The civil-rights fight today for one leader
Adam EmersonIt has always puzzled me why the Rev. H.K. Matthews hasn’t drawn more attention for his support for private school choice. His name may not carry the weight of King, Randolph, or Rustin, but it’s doubtful that the civil-rights movement would have quickened in Florida at the pace it did without the sacrifices Matthews made.
Making children "mere creatures of the state"
Adam EmersonThe Justice Department may be the last major American institution that values racial integration for the sake of integration. Its lawyers have worked to encase aging federal school-desegregation orders in cast iron while families—both white and black—have sought more flexibility, quality schools, and choices as to where their children will attend.
Give the public what it wants: Customization
Adam EmersonCount me among the fans of school choice who looked favorably upon this year’s results of the Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup poll.
Next Generation Science Standards Revisited
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Kathleen Porter-MageeCan you spell “C” as in “chemistry”?
Three pollsters walked into a school…
Michael BrickmanTriangulating a trifecta of survey results
Commentary on Appendix L: Alignment of the Next Generation Science Standards with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
W. Stephen WilsonAmong the shortcomings of the NGSS is its acute dearth of math content, even in situations where math is essential to the study and proper understanding of the science that students are being asked to master. Also problematic is the alignment of NGSS math with the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Appendix L of the NGSS seeks to explain the alignment and apply math more thoroughly to NGSS science. This commentary by Johns Hopkins mathematician appraises that appendix. Download Commentary on Appendix L: Alignment of the Next Generation Science Standards with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics to read the appraisal.
Exemplary Science Standards: How Does Your State Compare?
Kathleen Porter-Magee, Brandon L. Wright, Laurel HornWith states weighing whether to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute compares the existing science standards of thirty-eight states with the NGSS and with exemplary standards from three other states. (The thirty-eight are those states with standards that are either “clearly inferior” to the NGSS or “too close to call,” based on our Final Evaluation of the Next Generation Science Standards and The State of Science Standards 2012.)
By the Company It Keeps: Neerav Kingsland
Andy Smarick interviews Neerav Kingsland, CEO of New Schools for New Orleans
By the Company It Keeps: Derrell Bradford
Andy Smarick interviews Derrell Bradford, executive director of Better Education for Kids
12 key takeaways from the national charter schools conference
Michelle Lerner...And only a few shameless Fordham plugs
Big takeaways from CREDO’s 2013 charter study
Four years after the first report’s release, CREDO is out with an update
Some early-summer reads, part 2
The second half of Andy's compilation of must-read recent publications
By The Company It Keeps: Mashea Ashton
Andy Smarick interviews Mashea Ashton, CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund
Final Evaluation of the Next Generation Science Standards
Paul Gross, Douglas Buttrey, Ursula Goodenough, Noretta Koertge, Lawrence S. Lerner, Martha Schwartz, Richard SchwartzIn the final evaluation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the Thomas B. Fordham Institute grants the standards a C grade. The NGSS grade is superior to grades we granted to the science standards of sixteen states and the PISA framework in the State of State Science Standards 2012 but inferior to those of twelve states and the District of Columbia, as well as the NAEP and TIMSS frameworks.
By the Company It Keeps: Robin Lake
Andy Smarick's latest interview is with Robin Lake, director of the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)
Keep charter achievement in perspective
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Observe what a low achievement bar these kinds of comparisons generally set
There’s a better way to unlock parent power than the parent trigger
Michael J. PetrilliIn favor of good old-fashioned school choice
The moderate extremism of relinquishment
Neerav KingslandNeerav Kingsland of New Schools for New Orleans outlines the basics of Relinquishment
Replication, rural, resistance, reauthorization, and revamping
Andy Smarick's picks of the week
Chris Barbic, Nelson Smith, Landry Clarke & Gene Gene the Dancing Machine
Smith's new brief tells the story of the still-young Achievement School District in Tennessee
Proud to be a private public school parent
Michael J. PetrilliThere's public, and then there's “public.”
Budget, KC, Dallas, anthropologists, and the zen of Bill Murray
Sage advice and news tidbits from Andy Smarick
Agitating, standards, charters, teachers, and widgets
Andy's picks, from Kansas City to CALDER
The good news from Pakistan
Chester E. Finn, Jr.A new book from Sir Michael Barber, noted British education reformer, describes an effort to improve education in rural Pakistan
Quixote, jobs, innovation, and Catholic schools
A collection of news and announcements
Governance in the charter school sector: Time for a reboot
Adam EmersonWhen charter schools first emerged more than two decades ago, they presented an innovation in public school governance. No longer would school districts enjoy the “exclusive franchise” to own and operate public schools, as chartering pioneer and advocate Ted Kolderie explained. Charters wouldn’t gain all of the independence of private schools—they would still report to a publicly accountable body, or authorizer—but they would be largely freed from the micromanagement of school boards, district bureaucracies, and union contracts. Autonomy, in exchange for accountability, would reign supreme.