Curriculum & Instruction

Displaying 1051-1080 of 1594 results
Smaller class size blog image
Commentary
7.15.2020
Curriculum & Instruction

The upcoming experiment with class size reduction

Dale Chu

With all of the sniping back and forth about if or how schools will reopen this fall, the outlook for the coming school year is looking rather grim. Many school districts find themselves in a political pressure cooker, full of tensions about to bubble over as the resumption of school draws nearer. Educators remain caught in the tug of war between economists and epidemiologists.

Smaller class size blog image
Commentary
7.13.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Personalized Learning

Response to “Let’s rebuild special education when schools reopen”

Alice Parker, Christopher T. Cross

The Fordham Institute recently published an article called “Let’s rebuild special education when schools reopen,” by Anne Delfosse and Miriam Kurtzig Freedman. Reading it prompted both of us to offer our own thoughts, drawn from experience.

Commentary
7.8.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Pity the history teachers

Michael J. Petrilli

As the start of the school year rushes toward us, teachers across America are girding themselves for their new role as “essential workers” during a persistent pandemic. But one group of teachers has it particularly rough: U.S. history instructors, who must also perform their duties during a full-scale culture war over how to tell the American story, especially on the central issue of race. As tempting as it may be, they shouldn’t sidestep controversies or smooth the edges with bland, antiseptic readings. This would lead only to bored, disengaged students, and contribute to our woeful knowledge of our nation’s history.

Commentary
7.1.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Why grades matter

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Pass-fail ratings in schools are widespread this pandemic-stricken spring. But when “passing” denotes anything that’s not “failing,” what signifies excellence? What distinguishes a first-rate research paper or book review or math proof from one that’s barely serviceable? Where’s the recognition for a student whose class participation is well-prepared, attentive, thoughtful and articulate versus the pupil who yawns, smirks, whispers, peeks at his phone and responds to direct questions with surly, one-word answers? Grades surround us and we depend on them in one realm of our lives after another.

Commentary
7.1.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

A snapshot of substitute teaching in the U.S.

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Illness. Family emergencies. In-service training requirements. On average, classroom teachers in the U.S.

Commentary
6.24.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Curriculum in a pandemic: Four lessons learned

Lynne Munson

Great Minds creates curricula in math, English language arts, and science for grades PK–12. I’m its founder and CEO, and when Covid-19 hit, we were ill-prepared for digital distance learning, like most everyone else.

Commentary
6.23.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Make high school matter again

Ed Jones

At least we have stopped pretending that we’re making high school more modern.

Commentary
6.15.2020
Curriculum & Instruction

Classical education is growing. Here's how to keep it that way.

Clare Basil

The Institute for Classical Education, a recently established research center based in Arizona, announced its ambitious mission of bringing classical education to an additional 50,000 students by 2025.

Commentary
6.12.2020
Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Why not eliminate at least one year of high school entirely?

Kalman R. Hettleman

Michael J. Petrilli’s recent article “Half-Time High School may be just what students need” is compelling. Yet proposals to cut school time in half in grades nine through twelve may be only half right.

Commentary
6.10.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

In the era of Covid-19, put learning first—and other lessons

Kerri Briggs, Trent Kaufman, Mavis Snelson

As quickly as the NBA put its season on hold and the summer Olympics rescheduled, schools across America switched to “school from home.” It happened almost overnight. Regardless of teacher training, parent comfort, or students’ technology access—remote learning was the new reality.

Podcast
6.10.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction

The Education Gadfly Show: School districts failed the remote learning test

On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, talks with Mike Petrilli and David Griffith about how well school districts handled remote learning this spring. On the Research Minute, Olivia Piontek joins Mike and David to examine how data on how academic growth affects parents’ perception of school quality.

Commentary
6.8.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Teaching and learning from home must continue to be an option for educators and families. Here’s how states can help.

Michael J. Petrilli

All over the country, states, districts and task forces of every sort are wrestling with the question of how to safely reopen schools. This scenario planning is daunting, as schools must navigate a minefield of health, safety, legal, and instructional issues, and do so blindfolded by ever-changing and imperfect understanding of the virus itself.

Commentary
6.3.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

With his remarks on the murder of George Floyd, Joe Biden showed us how to teach empathy and American history

Michael J. Petrilli

America’s schools could learn a lot about how to handle two hot-button issues from Joe Biden’s comments in response to George Floyd’s horrific murder: how to model and cultivate empathy for our fellow citizens, and how to teach an inclusive version of history. He carved a middle path between right and left that is anything but the mushy middle.

Commentary
6.3.2020
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The different ways charter and district schools are doing distance learning

The pandemic forced schools across the country to close and institute some form of remote learning, but their methods varied widely. To see just how much, analysts at the American Enterprise Institute and the Center on Reinventing Public Education have been examining how different public school districts and charter school networks have responded.

Commentary
5.28.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

What AP teachers taught us about learning continuity during coronavirus

Stefanie Sanford

The sudden shift to remote learning this spring demanded that schools innovate and adapt with incredible speed. The entire education world is trying to serve millions of suddenly home-bound students, and there’s simply no precedent for a challenge on that scale.

Commentary
5.27.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Half-Time High School may be just what students need

Michael J. Petrilli

The shutdown of America’s high schools has deprived millions of students of rites we previously took for granted. Coursework can be transferred online to some degree, but no virtual environment can replace football games, choir concerts, musicals, and so much more that’s part of the American high school experience.

Commentary
5.27.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Growth trends in social and emotional learning

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

In early 2019, the Aspen Institute released the findings of the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. The report concluded that non-academic factors—such as managing emotions, goal setting, empathy, interpersonal relationships, self-regulation, and more—were vital ingredients to boosting academic achievement for all students.

Commentary
5.22.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Seven steps to sending elementary kids back to school and parents back to work

Michael J. Petrilli

All over the country, states, districts, and task forces of every sort are wrestling with the question of how to safely reopen schools. This scenario planning is daunting, as schools must navigate a minefield of health, safety, legal, and instructional issues, and do so blindfolded by our ever-changing yet imperfect understanding of the virus itself.

Commentary
5.20.2020
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

On distance learning, Success Academy once again leads the way

Robert Pondiscio

In the summer of 2013, After New York’s adoption of new, more rigorous testing benchmarks under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, student test scores plummeted around the state, wiping out years of paper gains.