Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: December 16, 2021
Parents, demonstrating more practical wisdom than activists and policymakers, are in favor of more career-oriented programs in high school.
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My friend Denis Doyle
Several people I admire have recently passed away (Bob Dole, Colin Powell, Fred Hiatt, Stephen Sondheim…), but the only one in that group who was als
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Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Build Back Better’s risks on early childhood education are manageable and outweighed by the benefits
The funding system for early childhood education envisioned in Build Back Better is far superior to the one we have now. But as always in public policy, the transition from one condition to another is fraught with risks.
Commentary
The Build Back Better plan would improve both pre-K and child care
The early childhood field has long recognized the need to transform its workforce—in meaningful part because earl
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The best and worst metro areas for school quality may surprise you
Fordham newest study ranks schools in the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, with heavy focus on academic growth. Many of America’s “superstar cities” appear far less super when examined through this lens. Some have a right to brag—but others would be well advised to stop resting on their laurels and work harder to improve all students’ progress.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Education’s enduring love affair with “luxury beliefs”
The proof of a powerful idea is how well it sticks. Once you hear about it “you start to see it everywhere,” as Bari Weiss puts it. She was describing “luxury beliefs,” a phrase coined by Rob Henderson, an Air Force veteran and Ph.D.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Conservatives: Let’s focus on winning policy, not just winning politics
There’s been lots of jabber lately about what the upset win by Glenn Youngkin in the recent Virginia gubernatorial race means for education policy.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Governance
Learning more about the use of industry recognized credentials
While the ubiquitous term “college and career readiness” assumes that twelve years of compulsory education could adequately prepare a student for both postsecondary and workplace settings, we know far more about readiness for the former than the latter.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Proof that online credit recovery has been on the rise
Recent years have seen a move to eliminate homework and relax grading standards, and struggles by teachers and students to do their work during the pandemic have accelerated this trend. Some educators and commentators, however, fret that these new practices amount to lowering standards.
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Commentary
What we're reading this week: December 9, 2021
“In a San Francisco high school, the scars of remote schooling linger.” —Washington Post Staff shortages are hurting districts across the country. In some states, principals are taking over custodian work, and National Guardsmen are serving as bus drivers.
Report
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
America’s Best and Worst Metro Areas for School Quality
"America’s Best and Worst Metro Areas for School Quality" is the first analysis to use nationally comparative data to evaluate the effectiveness of large and mid-size metro areas on school quality. Use our interactive data tool to see how your metro area stacks up.
Podcast
Career & Technical Education
Education Gadfly Show #798: Which metro areas are accelerating student learning?
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Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
In defense of suspensions
A student was arrested after an attempted stabbing at Montgomery Blair High School.
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Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Education is progressive. Schools are conservative.
Editor’s note: This was first published by Newsweek.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
Attacking gifted education is bad policy and bad politics
Education for high achievers has come under siege in blue cities and states as the national focus has shifted to racial equity in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. But such attacks, even when well-intentioned, are misguided. They target a problem’s symptom rather than its cause, and in doing so, harm students and defy parents.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Teaching gratitude beyond Thanksgiving
Once a year, parents of young children can look forward to their kids coming home from school with turkeys drawn by hand and heartwarming lists of what they are grateful for, with loving parents and helpful teachers usually at the top of the list. This happens just before families pack up and travel to be together and give thanks for all the blessings of the year.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
The centrality of instructional materials: My experience with Doug Lemov’s Reading Reconsidered Curriculum
I’m a rather dreadful cook. Nonetheless, in the summer, with easy access to farm-fresh vegetables and the internet’s profusion of recipes, my wan table occasionally turns into something resembling a feast. And this phenomenon works in reverse.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Redesigning early college credit to reach underserved students
In 2012, Tennessee lawmakers created the Statewide Dual-Credit program (SDC) to help more students earn college credit while completing high school.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The state of computer science education
In early November, the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, the Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance teamed up to release the 2021 State of Computer Science Education.
Commentary
Cheers and Jeers: December 2, 2021
Cheers Now more than ever, we need standardized tests to hold schools accountable. —Conor Williams “Tennessee goes all in on tutoring with $200m statewide program.” —The 74 Jeers
Commentary
What we're reading this week: December 2, 2021
“GOP resistance to preschool plan could imperil key Biden proposal in many states.” —Washington Post Two studies find that California’s education funding formula isn’t meeting its goal of improving achievement for underperforming student groups.
Podcast
Curriculum & Instruction
Education Gadfly Show #797: Why debunked reading practices continue to spread
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Commentary
What we're reading this week: November 24, 2021
Though surveys showed that many teachers considered leaving the classroom in recent years, and some predicted nationwide teacher shortages, the data show that teachers are sticking it out. —FiveThirtyEight “Can public money go to religious schools?
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Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Stop pestering education leaders to “follow the evidence.” Instead, host forecasting tournaments.
Education leaders—principals, superintendents, state chiefs, philanthropy heads—make lots of decisions, and we exhort them to “use evidence” when they do. But we should stop doing that for at least four reasons.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Teacher mental health days demonstrate districts’ priorities—and it’s not the students
America’s children are way behind because of the pandemic. And knowing this, parents and guardians have been justifiably expecting schools to rise to the occasion this fall. Instead, districts across the country have been shuttering this month following a wave of unexpected staff shortages. This is unequivocally a bad thing, but one that may have a silver lining: It helps increase momentum for school choice.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
What is virtue and why does it matter?
Contemporary education has become too technocratic and divorced from virtue. This is a disservice to students because it robs them of what a classical education provides: the tools students need to succeed, not just academically and professionally, but in the deep and abiding sense of being able to flourish as free and good human beings.
