Displaying 331-360 of 1468 results
Commentary
9.29.2022
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

America’s education crisis as a national security threat

Nicholas Eberstadt, Evan Abramsky

Since the end of World War II, the world’s population has not only gotten vastly bigger; it has also become vastly more educated. In nearly every country, the total number of years that citizens have attended school has grown faster than the population itself, and the number of college degrees conferred has grown even faster.

Commentary
9.29.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Accelerating math achievement through customized practice

Jeff Murray

For years, millions of U.S. students have taken the NWEA MAP Growth assessment. Data from these computer-adaptive assessments—which cover math, reading, language usage, and science—can help teachers determine which students need remediation or other supports and in which topic areas.

Commentary
9.23.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Credentials matter, but pathways matter more

Quentin Suffren

Credentials matter, but maybe not as much as many hope. That seems to be one of the takeaways from Fordham’s latest report by Matt Giani evaluating high school industry recognized credential (IRC) attainment and learner outcomes in Texas.

Commentary
9.22.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Charter school achievement in D.C. was decimated by the pandemic. Here’s what we can learn from that.

Marc Porter Magee

Nine percent. That’s how many Black boys met expectations in math in D.C.’s traditional public schools in 2022, down from 17 percent before the pandemic. It’s also how many met those expectation in the city’s charter schools, down from 22 percent. The word “disaster” is used a lot lately, but it is absolutely the right fit here. There are, however, lessons we can learn from this catastrophe.

Commentary
9.22.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Which factors best predict classroom placements of students with disabilities?

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

A recent study from the Journal of Learning Disabilities sheds light on the vitally important question of which students with disabilities (SWDs) are placed primarily outside of general education classrooms. Specifically, analysts seek to document the level of racial or ethnic disparities in placement and whether those disparities are explained by bias or other factors.

Commentary
9.16.2022
Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Industry-recognized credentials can be very transformational, depending on the local context

Dale Fowler

A new Fordham Institute report authored by University of Texas professor Matt Giani finds that industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are “mostly not transformative” for the high school students who earn them. But the truth is that it’s all about the context.

Commentary
9.15.2022
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Supporting student wellness through challenging academic learning

Eva Moskowitz

The pandemic accelerated a mental health crisis for children and teens that was already apparent prior to spring 2020. It is a serious issue, and schools have expanded mental health services to meet the needs of a greater number of struggling students. At the same time, as we commence a school year in which educators must continue the intensive work of repairing the pandemic’s academic damage, focusing on student emotional wellness does not require relinquishing academic learning.

Commentary
9.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Wanted: A Science of Reading Comprehension movement

Robert Pondiscio

Just in the nick of time for the last days of summer beach reading, there were a pair of big stories about reading instruction in TIME magazine and The New Yorker last month.

Commentary
9.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A teacher’s-eye view of the culture of a “No Excuses” school

Daniel Buck

Whether or not the bipartisan education consensus is dead, one of its most visible and effective reforms lives on: so-called “No Excuses” model schools, institutions famous for their exacting behavioral and academic standards.

Commentary
9.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Multiple positive outcomes for CTE students

Jeff Murray

As money and attention focus on career and technical education (CTE) at ever greater levels, researchers can help gauge program effectiveness by digging into the data.

Commentary
9.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Four-day school weeks: Is the trade-off worth it?

Jeanette Luna

Four-day school weeks saw a sharp increase in popularity between 1999 and 2019, then the pandemic added impetus to the already growing trend—with districts seeing shortened school weeks as a way to retain teachers and cut expenses.

Commentary
9.13.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Rural gifted children are being neglected: An interview with Paula McGuire

Brandon L. Wright

Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and published every other week. Its purpose is to monitor the progress of gifted education in America, including legal and legislative developments, policy and leadership changes, emerging research, grassroots efforts, and more.

Commentary
9.13.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Explaining NAEP math “haves”: Software and private tutoring?

Mike Goldstein

Earlier this month, Michael Petrilli wrote about America’s top-quartile students making gains from 2009 to 2019 over their already high baseline—in math, reading, and science—and our lower-quartile kids declining from their already low baseline.

Commentary
9.12.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The case for specialized career and technical education

Zeyu Xu, Ben Backes

About three-quarters of students in the U.S. take at least one credit in high school linked to career and technical education (CTE). When high school students take multiple CTE credits, they are often encouraged to focus in a specialized career pathway, like business, health sciences, or hospitality and tourism.

Commentary
9.6.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Tennessee trains thousands of secondary teachers in reading science

Barbara Davidson

For all the welcome attention being paid to the Science of Reading, and literacy in general, there has been little focus in public policy on how to address the learning needs of secondary students who, for whatever combination of reasons, have failed to learn to read in elementary school.

Commentary
9.1.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Educating young Americans for citizenship is our schools’ top job

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

In the realm of elementary and secondary education, we so often focus on one or two trees instead of the forest. We go off and argue about the best way to teach reading, about which books belong in the school library, about whether everyone should take “college prep” courses, about how to teach race or evolution or climate change or even algebra.

Commentary
8.31.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

What national test scores tell us about American education before the pandemic

Michael J. Petrilli

NAGB officials recently reported on U.S. student achievement trends from 2009–19, and what they found was eye-opening. Whereas America’s higher achieving students held steady or even gained ground, our lowest performing kids saw test scores fall, at least in fourth and eighth grades and in reading and math. What might be causing these diverging trends?

Commentary
8.25.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Industry-recognized credentials are helpful but not transformative for high school students

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

Fordham’s newest study finds, among other things, that industry-recognized credentials earned in high school are a net positive for students who earn them but are not game-changers. This raises a lingering question: How else can we transform the high school experience for students so as to significantly boost their wages and career prospects once they are in the workforce? Here are four ideas.

Commentary
8.25.2022
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

The evolving education reform agenda

Michael J. Petrilli

Earlier this month, I argued that “education reform is alive and well, even if the Washington Consensus is dead for now.” What’s more, I wrote that we should stay the course on the current reform strategy:

Commentary
8.25.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Is school choice good for America?

Robert Pondiscio

Does school choice work? That depends on who you talk to and what you mean by “work.” For education researchers and policy wonks, school choice works if it raises math and reading scores for students who take advantage of choice programs or, more broadly, if market competition improves measurable outcomes for all students.

Commentary
8.19.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Instructional coherence isn’t a trendy reform. It’s necessary—and it works.

Kunjan Narechania

In a recent piece about the state of standards-based reform, Dale Chu weighs the benefits and challenges of a district “relinquishment” versus “instructional coherence” approach to improving student learning.

Commentary
8.18.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

States revamp early reading policies. Is this time for real?

Dale Chu

Since 2013, thirty states have passed legislation or implemented new policies related to the “science of reading.” Their collective effort to change how early reading is taught in America’s classrooms is the focus of an excellent new project by Education Week’s Sarah Schwartz. There are, however, questions about the sustainability of these massive efforts.

Commentary
8.18.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Virtue and classic children’s literature

Jennifer Frey

Parents are often given dubious advice about their children’s reading: Let them read whatever they enjoy, as we must encourage literacy. This is a strangely laissez-faire attitude to take towards such a fundamentally formative activity. No decent school counsels parents to let their children watch or listen to whatever they want, so why is reading different?

Commentary
8.18.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

The benefits of multiple screenings for student giftedness

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Efforts to diversify the roster of students classified as gifted often focus on race and ethnicity.