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The Other Achievement Gap

A trio of recent studies and articles raises troubling questions about America's "Achievement-Gap Mania." Are we leaving our highest performing students behind in the quest to raise the test scores of students at the bottom? If so, what will this mean for our future international competitiveness? Learn about the recent studies--Fordham's Do High Flyers Maintain their Altitude? and the George W. Bush Institute's Global Report Card?as well as Frederick M. Hess's new National Affairs essay, "Our Achievement-Gap Mania." And join a conversation about whether our focus on raising the bottom is blinding us to trouble at the top. View the event page for more details.

Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?

Fordham's study, "Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of Top Students," is the first to examine the performance of America's highest-achieving children over time at the individual-student level. Produced in partnership with the Northwest Evaluation Association, it finds that many high-achieving students struggle to maintain their elite performance over the years and often fail to improve their reading ability at the same rate as their average and below-average classmates. The study raises troubling questions: Is our obsession with closing achievement gaps and "leaving no child behind" coming at the expense of our "talented tenth"?and America's future international competitiveness?

Reform School: Mike Miles

Mike Miles talks about student achievement and the pay for performance process he has implemented at the Harrison School Disctrict 2 in Colorado Springs, CO.

Is It Time to Turn the Page on Federal Accountability in Education?

With ESEA reauthorization looming, there's much debate over the proper role for the federal government in holding schools accountable. In their recent ESEA Briefing Book, Fordham Institute President Chester E. Finn, Jr., and Executive Vice President Michael J. Petrilli argue that it's time to turn the page on federally-mandated accountability (such as "Adequate Yearly Progress" and connected sanctions), since it can't successfully be imposed from Washington. Instead, they say, Uncle Sam should ensure that education results and finances are transparent to the public?and leave it to the states and districts to do the rest.

Teachers speak out, dispel fears and myths about teacher evaluations - Part 2

Teachers speak out, dispel fears and myths about teacher evaluations - Part 1

DC teachers speak out about teacher evaluations

Many states, including Ohio, are moving toward more rigorous evaluation systems. We talked to DC teachers evaluated by DC's IMPACT evaluation system to hear their thoughts on how they're evaluated.

Are Education Schools Amenable to Reform?

Many reformers and funders have written off schools of education as beyond repair, and much of the current energy for teacher preparation is centered on non-traditional programs like Teach For America. But are schools of education more ready for reform than the conventional wisdom supposes? Join the Thomas B. Fordham Institute for a lively and provocative debate about that question. Institute President Chester Finn will moderate, and the discussion will be informed, in part, by Fordham's recent study, Cracks in the Ivory Tower? The Views of Education Professors Circa 2010, as well as by the recently-announced effort, led by Jim Cibulka's NCATE, to overhaul the teacher evaluation system.