Displaying 1-18 of 18 results
Commentary
2.26.2020
Governance

Conservatives: It’s time to re-engage on education

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

Bipartisanship is in tatters, and that’s a big problem for education. Yet it’s also an opportunity for conservatives to recognize that the gains made with bipartisanship’s help meant suppressing some important differences and neglecting some vital elements of schooling. It’s time to lean into those differences, understand what’s been neglected or distorted, address some troubling voids, and see if we can renegotiate terms.

Commentary
2.26.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

A case for giving teachers more budgetary autonomy

Trinady Maddock

With so many quick-fixes proposed to raise student achievement, it’s hard to tell who school reform is really for. Is it for superintendents trying to appease their school board? Is it for politicians who need to make themselves look re-electable?

Event
2.24.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

WEBINAR: How to Educate an American—A conversation with Michael J. Petrilli and Chester E. Finn Jr.

America’s schools have ceded significant ground to trendy nostrums and policy cure-alls that do little to adequately teach young people the skills and knowledge required to realize their full potential and emerge from school as fully-functioning citizens. The latest round of dire NAEP civics and U.S. history scores underscore our continuing failure on the citizenship front.

Book
2.24.2020
Governance

How to Educate an American: The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow's Schools

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

Featuring essays by twenty leading conservative thinkers, and anchored in tradition yet looking towards tomorrow, this book should be read by anyone concerned with teaching future generations to preserve the country’s heritage, embody its universal ethic, and pursue its founding ideals.

Commentary
2.20.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The biggest scandal in education is hiding in plain sight

Dan Weisberg

Kids hear all the time that working hard and earning A’s and B’s in school will open opportunities for them later in life. Families rely on those grades to tell them whether their kids are getting what they need out of school to become happy, successful adults.

Commentary
2.19.2020
Governance

Five reasons Congress should not block-grant the federal Charter Schools Program

Michael J. Petrilli

As a center-right think tank, we whole-heartedly support turning prescriptive federal programs into block grants. Among other things, they reduce bureaucratic inefficiency and trust states to decide what’s best for their unique circumstances. But there are exceptions to our adoration, and one of them is the Trump Administration’s proposal to include the federal Charter Schools Program in a new mega-block-grant.

Commentary
2.19.2020
Teachers & School Leaders

Most school districts have little effect on academic mobility

Robert Pondiscio

A new report published in the journal The Annals of the Unsurprising reports that a child’s performance relative to other students on their third grade state tests in reading and math predicts where he or she will rank in tenth grade.

Commentary
2.12.2020
Charter Schools, Governance

Has Trump turned against charter schools?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The Trump administration’s proposed budget takes the Education Department’s $440 million program of financial assistance for charters and melds it with twenty-eight other programs into a big new K–12 block grant. Although there’s scant political likelihood that Congress will adopt the plan, the proposal itself will be interpreted and welcomed by charter foes as a sign that even Trump and his allies and supporters have lost their enthusiasm for these independent public schools of choice.

Commentary
2.12.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Training teachers to fail

Jasmine Lane, Jon Gustafson

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the reading crisis in U.S. schools.

Commentary
2.12.2020
Governance, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

The harm of special education enrollment caps

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

A couple years ago, a high-profile dispute played out between the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the federal Department of Education, with a January 2019 New York Times headline pronouncing,

Commentary
2.6.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Beware the Democrats’ new teachers-union-loyalty test

Derrell Bradford

In The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes of a rally held for communist leader Josef Stalin. At the event’s end, a tribute to Stalin was called for. As Solzhenitsyn writes, “Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name)....

Commentary
2.6.2020
Governance

Lamar Alexander’s education legacy

Dale Chu

No sooner had Senator Lamar Alexander released his statement last Thursday on the impeachment witness vote than the handwringing began.

Commentary
2.5.2020
Accountability & Testing, Teachers & School Leaders

Students learn more from teachers with high grading standards

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. Petrilli

Fordham’s newest report, "Great Expectations," delves into high school grading practices and the impact they have on student outcomes. Turns out that higher standards benefit students of all types and in all kinds of schools. Whether black, Hispanic, white, male, or female, students learn more when taught by teachers with higher expectations. Unfortunately, American schools are gradually making it harder, not easier, for teachers to keep standards high.

Commentary
2.5.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Do community schools benefit disadvantaged families?

Brandon L. Wright

Achievement gaps between affluent and low-income students are caused by much more than what happens in the classroom. Poverty is associated with a litany of social consequences that make learning more difficult, such as unstable housing, poor healthcare, and greater exposure to violence and other traumas.

Commentary
2.4.2020
Evidence-Based Learning

Why is it so hard to improve reading achievement?

Timothy Shanahan

Interesting question. Before I answer, let me ask one: What keeps Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, up at night? You know Amazon, the trillion-dollar corporation that delivers something like a five billion packages a year. I’m at a professional meeting. The chair asks what “levers” we have for improving reading achievement in the U.S.

Commentary
2.4.2020
Teachers & School Leaders

NEW REPORT: Great Expectations: The Impact of Rigorous Grading Practices on Student Achievement

The Education Gadfly

One indicator of teachers’ expectations is whether they subject students to more or less rigorous grading practices. Unfortunately, “grade inflation” is pervasive in U.S. high schools, as evidenced by rising GPAs even as SAT scores and other measures of academic performance have held stable or fallen. A “good” grade is no longer a clear marker of knowledge and skills. This report examines how teachers’ grading standards affect student success.