How any school can personalize learning, part II
Beth RabbittIn part I of this two-part series, I wrote about three of the most common practices teachers implement in elementary schools that successfully personalize learning: giving each child a learning plan, organizing instruction around class-level and individual mastery, and using grouping an
How districts and charter networks can best address unfinished learning
Michael J. PetrilliFordham’s new resource, “The Acceleration Imperative,” aims to give the nation’s chief academic officers a head start on planning for America’s educational recovery, with a focus on high-poverty elementary schools. It’s intentionally a work in progress, and already the product of thoughtful advice from more than three dozen experts. The intention is for it to continue evolving and improving with readers’ help, via a “crowdsourced” initiative on a new wiki site.
CDC school guidelines, acceleration, stimulus, and other goings-on
Chester E. Finn, Jr.The CDC’s revised guidelines for pupil spacing in school—three feet under most circumstances rather than six—opened a floodgate of gratitude from superintendents and parents.
The role of out-of-school supports in boosting academic outcomes
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Jeff MurrayStructured activities and services provided outside of the regular school day were increasingly the focus of public investment in the U.S. prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Acceleration Imperative: A Plan to Address Elementary Students’ Unfinished Learning in the Wake of Covid-19
In school districts and charter school networks nationwide, instructional leaders are developing plans to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year. To help kick-start their planning process, we are proud to present The Acceleration Imperative, an open-source, evidence-based document created with input from dozens of current and former chief academic officers, scholars, and others with deep expertise and experience in high-performing, high-poverty elementary schools.
How any school can personalize learning, part I
Beth RabbittIn a previous Flypaper post, Mike Petrilli described the challenge of personalizing instruction for our youngest learners as the “Mount Everest” of education.
School choice proves no match for wokeness
Robert PondiscioSchool choice proponents argue that when parents vote with their feet—and dollars—schools listen. But choice is no match for the pandemic of wokeness that has seized K–12 education. The most advantaged, privileged, and powerful parents in America have been cowed into submissive silence when elite schools of choice adopt neoracist practices masquerading as “anti-racism.”
Beware the calls for post-Covid innovation
Dale ChuNow that Uncle Sam’s check is in the mail, one of the biggest hopes for schools is that they will be able to leverage the massive infusion of cash to be more creative, imaginative, and innovative.
How elementary schools can address unfinished learning through personalization
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the fifth and final installment in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies that schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.
Addressing learning loss in one easy lesson
Robert PondiscioOne of the best-selling education books of the Covid era is one you’ve probably never read and maybe never even heard of. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was written nearly forty years ago by Siegfried Engelmann, who passed away in 2019.
The narrow path to do it right: Lessons from vaccine making for high-dosage tutoring
Mike Goldstein, Bowen PaulleHigh-dosage tutoring is receiving a lot of buzz as a promising tool to address learning loss in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. But unlike vaccines, successful tutoring programs are challenging to scale with fidelity. In this paper, long-time educators Michael Goldstein and Bowen Paulle explain how leaders can smartly scale promising tutoring programs that can boost student outcomes.
Personalized learning for the wee ones in the wake of the pandemic, Part I
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies that schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.
Cautious hope for a new history-and-civics roadmap
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Bullish but far from sanguine is how I view the ambitious history-and-civics “roadmap” unveiled
Jay Mathews’s admirable optimism about American education
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Yes, I blurbed it—and I like it. Yes, a visitor to our home, a worldly and skeptical sort, hefted it and looked at the title and asked me “Isn’t that awfully thick for a book about optimism regarding American public education?”
Is hybrid learning killing teaching?
Robert PondiscioA lot of us have been confused, angry, and frustrated by the reluctance of some teachers, and particularly their unions, to resume in-person instruction.
What happens to English learners’ academic achievement when they’re reclassified as English proficient?
Melissa GutweinAs English learners approach language proficiency, does it matter whether they continue to receive English language instruction? A recent paper published in Economics of Education Review seeks to answer this question for English learners in Minnesota.
Are classroom instructional materials meeting the needs of English learners?
Julie FitzBack in May 2020, The U.S. Department of Education had to issue guidance clarifying that, yes, schools and districts were still required to provide language instruction services for English learners (EL) during remote learning.
Literacy is equity
Robert PondiscioAny discussion about “equity” in education that is not first and foremost a discussion about literacy is unserious.
How much does student motivation affect student outcomes?
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.Why do some students succeed and others lag behind? This is, of course, a central question in education policy.
What drives racial gaps in special education identification?
Melissa GutweinRecent work published in the Journal of Labor Economics examines how school segregation may be related to racial gaps in special education identification.
How ya gonna keep ‘em back in that old school?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.If the pandemic vanished tomorrow and all U.S. schools instantly reopened in exactly the same fashion as they were operating last February, how many parents would be satisfied to return their daughters and sons to the same old familiar classrooms, teachers, schedules and curricula? A lot fewer than the same old schools and those who run and teach in them are expecting back!
How anger over Covid closures can fuel the school choice movement
Robert PondiscioThe father testifying before Virginia’s Loudon County school board
The negative effects of student absenteeism: From bad to worse in a pandemic
Victoria McDougaldPredicting the effects of pandemic-related disruption on students’ education is a vital but fraught pursuit.
Rick Hess and Ian Rowe discuss 1776 Unites and efforts to promote a vision of a unified America
Frederick M. Hess, Ian RoweEditor’s note: This interview was first published by Rick Hess on his blog with Education Week, Rick Hess Straight Up.
Unexpected innovation: Charter schools and novice teacher development
Bill WaychunasLet’s start with a little game. Trust me, it will be helpful if you play along… Grab a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Complete the following sentence: First-year or early-career teachers typically struggle most with… (Try to come up with a few answers.)
What to do about the Covid kindergarten cohort?
Michael J. PetrilliEditor’s note: This is the third in a series of posts about envelope-pushing strategies that schools might embrace to address students’ learning loss in the wake of the pandemic.
The unexamined cost of teachers’ time spent choosing instructional materials
Robert PondiscioDespite the burgeoning interest in “high-quality instructional materials” (HQIM) and energetic efforts in recent years to incentivize their use, “evidence is mixed on how much teachers actually use the materials that districts or schools adopt,” note the authors of a new research report from the RAND Corporation.