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.
Reduce class sizes, lengthen the school year, provide tutoring—or let principals decide?
Marguerite Roza, Chad AldemanDistrict leaders may be celebrating the $122 billion in stimulus relief Congress approved for K–12 schools last month.
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.
Best- and worst-case scenarios for how school stimulus dollars will be spent
Chad AldemanIn the last year, Congress has now invested nearly $200 billion to support K–12 education. It’s an unprecedented federal infusion of money, but will it lead to an unprecedented recovery effort? It’s worth taking a moment to pause and consider the range of possibilities. Best case
Our full rebuttal to a flawed critique of “Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances”
Earlier this month on her “Answer Sheet” blog in the Washington Post, Valerie Strauss ran a lengthy rebuttal written by Carol Burris about a study that we recently published. Robbers or Victims?
The stimulus package won’t fix schools’ employee-benefit problem
Brandon L. WrightEditor’s note: This is the second post in a series that puts the themes of 2020’s Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck into today’s context, with particular attention to the effects of the pandemic and federal relief dollars.
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.
A challenging funding future for schools—made worse by the pandemic
Brandon L. WrightEditor’s note: This is the first post in a series that puts the themes of 2020’s Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck into today’s context, with particular attention to the effects of the pandemic and federal relief dollars.
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?
Charter school growth increases resources in district-run schools
Patrick WolfEducation funding is sticky. Once dollars are sent to a public school or school system, they tend to stay there.
How schools should spend federal Covid-19 aid
Brandon L. WrightWith two big rounds of Covid-19 aid having been sent to schools and at least a third on the horizon, leaders must make difficult decisions, especially as more schools reopen and the pandemic rages on. How can they use this money to best mitigate risk, facilitate effective hybrid learning, and most importantly, get kids back on track after suffering substantial learning losses?
Massive student loan forgiveness would be a lost opportunity to help needy Americans
Michael J. PetrilliIt’s not surprising that most of the arguments against widespread student loan forgiveness are coming from the political right, given that the idea itself gained prominence during the 2020 presidential campaigns of Senators Bernie Sander
Literacy is equity
Robert PondiscioAny discussion about “equity” in education that is not first and foremost a discussion about literacy is unserious.
Are charter schools a drain on district finances?
David Griffith, Michael J. PetrilliShould President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to grant local school districts veto power over the creation of new charter schools within their borders, on the assumption that their expansion harms traditional public schools?
Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances
Mark WeberOpponents of charters contend that they drain district coffers, while proponents argue that it is charters that are denied essential funding. Yet too often, the claims made by both sides of this debate have been based on assumptions rather than hard evidence.
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.
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.
Webinar: How should schools spend federal Covid-19 aid?
With federal coronavirus relief, schools are wrestling with a host of thorny questions. Especially under the new Joe Biden administration, how much federal aid is coming? What rules will govern its use? Most importantly, how can schools spend the funds effectively when reopening schools, improving remote learning, and helping students get back on track?
Without tests in 2021, we’ll never know which schools met the Covid-19 challenge
Michael J. PetrilliThe Covid-19 pandemic has run roughshod over so much of our education system, closing schools, sending students home to try to learn remotely, and obliterating last year’s summative state tests.
Bridging the Covid Divide: How States Can Measure Student Achievement Growth in the Absence of 2020 Test Scores
Ishtiaque Fazlul, Cory Koedel, Eric Parsons, Cheng QianWhen the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. last spring, schools nationwide shut their doors and states cancelled annual standardized tests. Now federal and state policymakers are debating whether to cancel testing again in 2021. One factor they should consider is whether a two-year gap in testing will make it impossible to measure student-level achievement growth during this historic period.
Mind the gap: Persistent and growing inequities in charter school funding
Victoria McDougaldLike traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly funded according to student enrollment. But compared to their district counterparts, charters have long received far less per-pupil funding.
U.S. students continue to fall short of too many international peers
Chester E. Finn, Jr.TIMSS is less well known to most American ed-watchers than NAEP and PISA, perhaps because it comes from a private group called the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), but it does a first-rate job of monitoring, comparing, and explaining the educational performance of fourth- and eighth-graders in dozens of countries in the crucial subjects of math and
Reading and math outcomes during Covid-19
Jessica PoinerThe pandemic has now disrupted two consecutive school years, and its effects are certain to linger for years to come. Unfortunately, some students will be more impacted than others.
Will students recover their Covid-19 learning losses?
Tom CoyneHere in Fordham’s pages, I’ve previously written about the challenge of Covid-19 learning losses at the macro level. In this article, I focus on the micro level.
Testing, accountability, NAEP, and reading
Chester E. Finn, Jr.For those of us who still believe that results-based school accountability is an essential part of the education renewal that America sorely needs, not many things are looking great this week.