Can Reading Comprehension Be Taught?
Not really. Here’s how to make better use of instructional time. Robert Pondiscio
Not really. Here’s how to make better use of instructional time. Robert Pondiscio
A poor start makes for a tough finish. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
More evidence that NCLB worked. Victoria Sears and John Elkins
The Columbus Dispatch recently reported that Imagine Schools, a large charter-management company, has a number of schools in the Columbus area that are spending what appear to be excessive amounts of their st
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Metro D.C. School Spending Explorer offers the public a great resource by sharing data on public school spending (at the school level) across the District.
NEA FLEXES POLITICAL MUSCLESThe National Education Ass
Accountability works. But not in reading, which isn’t a subject or a skill. Robert Pondiscio
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute set out to answer a basic (yet complicated) question: how much does each school in the D.C. metro area spend for each student it enrolls? In the Metro D.C. School Spending Explorer, we found that there are differences in spending within the same district.
Here’s a hint: It’s not Prince George’s County. Michael J. Petrilli and Matt Richmond
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute set out to answer a basic (yet complicated) question: how much does each school in the D.C. metro area spend on day-to-day operations for each student it enrolls? In the Metro D.C.
I confess I’m somewhat bewildered by the passionate arguments over the Common Core State Standards. Getting in high dudgeon about K–12 learning standards, which say almost nothing about what kids do in school all day, makes no more sense to me than getting apoplectic about food-handling procedures, which I seldom think about when pushing my cart through the grocery store.
At war with the “loose” part of “tight-loose” federalism. Michael J. Petrilli
Testing works. Federal intrusiveness and poorly designed interventions are the real problem. Andy Smarick
The Education Trust has a proud and distinguished history. When the group got its start in the mid-1990s, achievement for poor and minority children was lagging, and the education policy community largely ignored their needs. Ed Trust changed all that with a single-minded focus on equity, hitched to the relatively new notion of school-level accountability.
START SPREADING THE NEWSGreat news for students at underperforming district schools in New York City: On Wednesday, the Empire State
Lessons from a legend. Ellen Alpaugh
Analysts are half-right. Robert Pondiscio
A worm’s-eye view of implementation. Victoria Sears
NEW PRESIDENT FOR STUDENTSFIRSTJim Blew of the Walton Foundation will take over the helm of the advocacy group StudentsFirst after the resignation of founder Michelle Rhee, who announced she was stepping down two months ago.
In a recent EdNext column, Checker Finn proposed what he expected to be a controversial solution to the problem of low levels of college readiness among our high school graduates: namely, “different ways of completing—and being credentialed for completing—one’s primary and secondary education.”
[Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of personal reflections on the current state of education reform and contemporary conservatism by Andy Smarick, a Bernard Lee Schwartz senior policy fellow with the Thomas B.
Welcome to the new-and-improved Late Bell, Fordham's uncanny afternoon newsletter! We're starting off our bold new era with a special Fordham-in-the-news edition.
Ed reform is dead. Long live ed reform. Chester E. Finn, Jr.