Topics

Educators' perspectives on Common Core implementation

A new Harvard University study examines the link between Common Core implementation efforts and changes in student achievement.

The shifting value of a college degree

Los Angeles is our country’s Mecca for magic and transformation. It’s where long-extinct dinosaurs come alive, marionettes turn into real boys, and Ryan Reynolds gets chance after chance to anchor film fran

Advocating for high-achievers

Thanks to No Child Left Behind and its antecedents, American education has focused in recent decades on ensuring that all children, especially those from poor and minority backgrounds, attain a minimum level of academic achievement.

Beyond multiple choice tests

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of blog posts taking a closer look at the findings and implications of Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments, Fordham’s new first-of-its-kind report.

Stop with the political correctness and just admit it: Lots of high school graduates aren't ready for college.

I’m appalled that The Donald might actually win the Republican nomination running on a “platform” of bombast and xenophobia. But like many of you, I’ve also been trying to understand his appeal. A booming cottage industry—shall we call it Trumpology?—is emerging to explain his supporters to the rest of us. Is it the strength that he projects? His image as a “winner”?

Charter School Program grant teeters on the edge while millions of dollars flow down the “turnaround” drain

How is education money better spent?

Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments

The latest research from Fordham

A conversation with our content leads

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of blog posts that will take a closer look at the findings and implications of Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments, Fordham’s new first-of-its-kind report.

A culturally rich curriculum can improve minority student achievement

For some, the ivory tower of academia is “ivory” in more ways than one.

NYU study highlights unintended outcome of public pre-K: Bridging the gap in gifted & talented programs

A new study, Public Pre-K and Test Taking for the NYC Gifted & Talented Programs: Forging a Path to Equity, released by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, discovered a positive side effect of participat

Underrepresentation of high-achieving students of color in gifted programs

By Darien Wynn

The effects of school voucher programs on student's criminal activity

By Andrew Scanlan

Implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act toward a coherent, aligned assessment system

Way back in the days of NCLB, testing often existed in a vacuum.

Mardi Gras for Common Core

Over the years, students have resorted to all kinds of chicanery as a means of concealing bad grades from their parents. Intercepting report cards in the mail has long been a reliable standby, along with the artful application of X-Acto knives, whiteout, and copy machines.

New Common Core assessments measure the most important content in the standards

By Morgan Polikoff

School policies have gotten smarter in the decade after No Child Left Behind

By Michael J. Petrilli and Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Steering and rowing in the age of ESSA

If you care about state education policy and/or the new federal education law, you ought to spend some time doing three things. First, consider how the performance of schools (and networks of schools) needs to be assessed.

Fictionalizing education reform

Reformers always face backlash, no matter the realm. People and institutions, structures and routines, budgets and staffing arrangements—all are tailored for the status quo. Indeed, they define the status quo, and myriad interests are then enmeshed in keeping things the way they’ve always been.

ESSA Accountability Design Competition: My big takeaways

On February 2, I had the privilege of being a judge for the Fordham Institute’s ESSA Accountability Design Competition. It’s widely known that I’m a fan of using competition to drive policy innovation, and this competition did not disappoint.

Designing accountability systems to avoid NCLB-era mistakes

I walked away from Fordham’s School Accountability Design Competition last Tuesday pleasantly surprised—not only at the variety of fresh thinking on accountability, but also at how few submissions actually triggered the “I think that’s illegal” response. I left encouraged at the possibilities for the future.

States: Don’t leave K–3 accountability behind under ESSA

The Fordham Institute’s recent accountability design competition put a lot of great ideas on the table.

Testing the tests: A better lens

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of blog posts that will take a closer look at the findings and implications of Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments, Fordham’s new first-of-its-kind report.

First-of-its-kind analysis evaluates new assessments taken by more than 13 million students nationwide

Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments: A Preview

By Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli

Pencils down? Not so fast

By Robert Pondiscio

Another front in the History Wars

By Kevin Mahnken

Detroit and the property tax

By Aaron Churchill