The impact of voucher programs: A deep dive into the research
Pedro EnamoradoLast month, my colleagues Mike Petrilli and David Griffith had a conversation with Patrick Wolf, a leading school choice scholar at the University of Arkansas, about the impact of voucher programs on the Education Gadfly Show podcast.
Use pandemic recovery funds to empower both schools and families
Bruno V. MannoCovid-19 school shock disrupted our way of doing education, unbundling the familiar division of responsibilities among home, school, and community organizations. Nearly every parent of school-age children had to create from scratch a home learning environment using online technology and rebundling school services to meet their needs.
A flawed study of Indiana’s voucher program
Jeremy SmithA recent study looks at the impact of
School choice is a better instrument for racial justice than critical race theory
Daniel BuckThe outlook has gotten bleak for the anti-racist and CRT movements in U.S. classrooms, as Americans saw these ideas in action and largely recoiled from them. But there's another K–12 strategy for achieving racial justice: school choice.
Addressing constructive criticisms of Fordham’s report on state civics and U.S. history standards
David GriffithOur recent study of states’ U.S. history and civics standards attracted some constructive criticism from both the left and the right. It was, after all, explicitly bipartisan. Here are our responses to four critiques.
Using deeper learning to strengthen our democracy
Kent McGuireThe past eighteen months have been some of the most tumultuous in the history of our nation. The twin pandemics of Covid-19 and social injustice have highlighted how today’s students face very different expectations than students encountered in previous generations.
A bright future for open enrollment
Matthew Ladner“Hi. Welcome to the future. San Dimas, California. 2688.” Rufus, played by George Carlin, thus opened the American film classic Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure by explaining that, in the distant future, everything is great. The water, air, and even the dirt is clean.
A third disrupted year can only strain Americans’ ties to traditional public schools
Robert PondiscioIn the early days of the pandemic, I was dismissive of “new normal” talk about Covid’s long-term impact on schooling. There was good reason for skepticism.
Examining the benefits of career and technical education at scale
Olivia PiontekWhen it comes to career and technical education, there’s one state that seems to be getting things just about right: Connecticut.
The Education Gadfly Show #784: Remote learning worked well for some students. What schools can learn from that.
The Education Gadfly Show #783: One teacher’s call for choice and content-rich curricula
State civics and U.S. history standards are less politically biased than before. Let’s keep it that way.
Jeremy A. Stern, Ph.D.In 2020, as we began to look at state U.S. history standards for the first time since 2011, I was concerned about what we would find.
“Public education sucks” is a weak argument for school choice
Robert PondiscioI’ve long believed the best argument for school choice is to turn up the lights on what is possible when there’s room for a wide variety of schools, curricula, and cultures. Call it the When Harry Met Sally model.
We’re moving toward a more student-focused, parent-directed, pluralistic K–12 system
Bruno V. Manno“Never in my lifetime have so many parents been so eager for so much education change.” So said longtime pollster Frank Luntz after surveying 1,000 public and private school parents on how the pandemic affected their view of schools.
Districts are failing special-needs students. School choice is helping.
Ginny GentlesPublic schools have long failed to serve adequately students with disabilities, but school closures, disastrous for the millions of children with special needs, may finally encourage a critical mass of parents to do something about it.
Biden’s anticompetitive moves on charters and choice
Dale ChuEarlier this month, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order encouraging federal agencies to undertake a series of initiatives aimed at increasing competition in the U.S. economy. But there’s a mismatch between his approach to competition in the private sector and his support for monopoly when it comes to public education.
How not to write state standards for civics and U.S. history
Jeremy SmithAs discussed in Fordham’s new report, many states aren’t making the grade when it comes to their civics and U.S. history standards, which are often vague to the point of being meaningless.
Scaling up the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program helped public schools improve
Jeff MurrayAs supporters of school choice celebrate a remarkable season of legislative wins across the country, they can also add some research-based evidence to their grounds for satisfaction.
Strong standards are vital for making history and civics central in K–12 education
Peter GibbonGone are the days when we could all agree with Ben Franklin’s sunny admonition: “Indeed the general tendency of reading good history must be, to fix in the minds of youth deep impressions of the beauty and usefulness of virtue of all kinds.” Instead, we must cope with political polarization, schools preoccupied with the achievement gap, students who learn from social media, and adults who are t
The Education Gadfly Show #777: O-H-I-O: School reform victories in the Buckeye State
5 things I’ve learned from teaching U.S. history to high schoolers
José A. GregoryI’ve taught U.S. history to high schoolers for almost twenty years, during which time I’ve worked in multiple states with students of varying personal and cultural backgrounds. Below are the five things that I think I’ve learned. 1) Our students need more exposure to U.S. history.
We need better civics education, but it won’t happen anytime soon
Dale ChuFordham’s new report found that twenty states have “inadequate” civics and U.S. history standards that need a complete overhaul. An additional fifteen states were deemed to have “mediocre” standards that require substantial revisions. This fits the lackluster showing of U.S. students on the NAEP exams in these subjects, and suggests that some schools barely teach this content at all. Unfortunately, the obstacles in the way of improving this sad state run up and down the line.
How to strengthen U.S. history and civics standards
Louise DubéFor our constitutional democracy to survive, much rests on our ability to resolve “…differences even as we respect them,” which is The State of State Standards for Civics and History in 2021 report’s definition of the social purpose of civic education.
The Education Gadfly Show #776: Can curriculum reform succeed where the rest of standards-based reform failed?
Proof that it’s possible to approach civics and U.S. history in a balanced way
David Griffith, Chester E. Finn, Jr.Is America a racist country? Or the greatest nation on earth? Or both or neither or some of each?
Teaching U.S. history and civics in America’s pluralistic society
John Wood, Jr.The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s review of state standards for U.S. history and civics comes at a critical moment in American civic life.
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.