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Displaying 151-180 of 440 results
Commentary
8.25.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Industry-recognized credentials are helpful but not transformative for high school students

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

Fordham’s newest study finds, among other things, that industry-recognized credentials earned in high school are a net positive for students who earn them but are not game-changers. This raises a lingering question: How else can we transform the high school experience for students so as to significantly boost their wages and career prospects once they are in the workforce? Here are four ideas.

Commentary
8.25.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The evolving education reform agenda

Michael J. Petrilli

Earlier this month, I argued that “education reform is alive and well, even if the Washington Consensus is dead for now.” What’s more, I wrote that we should stay the course on the current reform strategy:

Commentary
8.25.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Is school choice good for America?

Robert Pondiscio

Does school choice work? That depends on who you talk to and what you mean by “work.” For education researchers and policy wonks, school choice works if it raises math and reading scores for students who take advantage of choice programs or, more broadly, if market competition improves measurable outcomes for all students.

Commentary
8.19.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Instructional coherence isn’t a trendy reform. It’s necessary—and it works.

Kunjan Narechania

In a recent piece about the state of standards-based reform, Dale Chu weighs the benefits and challenges of a district “relinquishment” versus “instructional coherence” approach to improving student learning.

Commentary
8.19.2022
Teachers & School Leaders

Teachers unions should stay in their lane

Nathaniel Grossman

American children are suffering from unprecedented learning loss, and many are not even bothering to show up to school.

Commentary
8.18.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

States revamp early reading policies. Is this time for real?

Dale Chu

Since 2013, thirty states have passed legislation or implemented new policies related to the “science of reading.” Their collective effort to change how early reading is taught in America’s classrooms is the focus of an excellent new project by Education Week’s Sarah Schwartz. There are, however, questions about the sustainability of these massive efforts.

Commentary
8.18.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Virtue and classic children’s literature

Jennifer Frey

Parents are often given dubious advice about their children’s reading: Let them read whatever they enjoy, as we must encourage literacy. This is a strangely laissez-faire attitude to take towards such a fundamentally formative activity. No decent school counsels parents to let their children watch or listen to whatever they want, so why is reading different?

Commentary
8.18.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The benefits of multiple screenings for student giftedness

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Efforts to diversify the roster of students classified as gifted often focus on race and ethnicity.

Commentary
8.17.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Gifted education is (hopefully) a work in progress in America’s largest school district

Brandon L. Wright

Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and published every other week. Its purpose is to monitor the progress of gifted education in America, including legal and legislative developments, policy and leadership changes, emerging research, grassroots efforts, and more.

Commentary
8.12.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards

A freedom framework for social studies education

Cade Brumley

The American educational system has neglected its duty to provide students with a foundational understanding of social studies for decades. Weak standards for learning were established, primary documents were ignored, and students were allowed to create their own historical truths.

Commentary
8.11.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Education reform is alive and well, even if the Washington Consensus is dead for now

Michael J. Petrilli

The latest declaration of education reform’s demise comes from two of Mike’s favorite people: Checker Finn and Rick Hess. But what they actually describe is the end of the bipartisan ed reform coalition—what Mike and Rick used to call the “Washington Consensus.” Even with it gone for now, however, education reform continues apace—and continues to rack up victories for kids. And there are ways to rebuild the coalition.

Commentary
8.11.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The new education consensus is conservative, and that’s a good thing

Daniel Buck

In the latest issue of National Affairs, Chester Finn and Frederick Hess chronicle the splintering of the school reform movement that lasted from roughly 1983 until Trump’s presidency.

Commentary
8.11.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Do multi-tiered systems of support improve student behavior?

Julia Wolf

School systems across the country are training teachers in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to tackle issues like social emotional learning, mental health, and behavioral interventions.

Commentary
8.11.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How states leaders can expand and support youth apprenticeships

Abigail Hamilton

The Covid-19 pandemic altered public confidence in education and left lasting shortages in the workforce. Youth unemployment rates are recovering, but young people are still in need of job opportunities that will create lasting wealth and opportunities for further education.

Commentary
8.11.2022

What we're reading this week: August 11, 2022

The Education Gadfly

School choice is a contentious issue in Texas’s gubernatorial race between Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke. —The Texas Tribune Parent protests over school budget cuts have pressured Mayor Eric Adams to take the unusual step of renegotiating NYC’s education budget with the City Council.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Lax school discipline is bad for teachers

Jeremy Adams

Teachers’ authority in the classroom is being undermined by policies of “restorative justice”—a non-punitive approach to discipline. But the predictable albeit unintended consequence of these well-meaning policies is that disruptive students get away with previously unacceptable behavior. Outbursts of student vulgarity and incidence of violence have become normalized as something teachers and other students have to endure.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Gifted students need a “continuum of services” now more than ever

Dina Brulles

Teachers are now planning instruction for the new school year. But very quickly after their pupils arrive, many will realize that some students will not be adequately challenged by the grade-level curriculum typically assigned for the class. Some will already have mastered that material and are ready to move on.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Impacts of charter school growth on school and neighborhood diversity

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Student demographics in traditional district schools largely reflect patterns of housing availability and affordability within neighborhoods. Much of that is due to strict attendance zoning.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

More evidence that making school easier does students no favors

Adam Tyner, Ph.D., Christian Eggers

It’s one of those zombie mantras that just won’t die: Letting students cut corners, giving them grades they haven’t earned, and generally lowering the bar is a nice thing to do for vulnerable kids—those living in poverty, often with turbulent home lives or mental health struggles to boot.