Displaying 871-900 of 17774 results
Commentary
12.8.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

Is military enlistment a pathway to upward mobility?

Jeff Murray

Of the three main postsecondary pathways for American high school graduates—college enrollment, job employment, and military enlistment—the last is arguably least studied in terms of outcomes for those who follow it. A team of analysts led by West Point’s Kyle Greenberg helps fill the void with newly-published research drawing on thirty years of data.

Commentary
12.8.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How some states are fixing problems with early childhood education

William Rost

A FutureEd report released earlier this year analyzes the problems facing early childhood education offerings across the country and how some states have tackled them.

Commentary
12.6.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The case for gifted education

Brandon L. Wright

Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and published every other week. Its purpose is to monitor the progress of gifted education in America, including legal and legislative developments, policy and leadership changes, emerging research, grassroots efforts, and more.

Commentary
12.1.2022
Governance

How conservatives can lead on K–12

Frederick M. Hess

The right is well-positioned to lead on education. The left’s intimate ties with unions, public bureaucracies, and higher education have turned it into the apologist and paymaster for the education establishment. The right, meanwhile, is free to reimagine institutions and arrangements in ways the left is not. Moreover, as the left has found itself defending woke excesses, conservatives are put in a position to defend broadly shared values.

Commentary
12.1.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How rethinking industry-recognized credentials could boost student success

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Early in my career, I taught high school in North Carolina. One of the coolest things we did was partner annually with the local Habitat for Humanity team. Each year, students in my school’s construction-trades classes built a modular home from the ground up, doing the masonry, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing—all of it.

Commentary
12.1.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The noose tightens around failed reading programs in schools

Robert Pondiscio

There was a remarkable moment near the end of last week’s ExcelinEd conference in Salt Lake City—one that I never would have thought possible and might have scoffed had someone predicted it, even a few short years ago.

Commentary
12.1.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Break high schools’ monopoly on awarding credit and diplomas

Peter Robertson

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”

Commentary
12.1.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Policy doesn’t block high school redesign. Lack of will does.

Ed Jones

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2022 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to address a fundamental and challenging question: “How can states remove policies barriers that are keeping educators from reinventing high schools?”

Commentary
12.1.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education

A curricular trial (and error) to develop giftedness

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Schools don’t typically begin the process of formally identifying students to receive gifted and talented (GT) services until third grade. What if educators started developing in earnest a child’s innate abilities before then?

Commentary
11.22.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The case for career and technical education

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Jeanette Luna

With rising college costs and sky-high college dropout rates—almost one-third of American undergraduates quit before completing their degree—young people are lookin

Commentary
11.18.2022
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

“Pragmatism wins”: What the midterms mean for education policy

Nathaniel Grossman

So much for the “red wave.” Republicans expected sweeping victories in last week’s midterm elections that never materialized. Instead, Democrats outperformed expectations by maintaining control of the Senate and holding Republicans to a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

Commentary
11.17.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

With affirmative action before the Supreme Court, here’s the state of diversity among high achievers

Michael J. Petrilli

America’s high-achieving students in our elementary and secondary schools are more racially diverse today than two decades ago. But Black high achievers in particular have made only incremental gains. Given affirmative action's original purpose, such trends are more than a little disappointing.

Commentary
11.17.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Public education is drifting from its founding ideals and public purpose

Robert Pondiscio

Editor’s note: Last week, the Jack Miller Center convened a National Summit on Civic Education at Mount Vernon, the Virginia home of George Washington. Robert Pondiscio delivered the keynote address. This is adapted from his remarks.

Commentary
11.17.2022
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Parent groups win big despite Republican losses

Daniel Buck

Considering President Joe Biden’s historically low approval ratings, many predicted a Republican wave in the midterms. Well, the wave turned out to be a gentle lapping at the toes.

Robert Kern image
Commentary
11.11.2022
School Finance

In memory of Robert Kern

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

We mourn the passing of Robert D. Kern at 96, even as we recall some of the great good he did—and our encounters with him.

Robert Kern image
Commentary
11.10.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Why homework matters

Eva Moskowitz

Homework is the perennial bogeyman of K–12 education. In any given year, you’ll find people arguing that students, especially in elementary school, should have far less homework—or none at all. Eva Moskowitz, the founder and CEO of Success Academy charter schools, has the opposite opinion. She’s been running schools for sixteen years, and she’s only become more convinced that homework is not only necessary, but also a linchpin to effective K–12 education.

Commentary
11.10.2022

New York City shortchanges its advanced students

Kristina Raevsky, David Armor

When New York City School Chancellor David Banks announced a new screened high school admissions policy last month, many were quick to rejoice that the de Blasio reign of “lottery admissions” was finally over.

Commentary
11.10.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Impacts of a content-rich literacy intervention

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Teaching young children to read fluently by the end of third grade is fast becoming a national priorit

Commentary
11.10.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

School choice and parental compromise

Jeff Murray

What parents are looking for in an ideal school choice scenario is often very different from what they settle for in the real world. Cost, distance, academic quality, safety, extracurricular options, and a host of other factors are all at play, meaning trade-offs are unavoidable. Recently-published research findings try to capture the matrix of compromises being made.