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Hard work: Vital and overlooked

Here’s a simple thought experiment:

The salary schedule versus the law of supply and demand

A look at the systemic shortfalls in qualified applicants for special education, math, and science teachers in Ohio and across the country.

Getting tough on charter authorizing

Charter school authorizing is complex work that requires specialized knowledge and skills. But all the resources in the world are nothing without institutional commitment.

Michigan scores in Common Core whack-a-mole

Education reform: Not complicated, but seriously difficult

Given the highly favorable reviews and rave blurbs from such diverse figures as former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, one might expect

What to do about Richie Rich

Dear Deborah, Over the course of our dialogue, we've written a lot about children living in poverty and about inequality. But you've been practically daring me to engage on the question of the other end of the spectrum: the children of the rich. OK, fine, I see that resistance is futile! In your most recent post, for instance, you argued,

Common Core: Institution, implementation, and assessment

The latest installment in our "From the Frontlines" blog series, looking at Common Core implementation in Ohio charter schools.

Netflix Academy: The 10 best streaming videos on insects

Note: This post is part of our series, "Netflix Academy: The best educational videos available for streaming." Be sure to check out our previous Netflix Academy posts on dinosaurs; the 

National Reporting Project on the Common Core

Drawing on classroom visits, teacher training observations, and interviews with multiple education stakeholders, this special reporting project by the Hechinger Report and the Education Writers Association succeeds in bringing lofty notions of Common Core implementation down to an easily consumable level.

Resistance isn’t futile

The results of New York’s hard-fought, revamped, and supposedly tougher teacher-evaluation system are in: 91.5 percent of teachers were rated either highly effective or effective, 4.4 percent were rated “developing,” and just 1 percent were rated “ineffective.” This appears to be a

America and its high-potential kids

Throughout much of 2013, a colleague and I worked on a project related to America’s highest-potential boys and girls, students colloquially known as “gifted.” Though I learned a great deal, it was mostly a discouraging enterprise.

Common Core in the schools: A first look at reading assignments

For almost a year now, many states have been engulfed in a raucous debate about the Common Core State Standards.

Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments

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What Obamacare, ‘supplemental services,’ and teacher evaluations have in common

As a born optimist, I don’t generally enjoy being “against” reforms. This sometimes makes playing the role of gadfly challenging. If only I had the curmudgeonly qualities of Checker Finn, my mentor and boss, it would be so much easier. (Even Rick Hess, for all of his straight talk and fun-loving, bare-kneed exploits, is much more the natural cynic.)

See you in the center

Dear Deborah,

Hold me accountable on SIG

Throughout his tenure as Secretary, Arne Duncan has often told audiences, “

Netflix Academy: The 10 best movie adaptations of classic children’s books available for streaming

Note: This post is part of our series, "Netflix Academy: The best educational videos available for streaming." Be sure to check out our previous Netflix Academy posts on 

Ohio's ever-evolving value-added accountability system

Holding schools accountable for student growth in a rigorous manner that doesn’t systemically favor one school over another is a vital policy objective.

Rain of Errors

Claim: Rolling back education reform will improve outcomes for students, especially poor students. Reality: There is no evidence for this claim.

Getting implementation right

For some time now, I’ve been impressed by Tennessee’s Common Core implementation efforts.

Education, Education, Education: Reforming England’s Schools

Across the pond, education wonks plug away at solving problems and enacting reforms that will sound both familiar and not to our U.S. readers.

Shaking things up in the best of ways

The introduction of the Common Core standards is shaking up the $7 billion textbook industry, according to this great piece by Sarah Garland.

Moody’s shortchanges investors

We know this much: Moody’s investment analysts don’t care much for parental choice, but they care a lot about the credit-worthiness of school districts.

Changing the conversation: The promise of the Common Core reading standards

The following post was adapted from a talk delivered by Kathleen Porter-Magee at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.Thank you, Dr. Reyes and also, thanks to Reverend Rodriguez for the invitation to speak. I’m honored to be with you here today.

The impact of IMPACT

In recent months, so many reformers have come down with a case of the shakes, fretting about everything under the sun.

It’s a bad idea to use a lottery system for varsity football…and for varsity courses

Lottery systems are too common in education. And while it’s the fairest way to allocate a limited number of seats at, say, an oversubscribed, high-performing charter school, it’s not the way forward when it comes to Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Unfortunately, that’s the direction some California school districts may be heading.

The licensure trap

Over at Education Week’s Bridging Differences blog, our own Mike Petrilli and educator Deborah Meier have been engaged in a spirited back and forth about the role that poverty plays in education.

The especially deserving poor

Dear Deborah, A healthy debate we've started indeed! I'm not sure we've bridged many differences, though; maybe we should change the blog's name to Bigging Differences.