Commentary
The misuse of Common Core tests
Why I’m for the Common Core but Against Teacher Bashing and Misuse of Tests; part three of three posts
Commentary
Commentary
Commentary
Next-generation science and college readiness
The recently released Appendix C, intended to clarify key choices made by writers of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), addresses College and Career Readiness. It is lengthy and rich in self-praise and in repetition of claims made earlier in the evolution of the NGSS and their initiating Framework.
Commentary
Common Core can reduce teacher bashing
For many years, my son Ted has been principal of the elementary grades of a K–12 public charter school in Massachusetts. It uses the Core Knowledge Sequence (a grade-by-grade outline of essential content) as a primary tool for developing its curriculum.
Commentary
Commentary
Getting Back to the Head Nod on Common Standards
For the broader public, the idea that reading and math standards should be the same across the country is so sensible that to make the case for the Common Core, you sometimes first have to explain that common standards don’t already exist.
Commentary
Some late summer reads
If you’re itching for some edu-reading over the long weekend (what else would you do while grilling?), here are some suggestions.
Video
What (ed-reformer) parents want
What (ed-reformer) parents want. Read What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-offs and take the quiz to see if you fall into one of our parent categories.
Commentary
Charter Schools
The civil-rights fight today for one leader
It has always puzzled me why the Rev. H.K. Matthews hasn’t drawn more attention for his support for private school choice. His name may not carry the weight of King, Randolph, or Rustin, but it’s doubtful that the civil-rights movement would have quickened in Florida at the pace it did without the sacrifices Matthews made.
Commentary
By the Company It Keeps: Joanne Weiss
I’m a big admirer of Joanne Weiss. She recently left the U.S. Department of Education after a tremendously consequential tenure. Working behind the scenes—never seeking the limelight for herself—she had a hand in the most important federal education decisions over the last five years.
Commentary
A sobering explanation for stalled racial progress, in one chart
Today’s commemoration of the March on Washington—including President Obama’s much-anticipated speech—will no doubt bring discussions of how far we’ve come in closing white/black divides—and how far we still have to go.
Commentary
What parents want—and how policymakers can provide it
The dominant approach to public education for most of our nation’s history was for local districts to offer standard-issue schools, mainly neighborhood-based and essentially identical, that reflected some version of the community’s general preferences and values. Because those preferences differed somewhat from place to place, public schools differed somewhat, too.
Report
Curriculum & Instruction
What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-offs
This groundbreaking study finds that nearly all parents seek schools with a solid core curriculum in reading and math, an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and the development in students of good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Making children "mere creatures of the state"
The Justice Department may be the last major American institution that values racial integration for the sake of integration. Its lawyers have worked to encase aging federal school-desegregation orders in cast iron while families—both white and black—have sought more flexibility, quality schools, and choices as to where their children will attend.
Video
Embracing the Common Core - Panel Discussion
Panelists Include: Stan Heffner - Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Cohen - President of Achieve, Inc. Steve Dackin, superintendent of Reynoldsburg City Schools Eric Gordon, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan Schools Debe Terhar, president of the State Board of Education Deb Tully, director of professionals issues for the Ohio Federation of Teachers Moderated by Chester E. Finn Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Video
Embracing the Common Core - Q&A
Panelists Include: Stan Heffner - Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Cohen - President of Achieve, Inc. Steve Dackin, superintendent of Reynoldsburg City Schools Eric Gordon, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan Schools Debe Terhar, president of the State Board of Education Deb Tully, director of professionals issues for the Ohio Federation of Teachers Moderated by Chester E. Finn Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Video
Driving Quality: Can charter incubators solve the problem of too many mediocre charter schools?
Recorded December 7, 2011 Communities across the country are struggling to meet parental demand for high quality school options, including high-performing charter schools. Yet, with hundreds of new charter schools opening every year, not nearly enough of them offer the quality education that parents crave and kids deserve. Indeed, far too many fail to deliver education any better than the troubled neighborhood schools that they are meant as alternatives to. But a new model for charter school growth has taken root in several cities and it appears to be boosting quality as well as quantity. Charter "incubators" are accelerating the launch and development of top-flight charter schools in communities that need them most. Incubators offer the promise of not only more school choice but schools that reliably deliver academic results. Join us at the Fordham Institute to hear from leaders that are running some of the best of these new organizations. Co-sponsored by the Cities for Education Entrepreneurship Trust (CEE-Trust), this discussion will analyze the key findings from a new policy brief by Public Impact, and provide lessons on how federal, state and local policymakers can help launch new quality charter schools while encouraging the culling of weak ones.
Video
Assuring Highly Effective Teachers for All Ohio Students
A teacher's effectiveness has a tremendous impact on a child's learning and academic trajectory. Ohio has debated for many months about how best to strengthen the quality of its teaching force. The biennial budget adopted in June calls for the state to develop a model teacher evaluation framework by the end of 2011 and to adopt policies tying teacher evaluations to key personnel decisions such as compensation, placement, tenure, and dismissal. Likewise, school districts and charter schools must implement their own local evaluations, based on the state model, starting in 2013-14. It's evident that Ohio schools are about to undergo a major shift when it comes to how teachers are evaluated and developed, a change with great potential to impact student achievement. For this reason, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, along with the Nord Family Foundation and Ohio Grantmakers Forum, are convening this public discussion (and another one in Lorain) on assuring highly effective teachers for students across the state. Featured speakers include: Mike Miles, superintendent of Harrison School District 2 in Colorado, a school system on the cutting edge of teacher compensation reform, will review the teacher-effectiveness work his district is doing and the results they're seeing. Kate Walsh, President of the National Council on Teacher Quality, will discuss the state of teacher effectiveness nationally and what can be learned from research about teacher quality. Eric Gordon, new superintendent of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, will provide an Ohio voice on the panel. Gordon was one of the major architects of CMSD's Academic Transformation plan, which garnered national recognition for its approach to school reform. Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, moderated the discussion.
Video
BASIS DC Symposium - Looking Inside Fully Integrated Schools
BASIS DC held a symposium on the new charter school they hope to open in the fall 2012. Panelists include DC At-Large Councilmember Sekou Biddle, Richard Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation, Jeanne Allen, President of Center for Education Reform, and Sam Chaltain, a DC-based educator and former chair of Inspired Teaching School. Fordham's Executive Vice President Mike Petrilli will moderate. For More information about BASIS DC, please contact Mary Siddall, [email protected]
Video
Terry Ryan on Collective Bargaining in Ohio
Terry Ryan talks about his testimony on Senate Bill 5 and what it means for Ohio.
Video
ESEA Briefing Book: "Reform Realism" Explained
Mike and Checker explain how NCLB got it backwards, and what "reform realism" would look like in practice.
Video
Reform School: Tim Kitts
Tim Kitts of Florida's Bay Haven Charter Academy explains his "plus" model of school improvement, and the axes of curriculum and department structures.
Commentary
Walton seeks an education-program officer
The Walton Family Foundation is on the lookout for a skilled, highly motivated, and entrepreneurial individual to be a Denver-based program officer for the foundation’s Systemic K–12 Education Reform Team. To learn more, visit its website.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Give the public what it wants: Customization
Count me among the fans of school choice who looked favorably upon this year’s results of the Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup poll.
Commentary
Commentary
Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School
“No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.” This is carved into a massive stone wall on the FDR memorial in Washington, but it could have been the preface to this slender, timely, punchy book by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann. These authors make a persuasive case for improving the academic achievement of U.S.