What we're reading this week: April 18, 2024
The Education GadflyThe Supreme Court appears likely to kill “Chevron deference.” What that would mean for the U.S. Department of Education. —Education Next Ed reform has done a poor job defining success, equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome.
#916: The case for curriculum reform, with Robert Pondiscio
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at Fordham and the American Enterprise Institute, j
How did teacher evaluation become a thing?
Tim DalyEditor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, The Education Daly. Are teachers interchangeable parts?
Doing educational equity wrong
Michael J. PetrilliFor the past several months, Petrilli been pumping out posts about “doing educational equity right.” This series concludes with a twist by looking at three ways that schools are doing educational equity wrong: by engaging in the soft bigotry of low expectations, tying teachers’ hands without good reason, and acting like equity isn’t just an important thing, but the only thing.
The “case for curriculum” is about reducing teachers’ workload
Robert PondiscioLast weekend, I gave a talk at the U.S.
Schools must go beyond surface-level learning, and better tutoring can help
Laurence HoltIn the mid-1970s, Ference Marton and Roger Säljö of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden noticed that their students took different approaches to learning.
What we're reading this week: April 11, 2024
The Education Gadfly“Plans for first religious charter school in the U.S.
#915: Eliminating school boundaries, with Derrell Bradford
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Derrell Bradford, the president of 50CAN, joins Mike and David to discuss a new coalit
Lengthy school closures were especially hard on high achievers
Brandon L. WrightTo gauge the magnitude of global learning loss during the pandemic, a team at the World Bank examined data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2018–2022, which tests fifteen-year-olds in math, reading, and science.
School choice need not mean an expensive windfall for the rich
Michael J. PetrilliThe school choice movement continues to rack up dramatic wins nationwide. This growth in “educational freedom,” as many advocates now call it, is a fantastic development. But under the surface of these victories, an important debate is brewing: how to balance the drive for maximum choice with other values, including fiscal responsibility and fairness.
We’ve made teaching impossible or: What I learned talking to 200 teachers
Daniel BuckLast week, I did something unorthodox. I asked teachers to message me directly via X (formerly known as Twitter) to vent their frustrations. Within hours, I received almost 200 messages expressing not only frustration, but also hope, humor, fatalism, and quite a bit of hesitancy to converse with a complete stranger on the internet.
Cross-partisanship vs. bipartisanship in education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.In last week’s Gadfly, Karen Nussle and Lorén Cox penned a thoughtful piece on “cross-partisanship,” a concept they explore at greater length in a very nice paper for the Aspen
Can an upfront cash incentive improve teacher recruitment and retention?
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.A recent study in the Economics of Education Review Journal looks at one promising effort to recruit and retain teachers: providing upfront grants and loans to financially-strapped potential teachers to encourage them to become and remain educators.
What TIMSS and PISA have in common
Jeff MurrayThe Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are arguably the most important international tests in education. Both have been administered for decades in dozens of countries. Each new set of student outcomes is tracked, analyzed, and endlessly written about.
What we're reading this week: April 4, 2024
The Education GadflyChronic absenteeism remains one of the most persistent problems facing schools post-pandemic. —New York Times “What’s missing from states’ reading laws?
#914: A comprehensive vision for conservative education reform, with Rick Hess
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rick Hess, the director of education policy studies at the America
Introducing Education Policy Research Barbie
Gadfly KenMattel, in partnership with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, is proud to announce the latest addition to its iconic Barbie lineup: Education Policy Research Barbie. Modeled after Fordham’s very own Vice President for Research Amber Northern, this groundbreaking doll combines glamour with intellect, empowering young minds to dream big and break stereotypes.
Education may now be a “cross-partisan” endeavor
Karen Nussle, Lorén CoxIn a recent Aspen Institute paper, the authors introduce the notion of “cross-partisanship”—two or more sides agreeing on the same policy outcome for disparate reasons—as a modern alternative to bipartisanship, wherein both sides concede something. They argue that adopting this new approach in education policy may be imperative for success—not just for legislative wins, but for the long-term well-being and prosperity of our children and communities.
How the pandemic affected global education: Insights from PISA
Harry Anthony PatrinosThe closure of schools in response to the seismic disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on education worldwide. As nations grappled with closures lasting varying lengths of time, the implications for student learning became increasingly evident.
Our schools have lost their sense of purpose
Tim DalyEditor’s note: A portion of this essay is excepted from the author’s Substack, The Education Daly.<