Topics

Miguel Cardona to step down, joins the cast of CBS’s Ghosts

George Santos resigns to return to his roots as a guidance counselor

AP course on creationism banned in California

Rewrite attendance laws to promote learning, not seat time

Two depressing developments of the past couple years have given birth to a radical idea: Let’s rethink state “compulsory attendance” laws so that they’re phrased in terms of kids learning rather than years in school. First is evidence that lots of students who need it don’t avail themselves of high-dose tutoring when available. Second is the growing number of districts and schools that are moving to four-day weeks.

The agonizing individualism of progressive education

Perhaps my favorite moment teaching this year came as my class finished reading Of Mice and Men. In the final moments of the story, one character executes his friend to save him from a far worse fate. It’s sudden and thus shocking. I set them to read this final scene silently. The faster readers finished first. I watched eyes widen and flit faster from word to word.

Secretary Cardona asked states to “raise the bar.” New York responded by lowering it.

This school year was supposed to mark the beginning of the comeback. Largely free from pandemic-related disruptions and with coffers flush with Uncle Sam’s Covid cash, states could finally turn their attention toward clawing back what students have lost.

High schoolers don’t graduate with the learning habits to succeed in college

Much of my work as a kindergarten teacher was teaching young children how to be students. Even the routine for “circle time” on the carpet required days, if not weeks, of explicit practice. Making eye contact, waiting one’s turn to speak, and ignoring distractions are skills so basic that it’s easy to forget that they don’t come naturally to many kids.

Cheers and Jeers: March 30, 2023

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What we're reading this week: March 30, 2023

A review of existing research suggests that “retention is more likely to succeed in earlier grades and when implemented with instructional support mechanisms tailored towards the educational needs of retained students.” —Brookings Institution

How the “math wars” are different from the “reading wars”

Debates over how to teach math echo the conflicts over reading instruction, and some issues are similar. But unlike math, reading—in its full sense—draws on everything a person has been able to learn.

Charter schools make district schools more efficient

Districts that lose students to charter schools can and ultimately will adjust their behavior. And indeed, recent research implies that, while charters marginally reduce districts’ total revenues per pupil, they also make them more efficient. The challenge for policymakers is managing whatever transition costs may be associated with moving to a more choice-based system in a way that is fair to students and taxpayers.

Conservatives’ blunder: Making enemies of public school teachers

Here is a list of ideals and values commonly held within a particular group of people in American life. Name the group of people who prize the following things: a belief in personal responsibility and individual merit; a respect for order, rules, and self-discipline; and a personal commitment to vibrant institutions that are critical to civil society.

Yes, high school English can be a bore. No, it’s not Common Core’s fault.

Within a few years of their 2010 rollout, the Common Core State Standards for math and English became a popular scapegoat for a host of perceived ills in K–12 education.

New evidence of weak benefits to student-teacher matching on race

One way education systems have tried to raise the performance of Black and Brown children is by matching students with teachers of the same race and ethnicity.

Cheers and Jeers: March 23, 2023

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What we're reading this week: March 23, 2023

What we’re reading

States can improve equity and outcomes in gifted education, but too many aren’t trying

Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and published every other week. Its purpose is to monitor the progress of gifted education in America, including legal and legislative developments, policy and leadership changes, emerging research, grassroots efforts, and more.

Keep the tests, but reform the test prep

When I started Instruction Partners and began working deeply and regularly with multiple school systems, I was surprised by some patterns. The same motivational quotes were in almost every school hallway. Many teachers' lounges had the same air freshener. There was a similar tension between certain departments in almost every district.

We know student effort matters, so let’s start acting like it

Student effort is the secret sauce at Success Academy charter schools, says their founder and CEO, and they teach and celebrate it religiously. Indeed, after seventeen years of educating tens of thousands of students, careful analysis of homework, classwork, and assessment data has taught the Success Academy team that a large proportion of errors, up to 70 percent, don’t result from not knowing or understanding the content, but from a lack of care and attention to detail.

We must return to the core mission of education: academic learning

It’s a familiar and dreary tale. For twenty years, the math and reading learning outcomes of our nation’s twelfth graders have been flat. More recently, the performance gap between the wealthiest and poorest students has widened, while between Black and White students the previous gap-closing has stalled.

How teachers affect students’ perceptions of school climate

Once inside, it doesn’t take long to soak up the climate of a school. A simple walk down the hallway can give you clues. Is it clean? Are the bulletin boards up to date? Can you hear the energetic buzz of learning versus the cacophony of bad behavior? Do students and teachers greet you with a smile or a cold shoulder?

Cheers and Jeers: March 16, 2023

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What we're reading this week: March 16, 2023

Undergraduate college enrollment has dropped 8 percent from 2019, a decline quickened by a growing number of young people entering the workforce.

To improve student outcomes, ask teachers to do fewer things better

We are seeking to raise and enhance the capacities of teachers while, at the same time, placing ever greater burdens on them. But the inconvenient fact is that the nation needs nearly 4 million people to teach its children, and any number that large means the men and women who staff our schools and teach our children will be, by definition, ordinary people.

ESAs’ surge is decades in the making, and advocates are prepared for pushback

In the summer of 2015, I sat at my desk and Googled “health savings account providers.” At the time, I had been in states across the country advocating for creation of education savings account (ESA) programs.

“District innovation”: Not an oxymoron?

The latest report from UVA’s Partnership for Leaders in Education is breathlessly upbeat about the opportunities for radical, disruptive changes in K–12 education.

How teacher prep can help educators build students’ content knowledge

In recent years, research on the relationship between content knowledge and reading a

Cheers and Jeers: March 9, 2023

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What we're reading this week: March 9, 2023

“Why smartphones might make adolescents anxious and depressed.” —Freddie deBoer For certain students, a high-pressure school culture of achievement can lead to anxiety and depression.

“Because equity” is not a good reason to lower standards

Noble is the desire to bend our system toward the needs of our most disadvantaged students—students who are disproportionately poor, Black, and Brown. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about this. Leveling up is the right way. Leveling down is the wrong way. Expanding access and opportunity is the right way. Lowering standards is the wrong way. Guess which way is gaining steam?