Displaying 841-870 of 17817 results
Commentary
2.6.2023
School Finance, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

Parent navigators are worth the investment for school choice supporters

Travis Pillow

From 2015 to 2018, the start of spring meant I could expect to hear from parents across Florida. At the time, I worked for Step Up Students, the Florida-based organization that administers the nation’s largest education scholarship (i.e., voucher) program. My job was not in customer service. I was the editor of a blog focused on school choice issues.

Commentary
2.2.2023
School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

How much education is a public responsibility?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

So many of our debates about paying for higher education hinge on conflicting views of what’s the taxpayer’s responsibility and what’s the recipient’s. These days, that’s also true of pre-schooling and it also arises, albeit in different form, when we fight over vouchers, tax credits, ESAs and such. Is it society’s responsibility to pay for private schooling or is it the family’s?

Commentary
2.2.2023

Cheers and Jeers: February 2, 2023

The Education Gadfly

Cheers Contrary to popular belief, gifted and talented programs have a negligible effect on racial segregation in schools. —Education Next Jeers

Commentary
2.2.2023

What we're reading this week: February 2, 2023

The Education Gadfly

Most of the socio-economic gap in college enrollment, and all of the gender and racial gaps, can be explained by differences in academic preparation during K–12 schooling. —Brookings Institution Education Savings Accounts represent a shift from boosting student outcomes to empowering all parents.

Commentary
1.31.2023
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Toward a broader conception of student success—and a broader conception of accountability

Gene Pinkard

I have held firm to this belief since my early days of teaching: Getting students to proficiency and above in reading and math is a commitment to social justice and democracy. Education can empower students to change the world, especially when it counters cycles of poverty.

Commentary
1.27.2023
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance

Interpreting the Covid impact on achievement

David Armor

The release of “The Nation’s Report Card” on October 24, 2022, created shock waves though out the country’s education and policy establishments.

Commentary
1.26.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Dr. King and the liberal arts

Jennifer Frey

Last week, as we celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we recalled his civil rights activism as an admirable example of creating what John Lewis called “good trouble.” Dr. King is an American icon precisely because he possessed the wisdom and courage to hold America up to her own high standards: that all men are created equal and must be treated equally before the law.

Commentary
1.26.2023
School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice

Public dollars, private schools

Robert Pondiscio

For the vast majority of America’s children, going to school has changed little from their parents’ generation, even their grandparents’: Where you live is where you learn, in a school run by your local public school district.

Commentary
1.26.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

Getting ready for future employment opportunity: Evidence from Pittsburgh

Jeff Murray

Reversing decades of economic struggle in America’s former manufacturing centers is a high priority for leaders in cities and regions across the nation. Many would like to see technology-focused industries lead such a resurgence, but do they have enough qualified workers? And if not, how can they increase those numbers?

Commentary
1.20.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Driving equity in gifted policies: Insights from Harlem Academy in New York City

Vincent Dotoli

Editor’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.

Commentary
1.19.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The true enemy of equity

Michael J. Petrilli

Advocates 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.

Commentary
1.19.2023
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance

“Curriculum transparency” is harder to achieve than lawmakers assume

Robert Pondiscio

House 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

Commentary
1.19.2023

Are education leaders mismeasuring schools’ vital signs?

David Osborne

Two 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?

Commentary
1.19.2023
Evidence-Based Learning

The slowly-narrowing achievement gap

Josh Einis

A recent study by Eric Hanushek, Jacob Light, Paul Peterson, Laura Talpey, and Ludger Woessmann finds that, contrary to

Commentary
1.12.2023
Advanced Education

Why I’m against the economic argument for educating gifted children

Victoria McDougald

One 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

Commentary
1.12.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice

Rural school choice is more common than you think

Robert Pondiscio

A 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.

Commentary
1.12.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

One teacher’s response to the reading wars

Nathaniel Grossman

Sold 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.