Today’s light-speed media cycle means that stories often come and go in an instant, making it difficult to determine how much a piece resonates with readers and whether it has staying power. That’s one of the things that makes lists like this so illuminating and fun to create and peruse.
Well, anno domini 2024 was another discouraging one in the annals of school reform.
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of articles in our “What We’re Reading” section. Many of these are opinion pieces, usually from leading newspapers and magazines or high-profile Substacks. Here’s our list of our favorites for the year, presented in chronological order.
Every week in the Education Gadfly, we flag a handful of news items for our “Cheers and Jeers” section. Here are the ten most praiseworthy (or dunk-worthy) developments of 2024, presented in chronological order. Best
Any hope that Musk would find success in revolutionizing education is unlikely. His educational experiments may succeed on Space X grounds with the children of Space X employees—with all of the cultural capital that comes with such an upbringing—but would almost certainly explode on lift off were they launched at scale.
As enrollments drop, city after city is facing pressure to close half-empty schools. Fewer kids means fewer dollars. Consolidating two schools saves money because it means paying for one less principal, librarian, nurse, PE teacher, counselor, reading coach, clerk, custodian… you get the idea.
The recently released results from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 highlight a concerning decline in U.S. students’ performance in science and mathematics, with the country falling further behind peer countries. But it isn’t just America.
Emergency school closures aimed at minimizing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education trajectory of over one billion children worldwide starting in March 2020. However, the length and manner of closures varied greatly from country to country and education system to education system.
Severe aggression in children may be linked to neuro-cognitive difficulties that require treatment. If educators can recognize the underlying factors and advocate for appropriate interventions, they can support these students and reduce classroom disruptions. —R. J. R. Blair and Daniel T.
Over the past decade, American schooling has abandoned its focus on safe, orderly schools and high academic expectations in favor of social and emotional learning and trauma-informed pedagogy, particularly in schools serving low-income students and children of color.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s p
As President-elect Trump and his team prepare for the first 100 days of office, they are setting their policy agenda and striving to make good on their campaign promises. In education, that will include decreasing the federal role (if not eliminating the U.S.
There has been a fierce and counterproductive backlash to “no excuses” charter schools, stemming from the idea that student discipline and orderly classrooms are culturally insensitive, particularly when imposed on students of color. This critique drove the rise of social justice education with its focus on reducing racial harm while functionally neglecting academic instruction and enshrining low expectations.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering why many recent articles, predictions, and speculations about Trump’s plans for the U.S. Department of Education focus on its abolition, while others predict that it will be forcefully deployed to reshape what schools teach. Consider the Washington Post’s excellent education reporter Laura Meckler, writing on November 12:
An increasing number of districts across America are rightly procuring so-called high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) for use in their schools.
Millions of American high school students annually participate in preparatory coursework intended to build and document their readiness for college, including Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment.
California has a long history of attempting to reform Algebra I in the name of equity.
Nearly five years after the pandemic forced school closures across the country, many Ohio students continue to struggle with chronic absenteeism and academic gaps, despite efforts to address these issues at the state level.
New York City is awash in “gifted and talented” children, otherwise known as high-achieving public school students who would benefit from advanced education. In some neighborhoods, for example, over 50 percent of students test in the top 10th percentile nationwide.
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Philip K.
Virginia’s new accountability system incentivizes schools to provide valuable middle-school math pathways, resulting in more opportunities for Virginia students, especially the most underprivileged.
Editor’s note: This was first published on the author’s Substack, Governing Right.
With the number of states requiring students to pass exams in order to earn a diploma now down to the single digits, this feels like the end of an era. What should we do now? Let’s start by getting the gang back together—a bipartisan group of governors and state education chiefs—to work on a rational set of high school graduation requirements reflecting the multiple pathways to upward mobility and post-secondary success.
Recently my daughter asked me to describe my job. I had to think for a minute. Statistical interpreter? Results translator? None worked. I needed an elevator pitch, one my quasi-curious teen would understand easily, without too much side eye.
Some days, when you’re rocking a seven-day-old infant to sleep at three in the morning, the only thing to do is pick away at instruction manuals in a bleary-eyed daze.
AEI’s foremost and very distinguished demographer, my long-ago colleague Nick Eberstadt, joined by several colleagues, has released a devastating analysis/critique of the much-cited OECD assertion that China’s K–12 education performance—based on PISA scores—
The amount of time students spend in school is a popular lever of change pulled by education policymakers of all types.
