NEW from Fordham: Redefining the School District in America
The Education GadflyIn Redefining the School District in America, Nelson Smith reexamines existing recovery school districts (RSDs)—entities in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Michigan charged with running and turning around their states’ worst schools—and assembles the most comprehensive catalog of simil
Shocking: Presidential candidates are playing politics with the Common Core!
The Education GadflyThe Education Gadfly
How schools can solve Robert Putnam's poverty paradox
Michael J. PetrilliPoor kids need social capital; schools can help to provide it. Michael J. Petrilli
Understanding incentives in charter authorizing
AEI just released a very good, short report on charter authorizing, “The Paperwork Pileup: Measuring the Burden of Charter School Applications.”
New Pathways to Careers and College: Examples, Evidence, and Prospects
Michelle LernerHow to identify and promote good CTE programs. Michelle Lerner
Governor Markell's school choice column gets lost in the mail
We’ve learned a lot since 2001. Andy Smarick
The Paperwork Pileup: Measuring the Burden of Charter School Applications
Kathryn MullenA new AEI report raises the right questions—and promulgates some of the wrong answers. Kathryn Mullen Upton
The American Dream in crisis: A conversation with Robert Putnam
The Education GadflyLast week, Fordham hosted Robert Putnam for a discussion of his new book Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, which argues that a growing opportunity gap is leaving many American children behind.
Charter law reform in Ohio: Voices from the front lines
Aaron Churchill , Jeff MurrayLeaders of high-performing schools address charter law reform efforts
MNPS Expenditures and Academic Outcomes: Long Term Opportunities for the District
Kevin MahnkenFor Nashville charters, funding disparities endanger progress. Kevin Mahnken
Bad, Better…Best
When bad schools close, families usually get something better.That’s what the Thomas B. Fordham Institute asserts in its April 2015 study School Closures and Student Achievement, using new research conducted in both traditional and charter public schools located in Ohio’s large urban school districts.
Andy Smarick on fixing Buckeye State charters
Editor's note: On May 6, Fordham contributor Andy Smarick delivered testimony before an Ohio education subcommittee on Senate Bill 148, a critical piece of legislation that would help clean up
The morality of school choice
Rewarding parents who make informed decisions. Matthew Levey
A successful formula: Shared curriculum and shared responsibility
Like pretty much everyone who is passionate about closing the achievement gap, I’m interested in Success Academies.
Why school closures matter
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has consistently believed that all schools should be held accountable for the performance of their students and that any school that isn’t perfor
School closures, student learning, and the new system of schools
A decade ago, I became fixated on what I saw as the biggest problem in K–12 education—that we continued to assign low-income inner-city kids to persistently failing schools.