Displaying 31-60 of 1813 results
High school graduates
Commentary
9.5.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

What’s the point of high school?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Many states are struggling to revise their high-school graduation requirements, sometimes up, sometimes down. The most basic is the perennial issue of how hard should it be to earn a diploma. The next is how can high schools can possibly prepare thousands of dissimilar young people for the expectations and prerequisites of hundreds of differing post-graduation options?

High school graduates
Parent-teacher conference
Commentary
9.5.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

It’s time for tough love to address chronic absenteeism

David Griffith, Daniel Buck

Despite an unprecedented infusion of resources, the latest data show that American students are struggling to recover

Parent-teacher conference
School tutor
Commentary
9.5.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Tutoring outcomes in D.C. public schools, 2022–23

Jeff Murray

Since 2022, public schools in the District of Columbia have been working to mitigate Covid learning disruptions by establishing and ramping up high-impact tutoring (HIT) efforts.

School tutor
Indiana Statehouse
Commentary
8.30.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Why Indiana high school diploma changes may do more harm than good

Sophia Craiutu

Indiana’s new proposed legislation on altered diploma requirements redesigns the purpose of a high school education, which I believe will have negative consequences for students across the state, with regard to the diminishing skills of global-mindedness and perspectives.

Indiana Statehouse
School students raising hands
Commentary
8.29.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools

Charter schools outperform traditional public schools on average. Here's why.

Michael J. Petrilli, David Griffith

High-quality studies find that charter schools boost achievement by more than their traditional-public-school counterparts—an advantage that is particularly large for students of color in disadvantaged urban communities, and one that has only grown larger as the charter sector has expanded and matured.

School students raising hands
Students walking to school
Commentary
8.29.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance

Does competition from charter schools help or hurt traditional public schools?

David Griffith, Heena Kuwayama

It’s widely acknowledged that a bit of healthy competition is a good thing in most contexts. Among other things, it pushes businesses to create better products and athletes and musicians to train longer and harder. But what about in education?

Students walking to school
Dr. Kathleen O’Toole
Commentary
8.22.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Inside the classical school renaissance: An interview with Dr. Kathleen O’Toole

Daniel Buck

Classical education is undergoing a renaissance. According to a recent analysis by Arcadia Education, the classical sector is growing by 5 percent annually with a total projected enrollment of 1.4 million students by 2035.

Dr. Kathleen O’Toole
Frustrated school teacher
Commentary
8.22.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How have teacher working conditions changed since the pandemic?

Heena Kuwayama

As a teacher both during and immediately after the pandemic, I was constantly on the receiving end of some version of: “You must be so relieved that the pandemic is over.” My response was always: “Actually, it has only gotten worse.” And it’s not just me.

Frustrated school teacher
Empty classroom
Commentary
8.20.2024
Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

I got caught teaching advanced students

Jason Gorgia

“Come see me in the office.” Uh oh. I probably got caught teaching again.

Empty classroom
School robotics class
Commentary
8.15.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Threading the needle on selective enrollment public schools

Michael J. Petrilli

A recent article in the Boston Globe dug into a controversy that is dogging Massachusetts’s highly-regarded system of regional career and technical education (CTE) high schools.

School robotics class
Teacher talking to a student
Commentary
8.6.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Is racial mismatch in the classroom fixable?

Zia George

Despite the growing diversity of American students, the teaching workforce remains disproportionately White. A recent study uses twelve years of administrative data from Maryland to examine the factors contributing to the state's chronic shortage of Black teachers.

Teacher talking to a student
Closed school
Commentary
8.1.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, Governance

Stop playing the race card on school closures

Vladimir Kogan

Everyone who cares about racial justice should be focused on doing what’s best for students and their learning—not on school buildings or the employment impact of closing some of them.

Closed school
Standardized test in school
Commentary
8.1.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The case for standardized testing

Victoria McDougald

By now, we’re well familiar with critiques of standardized testing opponents: tests rob schools of critical instructional time, encourage teaching to the test, place undue pressure on students and educators to perform, are educationally irrelevant, only provide a snapshot of student achievement at a specific moment in time, and are largely driven by family income levels, parents’ education, and

Standardized test in school
School report card
Commentary
8.1.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

Have bloated pandemic-era grades now stabilized?

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

School closures and remote learning led to widespread relaxation of student accountability at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Lax requirements to turn in work, fewer graded assignments, and—most perniciously—policies mandating “no zeros” or “no failing grades” were adopted (or accelerated) to lighten the load of young people whose worlds had been turned upside down.

School report card
Wonkathon
Commentary
7.30.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

“Everything, everywhere, all at once” solutions to chronic absenteeism

Kelly James, Brad Bernatek

Read the winning entry in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further?”

Wonkathon
Wonkathon
Commentary
7.30.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Who gets attendance interventions is as important as what the intervention is

Mikia Manley

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further?”

Wonkathon
Wonkathon
Commentary
7.29.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Sustainable, promising interventions to reduce chronic absenteeism

Charles Ogundimu

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further?”

Wonkathon
Wonkathon
Commentary
7.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

To fix chronic absenteeism, we must ask why kids don’t want to go to school

Leslie Colwell

Editor’s note: This essay won second place in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further

Wonkathon
Students taking a test
Commentary
7.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education

Are AP exams getting easier?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Three decades ago, the College Board “recentered” the SAT. Now it’s “recalibrating” Advanced Placement. Though both adjustments in these enormously influential testing programs can be justified by psychometricians, both are also probable examples of what the late Senator Daniel P.

Students taking a test
Wonkathon
Commentary
7.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Change our schooling paradigm to reduce chronic absenteeism

Hugh Osborn

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further?”

Wonkathon