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Commentary
9.23.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

To protect students during the economic downturn, schools need to spend money wisely

Frederick M. Hess, Brandon L. Wright

This spring, the nation was slammed by a pandemic that has thus far killed nearly 200,000 Americans, thrown millions out of work, shuttered schools, and upended the rhythms of teaching and learning. Suddenly the kitchen table became a makeshift desk and “school” came to mean hours seated in front of a Chromebook.

Commentary
9.23.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Reality check: Rating students’ math performance

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

There are two aspects of standardized testing to which opponents tend to object: The testing itself and how the results are used.

Commentary
9.16.2020
Charter Schools, Private School Choice

How states can meet the rising demand for school choice

Dale Chu

Six months into the pandemic, the nation’s forced experiment in remote learning has resumed. But our education system’s design is ill-suited to the unique quandaries posed by Covid-19. District officials continue to ask parents for grace and patience, and many have continued to oblige, but if current conditions persist into next year and beyond, demand for choice will almost certainly increase as a large number of parents keep their children at home.

Commentary
9.16.2020
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Why state assessments matter, even in a pandemic

Aaron Churchill

Ohio legislators recently introduced Senate Bill 358, which proposes to cancel all state testing scheduled for spring 2021. The provision calling for the cancellation of state exams would only go into effect if the state receives an assessment waiver from the U.S.

Commentary
9.16.2020
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

“Evasive entrepreneurs” create new K–12 school options

Bruno V. Manno

Covid-19 is upending what parents think about America’s schools, motivating them to seek different ways to educate their children. It’s also inspiring enterprising individuals and imaginative policymakers to create new ways to support that parent demand for change.

Commentary
9.16.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Zoom like a champion

Robert Pondiscio

I’ve made no secret over the years of my admiration for the work of Doug Lemov. When I was a new and clueless fifth grade teacher in 2002, his essential book, Teach Like a Champion, was unfortunately still a few years away.

Commentary
9.11.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How do we spot child abuse and neglect when schooling is remote?

Naomi Schaefer Riley

If schooling continues to be remote through the fall, as it seems to be in many districts across the country, what is to be done about the plight of kids who are at risk for child abuse or neglect?

Commentary
9.9.2020
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How the conventions showcased education and what it means for ed reform

Dale Chu

The first-ever virtual political conventions have come and gone, during which neither party offered a serious path forward on education reform. The Democrats belong to the self-interested teacher unions, and the GOP has become a single-issue party in pursuit of choice, leaving us with a lot of talk but little action.

Commentary
9.9.2020
Charter Schools, Governance

Hey, Democrats and Republicans: Don’t cut federal charter funding

Kelly Robson

Some Democrats and Republicans have an unlikely alliance these days around one thing: their sudden rejection of the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP), which funds start-up costs for new, high-quality charter schools.

Commentary
9.9.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Months without play dates, hugs from grandma, and trips to the library

Victoria McDougald

Around six months ago, stay-at-home orders and school closures upended normal life for children of all ages across the United States. The loss of academic learning has been a huge concern, but we’re not talking enough about the implications of long-term “social distancing” for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Commentary
9.9.2020
Curriculum & Instruction

A virtual scramble: Google searches in the time of Covid-19

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Jeff Murray

Upon the pandemic-induced closure of schools across the country this past March, millions of students and parents were thrust into a brand-new world of remote learning. Where else would they turn for help but the internet?

Commentary
9.9.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Rural districts’ Covid-19 response

Jessica Poiner

The National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) is a recently established organization out of Harvard that studies and supports a network of rural school districts in New York and Ohio.

Commentary
9.2.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction

Covid-19 clouds the future for collegians

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) surveyed students at that school to determine the impact of Covid-19 on their current and future plans—including their enrollment decisions, study habits, remote learning experiences, labor market participation, and more.

Commentary
9.2.2020

It’s school culture, stupid

Robert Pondiscio

“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. “They don’t look at test scores when they evaluate schools.” 

Commentary
9.2.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Donald Trump, patriotic history, and the federal role

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

The Republican party has no 2020 platform. They refer people looking for one to the 2016 version. That goes for education along with everything else. The Trump-Pence campaign website doesn’t display policy positions, either, though there’s a section on “promises kept” that includes one skimpy page on education.

Commentary
8.28.2020
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance

The renewal of a bipartisan national bargain on education reform

Kalman R. Hettleman

Michael Petrilli has written that, “when it comes to education, conservatives should stand for excellence.” So should liberals, and I am a longtime activist on the Democrats’ left wing.

Commentary
8.26.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Lessons on remote learning from leading charter networks

Michael J. Petrilli

Remote learning did not go well in the spring. What we need, then, are concrete recommendations for how to significantly improve the remote learning experience for students, teachers, and families. Fordham’s new report, Schooling Covid-19, provides just that, with ideas culled from educators who achieved striking success in the face of the viral challenge this spring—educators from some of the nation’s leading charter school networks

Commentary
8.26.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

A mad dash to the curriculum bazaar

Dale Chu

If you do a quick search on Teacherspayteachers.com, one of the most popular sources for online teaching materials, you’ll see that “distance learning resources” are now front and center.

Commentary
8.26.2020
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Let's evaluate schools on the assignments they ask students to complete

Michael J. Petrilli

Eventually we’ll learn whether our mass experiment in “remote learning” leads to durable changes in the U.S. education system, such as more students taking some of their courses online or opting out altogether from school as we know it. In the meantime, the massive digital footprint this experiment is creating can provide fresh insights into how students spend their days.

Commentary
8.26.2020
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

How the coronavirus recession may improve teacher quality

Jessica Poiner

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused plenty of problems in education, but a recently published study offers a sliver of good news for schools that—despite recent budget constraints—may soon find themselves in need of additional teachers to make social distancing feasible

Commentary
8.26.2020
Advanced Education

The gifted kids are all right

Jeff Murray

Academic acceleration—either through grade skipping or advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement or early college access—is a longstanding practice for primary and secondary students who show above average ability for their age and grade level.

Commentary
8.25.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Listen to parents about when and how to reopen schools

Bruno V. Manno

Lost in the political noise of the debate on reopening schools is what parents think about this complicated puzzle. While their varied responses reflect this complexity, there is important consensus on many issues—though significant disagreement on one.

Commentary
8.19.2020
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

When it comes to education, conservatives should stand for excellence

Michael J. Petrilli

Equity need not be pitted against excellence. But let’s not pretend there are no trade-offs. The two are in tension, if not actual conflict, in many matters of policy and practice. We can assume that progressives will always take the “equity” side. So if conservatives don’t make excellence a priority—be it in matters organizational, academic, or related to extracurricular activities and other nonacademic pursuits—nobody will.

Commentary
8.19.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Why conservatives should care about curriculum

Robert Pondiscio

Editor’s note: This was first published as part of the American Enterprise Institute’s Sketching a New Conservative Agenda Series.