What we're reading this week: November 16, 2023
The Education GadflyPreferring half measures, states must go all-in for universal education savings accounts if school choice is to truly revolutionize education. —Roland Fryer, Wall Street Journal School vouchers fail to create the conditions necessary for effective markets to function.
An overlooked application for AI: The city as a Montessori shelf
Travis PillowEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Reimagined: AI can be a catalyst for a more learner-centered system of education, if done right
Alex Spurrier, Amy Chen KulesaRead the winning entry in 2023's Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
How we can use AI to increase access and equity in science education
Melissa Peplinksi, Haley GaudreauEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Robot teachers
AnonymousEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Apprenticeships are the new learning campus
Bruno V. MannoCollege for all has been the goal of K–12 schools for at least twenty-five years. This has meant that America’s schools typically do not provide young people with work experience. This experience gap has young people leaving high school with little understanding of work and practical pathways to jobs and careers.
Grade inflation is locking in learning loss, part 1
Tim DalyEditor's note: This was first published on the author's Substack, The Education Daly.
Why AI doesn’t worry me in the classroom, and why it does
Thomas CourtneyEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Using artificial intelligence to measure the effectiveness of professional learning
Annie MorrisonEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Accountability will be the bedrock of AI in education
Khaled IsmailEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
Transformative for the motivated and mere meh for the unmotivated: How AI will and won’t affect learners
Sean Geraghty, Mike GoldsteinEditor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2023 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?”
School choice isn’t killing traditional public schools. It’s making them better.
Michael J. PetrilliThe impact of school choice on traditional school districts, what scholars call its “competitive effects,” is an area in which there is much high-quality research. A new book critical of choice fails to wrestle with this fact.
Schools aren’t up to the task of teaching students about the Israel-Hamas War
Robert PondiscioCampus radicalism is easy to spot—and condemn.
State education departments are cheerleading mediocrity
Dale ChuPost-pandemic learning loss is a lot like the national deficit. It is huge, it is exacerbated by political divisions, and nothing that’s currently being done about it will come close to solving the problem.
Grading standards and student effort: Short-run versus long-run effects
Adam Tyner, Ph.D.A simple observation: In the U.S., high school graduation rates have increased while other measures of academic achievement—from college entrance exam scores to high school
What we're reading this week: November 9, 2023
The Education GadflySome schools and districts are trying to better align college credits earned in high school with the potential majors of their students.
How Washington State passed a universal-screening law: An interview with Austina De Bonte
Brandon L. WrightWashington schools must now screen every elementary student for advanced education services, thanks to a law
Smartphones and social media are leading to depression and anxiety for our students. Are they depressing test scores, too?
Michael J. PetrilliSmartphones and social media are likely at least partly to blame for the teenage mental health epidemic that started around 2013. Is it possible that phones and social media might also be behind the plateauing and decline of student achievement that we’ve seen in America, also starting around 2013?
A new paper fails to prove that accountability impedes innovation in charter schools
David GriffithWelcome to the latest installment of the Regulation Wars, a long-running family quarrel that centers on the perceived tensions between two of the charter school movement’s founding principles: innovation and execution (or, if you prefer, autonomy and accountability).
Where do the Republican candidates stand on education?
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Maybe it’s premature for an election that’s still a year away, and perhaps it’s archaic to expect to find any serious discussion of issues and policies in candidates’ campaign websites. Old-fashioned plodder that I am, however, I went foraging on those websites to see what I could find about their policy positions on education.
The effects of a virtual literacy-tutoring program
Jeff MurraySchools across America continue struggling to help their students catch up following unprecedented learning losses resulting from pandemic school closures beginning in March 2020. It is vital—both to address current needs and to stash away for future use—to determine which methods work to boost student achievement.
What we're reading this week: November 2, 2023
The Education GadflyInequalities in access and questions about its utility make calculus one of the most controversial courses in high school. —Education Week Homeschooling is America’s fastest growing form of education.
Bias in AI is a real problem
Daniel BuckHysteria over students cheating via ChatGPT and other generative AI applications is so last year. This season’s hyperventilation-initiator is the potential for bias in AI. And well, there’s actually a lot to be worried about.
What the Defense Department can teach us about schooling
Matthew LeveyThe New York Times recently covered the extraordinary academic achievement of Department of Defense schools, noting several factors that contribute to their success. But one important contributor—common values—was not mentioned.
Shake it up or mess it up: The impact of principal transitions on school quality in New York City
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.Data indicate that, nationwide, roughly 20 percent of schools change principals in any given year, and that urban schools see a larger share of such changes.
How school choice programs impact private school tuition
Jeff MurrayIn a new report and accompanying factsheet, authors Jason Bedrick, Jay Greene, and Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation look into