Commentary
What we're reading this week: November 9, 2023
Some schools and districts are trying to better align college credits earned in high school with the potential majors of their students.
Podcast
Evidence-Based Learning
#895: Knowledge and the science of reading, with Natalie Wexler
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Natalie Wexler, host of the Knowledge Matters podcast, joins Mike to discuss the
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
How Washington State passed a universal-screening law: An interview with Austina De Bonte
Washington schools must now screen every elementary student for advanced education services, thanks to a law
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Smartphones and social media are leading to depression and anxiety for our students. Are they depressing test scores, too?
Smartphones 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?
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance
A new paper fails to prove that accountability impedes innovation in charter schools
Welcome 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).
Commentary
Governance
Where do the Republican candidates stand on education?
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.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction
The effects of a virtual literacy-tutoring program
Schools 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.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: November 2, 2023
Inequalities 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.
Podcast
Standards
#894: The victims of grade inflation, with Tim Donahue
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tim Donahue, an English teacher at the Greenwich Country Day School, joins Mike to discu
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Bias in AI is a real problem
Hysteria 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.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
What the Defense Department can teach us about schooling
The 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.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders
Shake it up or mess it up: The impact of principal transitions on school quality in New York City
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.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice
How school choice programs impact private school tuition
In a new report and accompanying factsheet, authors Jason Bedrick, Jay Greene, and Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation look into
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: October 26, 2023
Looping, wherein schools keep students with teachers for more than one year, deserves to be embraced more widely.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
Addressing excellence gaps in a diverse high school
This summer the National Working Group on Advanced Education reported what many educators in the United States already know and experience: that the United States has been wasting an enormous amount of human potential and that man
Podcast
Standards
#893: When to hold kids back, with Umut Özek and Louis Mariano
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Umut Özek and Louis Mariano, researchers at the Rand Corporation, join Mike to d
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Replacing the Carnegie Unit will spark a battle royale
One of the most important efforts in American education today is the project to displace the Carnegie Unit as the fundamental unit of measurement in high schools.
Commentary
School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Why education technologies disappoint
The claims from the field of education technology—“ed tech” to insiders—could hardly be more grandiose.
Commentary
Facilities, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice
How microschools can succeed
Microschools exist as a midpoint between homeschooling and traditional schools. Typically, the entire school will only have twenty-five students and one or two teachers—often parents, sometimes former educators looking for a more personal classroom, and occasionally local community members like doctors who have expertise to share.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: October 19, 2023
A new study from the Brookings Institution finds that stronger school-to-career pipelines can help young adults develop financial security.
Podcast
Teachers & School Leaders
#892: A solution to teacher shortages, with Kirsten Baesler
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kirsten Baesler, the superintendent of North Dakota, joins Mike to discuss her stat
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Wonkathon 2023: How can we harness the power but mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence in our schools?
As in years past, we’ll encourage our audience to vote for the “wisest wonk.” If you’re keen to jump in—and we hope you are—please let us know and indicate when we can expect your draft. We will publish submissions on a rolling basis, so send yours as soon as practical but no later than Monday, November 6. Aim for 800 to 1200 words.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Retaining struggling readers in third grade sounds good—but it’s too little, too late, too often
Educators have long debated whether to retain students who do not meet grade level standards.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Don’t mess with Texas school reform
Texas legislators returned to Austin earlier this week to try once again to enact a statewide school-choice program in the form of edu
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
There’s no Republican or Democrat way to teach reading
There are forty-four phonemes that make up every word in the English language. Some of these small units of sound occur more frequently than others, but none can be dispensed with entirely when teaching children to sound out words and read with fluency—not even the phoneme /d/ as in “Democrat” or /r/ as in “Republican.”
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
How good are teachers at spotting advanced students?
Many school districts use teacher rating scales to identify students for advanced (i.e., gifted) programming, such as supplementary instruction and separate classes or schools.
Commentary
