Commentary
What we're reading this week: October 10, 2024
In which a leading center-right columnist rethinks the proposition that education can ameliorate America’s inequalities in the information age.
Topics
Podcast
Governance
#941: Inside Denver’s education transformation, with Parker Baxter
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Parker Baxter, Director
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders
7 thoughts about elite college students who can’t read books
Rose Horowitch’s article in The Atlantic is getting lots of buzz.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The case against discipline reform
Rates of student misbehavior remain elevated compared to pre-Covid levels. Pandemic-era disruptions, broader societal disorder and crime rates, and social media are also plausible explanations. But so is “discipline reform,” a set of policies and practices that many schools embraced over the past decade. Its tenets: talk to those kids, pursue “restorative justice,” or ignore their poor behavior. But never impose a consequence.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Banned Books Week? Try “First Amendment Week” instead
A few years ago, I taught a high school seminar class in civics and democracy at a New York charter school. My goal for the course was for students to see that the U.S. Constitution isn’t an ancient, dusty document, but an enduring set of principles, deeply woven into their lives and the headlines they read every day.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Urban school drama has come to the leafy suburbs
A 6,000 student Midwestern district recently adopted a budget that would result—if all goes according to plan—in a $13.2 million deficit, or more than $2,000 per student. This follows $10 million shortfalls in each of the previous two years. Cash is dwindling.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
Schools are also a form of childcare. How important is that to parents’ mental health?
We tend to think of schools as simply the place where kids go to learn, but they aren’t only about education. They provide many essential services to students and families, including nutrition, healthcare—and even if simply as a byproduct of mandatory attendance for educational purposes, giving parents a place to send their children while they’re at work.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: October 3, 2024
An “opportunity economy” would give every person the chance to achieve their potential—and there are three keys to creating one: promoting thriving childhood environments, focusing on community-level change, and building social capital.
Podcast
#940: Navigating accountability for education savings accounts, with Devon Nir
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Devon Nir, a research assistant at the Thomas B.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Do parents want a longer school year? Evidence from New York City.
Eschewing the traditional September start to the new school year (or, at most, mid-August), some Richmond, Virginia, public schools kicked off the 2024–25 academic calendar on July 22.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, Governance
With student enrollment plummeting, which schools should be considered candidates for closure?
Forcing students to switch schools can be traumatic and even harmful. Yet closing an underenrolled school can also be beneficial when displaced students land in better alternatives, and when it ensures that innumerable children in future generations are well-served. But how should policymakers identify which schools should be candidates for closure? Our latest study offers some answers.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice
The “à la carte education” accountability conundrum
Of the school choice options available to many U.S. families today, few embody the spirit of “power to the parents” quite like education savings accounts (ESAs).
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The Texas-sized surge in uncertified teachers
Houston’s local ABC news affiliate recently ran a report that the Houston Independent School District, Texas’s largest, has more than 2,000 uncertified teachers (out of a teaching force of approximately 10,000).
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, School Finance, Governance
Does spending on school facilities raise student test scores?
Schools across the country spend billions of dollars each year on the construction and renovation of their facilities—everything from roof repairs to new science labs and from classroom expansions to whole new buildings. How do these expenditures impact students and the taxpaying community around schools?
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: September 26, 2024
“How Kamala Harris can build an ‘opportunity economy.’” —Raj Chetty, New York Times According to a new report, many social studies teachers are now turning to the internet to find primary sources for their lessons—but a small number are presenting students with ideologically skewed mat
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance
Most schools in America are off track. Virginia is no different.
Governor Glenn Youngkin is under fire again from Virginia’s education establishment, this time because a new school accountability system his administration is promoting refuses to put lipstick on a pig.
Podcast
#939: What to do about underenrolled and underachieving schools? with Sofoklis Goulas
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Sofo
Report
Underachieving and Underenrolled: Chronically Low-Performing Schools in the Post-Pandemic Era
Because public school enrollment hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels—and because underlying enrollment trends are negative—it’s likely that some public schools will need to be closed in the near future. But which schools should be considered candidates for closure?
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
3 ways to increase choice and decrease polarization in U.S. schools
Editor’s note: This was first published by The 74.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education
Broader access to advanced coursework: An interview with Jefferson Pestronk, Executive Director of Modern States
Modern States Education Alliance is a non-profit that makes college-level courses and college credit free to any learner anywhere, including high school students interested in advanced coursework. It offers thirty-two online courses free of charge at www.modernstates.org, including all the necessary textbooks and readings.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Opting out of the selective-college craziness is always an option
If the academic Olympics aren’t working for some stressed-out teens and their families, they should consider downshifting in their courses and activities and forgetting about gaining admission to a highly-selected college. Focus instead on finding one that’s a great fit for you personally. Be assured that, given enrollment trends, plenty will be glad to receive you.
Commentary
School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Does more money matter to teachers? It’s not a simple yes or no question
As a candidate for president in 2020, Kamala Harris introduced a plan to raise teacher salaries by $13,500.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
What Kamala Harris should do on education and training
Kamala Harris’s presidential acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention promised Americans “an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and the chance to succeed.” But working-class Americans are glum about their economic position today and what this promise means for them.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance
Repeating history: Long-term economic impact of disrupted school years
As school systems around the world continue trying to recover from learning losses caused by the pandemic, a new paper out of Germany gives us some historic context on what to look for and what to be wary of.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: September 19, 2024
In general, wealthier schools have higher reading proficiency rates—but the focus should be on districts like Steubenville, Ohio, that are exceeding expectations despite their high rates of poverty.
Podcast
#938: The disappointing results of high-dosage tutoring, with Michael Goldstein
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Michael Goldstein,
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
The value proposition of high-quality instructional materials is different than I thought it was
As another school year begins, I have been struck by the many different ways leaders and educators talk about instructional materials. At meet-the-teacher nights or staff meetings to explain the move to a new curriculum or in board meetings to explain plans for the year, educators often talk about the role the curriculum will play with bold claims. I have heard:
