Evidence-Based Learning

Displaying 121-150 of 833 results
Leaky pipe
Commentary
11.6.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The leaky kindergarten-to-college pipeline for high-achieving, low-income students

Aaron Churchill , Michael J. Petrilli

America is wasting much of its human capital. That’s because many high-achieving, low-income students—we call them HALO students—fall off the education track and never reach the gates of our top colleges and universities. Regrettably, these capable young people won’t reap the benefits of a four-year degree, which remains a generator of upward mobility and career success.

Leaky pipe
Student at school
Commentary
11.6.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Teachers & School Leaders

CRPE on special education: Great diagnosis, wrong prescription

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

A remarkable new data engine and provocative policy paper from the Center on Reinventing Public Education should serve to refocus the attention of policymakers and ed-reformers on the many shortcomings of special education as it has evolved over the past half-century.

Student at school
wonkathon
Commentary
11.4.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Why science of reading reforms need definable goals

Caitlin Peartree

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2025 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “What needs to happen next—at the state, district, and school levels—for the science of reading revolution to fulfill its promise and ensu

wonkathon
Standardized test in school
Commentary
10.30.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning

Do the ACT and WorkKeys exams measure the same or different skills?

Jeff Murray

For decades, ACT has been testing students’ postsecondary readiness via two separate assessments: one aimed at measuring college readiness and a second that focuses on career-related skills and abilities.

Standardized test in school
Teenage student doing math
Commentary
10.30.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Do high school STEM opportunities affect postsecondary decisions?

Meredith Coffey, Ph.D.

Careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields tend to pay well, offering about double the average wages of non-STEM jobs. But even with that pay advantage, several STEM careers rank among the anticipated workforce shortage areas.

Teenage student doing math
Student doing math in a classroom
Commentary
10.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Rethinking advanced math in high school

Adam Tyner, Ph.D.

For decades, high-achieving high school students have been told the surest way to impress selective colleges is to take calculus. In a recent national survey of 133 admissions officers, 74 percent said the College Board’s Advanced Placement calculus course is among the math classes that “carry the most weight” in admissions decisions.

Student doing math in a classroom
Students testing
Commentary
10.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A better way to do standardized testing?

Jeff Murray

The types, amounts, and modes of testing done in our schools are subject to debate and analysis, with “too much,” “too often,” “too complex,” and “not helpful” among the many complaints.

Students testing
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
10.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Who wants to be a teacher?

Robert Chung

Although teacher quality policies involving salaries, working conditions,

Teacher in a classroom
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
10.17.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

My kingdom for a reliable curriculum review

Holly Korbey

Editor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, The Bell Ringer. Last week, Eric Hirsch, the Chief Executive Officer of curriculum review nonprofit EdReports, announced he is stepping down in June of 2026.

Teacher in a classroom
Students in a library
Commentary
10.16.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How to make sure science of reading reforms reach teachers

Elainah Elkins

The science of reading (SOR) has been one of education’s hottest topics in recent years, with 40 states and the District of Columbia

Students in a library
Microphone
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

School board members are wearing rose-colored glasses

Michael J. Petrilli, Adam Tyner, Ph.D.

While local school board members’ partisanship and ideology largely mirror the American public’s, that’s not the case when it comes to their views on charter schools and teachers unions. And in terms of how they see their own districts’ schools, they might as well being wearing rose-colored glasses. Those are some of the findings in our latest study, which sheds light on the surprising ways that representation does and doesn’t work in one of the country’s most important democratic institutions.

Microphone
Father and sons walking to school
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Private School Choice

Families aren’t waiting for schools to be fixed

Robert Pondiscio

Coming out of Covid and with an efflorescence of alternatives to traditional public schools, it’s been clear for a while that the relationship between families and s

Father and sons walking to school
Teenager doing homework on computer
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Does AI only help motivated students?

Sean Geraghty, Mike Goldstein

From Silicon Valley to the World Economic Forum, boosters insist that artificial intelligence will transform education—closing learning gaps and personalizing instruction for every child. We’re betting it won’t.

Teenager doing homework on computer
I voted sticker
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The role of high schools in raising civic engagement

Jill Hoppe

In the 2020 presidential election, barely half of 18- to 24-year-olds voted, compared to 76 percent of those in the 65–74 age group.

I voted sticker
School principal in a hallway
Commentary
10.2.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Autonomy for principals can work—for the most capable

Adam Tyner, Ph.D.

The age-old debate over whether principals or district offices should hold the reins in schools has gotten a fresh empirical test, courtesy of a new NBER working paper from Northwestern University economist Kirabo Jackson.

School principal in a hallway
Teenagers at school taking a test
Commentary
9.25.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

High standards are not to blame for NAEP declines

Patrick Kelly

Critics contend that the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policies for the Nation’s Report Card, sets the bar too high—that the definition of “proficient” is too challenging. This aligns with moves to lower the bar in parts of the country, including efforts in some states to make it easier for kids to pass end-of-year assessments or to eliminate those tests completely. This line of thinking and these polices are deeply misguided.

Teenagers at school taking a test
Parent and child doing homework
Commentary
9.25.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

Gaslighting parents about learning loss could cost Democrats the White House

Ben Austin

As a Los Angeles Unified School District parent during the pandemic, I had a front row seat as my fellow Democrats and their teachers union allies lit the match that turned a global health crisis into an education inferno.

Parent and child doing homework
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
9.25.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How alternative certification programs impact teacher pipelines and student outcomes

Jeff Murray

The teacher pipeline concerns currently being debated in the media are not new. They’re merely the most recent iteration of a slow-burning problem that has become more acute since Covid school closures upended K–12 education. One suggestion for boosting the number and diversity of new teachers is to relax licensing requirements.

Teacher in a classroom
Happy students and teacher in a classroom
Commentary
9.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Student experience data is sending a message. Will we listen?

Dr. Deborah A. Gist

In K–12, we’ve often treated student experience data as a “nice to have.” As we confront another disappointing set of NAEP scores, a growing evidence base suggests that understanding how students experience school

Happy students and teacher in a classroom
Students raising their hands in a school classroom
Commentary
9.18.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Why curriculum alone is not enough

Teresa Eliopoulos

From my experiences supporting districts to choose and use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), I’ve seen that curriculum selection often breaks down where it matters the most: in classrooms.

Students raising their hands in a school classroom
Serious portrait of a student in a classroom
Commentary
9.18.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Covid generation: Best readers ever in fourth grade, worst readers ever by twelfth

Michael J. Petrilli

There’s been a lot of smart analysis of the dismal NAEP results released last week. But here’s an alarming fact that you probably haven’t seen before: The cohort of students who scored at record-low levels in twelfth grade reading were part of the same generation of kids who scored at record-high levels in fourth grade. So what happened?

Serious portrait of a student in a classroom
Students in a classroom
Commentary
9.17.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

NAEP scores show top students are struggling, too

Brandon L. Wright

The latest twelfth-grade results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress are awful, as

Students in a classroom