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Displaying 181-210 of 468 results
Commentary
7.29.2021
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

How do suspensions affect classroom learning?

Jeremy Smith

A recent study in the journal Education Finance and Policy uses quarterly achievement and discipline data on nearly 16,000 seventh through eleventh grade students in an inner-ring suburban California school district to estimate the effect of suspensions on the English language arts and math achievement of non-suspended classmates.

Commentary
7.29.2021

What we're reading this week: July 29, 2021

The Education Gadfly

Americans used to flock to California to find opportunity, but now residents are leaving the state. It must reform its education system, especially by empowering parents and expanding choice for disadvantaged students, to keep the California Dream alive.

Commentary
7.22.2021
Charter Schools, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Boston is punishing its Asian American community for its educational success

Brandon L. Wright

Boston just approved sweeping changes to the process by which students are admitted to its three highly-sought exam schools. The idea was to free up more seats for disadvantaged children, some of whom have long been underrepresented at the institutions. Yet in one important aspect, the plan may do exactly the opposite: It’s likely to significantly reduce the number of seats that go to low-income Asian American students.

Commentary
7.22.2021
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Thinking requires knowledge

Daniel Buck

Editor’s note: This was first published by National Review.

Commentary
7.22.2021
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Give a universal curriculum a chance: The NYC initiative holds promise

Robert Pondiscio

When Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter recently announced the city would spend more than $200 million dollars to develop a citywide reading and math curriculum, the smart and obvious take was

Commentary
7.22.2021
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Factors that help teaching candidates find and keep jobs

William Rost

A recent CALDER working paper examined links between teacher preparation programs and the chance that their candidates will enter or remain in the public school system for their first two years post-graduation. Its findings can help school systems improve teacher retention—a problem that many districts face, especially those that mostly educate disadvantaged students.

Commentary
7.22.2021

What we're reading this week: July 22, 2021

The Education Gadfly

Prof. Samuel Goldman’s column presented two options for conservatives who want to defeat critical race theory. But here’s a better way to advance their vision for academia.

Commentary
7.15.2021
Governance, Standards

How not to write state standards for civics and U.S. history

Jeremy Smith

As discussed in Fordham’s new report, many states aren’t making the grade when it comes to their civics and U.S. history standards, which are often vague to the point of being meaningless.

Commentary
7.15.2021
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Preparing students of all races to achieve greatness

Ian Rowe

When looking for models of ambitious inspiration, Americans often hearken back to President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” address at Rice University on September 12, 1962:

Commentary
7.15.2021

What we're reading this week: July 15, 2021

The Education Gadfly

A mother shares her insights: “What I’ve learned about raising children who are young, gifted and Black.” —Washington Post We need strong leadership, like that provided by Ohio Governor DeWine and Baltimore Superintendent Sonja Santileses, to help district and school leaders focus on reopening a

Commentary
7.14.2021
Charter Schools, Governance

Three hypotheses to explain this year’s big wins on school choice

Michael J. Petrilli

Despite much anti-choice talk in national politics and some Congressional pushback, 2021 has seen an impressive string of victories for school choice at the state level, which is where it matters most. Was it the pandemic? Has the salience of the anti-school choice argument weakened over the past year? Or does Donald Trump deserve a lot of the credit? Read more.

Commentary
7.9.2021
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

Strong standards are vital for making history and civics central in K–12 education

Peter Gibbon

Gone are the days when we could all agree with Ben Franklin’s sunny admonition: “Indeed the general tendency of reading good history must be, to fix in the minds of youth deep impressions of the beauty and usefulness of virtue of all kinds.” Instead, we must cope with political polarization, schools preoccupied with the achievement gap, students who learn from social media, and adults who are t

Commentary
7.8.2021
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

An improved forecast for the NAEP reading assessment

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The prolonged fracas within and far beyond the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) concerning a new “framework” for NAEP’s future assessment of reading has been ominous on several fronts—as I haven’t hesi

Commentary
7.8.2021
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

No, school choice is not the answer to critical race theory

Robert Pondiscio

Why fight over critical race theory when we can choose? You teach oppression studies; I’ll teach American exceptionalism. It’s a simple and obvious solution. But it’s also a naïve and unsatisfying one. School choice may “solve” the CRT problem for an individual family, but it can’t address the clear interest that every American holds in the education of the next generation.

Commentary
7.8.2021
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Texting parents helps improve student literacy. But how much is too much?

Jeremy Smith

Text-message nudges have been a viable tool in early-childhood literacy in recent years, with parents or guardians receiving occasional missives to encourage specific literacy activities with their children.

Commentary
7.8.2021
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Are Virginia’s elementary schools worsening achievement gaps?

William Rost

A new working paper from researchers out of the University of Virginia uses data from the state’s kindergarten literacy assessment, the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), to examine how the subsequent achievement trajectories of kindergarteners who enter school with similar literacy levels differ by race and/or SES. The findings are worrying.

Commentary
7.8.2021

What we're reading this week: July 8, 2021

The Education Gadfly

Education policy is a leading issue for Boston’s mayoral race, especially policies for exam schools and the method for selecting school board members.