Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Partisanship and American education
What are we teaching the children about our country? The short answer: not much.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The case for urban charter schools
Contrary to much public rhetoric, the evidence for expanding charter schools in urban areas is stronger than ever. To be sure, the research is less positive for charters operating outside of the nation’s urban centers. And multiple studies suggest that internet-based schools and charters that serve mostly middle-class students, perform worse than their district counterparts, at least on traditional test-score-based measures. But charters needn’t work everywhere to be of service to society.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Charter schooling on the ropes?
The negative partisanship animating this year’s presidential contest notwithstanding, charter school advocates will have their hands full no matter who prevails.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Ohio’s charter school turnaround
For a number of years, Ohio’s charter school sector has been more of a punchline than an exemplar in national debates about charters. The criticisms, though sometimes exaggerated, were not entirely unwarranted.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
The vanishing pre-K advantage
Before the coming of the pandemic, pre-K was a hot topic.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Denver school board champions Black excellence, except in charter schools
The Denver school board spent forty-five minutes Monday getting an update on its Black Excellence Resolution and worthy efforts being made at district and school levels to address systemic racism and implicit bias.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Are we ready to close schools’ windows?
For the past nine months, the battle against Covid-19 has required school districts to constantly adapt as conditions evolved. School indoor air quality is the next challenge districts must successfully meet if in-person instruction is to continue or resume. Let me begin with some points I think many people reading this agree on:
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
A response to Tim Shanahan on “Social Studies Instruction and Reading Comprehension”
After the release of a new study I co-authored for the Thomas B.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
Equity and unintended consequences in the Washington suburbs
Two big public-school systems in the D.C. area are on the verge of letting their zeal for equity and racial justice lead to consequences they may end up regretting. Fairfax County, which operates one of America’s best known and most esteemed “exam schools,” is may use a lottery, rather than test scores and other quality measures, for admissions. And Loudoun County is considering revising its rules for “professional conduct” by school staff to punish employees—teachers included—in truly Orwellian ways.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Teachers & School Leaders
The unwelcome success of charter schools
Of the nearly 2,000 public school students beginning high school in the South Bronx (District 8 of NYC public schools) in 2015, only 2 percent graduated ready for college four years later.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Elementary schools: To improve reading comprehension, teach more social studies
If America is serious about wanting kids to become better readers, our elementary schools need to spend more time teaching social studies rather than doubling-down on “reading comprehension.” This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s the key takeaway from our new study. It’s also especially important for girls and those from lower-income and/or non-English-speaking homes.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Do America’s elementary school students need more social studies?
A new study published last week by Fordham, Social Studies Instruction and Reading Comprehension: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, suggests that to become better readers, elementary students should spend more time on social studies.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
School leaders must spend money more efficiently. Here are four places to start.
There used to be two sureties when it came to American K–12 education: Kids would attend school, and school leaders would demand more money.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Forecasting the long-run costs of coronavirus
Modeling the effects of a global pandemic while it’s ongoing seems like a prime example of “inexact science.” It’s also sure to depress. But it’s happening.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Outdoor learning can help students during Covid-19 and beyond
When students at Anser Charter School in Garden City, Idaho, begin returning to in-person classes September 28, everything about school will look different than six months ago.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
NEW REPORT: Social Studies Instruction and Reading Comprehension: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study
Even as phonics battles rage in the realm of primary reading and with two-thirds of American fourth and eighth graders failing to read proficiently, another tussle has been with us for ages regarding how best to develop the vital elements of reading ability that go beyond decoding skills and phonemic awareness.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
A commission on teaching American history might do some good
American schoolchildren should not be taught to hate their country, or to view it as an “inherently racist” or “white supremacist” nation. But to move forward constructively on this point, instead of in a manner that further divides the country, it would be much better for a broad coalition of the center-right to the center-left to embrace a teaching of history that is clear-eyed, patriotic, and critical.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Rocky road to better civics education
There’s much energy in the cosmos these days around civics education, history education, maybe even “patriotic” history and civics education.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
To protect students during the economic downturn, schools need to spend money wisely
This spring, the nation was slammed by a pandemic that has thus far killed nearly 200,000 Americans, thrown millions out of work, shuttered schools, and upended the rhythms of teaching and learning. Suddenly the kitchen table became a makeshift desk and “school” came to mean hours seated in front of a Chromebook.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Reality check: Rating students’ math performance
There are two aspects of standardized testing to which opponents tend to object: The testing itself and how the results are used.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Why we opened in person, and 5 lessons about keeping our school community healthy and safe
Education sure looks different in a global pandemic. Some schools are opening for in-person classes. Many are teaching remotely. Some are using hybrid models. All the while, school administrators and parents are nervously keeping tabs on state watchlists to see who’s at risk and where.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Why state assessments matter, even in a pandemic
Ohio legislators recently introduced Senate Bill 358, which proposes to cancel all state testing scheduled for spring 2021. The provision calling for the cancellation of state exams would only go into effect if the state receives an assessment waiver from the U.S.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
“Evasive entrepreneurs” create new K–12 school options
Covid-19 is upending what parents think about America’s schools, motivating them to seek different ways to educate their children. It’s also inspiring enterprising individuals and imaginative policymakers to create new ways to support that parent demand for change.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Zoom like a champion
I’ve made no secret over the years of my admiration for the work of Doug Lemov. When I was a new and clueless fifth grade teacher in 2002, his essential book, Teach Like a Champion, was unfortunately still a few years away.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Can “high-dosage tutors” help ensure low-performing students don’t fall behind?
The pandemic has left us in a world quite different from the one before. While we’re faced with plenty of new challenges, we also have the opportunity to test out creative solutions.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
How do we spot child abuse and neglect when schooling is remote?
If schooling continues to be remote through the fall, as it seems to be in many districts across the country, what is to be done about the plight of kids who are at risk for child abuse or neglect?
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
School leaders can win this fall with adaptability, not playbooks
There is no playbook for school this fall.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
How the conventions showcased education and what it means for ed reform
The first-ever virtual political conventions have come and gone, during which neither party offered a serious path forward on education reform. The Democrats belong to the self-interested teacher unions, and the GOP has become a single-issue party in pursuit of choice, leaving us with a lot of talk but little action.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Months without play dates, hugs from grandma, and trips to the library
Around six months ago, stay-at-home orders and school closures upended normal life for children of all ages across the United States. The loss of academic learning has been a huge concern, but we’re not talking enough about the implications of long-term “social distancing” for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Rural districts’ Covid-19 response
The National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) is a recently established organization out of Harvard that studies and supports a network of rural school districts in New York and Ohio.
