What we're reading this week: January 26, 2023
The Education GadflyA Boston writer reminisces about participating in a radical school integration project fifty years ago.
Education Gadfly Show #854: How districts should prepare for the coming school closures, with Tim Daly
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast,
Driving equity in gifted policies: Insights from Harlem Academy in New York City
Vincent DotoliEditor’s note: This essay was part of an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute that is 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.
The true enemy of equity
Michael J. PetrilliAdvocates have turned “equity” into a trigger word by pitting the concept against “excellence.” But that line of argument is not only politically unpopular, it’s wrong. In fact, excellence is not the enemy of equity, but the antidote to inequity.
“Curriculum transparency” is harder to achieve than lawmakers assume
Robert PondiscioHouse Republicans this week introduced a curriculum transparency bill aimed at ensuring parents know what their kids are learning in school, particularly when that includes “divisive concepts” like critical race theory, which has been banned from classrooms or restricted i
Are education leaders mismeasuring schools’ vital signs?
David OsborneTwo years ago, students at a charter school in East Los Angeles were learning at 1.5 to two times the pace of their grade level peers around the state, based on three years of standardized test scores. But the California Department of Education labeled the school a “low performer,” which put it at risk of closure. Why?
National Working Group on Advanced Education: Summary of third meeting
The Education GadflyEditor’s note: On November 17, 2022, seventeen members of the National Working Group on Advanced Education met for its third meeting in Indianapolis.
The slowly-narrowing achievement gap
Josh EinisA recent study by Eric Hanushek, Jacob Light, Paul Peterson, Laura Talpey, and Ludger Woessmann finds that, contrary to
What we're reading this week: January 19, 2023
The Education Gadfly“In Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, Russian strikes and power outages are part of the school day.
Education Gadfly Show #853: The Supreme Court and religious charters schools, with Nicole Garnett
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith talk with
Why I’m against the economic argument for educating gifted children
Victoria McDougaldOne common and longstanding argument made in defense of gifted education (including by some of my valued colleagues) is that we as a nation must cultivate the talents of these bright students in order to remain economically competitive and because th
Rural school choice is more common than you think
Robert PondiscioA common observation made by critics of school choice is that it has little to offer families in rural communities where the population isn’t large enough to support multiple schools, and where transportation is already burdensome. I’ve made the point myself, and I’m a school choice proponent.
One teacher’s response to the reading wars
Nathaniel GrossmanSold a Story, the podcast series from American Public Media, is essential listening for parents and teachers. Through six episodes, host Emily Hanford documents how schools failed to adequately teach reading to students over the past thirty years.
Challenges and disappointments in school superintendency: Lessons from Broad
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.School district superintendents have an unenviable job description—ranging from high-level policy decisions on curriculum and finance to small-scale daily operations questions and small-p politics with stakeholders at all levels—so it’s no surprise that many
The impact of regulatory flexibility on the teacher workforce in Massachusetts charter schools
Jeff MurrayOne hallmark of charter schools—distinct from their traditional district peers—is flexibility in their HR practices.
What we're reading this week: January 12, 2023
The Education GadflyNew York state is considering eliminating the Regents exams, a graduation requirement for high school students dating to the 1870s.
Education Gadfly Show #852: New Year’s resolutions for America’s schools, with Robert Pondiscio
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith talk with
We need to prepare now for the school closures that are coming
Tim DalySchool closures are awful. I won’t argue otherwise.
An octet of dualisms for the new year
Chester E. Finn, Jr.Consider eight pairs of education-related statements that Finn believes are both at least partly true, even though they seem to state opposing views or realities. The first: the pandemic was an unmitigated disaster for American education; and coming out of the pandemic, important elements of American education are savvier and more flexible than before.
Charter school teacher turnover and retention
Daniel BuckAs one article at National Affairs put it, the cries about a nation-wide teacher shortage are “heavy on anecdote and speculation” but rather light on data.
The typical gifted program is likely to become even less equitable
Scott J. Peters, Meredith LangiBy now the unfinished learning that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic is old news.
What we're reading this week: January 5, 2023
The Education GadflyChatGPT—a bot capable of generating paragraphs of fluent writing—is causing headaches for teachers and professors on the lookout for plagiarism.
Education Gadfly Show #851: The case for teaching writing in the age of ChatGPT, with Checker Finn
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, David Griffith talks with
Would capturing student growth in grades K–2 lead to different school ratings?
Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.In the wake of dismal NAEP reading scores released earlier this year,