Displaying 511-540 of 1281 results
Commentary
6.2.2022
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How to respond sensibly to the Uvalde shooting

Dale Chu

Awful tragedies like the shooting in Uvalde notwithstanding, firearms will remain ubiquitous. The question is whether policymakers can bring measured thinking and nuance to bear in solving the thorny problem of gun violence in schools. This is particularly challenging in a media climate that hypes and distorts the prevalence of what happened in last week, even as schools continue to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Commentary
6.2.2022
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

How to narrow the excellence gap in early elementary school

Michael J. Petrilli

In recent weeks, I’ve dug into the “excellence gap“—the sharp divides along lines of race

Commentary
6.2.2022
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Natalie Wexler goes astray on the NAEP reading test

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Natalie Wexler has done much (along with the likes of Jeanne Chall, Don Hirsch, Dan Willingham, Kate Walsh, and Robert Pondiscio) to establish the fact that there’s science behind the act of reading and the related proposition that real reading (not just “decoding”) is no isolated skill but, rather, a complicated process of making sense of what one reads on the page in the context of what one a

Commentary
5.31.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The core conflict of interest in public education

Don Parker

In my work on the teaching staff of a master’s level class in public policy, I am regularly dismayed by how often our students propose only governmental solutions to public problems.

Commentary
5.26.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The excellence gap opens early

Michael J. Petrilli

Last week, I provided sobering evidence of the “excellence gap” among twelfth grade students—the sharp divides along lines of race and class in achievement at the highest levels.

Commentary
5.26.2022
School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Can states clean up their teacher pension messes?

Aaron Churchill

Many state teacher pension systems are woefully underfunded, impose significant costs on teachers and schools, and shortchange tho

Commentary
5.26.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Getting to work: The effect of school-year employment on student outcomes

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Calls are rising for America’s aging high-school model to modernize, in part by accommodating work experience through hands-on internships or actual employment for students.

Commentary
5.19.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The excellence gap and underrepresentation at America’s most selective universities

Michael J. Petrilli

America’s education system suffers from a variety of “excellence gaps”—sharp disparities in performance by race and class at the highest levels of academic achievement. These gaps explain why college administrators turn to various forms of affirmative action in order to create freshmen classes that more closely represent the nation’s diversity—actions that may soon be declared unconstitutional. But when do these gaps start?

Commentary
5.19.2022
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

Evidence, struggling math students, and California’s 2022 math framework

Tom Loveless

The proposed California Mathematics Framework generated a storm of controversy when the first draft was released in early 2021. Critics objected to the document’s condemnation of tracking and negative portrayal of acceleration for high-achieving students.

Commentary
5.19.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

What does teacher certification contribute to outcomes for students with disabilities?

Jeff Murray

Reams of research have reported contradictory outcomes for students with disabilities (SWDs) who are taught in general education classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers versus learning in settings with only SWDs. A new report focuses on teacher certification as a possible mechanism to explain the variations in outcomes.

Commentary
5.19.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

More data on the impact of remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic

Julia Wolf

Throughout the pandemic, we encountered much speculation about the impact that remote learning would have on student performance. The expected learning loss was a concern not just of American parents and educators, but of citizens all around the world.

Commentary
5.12.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and choices for NAEP

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

NAEP is by far the country’s most important source of information on student achievement, achievement gaps and so much more, even though it’s invisible to most Americans. Yet NAEP is far from perfect—and could do so much more than it does. It’s time to wrestle with its challenges, shortcomings, and possible future scenarios.

Commentary
5.11.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The case for charter schools is stronger than ever

The Education Gadfly

Just over thirty years ago, the first public charter school law was passed in Minnesota. One year later, City Academy Charter School opened its doors in St. Paul. The charter sector now boasts more than 7,700 schools serving over 3.4 million students nationwide.

Commentary
5.5.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

No, social and emotional learning is not a “Trojan horse” for CRT

Robert Pondiscio

Last week came news that more than 40 percent of math textbooks submitted for review in Florida were deemed incompatible with state standards or contained “prohibited topics” including reference

Julia Wolf SR 4-28-22 image
Commentary
4.28.2022
Governance

How student outcomes were impacted by the desegregation of schools

Julia Wolf

The Supreme Court decision that overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education had a great impact on schools across much of the United States. Even though not every school received the same integration orders, and some did not receive any at all, the desegregation of schools had significant effects on Black students’ outcomes.

Julia Wolf SR 4-28-22 image
Gadfly Guy
Commentary
4.28.2022
Governance

What we're reading this week: April 28, 2022

The Education Gadfly

Dropping SAT requirements inflated Ivy-league application numbers and made this year’s admissions cycle the most competitive on record.

Gadfly Guy
Daniel Buck editorial 4-21-22 image
Commentary
4.21.2022
Governance

How the Right can lose the education argument

Daniel Buck

It’s now fashionable in some circles of the Right to call any teacher who supports sex education a “groomer,” lumping them into the category of pedophile. Christina Pushaw, press secretary to Florida governor Ron Desantis, referred to that state’s new legislation as an “anti-grooming” bill.

Daniel Buck editorial 4-21-22 image
Gadfly Guy
Commentary
4.21.2022
Governance

What we're reading this week: April 21, 2022

The Education Gadfly

Parent Nation, by Dana Suskind, describes how we can build social and policy structures that help parents from all income backgrounds with their youngest children.

Gadfly Guy