recently garnered a considerable amount of media attention during a Vanity Fair panel about the second season of HBO’s series “Big Little Lies.” Much to the surprise of many, Streep was highly critical of the phrase “toxic masculinity,” asserting tha
New Rhode Island school commissioner says she wouldn’t send her children to a Providence school
Erika SanziAngélica Infante-Green did not pull any punches when answering questions about a devastating report released yesterday by Johns Hopkins University Institute for Education Policy.
Child poverty is down sharply since the start of the ed reform era
Michael J. PetrilliU.S. student outcomes improved significantly from the late 1990s until the onset of the Great Recession, especially in math, but also in reading, science, writing, U.S. history, and civics. Gains were greatest for lowest-achieving students, students of color, and at the fourth and eighth grade levels. But it's possible that a certain change outside of school explains at least some of these gains: the vastly improving condition of the nation’s poorest families.
Improving disadvantaged students’ college outcomes with charter-district collaboration
When I started researching The B.A. Breakthrough, I had no idea that a college admissions scandal would erupt, exposing how rich families can game the system—shenanigans low-income families can’t play.
Social and emotional learning is just character education and a thesaurus
Robert PondiscioMore than most fields and professions, education has a remarkably poor grasp of its own history. One of the reasons we are so susceptible to fads is because so few of us recognize that the Shiny New Thing is so often a recycled idea and a Ted Talk.
Four tips for SEL advocates
Alexandria MyrickSocial and emotional learning (SEL), which focuses on teaching children soft skills like self-awareness, self-discipline, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, has gained popularity, with advocates pushing for curriculum changes in schools.
Why Alberta is a model for education reform
Alberta, Canada, is a fascinating model for educational improvement. Like the United States, the province jettisoned intellectual content in the early twentieth century, local property values drove school funding, and “public schooling” was narrowly defined.
The Lone Ranger and summer learning loss
When I was five years old and living in Decatur, IL, we were reached by a signal from a St. Louis television station, KPLR. If memory serves, color test bars gave way to programming at 6:00am each morning.
Student outcomes have improved in more than just reading and math
Michael J. PetrilliThere’s little doubt that math and reading outcomes strengthened dramatically for the lowest-performing students and for children of color from the mid-1990s until the onset of the Great Recession. But could these gains be seen in writing, science, and other areas, too? To answer that, this post looks at results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. It finds, among other things, that at least at the fourth and eighth grade levels, progress in student achievement went well beyond reading and math.
The power of positive deviance
Robert PondiscioI’m a fan and faithful listener of EconTalk, a podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
Understanding race-match effects
A cottage industry of studies shows the critical relationship between having a same-race teacher and a host of short- and long- term educational outcomes, including test scores, expectations,
How school quality differs within districts
Kara LongSchool quality can vary drastically within districts, so district-wide averages of ratings often leave out important information. This can cause problems for stakeholders, such as parents who use these data to choose communities in which to live. But just as individual school grades vary, the range of good versus bad schools may be substantially larger in some districts than in others.
The relationship between TFA, student achievement, and teacher qualifications
Jessica PoinerTeach For America (TFA) has been recruiting and placing college graduates into underserved classrooms since 1989. Throughout this thirty-year tenure, the program’s teacher-training methods and recruitment strategies have evolved.
Combating teaching attrition rates: Start locally
In a full employment economy, there are many options for purpose-driven, socially astute, and smart people.
Praiseworthy efforts to expand opportunities for disadvantaged high achievers
Brandon L. WrightLast fall, Jonathan Plucker and I lauded Montgomery County, Maryland, for improving and expanding its elementary school programs for the “highly gifted,” especially for minority students.
Start students on the path to high-return degrees earlier
Career technical education (CTE) programs at community colleges are a promising way to prepare the workforce for jobs in growing occupations. But the programs with the best outcomes for students often have limited capacity or very low completion rates. One solution: Start students on a path towards high-returns fields early, through efforts such as high school CTE programs.
American schools need dodgeball now more than ever
Dale ChuThe most demonized game in the annals of grade school physical education is back in the news.
Betsy DeVos and other naysayers are wrong: Student outcomes in the U.S. have improved significantly in recent decades
Michael J. PetrilliThis is the first in a series of summer posts that will examine whether America’s schools have, despite charges to the contrary, improved over the past quarter-century of reform. That is a big, daunting question—but there’s no doubt that student outcomes have improved during the education reform era.
The evidence indicates that charter schools enjoy an edge on teacher diversity nationwide
Brandon L. Wright, Adam Tyner, Ph.D., Kara LongLast week, we at Fordham released a new study called Student-Teacher Race Match in Charter and Traditional Public Schools.
Is dumbing-down why graduation rates are up? In both high school and college?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Start with two unlovable but immutable realities:
The effects of school discipline on families of color
Robert PondiscioA trio of researchers, Joanne W. Golann and Anna Lisa Weiss of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College; and Mira Debs of Yale, set out to explore “what discipline means to Black and Latinx families” at two commonly available school choice options: a so-called “no excuses” charter school, and a pair of public Montessori magnet schools. This is a rich vein of ore to mine.
How different post-secondary pathways affect the ability of disadvantaged students to attain credentials with labor market value
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Education policy is rife with references to developing suitable “career pathways” that presumably start in high school and extend through college.
SAT and adversity: Taking a second look
Ian RoweIf you happen to be wondering what’s on tap for America’s next pity party, look no further than the Facebook video entitled “If someone doesn't understand privilege, show them this.” This four-minute tear-jerker has been viewed a staggering 112 million times.
Teacher diversity in North Carolina: Sector differences in exposure and impact raise questions about how benefits are felt
A new report by Seth Gershenson sparks fresh ideas about new directions for the literature on student-teacher matching along demographic characteristics.
Teacher diversity is yet another area where charter schools excel
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. PetrilliFordham’s newest study finds that black students in charter schools are about 50% more likely to have a same-race teacher than their black counterparts in traditional public schools, that the impact of having a same-race teacher is twice as large in charters, and that the effect of having a same-race teacher in charters is about twice as large for nonwhite students as for white students. They're doing a better job of recruiting diverse teachers, which gives kids of color a greater chance at having a teacher of their same race.
The making of an edu-myth: The 30-million-word gap has not been “debunked”
Robert PondiscioTry this experiment. At your next professional development session, conference, or perhaps on social media, mention the famous “30-million-word gap” study, which demonstrated that low-income children hear far less spoken language before their first day of school than their affluent peers, setting in motion dramatic differences in vocabulary attainment and academic achievement.
Back to the future: How to rescue and reinvent special education
To borrow from the familiar quip about the weather, everybody complains about special education, but nobody does anything about it. Why such policy neglect despite the dismal outcomes for the vast majority of the nearly seven million students in special education and the suffering of their anguished parents?
Beating the drum for charter schools
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Sarah Tantillo is an accomplished teacher, author, and battle-scarred veteran of the charter-school wars, particularly in New Jersey, where she taught for years at acclaimed North Star Academy and led the state charter school association.