Commentary
Topics
Commentary
What we're reading this week: February 23, 2023
“In fast-growing Jersey City, charter schools seen as more friend than foe to traditional school district.” —NJ.com One writer says that education saving
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
How one school district is balancing excellence and equity—and another isn’t
Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and 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.
Podcast
Governance
#858: The Trump and DeSantis culture war fixation, with Dale Chu
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Dale Chu joins Mike Petrilli to discuss whether Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning
It’s time to revisit conventional wisdom in education: Introducing our Think Again Series
Much of the conventional wisdom in education policy is sacrosanct, circulated so long that it is no longer up for debate. From firm beliefs about school funding to assumptions about what drives unequal educational outcomes, our field is rife with outdated ideas long overdue for updates.
Report
Accountability & Testing
Think Again: Do College Admissions Exams Drive Higher Education Inequities?
The SAT and ACT hold a controversial place in American education. This brief challenges the notion that college admissions exams drive inequities in college admissions and higher education attainment, as well as worsen broader social disparities.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Career & Technical Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Preparing young people for success at work is about knowledge and relationships
What does it mean to “prepare young people for adult work,” an oft-used saying to describe one of schooling’s primary goals? Though it surely means that we prepare them to earn a living and move up the income ladder, work is more than a financial way to provide for ourselves and those we love.
Commentary
School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice
Why I’m wary of universal education savings accounts
In the fast-moving, highly energized world of school choice and parent-empowerment advocacy, education savings accounts are the hottest thing since vouchers, maybe even hotter. Ten states already have them in some form, and a dozen more legislatures are weighing bills to create them. But Finn is wary, particularly of the free-swinging, almost-anything-goes version known as “universal” ESAs.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The GOP’s dubious “protect the children” platform for 2024
Ready or not, the 2024 race for president is already in full swing. Like bad plastic surgery, this ordeal will be ugly and expensive.
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The policies promoting school shootings
The school shooting in Newport News, Virginia, involving a six-year-old who shot his teacher, fell from the headlines before we could learn our lesson from it.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The sad state of the teaching profession
“Go to law school.” This was the advice that my mother—who had spent her entire career as a high school English teacher—gave me upon my college graduation. She also advised me on which career to avoid: teaching. My mother was adamant that I not follow her footsteps into the classroom.
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: February 16, 2023
A state court has declared Pennsylvania’s school-funding system to be unconstitutional due to its reliance on property taxes.
Podcast
Evidence-Based Learning
#857: The states leading the way in literacy, with Kymyona Burk and Tom Greene
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kymyon
Commentary
School Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
Give parents wide latitude on ESA uses—and give teachers their own accounts, too
Recent news stories have pushed the narrative that parents are using education savings accounts to buy items of questionable educational value and relevance, including chicken coops, trampolines, and tickets to SeaWorld. But perhaps ESAs’ permissiveness is a feature, not a bug—and perhaps officials would be wise to go one step further and give teachers their own accounts.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Soft-on-consequences discipline is terrible for teachers
I’ve lost count of the number of teachers I know who have either left their school or entirely abandoned education because of student behavior. A student physically threatened a friend, and the administration provided no consequence. This friend quit soon thereafter. Another started a family and just couldn’t remain emotionally present as a father while dealing with chaos at work all day.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Private School Choice
An examination of cream-skimming and pushout data among voucher students
Several studies show that a combination of market pressures
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Re-evaluating the cost of test-based retention policies
What does it cost to retain a less-than-proficient student and provide him or her with remediation and additional support?
Commentary
Commentary
What we're reading this week: February 9, 2023
A new study makes a compelling case that there is racial bias in K-12 student referrals and discipline, although socio-economic status could account for much of the disparities.
Podcast
Private School Choice
#856: Why education savings accounts won’t bring educational pluralism, with Ashley Berner
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast,
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
Racial and ethnic gaps in advanced STEM achievement: 3 takeaways from recent research
Editor’s note: This is an edition of “Advance,” a newsletter from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute written by Brandon Wright, our Editorial Director, and 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
School Finance, Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
Parent navigators are worth the investment for school choice supporters
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
School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
How much education is a public responsibility?
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
Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
Will ESAs change America’s definition of “public education?”: An interview with Ashley Berner
Last week, two more states—Iowa and Utah—joined Arizona and West Virginia in adopting universal education savings accounts.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Teachers & School Leaders
Schools have been adding teachers and student support staff, even as they serve fewer students
Editor’s note: This was first published by The 74.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Americans are embracing non-college pathways to upward mobility
The pandemic changed what the American public wants from K–12 education.
Commentary
Cheers and Jeers: February 2, 2023
Cheers Contrary to popular belief, gifted and talented programs have a negligible effect on racial segregation in schools. —Education Next Jeers
Commentary
What we're reading this week: February 2, 2023
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.
Podcast
Governance
#855: How states are fighting credential inflation, with Rick Hess
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rick Hess of the