Evidence-Based Learning

Displaying 241-270 of 833 results
Depressed adult
Commentary
10.3.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

Schools are also a form of childcare. How important is that to parents’ mental health?

Heena Kuwayama

We tend to think of schools as simply the place where kids go to learn, but they aren’t only about education. They provide many essential services to students and families, including nutrition, healthcare—and even if simply as a byproduct of mandatory attendance for educational purposes, giving parents a place to send their children while they’re at work.

Depressed adult
Abandoned school playground
Commentary
9.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, Governance

With student enrollment plummeting, which schools should be considered candidates for closure?

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

Forcing students to switch schools can be traumatic and even harmful. Yet closing an underenrolled school can also be beneficial when displaced students land in better alternatives, and when it ensures that innumerable children in future generations are well-served. But how should policymakers identify which schools should be candidates for closure? Our latest study offers some answers.

Abandoned school playground
Food spread
Commentary
9.26.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice

The “à la carte education” accountability conundrum

Michael J. Petrilli, Devon Nir

Of the school choice options available to many U.S. families today, few embody the spirit of “power to the parents” quite like education savings accounts (ESAs).

Food spread
Houston, Texas
Commentary
9.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Texas-sized surge in uncertified teachers

Dale Chu

Houston’s local ABC news affiliate recently ran a report that the Houston Independent School District, Texas’s largest, has more than 2,000 uncertified teachers (out of a teaching force of approximately 10,000).

Houston, Texas
Working repairing a roof
Commentary
9.26.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Facilities, School Finance, Governance

Does spending on school facilities raise student test scores?

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Schools across the country spend billions of dollars each year on the construction and renovation of their facilities—everything from roof repairs to new science labs and from classroom expansions to whole new buildings. How do these expenditures impact students and the taxpaying community around schools?

Working repairing a roof
Virginia welcome sign
Commentary
9.25.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

Most schools in America are off track. Virginia is no different.

Michael J. Petrilli

Governor Glenn Youngkin is under fire again from Virginia’s education establishment, this time because a new school accountability system his administration is promoting refuses to put lipstick on a pig.

Virginia welcome sign
Students doing schoolwork on a computer at home
Commentary
9.20.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education

Broader access to advanced coursework: An interview with Jefferson Pestronk, Executive Director of Modern States

Brandon L. Wright

Modern States Education Alliance is a non-profit that makes college-level courses and college credit free to any learner anywhere, including high school students interested in advanced coursework. It offers thirty-two online courses free of charge at www.modernstates.org, including all the necessary textbooks and readings.

Students doing schoolwork on a computer at home
Empty classroom
Commentary
9.19.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Repeating history: Long-term economic impact of disrupted school years

Jeff Murray

As school systems around the world continue trying to recover from learning losses caused by the pandemic, a new paper out of Germany gives us some historic context on what to look for and what to be wary of.

Empty classroom
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
9.13.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The value proposition of high-quality instructional materials is different than I thought it was

Emily Freitag

As another school year begins, I have been struck by the many different ways leaders and educators talk about instructional materials. At meet-the-teacher nights or staff meetings to explain the move to a new curriculum or in board meetings to explain plans for the year, educators often talk about the role the curriculum will play with bold claims. I have heard:

Teacher in a classroom
Cassette tape
Commentary
9.12.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

When was American education’s best decade? And how can we tell?

Michael J. Petrilli

This summer, the Washington Post’s (fantastic) “Department of Data” columnist, Andrew Van Dam, ran a fun feature about “America’s best decade,” according to public opinion.

Cassette tape
Student reading
Commentary
9.12.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Impacts of a wide-ranging early literacy intervention in California

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

In February 2020, California settled a case which alleged that the state was violating the right to an education by sending kids to schools that didn’t teach them how to read.

Student reading
High school graduates
Commentary
9.5.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

What’s the point of high school?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Many states are struggling to revise their high-school graduation requirements, sometimes up, sometimes down. The most basic is the perennial issue of how hard should it be to earn a diploma. The next is how can high schools can possibly prepare thousands of dissimilar young people for the expectations and prerequisites of hundreds of differing post-graduation options?

High school graduates
Parent-teacher conference
Commentary
9.5.2024
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

It’s time for tough love to address chronic absenteeism

David Griffith, Ph.D., Daniel Buck

Despite an unprecedented infusion of resources, the latest data show that American students are struggling to recover

Parent-teacher conference
School tutor
Commentary
9.5.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Tutoring outcomes in D.C. public schools, 2022–23

Jeff Murray

Since 2022, public schools in the District of Columbia have been working to mitigate Covid learning disruptions by establishing and ramping up high-impact tutoring (HIT) efforts.

School tutor
Indiana Statehouse
Commentary
8.30.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Why Indiana high school diploma changes may do more harm than good

Sophia Craiutu

Indiana’s new proposed legislation on altered diploma requirements redesigns the purpose of a high school education, which I believe will have negative consequences for students across the state, with regard to the diminishing skills of global-mindedness and perspectives.

Indiana Statehouse
School students raising hands
Commentary
8.29.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools

Charter schools outperform traditional public schools on average. Here's why.

Michael J. Petrilli, David Griffith, Ph.D.

High-quality studies find that charter schools boost achievement by more than their traditional-public-school counterparts—an advantage that is particularly large for students of color in disadvantaged urban communities, and one that has only grown larger as the charter sector has expanded and matured.

School students raising hands
Students walking to school
Commentary
8.29.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance

Does competition from charter schools help or hurt traditional public schools?

David Griffith, Ph.D., Heena Kuwayama

It’s widely acknowledged that a bit of healthy competition is a good thing in most contexts. Among other things, it pushes businesses to create better products and athletes and musicians to train longer and harder. But what about in education?

Students walking to school
Dr. Kathleen O’Toole
Commentary
8.22.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Inside the classical school renaissance: An interview with Dr. Kathleen O’Toole

Daniel Buck

Classical education is undergoing a renaissance. According to a recent analysis by Arcadia Education, the classical sector is growing by 5 percent annually with a total projected enrollment of 1.4 million students by 2035.

Dr. Kathleen O’Toole
Frustrated school teacher
Commentary
8.22.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How have teacher working conditions changed since the pandemic?

Heena Kuwayama

As a teacher both during and immediately after the pandemic, I was constantly on the receiving end of some version of: “You must be so relieved that the pandemic is over.” My response was always: “Actually, it has only gotten worse.” And it’s not just me.

Frustrated school teacher
School robotics class
Commentary
8.15.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Threading the needle on selective enrollment public schools

Michael J. Petrilli

A recent article in the Boston Globe dug into a controversy that is dogging Massachusetts’s highly-regarded system of regional career and technical education (CTE) high schools.

School robotics class
Teacher talking to a student
Commentary
8.6.2024
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

Is racial mismatch in the classroom fixable?

Zia George

Despite the growing diversity of American students, the teaching workforce remains disproportionately White. A recent study uses twelve years of administrative data from Maryland to examine the factors contributing to the state's chronic shortage of Black teachers.

Teacher talking to a student