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.
Around the turn of the millennium, Florida was widely regarded as a pace-setter in education reform.
In the Fordham Institute policy report titled Think Again: Are Education Programs for High-Achievers Inherently Inequitable?, Brandon Wright outlines four claims describing arguments that opponents of advanced education programs use to advocate for their
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Dale Chu, a senior visiting fellow at the Fordham Institute
Yes, choice itself is a form of accountability, but “customer satisfaction” isn’t enough when tax dollars are in play—even for private-school choice programs. The public has a right to know that participating students are gaining essential skills. To that end, this post discusses four tiers of escalating accountability and where state policy should land, depending on the amount of taxpayer dollars provided to individual schools, among other considerations.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted excerpt from the author’s recent Fordham Institute report, “Think Again: Are Education Programs for High Achievers Inherently Inequitable?”
One of the most interesting and significant findings about charter schools in the last decade—outside of the fact that they tend to outperform traditional public schools (TPS)—is that growin
Within just a few short months, there will be a new occupant of the Oval Office and, with that, a new administration in charge of the education and workforce regulatory regime.
In 1990, 48 percent of our nation’s eighth graders had very weak math skills. How did we know? They scored in the lowest performance category, Below Basic, on the national test given to a sample of American students every two years.[1]
It is rare, but not unheard of, for presidents to ask members of the opposing party to serve in their cabinets. If she wins, Vice President Harris has pledged to make the symbolic gesture, historically used at key moments to project unity and bipartisanship. There’s a compelling argument to be made that the post of Education Secretary would be a worthy target for such an act. Here Chu discusses seven candidates for the role.
Election Day is almost here, and the presidential contest is not the only one that matters.
