Grade Inflation in High Schools (2005–2016)
Although the vast majority of American parents believe their child is performing at or above grade level, in reality two-thirds of U.S. teenagers are ill-prepared for college when they leave high school.
Although the vast majority of American parents believe their child is performing at or above grade level, in reality two-thirds of U.S. teenagers are ill-prepared for college when they leave high school.
On this week’s podcast, Jim Shelton, who is about to step down from the helm of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s education efforts, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the whole-child approach to personalized learning. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how coaching programs affect teachers’ instructional practices and student achievement.
Over the past two years, Fordham has been an outspoken critic of some of the efforts to modify Ohio’s graduation requirements. It’s not that we think the current graduation requirements are perfect. Heck, we’ve even offered a variety of ideas to modify the current framework.
On this week's podcast, Ben Castleman, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia, and Ethan Fletcher, a managing director at ideas42, join Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss Ben and Ethan’s collaborative project to improve college access and completion, Nudges, Norms, and New Solutions. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern looks at nudges, too, in this case the role of information and incentives in getting students to fill out their FAFSA forms.
Regardless of where you stand on the debate currently raging over school discipline, one thing seems certain: Self-discipline is far better than the externally imposed kind.
On this week's podcast, Paul Morgan, Professor of Education and Demography at Penn State University, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss the evidence on racial disparities in special education identification and services. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the effect of online versus paper tests on student achievement.
On this week's podcast, Bibb Hubbard, founder and president of Learning Heroes, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss better ways to communicate students’ academic progress (or lack thereof) to parents. On the Research Minute, David Griffith examines the recent AEI study that questioned the relationship between test scores and long-term outcomes.
On this week's podcast, Paolo DeMaria, Ohio's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, joins Mike Petrilli and Brandon Wright to discuss the state’s new strategic plan for education, which Fordham’s gadflies find disappointing. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the access, perseverance, and outcomes of first-generation college students.
Achievement gaps between poor and minority students and their peers are well documented and persistent. For years, data indicate that these students have generally been making slow but steady progress.
A recent paper from the left-leaning Center for American Progress (CAP) examined high school graduation requirements across the nation to determine whether they were aligned with requirements for each state’s public university system.
On this week's podcast, Bruno Manno, Senior Advisor to the Walton Family Foundation’s K–12 Education Reform Initiative and a Trustee Emeritus at Fordham, joins Mike Petrilli and Checker Finn to discuss this week’s NAEP results in the context of the thirty-fifth anniversary of A Nation at Risk. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how accountability metrics related to student subgroups affect teacher turnover and attrition.
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education released data from the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
On this week’s podcast, Hanna Skandera, former New Mexico education chief, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss next week’s NAEP score release and why we’ve seen so little progress in recent years. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how NCTQ’s ratings affect teacher education programs.
STEM education is, by design, integrative. It strives to emulate the real-world work of engineers within a teaching environment.
On this week's podcast, Roberto Rodríguez, president and CEO of Teach Plus, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss race and poverty in education. During the Research Minute, David Griffith examines whether authorizers are making it harder for people of color to win charter contracts.
Ohio’s State Board of Education recently voted in favor of recommending that the legislature extend softer graduation requirements to the classes of 2019 and 2020.
Louisiana gets a ton of education-related attention, most of it focused on the Recovery School District and the proliferation of charter schools in New Orleans. While these reforms are certainly worth a close look, it’s the state’s quieter efforts on curriculum that may be truly changing the game for students and teachers.
Malcolm X once said, “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” Wise words. Education has long been the source of opportunity, a passport if you will, for Americans to pursue a better life. But education isn’t a passive activity; it’s earned through hard work, preparation, attainment.
Schools have long failed to cultivate the innate talents of many of their young people, particularly high-ability girls and boys from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. This failure harms the economy, widens income gaps, arrests upward mobility, and exacerbates civic decay and political division.
Education Week just released its 22nd annual report and rankings of state education systems.
Today, Fordham released a new report suggesting changes to Ohio’s school report cards to help parents and taxpayers get the best information about the performance of their schools and districts. This is the preface to that report.
The Every Student Succeeds Act grants states more authority over their accountability systems than did No Child Left Behind, but have they seized the opportunity to develop school ratings that are clearer and fairer than those in the past?
To give some added oomph to excellent teacher preparation, the Council of Chief State School Officers launched the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP) in 2013. Its purpose is to identify states with track records of innovative teacher preparation and support them in their efforts to implement aggressive and lasting improvements.
You have no doubt seen numerous media stories regarding the recent release of school report card data in Ohio. As supporters of a robust accountability system, we urge you to pay attention to the stories and the ongoing discussion. The success of our public schools (charter and district) in doing the vital work with which they are entrusted must be assessed, reported, and analyzed.
Research confirms what common sense dictates: Students learn less when their teachers aren’t there. According to multiple studies, a ten-day increase in teacher absence results in at least ten fewer days of learning for students.
As Ohio’s annual report cards are released this week, Fordham is gearing up to dive into the data and explore what it means about K-12 public education in the Buckeye State.
On this week's podcast, special guest Constance A. Lindsay, a research associate at the Urban Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and Brandon Wright to discuss New York City’s controversial new plan to use its Absent Teacher Reserve Pool to fill its teacher vacancies. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines an imperfect study of classrooms’ use of technology.
The Ohio Department of Education is expected to release report cards for the 2016-17 school year by the end of this week. Like an annual checkup with a physician, these report cards offer valuable information on the academic health of Buckeye schools and students.
As part of the most recent state budget, Ohio lawmakers created alternative graduation pathways for the class of 2018 in response to widespread fears on the part of district administrator
Confronted with the paradox of a simultaneous rise in high school graduation and college remediation rates, researchers from The Alliance for Excellent Education examined diploma pathways across the country for evidence as to how well they match college or career expectations.