Can we revive standards-based reform?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Few people have done more to boost academic standards in U.S. schools than Michael Cohen and Laura Slover, coauthors of a new paper offering a bright vision for revitalizing them. But there are reasons to doubt the feasibility of its proposals.
Relinquishment or instructional coherence: What’s the right goal for districts?
Dale ChuThe “tripod” of standards, testing, and accountability has taken a real beating in recent years, following decades in which it was accepted dogma within reform circles.
Building better evidence on pre-K by strengthening assessments of children’s skills
Meghan McCormickResearch has found that high-quality pre-K programs can have positive impacts on children’s learning and development, improving outcomes like literacy and math skills in the short-term and even increasing
ESSER is fueling one-size-fits-all strategies. Let’s use data to deliver more targeted efforts.
Marguerite Roza, Ellie RozaStates and districts face no shortage of seemingly overwhelming problems, especially the devastating learning loss among vulnerable students from extended pandemic school closures. But leaders do have money: States and districts got $123 billion in federal emergency (ARP ESSER) relief.
The coming “second wave” of learning loss in 2023 and 2024
Mike GoldsteinCovid “learning loss” has two causes: the loss of in-person instruction in the spring of 2020 and the reliance on remote learning thereafter (which Tom Kane and colleagues quantify in an article in The Atlantic
Education Gadfly Show #823: How detrimental was remote learning?
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Kane, Harvard economist and director of its Center for Education Policy Research, explains
How to narrow the excellence gap in early elementary school
Michael J. PetrilliIn recent weeks, I’ve dug into the “excellence gap“—the sharp divides along lines of race
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
How does a child’s religious background affect her choices about higher education?
Nathaniel Grossman“From Bat Mitzvah to the Bar: Religious Habitus, Self-Concept, and Women’s Educational Outcomes,” a new study by Ilana Horwitz et al., analyzes the college-going rates of women raised by Jewish versus non-Jewish parents.
Education Gadfly Show #822: Checker Finn: Why we need—and need to improve—NAEP
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, the Fordham Institute’s president emeritus and a distinguished seni
What you may not know—but should—about the Nation’s Report Card
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The excellence gap opens early
Michael J. PetrilliLast 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.
Can states clean up their teacher pension messes?
Aaron ChurchillMany state teacher pension systems are woefully underfunded, impose significant costs on teachers and schools, and shortchange tho
Will every high schooler soon have a 4.0?
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.Scholars and testing companies have been following grade inflation for decades. The first ACT study on the topic dates to the mid-1990s, while researchers have used SAT data to study grade inflation since the 1970s.
Education Gadfly Show #821: Sec. Aimee Rogstad Guidera on the state of education in Virginia
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera discusses
The excellence gap and underrepresentation at America’s most selective universities
Michael J. PetrilliAmerica’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?
“What do you mean, ‘proficient’?” The saga of NAEP achievement levels
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As I write this, representative samples of fourth and eighth graders are taking National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in math and English.
Evidence, struggling math students, and California’s 2022 math framework
Tom LovelessThe 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.
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.
The Federal civil service adopted standardized testing in 1883. Are there lessons for education today?
Christian EggersOne common refrain in debates around education is that standardized exams negatively impact applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Education Gadfly Show #819: The pod on (pandemic) pods
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Ashley Jochim, a principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike
Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP
Chester E. Finn, Jr.How do we see whether achievement gaps between groups of students are widening or narrowing? How can we tell whether eighth graders in Missouri do better or worse in math than their peers in Michigan and Maine? We wouldn’t know these things or much else about K–12 achievement in America without a little-known but vital test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a.k.a. “NAEP” or the “Nation’s Report Card.” Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP, authored by veteran education participant/analyst Chester E. Finn, Jr., examines the history of NAEP, the issues and challenges that it faces today, and ways to strengthen and modernize it for the future.
Using ESSER funds for retention bonuses makes sense if targeted strategically
Dan GoldhaberThe money is pouring in, but so are the education challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically affected student achievement, particularly for poorer students and students of color.
Can investing in elementary schools prevent crime?
Christian EggersThe nationwide surge in violent crime, which preceded the pandemic but accelerated in 2020, has prompted a range of policy responses, from expanding
The little-known test that matters the most
Chester E. Finn, Jr.How do we know whether kids in Pennsylvania are better or worse readers at the end of middle school than their peers in Colorado? We wouldn’t know that or much else without a test that may have escaped your notice altogether, unless you’re some sort of education-obsessed policy maker or policy wonk like me. I’m talking about the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Announcing the National Working Group on Advanced Education
The Education GadflyThe Thomas B. Fordham Institute is pleased to announce the launch of the National Working Group on Advanced Education. The Working Group’s mission is to promote research, policies, and practices that will develop the full capacities of students with high academic potential, especially Black and Hispanic students and those coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Education Gadfly Show #816: Want kids back in school? Make sure they feel safe.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jing Liu, Assistant Professor in Education Policy at the University of Maryla
A better way to measure student absenteeism
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. PetrilliFor many parents and teachers, the Covid experience has confirmed at least two pieces of common sense: It’s hard for kids to learn if they’re not in school, and those who are in school tend to learn more.
Imperfect Attendance: Toward a fairer measure of student absenteeism
Jing Liu, Ph.D.The need to understand how schools can improve student attendance has never been greater. This study breaks new ground by examining high schools’ contributions to attendance—that is, their “attendance value-added.”