Our slim new book Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core has three large aims. First, it pays tribute to three decades of scholarship and service to American education by E. D. (Don) Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy (and three other prescient books on education reform) and founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation.
As the Common Core debate rages on in blogs and statehouses, educators are getting on with the business of put
Pop quiz! Which of the following statements is in the Common Core State Standards?(a) Through extensive reading of stories, dramas, poems, and myths from diverse cultures and different time periods, students gain literary and cultural knowledge.
Children cannot be truly literate without knowing about history, science, art, music, literature, civics, geography, and more. Indeed, they cannot satisfactorily comprehend what they read unless they possess the background knowledge that makes such comprehension possible.
Authorizers are crucial cogs in the charter-school system in Ohio, both before a school opens its doors and while it is under contract to operate.
Much debate on the Common Core State Standards has centered on traditional school districts, but the many changes already underway are being felt by charter schools as well.
Review of a remarkable book about a remarkable urban school defying all the odds in Dayton.
We take a look at the hubbub over Fordham's recent voucher toolkit with an Ohio insider's view.
The rumor around the water coolers in D.C. is that President Obama plans to mention the Common Core State Standards in his State of the Union Address next week—for the third year running. He should reconsider, for three reasons.First, it will feed the narrative that Common Core is, in fact, a federal takeover of public education.
Two months ago, a group of Catholic university professors signed a letter urging Catholic bishops and diocesan school leaders to reject the Common Core.
One of education reform’s best attributes is its sense of urgency about doing better for kids. This field is not one for the complacent.
A recent study examined whether gifted programs benefit students at the margin: those who barely “made the cut” for admission into a program and those who barely missed it.
In his press conference introducing Carmen Fariña as New York City’s next schools chancellor, Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested that he had picked her over several other candidates because she was on the same page with him in opposing his predecessor Michael Bloomberg’s education reforms.
Yesterday’s column by George Will condemning Common Core is a very bad sign for the standards’ advocates.
This week, we at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a “toolkit” for policymakers working to create or expand private-school-choice programs.
Because of Kansas City Public Schools’ (KCPS) persistent underperformance, the state is contemplating taking over the district. They engaged CEE-Trust and Public Impact (organizations I admire and have worked with) to produce a plan.
As voucher and tax-credit-scholarship programs have expanded in recent years, another promising development has been the incorporation into such programs of provisions that hold participating private schools to account for their students’ performance.
There were many important releases and developments this week—invaluable new SIG information from IES, Race to the Top audits, new Brookings “choice index”—and I couldn’t keep up! Those subjects and others will get fuller treatments from me next week. But until then, here are some worthwhile things to read over the weekend.
Earlier this week, AFT president Randi Weingarten came out against the use of value-added measures in teacher evaluations, citing recent VAM shortcomings in D.C. and Pittsburgh and launching the catchy slogan, “VAM is a sham.” VAM certainly is not perfect.
We’ve passed the time for standing by and patiently hoping that Ohio’s lowest-performing charter schools will improve on their own. Or that the authorizers of such charters will solve this problem on their own.
Cities and states faced with rising pension costs have begun to search for the most effective way to balance retirement promises made to workers with the need for fiscal sustainability and employer flexibility.
Readers of this blog have come to expect news from around the country, analysis, cogent commentary, and best-practice policy recommendations. All of that has been in large part due to the efforts of Adam Emerson.
Identifying gifted students and serving gifted students are two different things in Ohio, and neither area has data that inspires confidence.
2014 should be the year that quality trumps all other considerations when it comes to charter schools in Ohio.
Fordham invites you to what promises to be a fascinating panel discussion: Private Schools and Public Vouchers.
