Commentary
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Commentary
Charter Schools
ExcelinEd on the dos and don'ts of course access
Back in May, Fordham published Expanding the Education Universe: A Fifty-State Strategy for Course Choice, where we explained the idea of “cour
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Charter Schools, Accountability & Testing
A plea to Marc Tucker (and his colleagues)
Marc Tucker is the author of an important new report: Fixing Our National Accountability System. Although Marc and I disagree on the promise of Relinquishment (most specifically on charter schools), I agree with much of this thinking. But, in this report, Marc makes a strategic mistake in dismissing choice-based reforms. To put it another way: if there is a grand bargain to be made that significantly increases student achievement in the United States, it could look like this: Reduce testing frequency and increase testing rigor Improve the quality of the teaching force Increase charter schools and choice
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Standards, Accountability & Testing
Holding a wolf by the ears
I have a complicated relationship with testing.
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Harlem rising
New York State just released the results of its 2014 statewide math and reading exams—the second year the state purportedly aligned the tests to the Common C
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Kindergartners' Skills at School Entry: An Analysis of the ECLS-K
We know that disadvantaged children tend to enter Kindergarten behind their more advantaged peers in math and reading—and that they rarely catch up. But which socioeconomic factors correlate most with these gaps? And have these factors improved over time?
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Curriculum & Instruction
The Science and Success of Engelmann's Direct Instruction
Most reformers know there’s no cure-all for American education. Nevertheless, in The Science and Success of Engelmann’s Direct Instruction, the authors argue that a panacea not only exists but has been around for half a century.
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Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
At last, accountability for textbook publishers?
Nearly all American K–12 students are exposed to it every day. It decides, in large part, what students will learn in school and how they will learn it. It is never evaluated for quality in any serious way, but when it is rigorously evaluated, its impact on student achievement is significant.
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Standards
What's behind the declining support for the Common Core?
Results from the annual Education Next poll are out this week, and the news is not good for us proponents of the Common Core. Support among the public dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent in just one year (from June 2013 to June 2014); Republicans are now almost evenly split on the issue, with 43 percent in support, and 37 percent opposed. What’s more...
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What's behind the declining support for the Common Core?
Results from the annual Education Next poll are out today, and the news is not good for us proponents of the Common Core. Support among the public dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent in just one year (from June 2013 to June 2014); support from teachers plummeted from 76 to 46 percent.
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Charter Schools, Accountability & Testing
What the hell is going on at Success Academy?
I’ll have what she’s having.
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Stuck in the middle with state-level reform
In back-to-back days last week, I had the chance to spend time with different groups of leaders interested in improving state-level reform work.
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Charter Schools, Standards, Accountability & Testing
Are Catholic schools particularly good at teaching reading?
A look at the most-recent evaluation of Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program shows some surprising findings with regard to math and reading scores.
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At last, accountability for textbook publishers?
Nearly all American K–12 students are exposed to it every day. It decides, in large part, what students will learn in school and how they will learn it.[1] It is never evaluated for quality in any serious way, but when it is rigorously evaluated, its impact on student achievement is significant.
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Charter Schools
It's Prime Time for school choice advocates to stand up to hucksters (and for accountability)
As a huge fan of both school choice and the NFL, I love the idea of a major star leading a great school and becoming a voice for school reform. Successful athletes who take time to give back, work with young athletes, and ensure kids get a great education should be commended, right?
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Standards, Charter Schools
The personal touch of relinquishment
David Kirp had a piece in The New York Times on Sunday: Teaching is not a Business. You should check it out. My take on his piece:
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The AFT misses the point on paraprofessionals
In a bizarre press release from the AFT, Lorretta Johnson argues that Fordham’s recent research on the growing number of school employees who don’t
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13 classroom classics that should be made into movies
The movie version of The Giver hits theaters today. It’s followed next weekend by If I Stay. If neither title rings a bell, ask a fifteen-year-old.
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Can you be an ed reformer and a conservative?
My Fordham colleague Andy Smarick is engaged in a one-man intellectual odyssey this summer aimed at quelling his intellectual discomfort on a fascinating question: is education reform inherently anti-conservative?
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First Bell: August 14, 2014
PRIVATE SCHOOL ENROLLMENTA survey of private school enrollment finds that just 10 percent of grade-school children nationwide attend private schools. But in some neighborhoods, a majority of kids do. (City Lab)
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Charter Schools, Accountability & Testing
Does Student Attrition Explain KIPP's Success?
A new Mathematica study persuasively puts to rest a common charge leveled at KIPP charter schools: that their test score gains are largely attributable to the attrition of their lowest-performing students. The authors compare nineteen KIPP middle schools to district schools and find no meaningful difference among those who walk in the door of each type of school.
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The hidden half: School employees who don't teach
Why do American public schools spend more of their operating budgets on non-teachers than almost every other country in the world, including nations that are as prosperous and humane as ours? We can’t be certain. But we do know this:
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A fresh start for low expectations
The Freshman Fresh Start program seems at odds with the high academic bar being set for students in CMSD.
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Could Paul Ryan’s poverty plans help break Washington gridlock in 2015?
With fewer than one hundred days left until the 2014 election and with control of the U.S. Senate a virtual coin toss, few are focusing on the potential impact a Republican takeover might have. Should Republicans get the keys to the Senate and gain control of both houses, they will still have find common ground with President Obama (and one another) if they are to get anything accomplished.
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School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The Hidden Half: School Employees Who Don't Teach
The number of non-teaching staff in the United States (those employed by school systems but not serving as classroom teachers) has grown by 130 percent since 1970. Non-teachers—more than three million strong—now comprise half of the public school workforce. Their salaries and benefits absorb one-quarter of current education expenditures.
