Curriculum & Instruction

Displaying 181-210 of 1592 results
Student doing math in a classroom
Commentary
10.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Rethinking advanced math in high school

Adam Tyner, Ph.D.

For decades, high-achieving high school students have been told the surest way to impress selective colleges is to take calculus. In a recent national survey of 133 admissions officers, 74 percent said the College Board’s Advanced Placement calculus course is among the math classes that “carry the most weight” in admissions decisions.

Student doing math in a classroom
Military personnel writing
Commentary
10.23.2025
Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

What the military taught me about the education system

Thibaut Delloue

During my second tour as a U.S. Navy officer, I served as a navigator aboard a test warship in San Diego. In port, navigators often have little to do other than prepare for the next deployment. But not every military job is created equal.

Military personnel writing
Students testing
Commentary
10.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A better way to do standardized testing?

Jeff Murray

The types, amounts, and modes of testing done in our schools are subject to debate and analysis, with “too much,” “too often,” “too complex,” and “not helpful” among the many complaints.

Students testing
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
10.17.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

My kingdom for a reliable curriculum review

Holly Korbey

Editor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, The Bell Ringer. Last week, Eric Hirsch, the Chief Executive Officer of curriculum review nonprofit EdReports, announced he is stepping down in June of 2026.

Teacher in a classroom
Wonkathon
Commentary
10.17.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Smarter ways to fortify the reading revolution

Peter Greer

Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2025 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “What needs to happen next—at the state, district, and school levels—for the science of reading revolution to fulfill its promise and ensure that far more

Wonkathon
Student in a classroom
Commentary
10.17.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

How can we depolarize “gifted education”?

Michael J. Petrilli

Editor’s note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli’s Substack, SCHOOLED.

Student in a classroom
Students in a classroom
Commentary
10.16.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice

The “deprivatization” threat: How private schools could soon look like public schools

Dale Chu

The new federal tax-credit scholarship is being hailed as a breakthrough for school choice: more options, more opportunity, more innovation. But history offers a warning. Even though these tax-credit funds never technically enter federal coffers, once Washington confers a benefit, its influence tends to follow.

Students in a classroom
Students in a library
Commentary
10.16.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How to make sure science of reading reforms reach teachers

Elainah Elkins

The science of reading (SOR) has been one of education’s hottest topics in recent years, with 40 states and the District of Columbia

Students in a library
Teenager doing homework on computer
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Does AI only help motivated students?

Sean Geraghty, Mike Goldstein

From Silicon Valley to the World Economic Forum, boosters insist that artificial intelligence will transform education—closing learning gaps and personalizing instruction for every child. We’re betting it won’t.

Teenager doing homework on computer
I voted sticker
Commentary
10.9.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The role of high schools in raising civic engagement

Jill Hoppe

In the 2020 presidential election, barely half of 18- to 24-year-olds voted, compared to 76 percent of those in the 65–74 age group.

I voted sticker
Teacher training
Commentary
10.2.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Redefining what it means to be a good teacher

Daniel Buck

My last column on teacher standards focused on the how. How should we deliver professional development? How long? Which teachers? Who leads? They were recommendations for structural changes about the medium of delivery.

Teacher training
Teacher in a classroom
Commentary
9.26.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Teachers distrust grading reforms—for good reasons

Daniel Buck

The first time I encountered “no-zeros” grading, I was still a teacher. To demonstrate how to use a new data entry system, our technology coordinator plugged a zero into the software, and to everyone’s surprise, the online gradebook rounded up to 49.9 percent. He’d accidentally exposed a yet-to-be-announced grading policy (the “50 percent” rule).

Teacher in a classroom
Teenagers at school taking a test
Commentary
9.25.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

High standards are not to blame for NAEP declines

Patrick Kelly

Critics contend that the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policies for the Nation’s Report Card, sets the bar too high—that the definition of “proficient” is too challenging. This aligns with moves to lower the bar in parts of the country, including efforts in some states to make it easier for kids to pass end-of-year assessments or to eliminate those tests completely. This line of thinking and these polices are deeply misguided.

Teenagers at school taking a test
Two teachers at school
Commentary
9.24.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

It’s time to change the structure of teacher professional development

Daniel Buck

Nothing elicits a groan from teachers quite like the word “professional development” or “PD.” It conjures images of peppy consultants who spent less than a year in the classroom, state-mandated training videos with all the excitement of a dental waiting room, or a waste of five precious hours just days before the school year begins.

Two teachers at school
Happy students and teacher in a classroom
Commentary
9.23.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Student experience data is sending a message. Will we listen?

Dr. Deborah A. Gist

In K–12, we’ve often treated student experience data as a “nice to have.” As we confront another disappointing set of NAEP scores, a growing evidence base suggests that understanding how students experience school

Happy students and teacher in a classroom
School grade on a chalkboard
Commentary
9.23.2025
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Does this school deserve an A, a B, or a C?

Michael J. Petrilli

Last week, the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board looked into claims by the Mikes (Mike Miles and Mike Morath) about the many Space City schools going from D’s or F’s to A’s and B’s on the state report card, thanks to the sweeping reforms undertaken in the d

School grade on a chalkboard
Students raising their hands in a school classroom
Commentary
9.18.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Why curriculum alone is not enough

Teresa Eliopoulos

From my experiences supporting districts to choose and use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), I’ve seen that curriculum selection often breaks down where it matters the most: in classrooms.

Students raising their hands in a school classroom
Serious portrait of a student in a classroom
Commentary
9.18.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The Covid generation: Best readers ever in fourth grade, worst readers ever by twelfth

Michael J. Petrilli

There’s been a lot of smart analysis of the dismal NAEP results released last week. But here’s an alarming fact that you probably haven’t seen before: The cohort of students who scored at record-low levels in twelfth grade reading were part of the same generation of kids who scored at record-high levels in fourth grade. So what happened?

Serious portrait of a student in a classroom
Students in a classroom
Commentary
9.17.2025
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

NAEP scores show top students are struggling, too

Brandon L. Wright

The latest twelfth-grade results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress are awful, as

Students in a classroom
Student using a computer in class
Commentary
9.11.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Cellphone bans are not enough

Henry Seton

This fall, students are returning to school amidst tighter cellphone restrictions. From California to Florida, a rare consensus of politicians, educators, and parents is rising against the dangers that smartphones pose to student learning and well-being. But it is too early to celebrate. Simply banning cellphones without curtailing other devices is like locking the front door while leaving the back door open.

Student using a computer in class
Student reading
Commentary
9.4.2025
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

A new early literacy safety net in Massachusetts

Almudena Abeyta, Tracy Curley, Dianne Kelly, Ed Lambert, Vanessa Lipschitz

Much commentary has been offered on the literacy crisis plaguing the country. Massachusetts, often recognized as a leader in student achievement, has experienced the same challenge. Signs of the problem were clear in advance of the pandemic with NAEP fourth-grade reading proficiency rates falling from 50 percent to 45 percent between 2011 and 2019.

Student reading
Report card
Commentary
9.2.2025
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Two cheers for Thomas Taylor

Michael J. Petrilli

Given our moniker as “The Education Gadfly,” we at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute are not accustomed to lavishing praise on education leaders. That’s OK, considering how rarely they deserve it. But when someone in a position of authority demonstrates leadership, courage, and common sense, it’s important for us gadflies (and reformers) to say so.

Report card
High school football practice
Commentary
8.29.2025
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Coaches and teachers both understand: Effort is king

Michael J. Petrilli

My son came home from football practice the other night and showed me the “key performance indicators” from his position coach. This season, a missed tackle results in a “fine” of twenty burpees; a dropped interception is followed by twenty push-ups; and a missed assignment will be punished with fifty squat jumps.

High school football practice