Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Advanced civics for U.S. history teachers
The importance of making history an academic priority once again. By Robert Pondisico
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Charter Schools
Education posts I wish I'd written this year
The best compliment I can pay a fellow education blogger is to confess professional jealousy. By Robert Pondiscio
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
How to solve Scalia's race problem
There is a fast track in American education. And we’re getting far too few African American students onto it. By Brandon L. Wright and Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Governor Cuomo's task force looks to bury higher standards
Some say the world will end in fire. Some say in ice. But if you’re pressed for time and want to end all intelligent life quickly, nothing beats a task force.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
What I saw at Success Academies
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of visiting Success Academy Harlem 1 and hearing from Eva Moskowitz and the SA staff about their model. I’m not going to venture into the thorny stuff about SA here. What I will say is that their results on state tests are clearly impressive, and I doubt that they’re fully (or even largely) explained by the practices that cause controversy.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
The effect of public and private schooling on anti-Semitism
Attending a religious school might reduce bigotry. Kevin Mahnken
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Charter Schools
If you build it, they will come
The creation of Brooklyn Ascend charter school, textbooks in Texas, and substitute teachers in impoverished schools.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
How five states are boosting college readiness in twelfth grade
As states have implemented college and career readiness standards, it has sometimes been assumed that most of the work and attention has occurred at the elementary grades. In truth, many states have been working for some time to ensure that grade twelve prepares all students for post-secondary success.
Commentary
ESSA
States v. districts in the Every Student Succeeds Act
The dominant narrative about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is that it shifts authority over schools back to state governments. But this belies a key feature of the legislation.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Parents: Children's first math teachers
We’ve seen a lot of hand wringing over math achievement in this country. Our students continue to underperform against their peers in other countries, lighting a fire under educators and politicians to push new STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programming in schools. While these panicked efforts have admirable intentions, they are mostly barking up the wrong tree.
Commentary
ESSA
ESEA and the return of a well-rounded curriculum
Undoing damage inflicted by the blunt axe of test-driven accountability. Robert Pondiscio
Commentary
ESSA
Accountability and the Every Student Succeeds Act
Earlier this year, when it looked like ESEA finally had a chance of being reauthorized, I came up with a graphic for assessing the accountability provisions of the various proposals.
