It’s not with pleasure that I tackle the too-frequent topic of school shootings. The latest in Madison, Wisconsin, claimed the lives of two and left six others injured, just a stone’s throw away from my own school. Friends of mine were on the scene.
The Advanced Placement (AP) program, celebrating its seventieth anniversary this year, has largely lived up to the promise of encouraging and rewarding ambitious high school students looking to prepare themselves for college rigor.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Barbara Biasi, assistan
After more than a decade of trying to launch some form of education savings account/tax credit program for parent choice, it looks like Idaho’s legislature is likely to pass legislation this year to get it done.
Is the conventional wisdom right that both parties have abandoned education reform? The evidence indicates that it’s mostly fair when it comes to Democrats, but not so fair when it comes to the GOP—at least if we look beyond Washington to the states.
I’m going to give you a reading test. Ready? Say these words out loud: Chip Hill Jars Bep Fod Glork
Allowing families to express their preferences for various schools—whether inside or beyond their geographically-zoned building or district—sounds good in theory. Indeed, we’ve been hearing for decades that a zip code should never determine the quality of a child’s education.
De facto segregation persists in schools across the United State
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alyson Klein, assistant editor
I’m no “tech bro,” nor a fan of Ramaswamy (or Musk), but Vivek was right this time:
Any hope that Musk would find success in revolutionizing education is unlikely. His educational experiments may succeed on Space X grounds with the children of Space X employees—with all of the cultural capital that comes with such an upbringing—but would almost certainly explode on lift off were they launched at scale.
As enrollments drop, city after city is facing pressure to close half-empty schools. Fewer kids means fewer dollars. Consolidating two schools saves money because it means paying for one less principal, librarian, nurse, PE teacher, counselor, reading coach, clerk, custodian… you get the idea.
The recently released results from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 highlight a concerning decline in U.S. students’ performance in science and mathematics, with the country falling further behind peer countries. But it isn’t just America.
Emergency school closures aimed at minimizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education trajectory of over one billion children worldwide starting in March 2020. However, the length and manner of closures varied greatly from country to country and education system to education system.
As President-elect Trump and his team prepare for the first 100 days of office, they are setting their policy agenda and striving to make good on their campaign promises. In education, that will include decreasing the federal role (if not eliminating the U.S.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering why many recent articles, predictions, and speculations about Trump’s plans for the U.S. Department of Education focus on its abolition, while others predict that it will be forcefully deployed to reshape what schools teach. Consider the Washington Post’s excellent education reporter Laura Meckler, writing on November 12:
New York City is awash in “gifted and talented” children, otherwise known as high-achieving public school students who would benefit from advanced education. In some neighborhoods, for example, over 50 percent of students test in the top 10th percentile nationwide.
With the number of states requiring students to pass exams in order to earn a diploma now down to the single digits, this feels like the end of an era. What should we do now? Let’s start by getting the gang back together—a bipartisan group of governors and state education chiefs—to work on a rational set of high school graduation requirements reflecting the multiple pathways to upward mobility and post-secondary success.
The amount of time students spend in school is a popular lever of change pulled by education policymakers of all types.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Colleen Hroncich, a policy analyst with the Cato
The Founding Fathers never envisioned that executive orders would be a major policymaking tool, circumventing legislative and executive deliberations, political stalemates, and partisanship. But recent history has deemed them essential levers if there is to be urgent action on the most important matters of the day.
Editor’s note: This was first published by CharterFolk.
At peak enrollment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, our local school system educated over 70,000 children. Now, in essentially the same facilities, it serves just over 34,000 children. The district has been experiencing a steady decline in student enrollment since the early 2000s, losing around 2 percent of our student population each year on average.
In announcing his nomination of former SBA director Linda McMahon as the next secretary of education, President Trump promised yet again to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. An important question is whether abolishing the agency—and its programs, policies, and regulations—would actually make things better for America’s students.
Social media lit up Tuesday evening with the news that President-elect Trump has tapped professional wrestling magnate and former Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator Linda McMahon to lead the U.S. Department of Education.
Ah, David Brooks. Ordinarily, I’d start a piece in which I plan to (partially) disagree with him by stating that he’s a very smart guy—but what I’m going to push back at this time is his much-disseminated contention that America needs to rethink what “smart” means. Even though his own qualities would likely still qualify under his new formulation, I ought not take chances.
A new working paper by an accomplished team of researchers uses a new dataset to dive deep into the dynamics and impacts of teacher strikes. This paper provides a fresh perspective on why these strikes happen, how they influence school districts, and their broader implications on education policy and student achievement.
After an eventful year of politics and controversy—with more lurking on the horizon—several friends have shared their apprehension about holiday gatherings. No one wants to see Grandma serve the turkey wearing her red hat or Uncle Bob stick a “We’re not going back” flag in the cranberry sauce.
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series about Montgomery County [Maryland] Public Schools (MCPS), the fifteenth largest district in the country. Part one covered curricular and related issues and is available here.
Trump 2.0 is likely to be bad for education reform, especially in blue states, says Petrilli. But that take could prove too pessimistic. Perhaps the rightward shift in some of the bluest parts of America will encourage Democrats to fight for the center again, including by embracing sensible education reforms. Let’s give this possibility a hearing.
