Displaying 421-450 of 622 results
Commentary
11.5.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

To help students who are behind, find out if their assignments match their goals

Dan Weisberg

A typical sixth-grade teacher we work with serves a wide range of students. She likely has some who read above grade level, some who are a little behind, a student who doesn’t speak English but has excellent reading and writing skills in another language, and several students—some of whom have diagnosed learning disabilities—who are reading at an early elementary level.

Commentary
11.5.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Rigor or personalized learning? Just ask Dr. Seuss.

Jessica Shopoff

What’s the best way to help students who are several grade levels behind?

Commentary
11.1.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

On our Nation’s Report Card, strong leadership gets an “A”

Mike Magee

This week, the federal government released the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—known colloquially as “the Nation’s Report Card.” As always, the results are the subject of intense scrutiny, and are fodder for arguments on both sides of the political aisle and all sides of education debates.

Commentary
10.31.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

2019 WONKATHON WINNER: Beyond the binary: We can foster equity in both opportunity and outcomes

Abby Javurek

Editor’s note: This was the first-place submission, out of nineteen, to Fordham’s 2019 Wonkathon, in which we asked participants to answer the question: “What’s the best way to help students who are several grade levels behind?”

Commentary
10.30.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards

On NAEP, bright spots amidst the gloom

Michael J. Petrilli

This year’s NAEP results are bleak. But they were foreseeable, with the Great Recession's effects still impeding progress. Demography need not be destiny though: A few jurisdictions bucked the overall trends and showed improvement. D.C. deserves much of the praise, given its ability to demonstrate sustained and significant progress over time, and its decade-plus commitment to fundamental reform. As does Mississippi, which has been on an upward trajectory for the last decade, especially in reading. Despite the dismal results, there’s hope if we can follow the lead of these notable locales.

Commentary
10.30.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The zombie pedagogical debate

Dale Chu

With Wonkathon season kicking into high gear, asking participants what’s the best way to help students who are several grade levels behind, it occurred to me that this year’s question, as fundamental and challenging as it may be, is a withering indictment o

Podcast
10.30.2019
Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

The Education Gadfly Show: On education, Warren’s got a pander for that

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith talk to Checker Finn about Senator Warren’s flawed education proposal. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines improvements to the student teaching experience that can help candidates feel more prepared for success in the classroom.

Podcast
10.23.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards

The Education Gadfly Show: Early warning: Kindergarten readiness skills are trending downward

On this week’s podcast, Megan Kuhfeld, a research scientist at NWEA, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss her recent, sobering findings about the reading and math skills of children entering kindergarten. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines how “stereotype threat” affects the results of cognitive ability tests.

Commentary
10.18.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

NewSchools isn't overselling SEL: A response to Checker Finn

Stacey Childress

Our team at NewSchools recently released a report titled, Using Expanded Measures of Student Success for School Improvement. In it, we share some on-the-ground lessons from innovative public schools in our portfolio.

Commentary
10.16.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning

Texas’s shale boom boosted local tax bases. Here’s how it affected schools.

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

New and fascinating research uses a creative study design and a unique data set to address whether a thriving local economy leads to better student outcomes. Specifically, it examines how the Texas boom in shale oil and gas drilling, which brought with it large and localized effects on wages and the tax base, impacted district schools.

Commentary
10.15.2019
Charter Schools, Private School Choice

The real story: School choice is working

Benjamin J. Lindquist

On September 25th, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) issued a report titled “School Choice in the United States: 2019,” which sorely misrepresents the prevalence, value, and impact of school choice over the last twenty years.

Commentary
10.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Everything we know about teacher effectiveness

Andrew Scanlan

On Wednesday, we sat down with Dan Goldhaber, director of the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), on our Education Gadfly Show podcast for thirty minutes of engaging discussion.

Commentary
10.9.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

AP: Great for gifted high schoolers

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew Scanlan

When considering the available options for gifted high-school kids, the Advanced Placement (AP) program may not be the first thing that comes to mind. That’s too bad because AP might be America’s most effective large-scale “gifted and talented” program at the high school level.

Commentary
9.25.2019
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A new era of accountability in education has barely just begun

Michael J. Petrilli

Most states have spent the past decade overhauling their standards, tests, and accountability systems, and finally committing real resources to capacity-building, especially in the form of curriculum implementation. These pieces have only begun to come together in the last year or two, culminating with the release of school ratings as required by ESSA. What’s needed isn’t to spin the wheel of education policy once again, but to show some patience and commitment—and finish what we started.

Commentary
9.24.2019
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

In math, grade-level tests are holding back low-achieving students

Joel Rose

Imagine that you’re a sixth-grade math teacher. It’s the first day of school, and the vast majority of your students arrived multiple years behind where they should be. Your job is to teach them concepts such as understanding percentages and dividing fractions.

Commentary
9.18.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Advanced Education, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Why has AP succeeded when so many other reforms have failed?

Chester E. Finn, Jr., Andrew Scanlan

American K–12 education is awash in reforms, nostrums, interventions, silver bullets, pilot programs, snake oil peddlers, advocates, and crusaders, not to mention innumerable private foundations that occasionally emerge from their endless cycles of strategic planning to unload their latest brainstorms upon the land. Yet when subjected to close scrutiny, not much actually “works.” The six-decade old Advanced Placement program is a rare and welcome exception.

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The GAS Factor: Lessons learned at Success Academy

Robert Pondiscio

Much of the initial response to Robert’s new book, "How The Other Half Learns," has focused on the winnowing effects of Success Academy’s enrollment process, which ensures that the children of only the most committed parents enroll and persist. But that’s just the start of the story. You have to look at what parent buy-in actually buys: a school culture that drives student achievement, and which can only be achieved when parents are active participants, not unwilling conscripts.

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The scourge of education malpractice

Dale Chu

What if you were told that elementary schools in the United States are teaching children to be poor readers?

Commentary
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

How personalized learning enthusiasts can ensure they aren’t lowering the bar for the kids who are behind

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of posts looking at how two school networks—Rocketship Public Schools and Wildflower Schools—enable their students to master standards at their own pace. See the first post here.

Podcast
9.11.2019
Accountability & Testing, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Education Gadfly Show: Parents’ role in school improvement

On this week’s podcast, Patrick Corvington, executive director of DC School Reform Now, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to offer advice on how parents can play a role in improving their kids’ schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the academic effects of early interventions for children born at a low birth-weight.

Commentary
9.6.2019
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction

End-of-course exams should be a matter of course

Dale Chu

A new study released by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute looks at end-of-course exams (EOCs) and their relationship with high school graduation rates and college entrance exam scores.

Commentary
9.4.2019
Accountability & Testing, Charter Schools, Governance

A new reality for charter schools in California

Caprice Young

As part of a national war against school choice, the California teachers union is pouring more than a million dollars a month into anti-charter legislative efforts. Unfortunately, a new “compromise” bill crafted by Governor Gavin Newsom whose language was released this week indicates the union is about to get a big return on its investment. Caprice Young, a Fordham Institute trustee and a leading figure in the state’s charter sector, explains how this painful moment came about—and what it means for California charter schools going forward.