The State of State Standards for Civics and U.S. History in 2021
Jeremy A. Stern, Ph.D., Alison E. Brody, José A. Gregory, Stephen Griffith, Jonathan PulversIs America a racist country? Or the greatest nation on earth? Such a divisive question leaves little room for the complexity, richness, and nuance of our country’s past and present. But it’s the sort of question that often seems to get asked in today’s polarized environment. Small wonder, then, that the tattered condition of civics and U.S. history education constitutes a national crisis.
Zombie ideas in education
Bryan GoodwinEditor’s note: This was first published in Educational Leadership.
The Education Gadfly Show #772: What’s going to happen to the NAEP reading test?
A new look at the question of the effectiveness of school turnarounds
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Turnaround efforts for low performing schools have been the subject of research interest since their advent in the No Child Left Behind era.
We need to admit that school is alienating
Jeff McGuireEditor’s note: This was the second-place submission, out of twenty-five, in Fordham’s 2021 Wonkathon, in which we asked participants to answer the question, “How can schools best address students’ mental-health needs coming out of the
The effects of immigrant students on the educational performance of their U.S.-born peers
Jeff MurrayAccording to U.S. Census data, 23 percent of students in America’s K–12 schools were either first- or second-generation immigrant children in 2015. That was up from 11 percent in 1990 and 7 percent in 1980.
Improving assessments and accountability in the post-Covid era
Chester E. Finn, Jr.As U.S. schools reopen in the fall, a year and a half after nearly all of them closed due to the pandemic panic, what should be different? What needs to change if kids are actually to catch up? What’s important to retrieve from pre-Covid days? And what other changes, changes that should have been made pre-Covid, is there now a rare opportunity to initiate?
First, do no harm: The initial impact of the Common Core on student learning
Victoria McDougaldEver since their creation and adoption over a decade ago, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been hotly debated and intensely villainized. The backlash to the CCSS initially took many advocates and supporters by surprise, as state education standards have existed in the U.S.
The culture wars come for the Nation’s Report Card
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Trouble continues at the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the policy body for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Evidence-based ways to assess student progress
CAO CentralEditor’s note: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently launched “The Acceleration Imperative,” a crowd-sourced, evidence-based resource designed to aid instructional leaders’ efforts to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year.
Inaugural PISA data on students’ growth mindset and teaching practices
Jeff MurraySince 1997, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has tested students around the globe every three years to determine the educational status of fifteen-year-old students in dozens of countries and economic regions that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Long-term trends in American students’ achievement, as measured by four major assessments
David GriffithA recent study uses data from math and reading tests conducted between 1954 and 2007 to explore long-term trends in American students’ achievement.
Don’t let them make you do it, Haley!
Chester E. Finn, Jr.You wouldn’t expect a conservative Republican like former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour to turn into a facsimile of Chairman Xi as muzzler of dissent and monitor of communications, but something of the sort has reared its head at the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), which Barbour chairs. (He’s a DeVos appointee, and last I looked, those terms run a year at a time.
The Education Gadfly Show #767: The fight to get kids back in class five days a week
Testing, SpaceX, and the quest for consensus
Chester E. Finn, Jr.A suite of technologies that are already widely used in some private-sector testing can and should be embraced by state and national assessments, as well as the private tests that aren’t yet making maximum use of them. Read more.
The Education Gadfly Show #766: The U.S. Department of Education’s puzzling take on testing in 2021
Uncle Sam goes soft on state tests
Dale ChuThings are getting messy in the world of assessment.
The unanticipated benefit of the “Colorado Compromise”: Time to address learning loss
Joel RoseThe Biden administration recently approved Colorado’s request to ease the burden of administering state assessments because of the pandemic.
Drawing a line in the sand on state testing
Dale ChuThe Biden team has issued its first responses to state requests to waive federal testing requirements because of the pandemic. Dale Chu reads the tea leaves, and concludes that the new Administration is trying to eat its cake and have it too.
What we're reading this week: April 1, 2021
The Education GadflyHow can we do more to prevent teen suicides? —New York Times Pandemic pods are less sustainable and are harder to run than many parents thought.
CDC school guidelines, acceleration, stimulus, and other goings-on
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The CDC’s revised guidelines for pupil spacing in school—three feet under most circumstances rather than six—opened a floodgate of gratitude from superintendents and parents.
The Acceleration Imperative: A Plan to Address Elementary Students’ Unfinished Learning in the Wake of Covid-19
In school districts and charter school networks nationwide, instructional leaders are developing plans to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year. To help kick-start their planning process, we are proud to present The Acceleration Imperative, an open-source, evidence-based document created with input from dozens of current and former chief academic officers, scholars, and others with deep expertise and experience in high-performing, high-poverty elementary schools.
Lessons for standardized testing from the cancellation of the NFL scouting combine
Dale ChuDespite last week’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that it won’t grant blanket testing waivers this year, a number of states have decided to push for one anyway.
The Education Gadfly Show: Does Biden have the right tack on school reopenings?
Assessing the value of community college credentials
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.The return on investment for four-year college degrees is fairly well-established in terms of graduates’ employment and
Literacy is equity
Robert PondiscioAny discussion about “equity” in education that is not first and foremost a discussion about literacy is unserious.
Predicting students’ academic trajectory from third grade test scores
Olivia PiontekThanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, annual testing in math and reading for students in grades three through eight became mandatory in every state beginning in 2005.
Career and technical education and the soft bigotry of low expectations
Tamar JacobyBeware the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” President George W. Bush’s trenchant warning resonated across the political spectrum when he voiced it to the NAACP in 2000, and it has more or less driven federal education policy ever since. For many, educators and noneducators alike, it remains a touchstone of how to think about racial equity.
One option for giving children their pandemic year back: Add an extra year to elementary school, forever
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the second in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.