What to do about the Covid kindergarten cohort?
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the third in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies that schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.
Career and technical education and the soft bigotry of low expectations
Tamar JacobyBeware the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” President George W. Bush’s trenchant warning resonated across the political spectrum when he voiced it to the NAACP in 2000, and it has more or less driven federal education policy ever since. For many, educators and noneducators alike, it remains a touchstone of how to think about racial equity.
The unexamined cost of teachers’ time spent choosing instructional materials
Robert PondiscioDespite the burgeoning interest in “high-quality instructional materials” (HQIM) and energetic efforts in recent years to incentivize their use, “evidence is mixed on how much teachers actually use the materials that districts or schools adopt,” note the authors of a new research report from the RAND Corporation.
3 ways instructional materials help to address unfinished learning in math
Tim TruittA few months ago, I wrote an article about Covid-19 learning loss and t
Advice to the Biden administration on improving special education. More money isn’t enough—or most important.
Nathan LevensonAmong the many reasons equity advocates are celebrating new leadership in Washington is the hope that President Biden and Secretary of Education-designate Cardona will do more to help students with disabilities. These kids struggled mightily in school before the pandemic, and no group of students has suffered more from remote and hybrid learning.
The Education Gadfly Show: The education issues facing state legislatures in 2021
What the Capitol riot means for civics education
Dale ChuStill reeling from the assault on the Capitol and the subsequent impeachment effort against Former President Trump, the education sphere’s attention has understandably returned to the need to resuscitate the teaching of civics and history. If schools did a better job of grounding our students in the principles of a free society and a basic understanding of U.S.
One option for giving children their pandemic year back: Add an extra year to elementary school, forever
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the second in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.
The civics and history lesson our children need right now
Robert PondiscioHistory, well taught, equips students with the ability to see through current crises. Civics, well taught, fosters in every heart an investment in democratic processes and a respect bordering on reverence for the rule of law.
Charter schools are a Band-Aid when a heart transplant is needed
Marc TuckerThis post is adapted from an email conversation between Marc Tucker and Fordham’s Michael J. Petrilli, in which Marc was responding to Mike’s recent article, “The case for urban charter schools.” It also appeared in Fordham’s Flypaper newsletter.
Dan McKee, poised to be Rhode Island’s next governor, is a model of how to improve schools for all children
Erika SanziRhode Islanders just saw their governor, Gina Raimondo, tapped to become President-elect Biden’s Secretary of Commerce.
Give disadvantaged children their pandemic year back
Michael J. PetrilliAs the world struggles through some of the darkest days of the pandemic, and more schools shift back to remote learning, we at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute are spending most of our time thinking about what comes next: educational recovery.
Explicit teaching vs. constructivism: The misadventures of Bean Dad
Robert PondiscioNearly every day, social media plucks some poor, anonymous face in the crowd from obscurity and makes him famous. If you’re making New Year’s Resolutions this year, one should be never to be that guy.