Displaying 1-20 of 20 results
Commentary
9.25.2019
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A new era of accountability in education has barely just begun

Michael J. Petrilli

Most states have spent the past decade overhauling their standards, tests, and accountability systems, and finally committing real resources to capacity-building, especially in the form of curriculum implementation. These pieces have only begun to come together in the last year or two, culminating with the release of school ratings as required by ESSA. What’s needed isn’t to spin the wheel of education policy once again, but to show some patience and commitment—and finish what we started.

Commentary
9.25.2019
Charter Schools, Governance

Charter schools point to new ways of racially integrating public schools

Bruno V. Manno

The racial integration or segregation of K–12 schools is again a debate topic in education circles. Today’s controversy has a new twist: casting charter schools as the main antagonist to integration, claiming they resegregate public schools.

Commentary
9.25.2019
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Do flipped classrooms boost student outcomes?

Adam Tyner, Ph.D.

Flipped classroom in K–12 and higher education have been popular for years.

Commentary
9.24.2019
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

In math, grade-level tests are holding back low-achieving students

Joel Rose

Imagine that you’re a sixth-grade math teacher. It’s the first day of school, and the vast majority of your students arrived multiple years behind where they should be. Your job is to teach them concepts such as understanding percentages and dividing fractions.

Commentary
9.18.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Advanced Education, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Why has AP succeeded when so many other reforms have failed?

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew Scanlan

American K–12 education is awash in reforms, nostrums, interventions, silver bullets, pilot programs, snake oil peddlers, advocates, and crusaders, not to mention innumerable private foundations that occasionally emerge from their endless cycles of strategic planning to unload their latest brainstorms upon the land. Yet when subjected to close scrutiny, not much actually “works.” The six-decade old Advanced Placement program is a rare and welcome exception.

Commentary
9.18.2019
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Low public support for ability grouping is an opportunity for personalized pacing

Brandon L. Wright

The latest Education Next poll asked respondents whether they support ability grouping, whereby students take classes with peers at similar academic achievement levels, and for middle school the majority’s answer was no.

Commentary
9.18.2019
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

How two personalized learning models accelerate the progress of their high-achieving students

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of posts looking at how two school networks—Rocketship Public Schools and Wildflower Schools—enable their students to meet standards at their own pace.

Commentary
9.18.2019
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How charter school attendance affects students’ special-needs status

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Charters schools are often criticized for not enrolling enough or not adequately serving special student populations, particularly students with special needs. A new study by Tufts University’s Elizabeth Setren evaluates this claim with a unique dataset in Boston.

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The GAS Factor: Lessons learned at Success Academy

Robert Pondiscio

Much of the initial response to Robert’s new book, "How The Other Half Learns," has focused on the winnowing effects of Success Academy’s enrollment process, which ensures that the children of only the most committed parents enroll and persist. But that’s just the start of the story. You have to look at what parent buy-in actually buys: a school culture that drives student achievement, and which can only be achieved when parents are active participants, not unwilling conscripts.

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The scourge of education malpractice

Dale Chu

What if you were told that elementary schools in the United States are teaching children to be poor readers?

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

How personalized learning enthusiasts can ensure they aren’t lowering the bar for the kids who are behind

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of posts looking at how two school networks—Rocketship Public Schools and Wildflower Schools—enable their students to master standards at their own pace. See the first post here.

Podcast
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Education Gadfly Show: Parents’ role in school improvement

On this week’s podcast, Patrick Corvington, executive director of DC School Reform Now, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to offer advice on how parents can play a role in improving their kids’ schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the academic effects of early interventions for children born at a low birth-weight.

Commentary
9.6.2019
Evidence-Based Learning

Fixing education research in the United States

Marc Tucker

This essay, which first appeared on Marc’s blog at the National Center on Education and the Economy, illumines the problems addressed by The Moonshot for Kids project, a joint initiative of the Fordham Institute and the Center for America

Commentary
9.4.2019
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Governance

A new reality for charter schools in California

Caprice Young

As part of a national war against school choice, the California teachers union is pouring more than a million dollars a month into anti-charter legislative efforts. Unfortunately, a new “compromise” bill crafted by Governor Gavin Newsom whose language was released this week indicates the union is about to get a big return on its investment. Caprice Young, a Fordham Institute trustee and a leading figure in the state’s charter sector, explains how this painful moment came about—and what it means for California charter schools going forward.

Commentary
9.4.2019
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

In most elementary classrooms, kids are all over the map academically. Here’s how two schools cope.

Michael J. Petrilli

Almost a decade ago, I wrote that “the greatest challenge facing America’s schools today [is] the enormous variation in the academic level of students coming into any given classroom.” Unlike plenty of what I’ve said over the years, this one has stood the test of time.

Commentary
9.4.2019
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Effective social studies interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

Pedro Enamorado

Teaching students to engage with history and civics is important in a democratic society. The critical thinking and communication skills taught in social studies classes are all the more essential to students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) because they equip them to overcome difficulties interacting with and relating to peers.