The new ESEA will help America's high achievers, but only if states rise to the challenge
The ESEA reauthorization conferees delivered some good news for America’s high-achieving students last week.
The ESEA reauthorization conferees delivered some good news for America’s high-achieving students last week.
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education wisely decided this week to tack between the Scylla of MCAS and the Charybdis of PARCC. Following Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s recommendation, they chose to adopt MCAS 2.0, a yet-to-be-developed hybrid of the two options. Their adroit navigation calms the troubled waters for the time being.
A new study suggests that they don’t. But mind the details. Kevin Mahnken
Lower perceptions of high-achieving minorities may have consequences beyond the classroom. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
STEM interest doesn’t necessarily translate into STEM aptitude. Robert Pondiscio
The uncertain future of school choice, Louisville’s school discipline crisis, and the passing of one of reform’s brightest lights.
If this is really supposed to be about the kids, we need to stop vilifying our opponents. Michael J. Petrilli
The action is moving to the state level. It’s about time. Michael J. Petrilli
When underprepared students enter postsecondary education, they face steep odds; Ninety percent of individuals who start community college in remedial courses leave without any sort of credential. And for low-income students, who make up 70 percent of those taking remedial courses, the odds are truly devastating.
A threat to accountability for both charters and district schools Vladimir Kogan
Last week, at NAGC's splendid 62nd Annual Covention and Exhibiton, NAGC's executive director René Islas interviewed us about our book, Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students.
John Chubb was not only a fine scholar, tireless education reformer, and creative innovator. He was also my friend and colleague for more than two decades. I first came upon him in 1990, when he (then at Brookings) and Terry Moe published their blockbuster school choice book, Politics, Markets and America’s Schools.
Editor's note: Politics K-12 reports that House and Senate negotiators have reached a preliminary compromise on reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.
Ever since the birth of the modern reform movement, the GOP has faced a dilemma on federal education policy: Should it focus on the party’s federalist principles and push for a limited federal role in the nation’s schools, or use Washington’s authority to empower parents and shake up the system?
Any baseball team finding itself down 3-0 in a seven-game series points to the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Despite the longest of odds—they hadn’t won a World Series in eighty-six years!
How Ohio currently regulates online schools and how it can do better
Editor's note: This post is the final entry of a three-part series on Race to the Top's legacy and the federal role in education. You can read the first two entries here and here.
Untangling a particularly convoluted strand of funding in the charter school realm
An affordable model that helps students who are already behind become better readers. Robert Pondiscio
Principals generally like core members, but there are some sore spots. David Griffith
Evaluating teaching, leading, and learning. Jessica Poiner
New Hampshire’s alternative assessments. A peek under the PARCC and SBAC hood. And LAUSD’s ticking fiscal time bomb.
Uncomfortable questions about school discipline, suspension, and expulsion Robert Pondiscio
Remember that past changes were controversial and probably unwise. Do not stir this pot again now. Chester E. Finn, Jr.
When Hillary Clinton recently told an audience that the purpose of charter schooling is to “learn what works and then apply (it) in the public schools,” she made the obvious mistake of implying that cha
I spent a few hours digging into the recently released 2015 NAEP TUDA data. The results didn’t get much media coverage. That’s a shame because these are the best assessments for understanding student performance in (and comparing the results of) America’s biggest urban districts.
Finland has been lauded for years as this planet's grand K-12 education success story, deserving of study and emulation by other nations. The buzz began with its impressive Program for International Student Assessment results in 2000, which stayed strong through 2006.
Editor's note: On Tuesday, November 3, Denver and its surrounding suburbs held school board elections. What follows are five takeaways from Van Schoales and his colleagues at A+ Denver, a local education reform organization that aims to harness civil leadership to increase student achievement in the area.
Whether you think the end game of the current “mixed economy” of district and charter schools should be an all-charter system (as in New Orleans) or a dual model (as in Washington D.C.), for the foreseeable future most cities are likely to continue with a blend of these two sectors. So we wanted to know: Can they peacefully co-exist? Can they do better than that?
Collaboration tends to be fairly shallow, but it’s still worthwhile. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. and Michael J. Petrilli