The dilemma of academic diversity
Michael J. PetrilliOn integration and differentiation
Defining Strong State Accountability Systems: How Can Better Standards Gain Greater Traction?
Eileen Reed, Janie Scull, Gerilyn Slicker, Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Rigorous standards and aligned assessments are vital tools for boosting education outcomes but they have little traction without strong accountability systems that attach consequences to performance. This pilot study lays out the essential features of such accountability systems, intended to add oomph to new common standards and aligned assessments.
Can schools rekindle the American work ethic?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Encouraging hard work in the nanny state.
Quality Control in K-12 Digital Learning: Three (Imperfect) Approaches
Will the move toward virtual and “blended learning” schools in American education repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement, or will it learn from them? The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, with the support of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, has commissioned five deep-thought papers that, together, address the thorniest policy issues surrounding digital learning. The goal is to boost the prospects for successful online learning (both substantively and politically) over the long run. In this first of six papers on digital learning commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Frederick M. Hess explores the challenges of quality control.
The Accountability Plateau
Mark SchneiderAfter more than ten years under NCLB, that law’s legacy continues to be fiercely contested. This analysis of NAEP scores—focusing on Texas and on the entire nation—by former NCES commissioner Mark Schneider finds that solid gains in math achievement coincided with the advent of "consequential accountability," first in the trailblazing Lone Star State and a few other pioneer states, then across the land with the implementation of NCLB. But Schneider warns that the recent plateau in Texas math scores may foreshadow a coming stagnation in the country’s performance. Has the testing-and-accountability movement as we know it run out of steam? How else might we rekindle our nation’s education progress?
The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption
Statewide textbook adoption distorts the market, entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, enriches the textbook cartel, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials that cannot fulfill their important education mission.
Why track on the sports field, but not in the classroom?
Tyson EberhardtThe performance of America's top students was a hot topic on Wisconsin's WSAU radio this morning, as Mike appeared to discuss the findings of Fordham's recent High Flyers study.?
Postcard from China: Constructivist Theory in Chinese Classrooms? Good Luck
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Amber Winkler, Fordham's VP for Research, recently traveled China as a Senior Fellow with the Global Education Policy Fellowship Program (GEPFP).
NAEP 2011: The Reading First effect?
Michael J. PetrilliLast night was fun for the kids, but today is every education wonk's favorite holiday: NAEP release day! Kevin Carey is already out with some savvy analysis; let me add some thoughts on the trends in reading.
Wrapping up "The Other Achievement Gap"
[pullquote]"I got to tell you, the only viable political strategy for getting broad-based support of school reform on that premise is to get those middle-class parents drunk.? -AEI's Rick Hess[/pullquote]We wrap up coverage of Monday's panel discussion, ?The Other Achievement Gap,?
Responding (reluctantly) to the Think Tank Review Project
The left-leaning Think Tank Review Project reviews virtually every analytic report that Fordham publishes—and they have yet to find one that they like.
K5 Learning offers new findings from High Flyers data
In this guest blog post, the team at?
Learn about High Flyers on the radio, online, or in person
Listen live this evening at 5:35 p.m.
A progressive school finds some accountability religion
Peter MeyerI was prepared for a rant against all things reform when I started reading the New York Times Q & A interview with Maria Velez-Clarke, the principal of the Children's Workshop School in Manhattan's East Village, about the school's C-grade from the City.?
Upon further review...Paul Gross' critique of the NRC Science Framework
Guest blogger Ze'ev Wurman, an executive with Monolithic 3D, a Silicon Valley startup, has participated in developing California's education standards and assessments in mathematics since the mid-1990s.
High Flyers in the news and on the air
Differentiation, tracking, and the needs of high-achievers are hot topics these days, thanks in part to Fordham's recent study Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of Top Students.
Computers in the classroom: the disconnect between K-12 and higher education
The dark side of censorhip: bad books
Peter MeyerAs a journalist for the better part of 30 years (not counting the samizdat paper I wrote and published (on my dad's mimeograph machine) in my high school seminary), I worship our first amendment.?
Wrap-up: Major findings from Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?
Janie ScullLast week, Fordham released a groundbreaking new study on high-achieving students, titled Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of Top Students.
Learn early, learn often: School counts
Peter MeyerYou can read Sam Wang and Sandra Aaamodt's ?Delay Kindergarten at Your Child's Peril? essay in today's New York Times for what the two neuroscientists have to say about the development of young brains ?
Academic growth of high achievers
Janie ScullFordham's new report released on Tuesday, Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?
The unilateral repeal of NCLB and the 2012 election
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The Obama administration's new waiver plan (officially here, and covered extensively here,
Fallen high flyers don't fall far
Janie ScullYesterday, we looked at the first finding of Fordham's new groundbreaking study, Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?
A majority of high-flying students remain that way
Janie ScullYesterday, Fordham released a groundbreaking study examining the achievement of individual high-performing students?or ?high flyers??over time.
Do high flyers maintain their altitude?
Janie ScullIf America is to remain internationally competitive, we need to maximize the potential of our top students. Over the last decade, however, federal and state education-accountability systems?particularly in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001?have placed primary emphasis on moving low-performing students toward proficiency.
Distressing but not surprising
We asked a few experts to weigh in on our new study, "Do High Flyers Maintain Their Performance: Performance Trends of Top Students," as part of an online forum we'll be hosting on Flypaper over the next couple days.
Teachers Breaking Out of the Box
Peter MeyerI gave up bashing teachers years ago, when I realized that, as with soldiers in the trenches, they had their hands full just staying alive.
Teaching about 9/11 in 2011
Chester E. Finn, Jr.This week, teachers across the land are greeting students, assigning seats, issuing textbooks, struggling to remember everyone's name?and doing their best to teach one of the most challenging lessons of the year: the events of September 11, 2001, why they happened, why they matter, and why we are commemorating them.
Teaching about 9/11 in 2011: What Our Children Need to Know
Richard Rodriguez, Andrew J. Rotherham, William Damon, William Galston, Victor Davis Hanson, Katherine Kersten, Lucien Ellington, Craig Kennedy, Walter Russell MeadAny number of organizations are offering advice about what to teach schoolchildren about the events of September 11, 2001, yet (unlike that day's murderous pilots) most sorely miss the mark. Fordham's publication, "Teaching about 9/11 in 2011: What Our Children Need to Know," highlights the danger of slighting history and patriotism in the rush to teach children about tolerance and multiculturalism. It combines ten short essays by distinguished educators, scholars, and public officials from our 2003 report, "Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know," essays that feel more timely than ever, and includes a new introduction by Chester E. Finn, Jr. reflecting on how the lessons of these essays apply today.