Displaying 151-177 of 177 results
Commentary
2.22.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

How one school district is balancing excellence and equity—and another isn’t

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
2.17.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Preparing young people for success at work is about knowledge and relationships

Bruno V. Manno

What does it mean to “prepare young people for adult work,” an oft-used saying to describe one of schooling’s primary goals? Though it surely means that we prepare them to earn a living and move up the income ladder, work is more than a financial way to provide for ourselves and those we love.

Commentary
2.16.2023
School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice

Why I’m wary of universal education savings accounts

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

In the fast-moving, highly energized world of school choice and parent-empowerment advocacy, education savings accounts are the hottest thing since vouchers, maybe even hotter. Ten states already have them in some form, and a dozen more legislatures are weighing bills to create them. But Finn is wary, particularly of the free-swinging, almost-anything-goes version known as “universal” ESAs.

Commentary
2.16.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The sad state of the teaching profession

Nathaniel Grossman

“Go to law school.” This was the advice that my mother—who had spent her entire career as a high school English teacher—gave me upon my college graduation. She also advised me on which career to avoid: teaching. My mother was adamant that I not follow her footsteps into the classroom.

Commentary
2.9.2023
School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

Give parents wide latitude on ESA uses—and give teachers their own accounts, too

Mike Goldstein

Recent news stories have pushed the narrative that parents are using education savings accounts to buy items of questionable educational value and relevance, including chicken coops, trampolines, and tickets to SeaWorld. But perhaps ESAs’ permissiveness is a feature, not a bug—and perhaps officials would be wise to go one step further and give teachers their own accounts.

Commentary
2.9.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Soft-on-consequences discipline is terrible for teachers

Daniel Buck

I’ve lost count of the number of teachers I know who have either left their school or entirely abandoned education because of student behavior. A student physically threatened a friend, and the administration provided no consequence. This friend quit soon thereafter. Another started a family and just couldn’t remain emotionally present as a father while dealing with chaos at work all day.

Commentary
2.9.2023
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Re-evaluating the cost of test-based retention policies

Jeff Murray

What does it cost to retain a less-than-proficient student and provide him or her with remediation and additional support?

Commentary
2.7.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Racial and ethnic gaps in advanced STEM achievement: 3 takeaways from recent research

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
2.6.2023
School Finance, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

Parent navigators are worth the investment for school choice supporters

Travis Pillow

From 2015 to 2018, the start of spring meant I could expect to hear from parents across Florida. At the time, I worked for Step Up Students, the Florida-based organization that administers the nation’s largest education scholarship (i.e., voucher) program. My job was not in customer service. I was the editor of a blog focused on school choice issues.

Commentary
2.2.2023
School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

How much education is a public responsibility?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

So many of our debates about paying for higher education hinge on conflicting views of what’s the taxpayer’s responsibility and what’s the recipient’s. These days, that’s also true of pre-schooling and it also arises, albeit in different form, when we fight over vouchers, tax credits, ESAs and such. Is it society’s responsibility to pay for private schooling or is it the family’s?

Commentary
1.31.2023
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Toward a broader conception of student success—and a broader conception of accountability

Gene Pinkard

I have held firm to this belief since my early days of teaching: Getting students to proficiency and above in reading and math is a commitment to social justice and democracy. Education can empower students to change the world, especially when it counters cycles of poverty.

Commentary
1.27.2023
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance

Interpreting the Covid impact on achievement

David Armor

The release of “The Nation’s Report Card” on October 24, 2022, created shock waves though out the country’s education and policy establishments.

Commentary
1.26.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Dr. King and the liberal arts

Jennifer Frey

Last week, as we celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we recalled his civil rights activism as an admirable example of creating what John Lewis called “good trouble.” Dr. King is an American icon precisely because he possessed the wisdom and courage to hold America up to her own high standards: that all men are created equal and must be treated equally before the law.

Commentary
1.26.2023
School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice

Public dollars, private schools

Robert Pondiscio

For the vast majority of America’s children, going to school has changed little from their parents’ generation, even their grandparents’: Where you live is where you learn, in a school run by your local public school district.

Commentary
1.26.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Getting ready for future employment opportunity: Evidence from Pittsburgh

Jeff Murray

Reversing decades of economic struggle in America’s former manufacturing centers is a high priority for leaders in cities and regions across the nation. Many would like to see technology-focused industries lead such a resurgence, but do they have enough qualified workers? And if not, how can they increase those numbers?

Commentary
1.20.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Driving equity in gifted policies: Insights from Harlem Academy in New York City

Vincent Dotoli

Editor’s note: This essay was part of an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute that is 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
1.19.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The true enemy of equity

Michael J. Petrilli

Advocates have turned “equity” into a trigger word by pitting the concept against “excellence.” But that line of argument is not only politically unpopular, it’s wrong. In fact, excellence is not the enemy of equity, but the antidote to inequity.

Commentary
1.19.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

“Curriculum transparency” is harder to achieve than lawmakers assume

Robert Pondiscio

House Republicans this week introduced a curriculum transparency bill aimed at ensuring parents know what their kids are learning in school, particularly when that includes “divisive concepts” like critical race theory, which has been banned from classrooms or restricted i

Commentary
1.12.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

One teacher’s response to the reading wars

Nathaniel Grossman

Sold a Story, the podcast series from American Public Media, is essential listening for parents and teachers. Through six episodes, host Emily Hanford documents how schools failed to adequately teach reading to students over the past thirty years.

Commentary
1.5.2023
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Charter school teacher turnover and retention

Daniel Buck

As one article at National Affairs put it, the cries about a nation-wide teacher shortage are “heavy on anecdote and speculation” but rather light on data.

Commentary
1.5.2023
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The typical gifted program is likely to become even less equitable

Scott J. Peters, Meredith Langi

By now the unfinished learning that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic is old news.