Vaccine-making’s lessons for high-dosage tutoring: It’s weird in there
Mike Goldstein, Bowen PaulleEditor’s note: This is the second post in a five-part series about how to effectively scale-up high-dosage tutoring.
What we're reading this week: December 10
The Education Gadfly“How teachers’ unions are influencing decisions on school reopenings.” —Education Week The closures of preschools during the pandemic will leave many children unprepared for Kindergarten, especially those from low-income backgrounds.
Vaccine-making’s lessons for high-dosage tutoring: Part I
Mike Goldstein, Bowen PaulleEditor’s note: This is the first post in a five-part series about how to effectively scale-up high-dosage tutoring.
Suing for peace in education’s culture wars
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the second article in a two-part series. Part I urges readers to "listen more, empathize more, and demonize less" in these divisive times.
Once an ed-reform standard bearer, Denver loses its way
Dale ChuA long simmering feud between Denver’s school board and superintendent finally burst into the open last week following months of tensions and mutual distrust.
What we're reading this week: December 3
The Education GadflyThe federal government should provide states with new funds that target students who struggled the most to adapt to remote learning.
More ways to expand classical schools
Sheila Byrd CarmichaelIn part one of this two-part essay, published last week, I reflected on Clare Basil’s “definitional” challenge to the growth of classical schools—schools that take “a unifying approach to intellectual and moral formation by developing the integrity of mind and heart,”
How Biden, Pelosi, and McConnell could work together on education
Michael J. PetrilliNow that the election is over—and yes, President Trump, it is over—all eyes are on the runoff elections in Georgia, given that they will determine control of the Senate for the first two years of the Biden administration. The conventional wisdom is that Republicans will win at least one of those seats, given that GOP turnout is usually higher in special elections.
Will students recover their Covid-19 learning losses?
Tom CoyneHere in Fordham’s pages, I’ve previously written about the challenge of Covid-19 learning losses at the macro level. In this article, I focus on the micro level.
Testing, accountability, NAEP, and reading
Chester E. Finn, Jr.For those of us who still believe that results-based school accountability is an essential part of the education renewal that America sorely needs, not many things are looking great this week.
The grading lies we tell our students
Steven Birnholz, Eric FreyTwo years ago, Seth Gershenson and Fordham published Grade Inflation in High Schools, groundbreaking research examining the relationship between students’ Algebra I course grades and end-of-course (EOC) test results in North Carolina.
Can we overcome challenges facing the expansion of classical schools?
Sheila Byrd CarmichaelClare Basil recently shared some thoughtful observations about the growth of K–12 classical schools, schools that take “a unifying approach to intellectual and moral formation by developing the integrity of mind and heart”—a quote Basil borrows from the Institute for Classical Educat
The case for Sonja Santelises as the twelfth U.S. Secretary of Education
Dale ChuWhen it comes to education and the incoming Biden administration, all eyes are on who is put forward, likely before the year is out, as the next secretary of education.
Memo to policymakers: Help teachers focus on reading
Robert PondiscioAt the tail end of a recent symposium titled “Why children can’t read—and what we can do about it” hosted by American Enterprise Institute, Margaret Goldberg, a California first grade teacher and founder of the
Reinventing ed reform with a focus on opportunity and social capital
Bruno V. MannoNothing better evokes education reform’s predicament today than what occurred in late July when the National Basketball Association restarted its 2020 season. Players were given the option of featuring on the back of their jerseys one of about thirty messages.
Reducing grading bias against Black students
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.A perennial complaint about holding students accountable through grades and test scores is that these mechanisms are biased against already disadva
What we're reading this week: November 19
The Education GadflyResearch supports having classrooms keep only three feet of social distancing. In fact, more kids in school may prevent spread more than hybrid models. —Washington Post How will the forthcoming distribution of vaccines impact schooling?
When excellence isn’t on a school’s menu
Erika SanziI knew something was wrong when, during what was supposed to be a full day of remote learning, my thirteen-year-old son announced at 9:30 a.m. that he was free until 11:27 a.m., and then plopped onto the couch and flipped on the television.
Use caution, district leaders: Even in a pandemic, there’s no immunity from financial missteps
Marguerite RozaCharges of financial blunders have taken out district leaders before. Think the pandemic inoculates leaders from that possible fate? Think again.
The racial-justice war on merit-based schools is an injustice against excellence, critics say
Vince BielskiAt a virtual town hall in Brooklyn about how the pandemic will change admissions to high-performing selective schools, New York City officials got a lecture on systemic racism.
Leadership makes a difference: Lamar Alexander and K–12 education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.When the 116th Congress adjourns, sometime before January 2021, Tennessee’s eighty-year-old senior senator, Lamar Alexander, will retire after three full terms. No one living today has had more far-reaching influence on American K–12 education. As we wish him many glorious years of retirement, we do well to recognize that his legacy will last even longer.
Democrats’ ed designs dealt setback in statehouses
Dale ChuControl of state legislatures is particularly important in a census year, but it’s also an often-overlooked element in driving substantive education policy changes. National politics takes up all the oxygen, but it’s state legislators who make most of the big decisions about how a state’s public-education system operates, is funded, is held accountable (if at all), and much more.
What we're reading this week: November 12
The Education Gadfly“The pandemic has caused deep, ‘horrifying’ learning losses for Dallas children, and underscored the disparities among Black students, according to new Dallas Independent School District results.” —Dallas Morning News Indianapoli
Suing for peace in the culture wars
Michael J. PetrilliDespite the divisiveness of the past four years, we should give peace a chance and heed President-Elect Biden’s plain but true words: “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies, they are Americans.”
Create more autonomous, accountable district schools. Here's how.
Tressa Pankovits, David OsborneEducation wasn’t explicitly on the national ballot in 2020, but education is always on the ballot, even when you don’t see it. Now that the election is behind us, education reformers can focus again on states and communities, where most of the important decisions about K–12 education get made.