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Displaying 1591-1620 of 18422 results
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.

Commentary
1.12.2023
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders

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

Commentary
1.5.2023

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.

Commentary
1.5.2023
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Charter school teacher turnover and retention

Daniel Buck

As 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.