Standardized Tests: Correlation to Future Successes? (Part II of II)
The second part of our look at the possible data correlation between eighth-grade proficiency and college remediation.
The second part of our look at the possible data correlation between eighth-grade proficiency and college remediation.
Twelve years ago, my wife and I went back to school. Not the same one, though: she went to medical school and I went to education school. I don’t think I’ll shock even the gentlest reader by asserting that the former was harder than the latter, but I would like to offer a glimpse of how differently rigorous they were.
Repost of a blog by Tom Vander Ark that appeared on the Getting Smart website on July 16, 2014.
COLLEGE READINESSA new study finds that toughening high school exit criteria did not increase the likelihood that graduates would go on to college. (Inside School Research) MO’ MONEY, MO’ PROBLEMS
It feels like there are two very different charter-school conversations going on. The first is about policy and practice; the other is about philosophy and politics. Both have their place. But a recent collection of events and articles demonstrate why it’s important to understand the difference between the two.
OKLAHOMA AND THE COMMON COREThe Oklahoma Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the state’s Common Core repeal. (Associated Press) PHILLY SCHOOL FUNDING
One of the great misconceptions in education is that the reform movement is monolithic. There have always been competing camps, often defined on ideological grounds. Conservatives and libertarians tend to stress school choice, for example; liberals are much more comfortable with an intrusive federal role.
Articles of the week from the Education GadflyWhither the NEA?Chester E. Finn, Jr. | July 9, 2014 | Flypaper
I’ve never been to the annual conference of the National Education Association and I’ve never regretted it, but it would have been fun to be a fly on the chandelier at last week’s shindig in Denver.
Just as the education-reform movement is starting to figure out how to use test-score data in a more sophisticated way, the Obama administration and its allies in the civil-rights community want to take us back to the Stone Age on the use of school-discipline data. This is an enormous mistake.
Common Core standards mean freedom to many teachers. Here's why.
We take a look at the results of a recent survey of the public's attitudes toward the state of education in America.
The most interesting story coming out of the landmark Vergara and Harris deci
TEACHER TENUREOn Thursday, an advocacy group filed a lawsuit challenging New York City’s teacher-tenure laws. (New York Times) TEACHER EQUITY
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
Bad ideas in education are like horror movie monsters. You think you’ve killed them, but they refuse to stay dead.A generation ago, the infamous “reading wars” pitted phonics-based instruction in the early grades against “whole language,” which emphasized reading for meaning instead of spelling, grammar, and sounding words out.
Last week, I had the privilege to speak in front of a group of education journalists convened by the Poynter Institute and the Education Writers Association about identifying strengths and weaknesses in curriculum.
The early-childhood folks didn’t much like it when I faulted NCES for relying on the Rutgers-based National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) as the source for federal data on “the state of preschool”—and for
After nearly a decade of research, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) released in May the first outcomes of its efforts to use the results of the 2013 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to report on the academic preparedness of U.S. 12th graders for college.
Bravo to Fordham’s original gadfly!The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools yesterday inducted Fordham president Chester E. Finn, Jr. into its Charter School Hall of Fame—established to honor pioneers in the development, growth, and innovation of charter schools.
NEWARK SCHOOL SUPENew Jersey has renewed the contract of embattled Newark schools superintendent Cami Anderson, whose pro-school choice “One Newark” plan has garnered her the enmity of some union and parent activists. (Star-Ledger)