The top 10 EconTalk episodes on education
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.A few years ago, as I was wrapping up grad school (where my dissertation was about migrant workers in China, of all things), I came across a bunch of fascinating podcast episodes about education policy and school reform.
Digging in the dirt for quality curriculum
Robert PondiscioA recent Fordham report finds that the quality of lessons that teachers get off the Internet is not very good. That’s no surprise but it obscures a bigger problem. If skilled practitioners in any profession feel compelled to scour the Internet for the basic tools of their trade that should concern us more than the quality of what they unearth. The very existence of a “vast curriculum bazaar” sends troubling signals about our general indifference to curriculum’s central role in learning, and our inattention to coherence and what gets taught.
Why don’t evidence-based practices take hold in schools?
Jeremy NoonanEducation Week’s recent report, Getting Reading Right, found that the most popular reading curricula in the country are not aligned with settled reading science.
Where R & D and school improvement meet, good things happen
Michael J. PetrilliFordham’s recent Moonshot for Kids competition, a collaboration with the Center for American Progress, highlighted the distinction between research and development and “school improvement.” They’re very different concepts. R & D is inherently top-down and school improvement mostly bottom-up. Yet bringing them into productive contact with one another is vital and might be the key to getting student outcomes moving in the right direction once again.
Watch the movie, don’t just read the script: Teaching vs. curriculum
Mike GoldsteinFordham has produced The Supplemental Curriculum Bazaar: Is What’s Online Any Good? Worth reading! Are popular materials offered on Teacher Pay Teachers, and similar sites, useful?
Lessons educators can heed from the grim findings of “The Supplemental Curriculum Bazaar”
Morgan PolikoffAlmost all American teachers supplement their core curriculum (if they even have one) with materials they gather from the internet. National surveys show that supplementation is a growing phenomenon, and that many teachers use supplementary materials in large proportions of their lessons.
The Education Gadfly Show: Why rural education matters
On this week’s podcast, Daniel Showalter, associate professor of math at Eastern Mennonite University and author of
How districts can mitigate the harm of popular but low-quality online curriculum resources
Jennifer Dean, Jenni Aberli, Sarah Baughman, Bryan Drost, Joey HawkinsEditor’s note: This article is the second in a two-part series written by the expert review team from Fordham’s recent study, The Suppleme
Why we reviewers are wary about the popular online curriculum resources teachers are downloading
Jennifer Dean, Jenni Aberli, Sarah Baughman, Bryan Drost, Joey HawkinsEditor’s note: This article is part one of two written by the expert review team from Fordham’s recent study, The Supplemental Curriculum Bazaar: Is What’s O
Dear teachers, most of the popular lessons you found online aren't worth using
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. PetrilliAmazon unveiled a new online “storefront” called Amazon Ignite that will allow educators to earn money by publishing—online, of course—their original lesson plans, worksheets, games, and more. The entry into the curricular marketplace is obviously motivated by a perceived market opportunity—and that’s not wrong. The vast majority of teachers are supplementing their core curriculum or don’t have one to start with. Yet we know almost nothing about the quality of such supplementary materials. Our new study helps fill that void.
Reading between the lines: What states can do about America’s literacy challenge
Joanne WeissIn her compelling new book, The Knowledge Gap, Natalie Wexler relates a story about a young girl in an elementary school in Washington, D.C., who, for over ten minutes during reading class, is busy drawing a picture on her reading worksheet. When Wexler asks what she’s doing, the little girl replies that she’s drawing clowns. “Why are you drawing clowns?” Wexler asks.
A heroic effort to right the civics ship
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Civics education has been a problem forever, or so it seems, and if that problem feels more urgent today it’s because so many are dismayed by the erosion of civility and good citizenship in today’s America, as well as mounting evidence that younger generations are both woefully ignorant in this realm—check out
The Education Gadfly Show: On online curriculum materials
On this week’s podcast, Morgan Polikoff, associate professor of education at USC, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk about Fordham’s new re
The Supplemental Curriculum Bazaar: Is What's Online Any Good?
Morgan Polikoff, Jennifer DeanNearly all teachers today report using the Internet to obtain instructional materials, and many of them do so quite often. And while several organizations now offer impartial reviews of full curriculum products, very little is known about the content and quality of supplemental instructional materials.
The different ways schools go about character development
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Content of Their Character: Inquiries into the Varieties of Moral Formation is dense and subtle, but it’s also informative and valuable, particularly for educators.
The Education Gadfly Show: The effects of early college programs
On this week’s podcast, Kristina Zeiser, senior researcher at American Institutes for Research, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk a
Time to press “pause” on credit recovery
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.“It’s like some bullsh-t way to get kids to pass.” That’s the cynical description of high school “credit recovery” programs an eleventh grader gave to the New York Post last year. But cynicism appears to be in order.
Social capital and schools’ opportunity equation
Bruno V. Manno, ChairThe words “American Dream” are shorthand for describing an individual’s pathway to opportunity and a successful life. Historically, K–12 schools provide young people with the foundational knowledge and skills they need for achieving success and the American Dream.
Curriculum advocates: Prepare for a long, hard struggle
Robert PondiscioAmerican education is taking a welcome and overdue interest in curriculum, but there’s no reason to expect that to result in sudden and dramatic gains in student achievement, especially for our lowest-performing children. Curriculum does not exist in isolation; schools are complex institutions with competing priorities, almost hard-wired to metabolize and neutralize any “fix.” Curriculum advocates should brace themselves for years of struggle, identify allies doing the actual work, and prepare to protect their flank.
All 2019 Wonkathon submissions are in. Here’s what the wonks proposed.
Tran LeThe past decade’s shift to significantly higher academic standards and more rigorous assessments means that many more students are now far below grade-level expectations. In recent months and years, there’s been much debate about how best to help such students catch up.
The Education Gadfly Show: The Scarcity of High-Quality Early Childhood Education
On this week’s podcast, Carrie Gillispie, senior analyst in P–12 policy at The Education Trust, joins Mike Petrilli and David G
How magnet programs can promote diversity and turn around failing schools
Pedro EnamoradoWhat can be done to rescue failing schools?
Driving learning for all students: A framework for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
Bonnie Hain, Laura SloverIn our work with schools at CenterPoint, we often are asked to help design or support the implementation of research-based, high quality curriculum. Almost invariably, discussions with school leaders turn to the connections among and between the core curriculum and the tiered supports for students who are off grade level and struggling to advance.
The best way to help students who are several grade levels behind is to do a better job of following their progress, or lack of it, in the long term
Barbara GottschalkBy the time struggling students reach middle school, it’s pretty obvious it took time for them to get several grade levels behind. It’s also obvious we have numerous ways to help these students. I’m guessing many other submissions to Wonkathon 2019 describe these strategies and approaches. What isn’t so obvious, however, is what’s causing some students to struggle.
Closing student achievement gaps requires both rigorous grade-level work and personalized learning
Britt NeuhausNational data indicate that approximately three of every five students begin the school year below grade level, with those numbers even higher for low-income students and students of color.
2019 WONKATHON RUNNER-UP: Teachers and curricula aren’t enough for below-grade-level students. They also require scalable strategies tailored to their needs.
Jessica VareviceEditor’s note: This was the second-place submission, out of nineteen, to Fordham’s 2019 Wonkathon, in which we asked participants to answer the question: “What’s the best way to help students who are several grade levels behind?”
Fostering teacher quality and expertise is the best way to help students who are several grade levels behind
Candice McQueenResearch and our personal experience tell us that the single most important factor affecting student achievement is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. No technology, tool, or other seemingly magic program can help students who are several grade levels behind get back on track and ultimately thrive.
To ensure success for all students, state assessment makers must be learners, too
Jessica BaghianIn the last two decades, since states began implementing standardized testing under No Child Left Behind, there has been much debate about the value of those assessments. In Louisiana, where I serve as an Assistant Superintendent, we know measurement of student learning is critical, and tests hold the power to define the academic bar for all students.
If we want to accelerate student learning, we need to redesign the school day
David Liben, Meredith LibenHistorically, literacy instruction in the United States privileges the privileged. It starts in the earliest grades, when less systematic approaches favored in many early literacy curricula privilege students who arrive at school more comfortable with language and books.