What we're reading this week: December 15, 2022
The Education GadflyA new study finds a “perception gap” between what Republicans and Democrats think each other believes about the education culture wars and what those groups actually believe.
To reinvent high school, look beyond education policy
Kunjan Narechania, Jessica BaghianEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Reinventing high schools by eliminating Carnegie structure
James LewickiEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Transform and integrate our siloed systems of K–12, postsecondary, and workforce development
The Big Blur Team at Jobs for the FutureEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
A missing piece for education in the United States: Moving from an industrial to an inquiry-based paradigm
Robert KeltyEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Reimagining high schools: Removing barriers to transform learning
Charles OgundimuEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Pull back the curtain on the real-life outcomes of high school graduates
Christi MartinEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
A wonderful thing—amazing high schools
Paolo DeMariaEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Back to the future for American high schools
Sheree Speakman, Kathy SmithEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Fund high schools to provide post-secondary support, and hold them accountable for the results
Pagee Cheung, Arthur SamuelsEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Let kids who hate high school consume a lot less school
Mike GoldsteinEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Teacher certification and uniform salary schedules hinder CTE staffing
Keri IngrahamMany professions require specialized training and, when done well, career-technical education programs can create post-secondary pathways for the growing percentage of students who are not college bound. A key component of effective CTE is employing top-tier subject matter experts with real-world professional experience in the industry rather than just book knowledge. But teacher certification and uniform salary schedules make this more difficult than it should be.
What is the best way to reform state high school policies? Ignore them.
Eric WearneEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
The strongest argument for charter schools is the truth
David GriffithIn a new NEPC policy memo, Duke public policy professor Helen Ladd argues that charter schools “disrupt” what she claims are the four core goals of American education policy: “establishing coherent systems of schools,” “appropriate accountability for the use of public funds,” “limiting racial segregation and isolation,” and “attending to child poverty and disadvantage.” Griffith disputes all four counts.
Teachers should replace “the soft bigotry of low expectations” with “the suspension of disbelief”
Michael J. PetrilliThe “soft bigotry of low expectations” is back in the news, due to the recent passing of the great Mike Gerson, the speechwriter who is
Institutionalism, not policy, is the biggest barrier to reinventing high schools
Chelsea WaiteEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Families are shrinking high schools with or without help from policymakers
Matthew LadnerEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Is military enlistment a pathway to upward mobility?
Jeff MurrayOf the three main postsecondary pathways for American high school graduates—college enrollment, job employment, and military enlistment—the last is arguably least studied in terms of outcomes for those who follow it. A team of analysts led by West Point’s Kyle Greenberg helps fill the void with newly-published research drawing on thirty years of data.
How some states are fixing problems with early childhood education
William RostA FutureEd report released earlier this year analyzes the problems facing early childhood education offerings across the country and how some states have tackled them.
What we're reading this week: December 8, 2022
The Education GadflyTeacher shortages are a local issue, with some shorthanded school districts existing side-by-side with fully staffed ones.
The case for gifted education
Brandon L. WrightEditor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and published every other week. Its purpose is to monitor the progress of gifted education in America, including legal and legislative developments, policy and leadership changes, emerging research, grassroots efforts, and more.
The good and bad news about declining U.S. poverty rates
Jon BaronRecent news articles have heralded a long-term decline in the U.S.
How conservatives can lead on K–12
Frederick M. HessThe right is well-positioned to lead on education. The left’s intimate ties with unions, public bureaucracies, and higher education have turned it into the apologist and paymaster for the education establishment. The right, meanwhile, is free to reimagine institutions and arrangements in ways the left is not. Moreover, as the left has found itself defending woke excesses, conservatives are put in a position to defend broadly shared values.
How rethinking industry-recognized credentials could boost student success
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Early in my career, I taught high school in North Carolina. One of the coolest things we did was partner annually with the local Habitat for Humanity team. Each year, students in my school’s construction-trades classes built a modular home from the ground up, doing the masonry, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing—all of it.
The noose tightens around failed reading programs in schools
Robert PondiscioThere was a remarkable moment near the end of last week’s ExcelinEd conference in Salt Lake City—one that I never would have thought possible and might have scoffed had someone predicted it, even a few short years ago.
Break high schools’ monopoly on awarding credit and diplomas
Peter RobertsonEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
Policy doesn’t block high school redesign. Lack of will does.
Ed JonesEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”
A curricular trial (and error) to develop giftedness
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Schools don’t typically begin the process of formally identifying students to receive gifted and talented (GT) services until third grade. What if educators started developing in earnest a child’s innate abilities before then?