Teachers & School Leaders

Displaying 31-60 of 1450 results
Child upset while reading
Commentary
8.27.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The loophole quietly undoing America's third-grade reading laws

Harry Anthony Patrinos

More than a dozen states now require that third graders who can’t read at grade level repeat the grade rather than advance to fourth, where every subject assumes literacy. The theory is sound. But in state after state, exemptions meant for a narrow set of students are being granted so widely that the policies aren’t benefiting the students they were designed for.  

Child upset while reading
Students writing with pencil and paper
Commentary
8.27.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Students should only use AI for things they already know how to do well

Daniel Willingham

Most educators agree that there should be some guardrails regarding how students use AI in their independent work. Here, I argue for this guiding principle: Students should only use AI for things that they already know how to do well.

Students writing with pencil and paper
Upset student
Commentary
8.20.2026
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Education’s ambulance-at-the-bottom problem

Dale Chu

There’s an old adage that it’s better to build a sturdy fence at the top of a cliff than station an ambulance at the bottom.

Upset student
Student and book
Commentary
8.20.2026
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Ohio’s implementation of the science of reading

Aaron Churchill

Approximately half of American adults read at a sixth-grade level or below, according to the Barbara Bush Foundation. The consequences of poor literacy skills are profound: higher unemployment rates, lower-paying work, and struggles with routine tasks such as reading prescriptions or bills.

Student and book
Multiple pathways
Commentary
8.19.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Personalized Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Why it’s finally time to rethink age-based schooling

Jonathan Barazzutti

The past century has seen enormous developments in virtually all areas of life, from medicine to transportation to living standards and even to social and cultural attitudes. Yet our education system has not followed suit. One of the greatest illustrations of this is in the continued emphasis on age as the primary determinant of educational placement.

Multiple pathways
Bridge
Commentary
8.13.2026
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, School Finance, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Missouri narrowed its charter school funding gap. But it didn’t close it.

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Michael J. Petrilli

For those of us who have long pushed for charter schools to receive fair funding, progress has been slow, uneven, and hard-won. That’s why we at the Thomas B.

Bridge
Teenagers taking a test
Commentary
8.13.2026
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Classic Learning Test has become a graduation loophole in Florida

Charles Barone

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called the CLT the nation’s new “gold standard.” USA Today’s blockbuster investigation, published today, suggests a more accurate label would be “boondoggle.” In Florida, the state that has done more than any other to

Teenagers taking a test
Chainsaw
Commentary
8.6.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Trump team gives Head Start the DOGE treatment

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The past two weeks have seen a growing ruckus over big changes in the Head Start regs that are reportedly nearing completion by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Chainsaw
Teacher and students reading
Commentary
8.6.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The reading crisis is changing the conversation

Robert Pondiscio

During my years at TIME magazine, the newsroom had a rule of thumb: If something happens once, it’s news. Twice is a coincidence. Three times? That’s a trend.

Teacher and students reading
Globe on a desk
Commentary
8.3.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Don’t give up on foreign language education

Alicia Anderson

In a recent edition of his SCHOOLED newsletter, Mike Petrilli called on U.S. high schools to stop pretending to teach foreign languages. Who decides whether they are taught at all?

Globe on a desk
Teen using a computer
Commentary
7.30.2026
Teachers & School Leaders

Hey, Claude, should I go to college?

Michael J. Petrilli

One of the more promising developments of recent decades in education has been the pendulum swing away from the “college for a

Teen using a computer
Parent and child outside playground
Commentary
7.30.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Should you redshirt your kindergartner?

Alicia Anderson

Across the U.S., nearly every state uses a child’s fifth birthday to determine when they can enter the public school system as kindergartners. If your child’s birthday falls just after the cut-off, those few extra days can mean an entire extra year at home or paying for preschool. 

Parent and child outside playground
teacher with student
Commentary
7.23.2026
School Finance, Teachers & School Leaders

Getting good teachers to stay

Jill Hoppe

As school districts across the country struggle to recruit and retain qualified teachers, policymakers have increasingly turned to financial incentives as potential solutions.

teacher with student
High school graduates
Commentary
7.16.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How to make the high school diploma mean something again

Dale Chu

Career and technical education deserves its growing support but cannot compensate for a diploma that no longer signals readiness. States seeking stronger workforce and college pathways should start by restoring the credibility of the credential that every graduate receives.

High school graduates
Empty teacher desk
Commentary
7.16.2026
Teachers & School Leaders

The learning recession might be caused by a teaching recession

Mike Schmoker

Good evidence shows that we’re stuck in a “learning recession.” We also need to consider the likelihood of a connected recession in something indispensable to student learning, namely effective teaching.

Empty teacher desk
Student in a classroom
Commentary
7.10.2026
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

There’s actually more to the i-Ready story: A rebuttal

Daniel Carr

Curriculum Associates CEO Kelly Sia recently defended her company’s flagship i-Ready platform to Fordham readers. The program, used by millions of students, has come under fire from teachers, parents, and students as part of an ed-tech backlash sweeping the nation.

Student in a classroom
Bad grade
Commentary
7.9.2026
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Through-year assessments can improve a broken testing system

Jenn Vranek, Khaled Ismail

In a recent Flypaper post, Dale Chu argues that the promise of a single assessment system doing multiple things well is “too good to be true.” He says that through-year assessments (TYA)—tests administered periodically throughout the school year that culminate in a summative score—are tryi

Bad grade
School entrance
Commentary
7.9.2026
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Sixteen years later, what did NYC’s small schools accomplish?

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

New York City’s Small Schools of Choice (SSC) program was one of a panoply of education reforms enacted in the early 2000s under then-mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools chief Joel Klein.

School entrance
Students with hands raised
Commentary
7.8.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Kids ready for advanced math should get it automatically

Jim Cowen

In the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress Long Term Trends analysis, 23 percent of the 13-year-olds surveyed report that they are enrolled in Algebra I. For those seventh and eighth graders, that’s great news.

Students with hands raised
Empty classroom
Commentary
7.2.2026
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A school-closure study that does not support its own conclusions

Brian R. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.

A new white paper from NWEA, and its accompanying op-ed in The Hill, claim that districts are more likely to permanently shutter schools with a high proportion of poor and/or Black stud

Empty classroom
Harvard College entrance
Commentary
6.30.2026
Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Honest talk about who should go to college

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This was first published as part of a newsletter for Mike’s Substack, SCHOOLED.

Harvard College entrance
American flag in a classroom
Commentary
6.25.2026
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Civics, citizenship, and America 250

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, civics education and American citizenship are receiving much attention. Yet recent surveys reveal widening generational and partisan divides over patriotism, the nation’s founding, and what schools should teach about American history. The findings are troubling even as the growing effort to strengthen civic knowledge and commitment offers some grounds for hope.

American flag in a classroom
Path with sun and shade
Commentary
6.18.2026
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Creating more pathways isn’t enough. They need to work, too.

Bruno V. Manno

For several decades, K–12 ed-reformers and policy leaders have pushed to expand public school options and pathways.

Path with sun and shade