Commentary
Implementation and impacts of pay-for-performance after two years
Merit kinda, sorta might work if teachers understand how it functions. Robert Pondiscio
Topics
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Rethinking the high school graduation age
The “godfather of charter schooling” pushes us to reimagine adolescence. Kate Stringer
Commentary
Who needs a fracking education?
Teens are leaving school for well-paying jobs, but they shouldn’t have to choose one over the other. Aaron Churchill
Commentary
Two for one, but none for all
Philly’s underfunded CTE, the changing mission of principals, and John Boehner’s last sobbing fit.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
The bright children left behind
We mustn’t let other countries surpass us in producing tomorrow’s inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, and scientists. Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Brandon L. Wright
Commentary
What "The Mirage" gets wrong on teacher development
TNTP’s new report, “The Mirage,” is essential reading for anyone interested in educator effectiveness. It’s smartly researched and delivers an uppercut of a conclusion: Today's professional development doesn’t work.
Commentary
A shocking college-readiness gap in the suburbs
What works for affluent children may be failing their low-income peers. Michael J. Petrilli
Commentary
Don’t exclude mobile students from accountability
All students should count every day, all year long
Commentary
Charter Schools
What Pope Francis will see when he visits my Catholic school
In the age of charter schools, Common Core, test-based teacher evaluations, and other hot-button education reform issues, Catholic schools have largely taken a backseat in our public conversations. When we do read about them in the media, it is often bad news: financial struggles, declining enrollment, closures.
Commentary
Common Core-aligned curriculum: It’s time to empower our teachers
The untapped potential of teacher-created curriculum materials
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Early childhood interventions—a slow fade and a strong comeback?
When trying to improve educational outcomes, it is hard not to feel the need for urgency. We want to figure out what works now and implement changes immediately—because if we wait, kids who are in schools now will miss out.
Commentary
Charter Schools
School transfers in a stratified system
Information, options, and access needed for school choice accountability. Jeff Murray
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
How test-based retention affects student outcomes
Mixed results, at least in the short term. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Commentary
Charter Schools
The effects of KIPP on achievement and other outcomes
KIPP doubled in size and maintained its quality. Can this continue? Robert Pondiscio
Commentary
Charter Schools
Score one for low-income kids
More on the fate of U.S. Catholic schools. The boom in college affordability indices. And hopeful signs that the DOE is getting reasonable on teacher evaluations.
Commentary
Commentary
How to widen the achievement gap
Mayor de Blasio's education initiatives: Right target, lousy aim. Robert Pondiscio
Commentary
Charter Schools
Examining district-charter collaboration grant implementation with interviews and site visits
The goals of specific collaboration activities are too often fuzzy. David Griffith
Commentary
Short- and long-term consequences of teachers' gender biases
Yes, there is a gender bias. And it favors boys in math. Dara Zeehandelaar, Ph.D.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Charter schools' effect on property values
Do zone-based priority admissions to charter schools affect home purchases? Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
On Constitution Day, in search of the public mission of schools
When school boards describe their missions, they often overlook citizenship. Robert Pondiscio and Kate Stringer
Commentary
Dear OCR: Please back off
Plus: Charters take a stiff drink of reality, and reformers ask what we can learn from the "privileged poor."
Commentary
The real battle for Common Core begins
The overheated debate over Common Core has overshadowed the heavy lift being asked of America's teachers. Robert Pondiscio
Commentary
Book
Advanced Education
Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students
In Failing Our Brightest Kids, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Brandon L. Wright argue that for decades, the United States has focused too little on preparing students to achieve at high levels.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Teaching 9/11
The first few weeks of September make up a sweet spot between seasons, with summer's last days of warmth and play mingling with the beginning a new school year. All that beauty and excitement can make it easy to forget the significance of today's date: Fourteen years have passed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
Commentary
The bank robber's secret to early childhood education
In the vast “how-to-fix-education” universe, early childhood programming seems to be the new elixir. Governors and mayors push it, as does our president, viewing it as a smart investment in the future. Many children come to school unprepared to learn, so we have to intervene earlier. Right? An instinctive response is to advocate for more early childhood education. Who can argue with that?
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Teaching religious literacy in American classrooms
In Faith Ed: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance, Linda K.
Commentary
Charter Schools
The missing young men in most of Washington's top high schools
One of the biggest debates raging in education policy today is whether schools of choice are serving their fair share of the hardest-to-educate students or abandoning them to traditional public schools.
Commentary
Charter Schools
The prison-to-school pipeline
An awkward name for a great idea; Dan Willingham on teacher training; and an education idea so good it needs to bust out of jail.