Pathways to Teacher Leadership: Emerging Models, Changing Roles
Megan LailNearly half of all new teachers will quit within five years, and countless studies demonstrate the detrimental financial and academic effects of such turnover.
The Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Urban Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood
Michelle LernerEducation-policy wonks should take a long look at The Long Shadow, a book based on a twenty-five-year study by Johns Hopkins University researchers.
Arne pumps oxygen back into Common Core implementation
The Education GadflyLast week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared that states with NCLB waivers could wait until the 2015–16 school year to start tying test scores to teacher evaluations.
An elder statesman speaks
Terry RyanBeing an education reformer is often frustrating. No matter how zealously we push an idea or how smart we think it is, sometimes nothing changes. Or—the Common Core is a recent example—we make fast, bold gains at the outset, only to see our efforts watered down, neutered, or repudiated outright...
Making teaching teachable
Robert PondiscioMany of our recent ed-reforms—e.g. Teach for America, alternative certification, the Hamilton Project, and various “new teacher” projects—implicitly subscribe to the idea that great teachers are born, not made. Ed schools, too, largely consider “training” teachers to be beneath their dignity. Hence the path to instructional excellence is to welcome all sorts of smart people into the classroom via all sorts of entry paths, then weed out those who don’t cut it.
Watch: UFT, your zebra stripes are showing
Ellen AlpaughThe New York chapter of the United Federation of Teachers participated in an anti-police brutality rally this past Saturday, prompting the question of what exactly does the union stand for: teachers or a political agenda?
Making sense of the ed-reform backlash
Michael J. PetrilliThis post is an excerpt from a speech I gave last week at the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce’s state of the schools event.
ExcelinEd on the dos and don'ts of course access
Michael BrickmanBack in May, Fordham published Expanding the Education Universe: A Fifty-State Strategy for Course Choice, where we explained the idea of “cour
A plea to Marc Tucker (and his colleagues)
Marc Tucker is the author of an important new report: Fixing Our National Accountability System. Although Marc and I disagree on the promise of Relinquishment (most specifically on charter schools), I agree with much of this thinking. But, in this report, Marc makes a strategic mistake in dismissing choice-based reforms. To put it another way: if there is a grand bargain to be made that significantly increases student achievement in the United States, it could look like this: Reduce testing frequency and increase testing rigor Improve the quality of the teaching force Increase charter schools and choice
Holding a wolf by the ears
Robert PondiscioI have a complicated relationship with testing.
Harlem rising
The Education GadflyNew York State just released the results of its 2014 statewide math and reading exams—the second year the state purportedly aligned the tests to the Common C
Kindergartners' Skills at School Entry: An Analysis of the ECLS-K
Marie DandieWe know that disadvantaged children tend to enter Kindergarten behind their more advantaged peers in math and reading—and that they rarely catch up. But which socioeconomic factors correlate most with these gaps? And have these factors improved over time?
The Science and Success of Engelmann's Direct Instruction
Most reformers know there’s no cure-all for American education. Nevertheless, in The Science and Success of Engelmann’s Direct Instruction, the authors argue that a panacea not only exists but has been around for half a century.
At last, accountability for textbook publishers?
Nearly all American K–12 students are exposed to it every day. It decides, in large part, what students will learn in school and how they will learn it. It is never evaluated for quality in any serious way, but when it is rigorously evaluated, its impact on student achievement is significant.
What's behind the declining support for the Common Core?
Michael J. PetrilliResults from the annual Education Next poll are out this week, and the news is not good for us proponents of the Common Core. Support among the public dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent in just one year (from June 2013 to June 2014); Republicans are now almost evenly split on the issue, with 43 percent in support, and 37 percent opposed. What’s more...
What's behind the declining support for the Common Core?
Michael J. PetrilliResults from the annual Education Next poll are out today, and the news is not good for us proponents of the Common Core. Support among the public dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent in just one year (from June 2013 to June 2014); support from teachers plummeted from 76 to 46 percent.
What the hell is going on at Success Academy?
Robert PondiscioI’ll have what she’s having.
Stuck in the middle with state-level reform
In back-to-back days last week, I had the chance to spend time with different groups of leaders interested in improving state-level reform work.
Are Catholic schools particularly good at teaching reading?
Aaron ChurchillA look at the most-recent evaluation of Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program shows some surprising findings with regard to math and reading scores.
At last, accountability for textbook publishers?
Nearly all American K–12 students are exposed to it every day. It decides, in large part, what students will learn in school and how they will learn it.[1] It is never evaluated for quality in any serious way, but when it is rigorously evaluated, its impact on student achievement is significant.
It's Prime Time for school choice advocates to stand up to hucksters (and for accountability)
Michael BrickmanAs a huge fan of both school choice and the NFL, I love the idea of a major star leading a great school and becoming a voice for school reform. Successful athletes who take time to give back, work with young athletes, and ensure kids get a great education should be commended, right?
The personal touch of relinquishment
David Kirp had a piece in The New York Times on Sunday: Teaching is not a Business. You should check it out. My take on his piece:
The AFT misses the point on paraprofessionals
Michelle LernerIn a bizarre press release from the AFT, Lorretta Johnson argues that Fordham’s recent research on the growing number of school employees who don’t
13 classroom classics that should be made into movies
Robert Pondiscio, Alyssa SchwenkThe movie version of The Giver hits theaters today. It’s followed next weekend by If I Stay. If neither title rings a bell, ask a fifteen-year-old.