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Displaying 1801-1830 of 18422 results
Commentary
8.4.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Lax school discipline is bad for teachers

Jeremy Adams

Teachers’ authority in the classroom is being undermined by policies of “restorative justice”—a non-punitive approach to discipline. But the predictable albeit unintended consequence of these well-meaning policies is that disruptive students get away with previously unacceptable behavior. Outbursts of student vulgarity and incidence of violence have become normalized as something teachers and other students have to endure.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Gifted students need a “continuum of services” now more than ever

Dina Brulles

Teachers are now planning instruction for the new school year. But very quickly after their pupils arrive, many will realize that some students will not be adequately challenged by the grade-level curriculum typically assigned for the class. Some will already have mastered that material and are ready to move on.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Charter Schools, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Impacts of charter school growth on school and neighborhood diversity

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

Student demographics in traditional district schools largely reflect patterns of housing availability and affordability within neighborhoods. Much of that is due to strict attendance zoning.

Commentary
8.4.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

More evidence that making school easier does students no favors

Adam Tyner, Ph.D., Christian Eggers

It’s one of those zombie mantras that just won’t die: Letting students cut corners, giving them grades they haven’t earned, and generally lowering the bar is a nice thing to do for vulnerable kids—those living in poverty, often with turbulent home lives or mental health struggles to boot.

Commentary
8.4.2022

What we're reading this week: August 4, 2022

The Education Gadfly

Having friendships that cut across class lines can improve future earnings for poor children, but those relationships are rare. —New York Times Fewer young children live in cities, which could mean more enrollment declines for urban K–12 schools.

Commentary
8.3.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

An interview with Janet Kragen, who taught gifted education for four decades

Brandon L. Wright

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
7.28.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The problem with “differentiation”

Daniel Buck

Shouldn’t we all seek to individualize instructions to meet each child’s needs? Who could oppose “differentiation”? Well, I do.

Commentary
7.28.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

When students feel unsafe, absenteeism grows

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Christian Eggers

School shootings are profoundly tragic—scarring not only the families whose children become victims, but casting a shadow over the lives, mental health, and outcomes of the surviving students. But evidence is also clear that it’s not only horrific mass shootings that can lead a child to miss school. Any feeling of not being safe can prompt children and teenagers to stay home.

Commentary
7.28.2022

What we're reading this week: July 28, 2022

The Education Gadfly

The publisher of Lucy Calkins’s troubled reading curriculum has halted the release of an updated version over concerns about conservative states’ new curriculum laws. —New York Times Children’s needs were sacrificed more than any other group’s during Covid-19 policymaking decisions.

Commentary
7.21.2022
Governance

Ed reformers should rally around the Romney family aid plan

Michael J. Petrilli

A major, though largely unnoticed, development in America’s support for families with children is the recent release of the “Family Security Act 2.0” by Senator Mitt Romney, along with fellow Republicans Richard Burr and Steve Daines. It could and should serve as the starting point for bipartisan negotiations for a new federal investment in families that might stand the test of time.

Commentary
7.21.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

The American family is still coming apart

Kay Hymowitz

In 2004, the late Sara McLanahan published a landmark article called “Diverging Destinies: How Children Are Faring Under the Second Demographic Transition.” The paper was the first scholarly attempt to propose that the decline of the two-parent family in the United States since the 1960’s was intensifying the already unequal l

Commentary
7.21.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders

In a time of crisis, Catholic schools offered a choice, not an echo

Kathleen Porter-Magee

“New data suggest that the damage from shutting down schools has been worse than almost anyone expected,” the Economist tweeted recently to promote a

Commentary
7.21.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

The bravest man in education reform

Robert Pondiscio

A few years ago, when I was writing my book about Success Academy and school choice, I had a moment of self-doubt bordering on despair.

Commentary
7.21.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction

Chatbot nudges boost student outcomes

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.

“Nudges” to induce specific actions take many forms in education.

Commentary
7.21.2022

What we're reading this week: July 21, 2022

The Education Gadfly

Post-pandemic confidence in public schools has plummeted, especially among Republicans. —Gallup Asian Americans’ academic success is not a problem. Are White parents pushing against standardized tests just anxious about their children getting out-competed?

Commentary
7.20.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Balancing equity and excellence in selective high schools

Brandon L. Wright, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Evan Glazer

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
7.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

How do teachers spend their time?

Mike McShane

One of my favorite quotations comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. When Gandalf the wizard recounts the story of the ring and the havoc that it has brought to Middle-earth to the hero Frodo, Frodo says to him, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” To which Gandalf replies, “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times.

Commentary
7.15.2022
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Gifted-student screenings often miss poor students who should qualify

Bich Thi Ngoc Tran, Jonathan Wai, Sarah McKenzie

High-achieving students from low-income backgrounds are half as likely to be placed in a gifted program as their more affluent peers, according to our new study.

Commentary
7.14.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Standards, Teachers & School Leaders

Can we revive standards-based reform?

Chester E. Finn, Jr.

Few people have done more to boost academic standards in U.S. schools than Michael Cohen and Laura Slover, coauthors of a new paper offering a bright vision for revitalizing them. But there are reasons to doubt the feasibility of its proposals.

Commentary
7.14.2022
Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders

Stop neglecting gifted students’ social and emotional needs

Susan Miller, Tom Coyne

Back in February, Bloomberg’s Adrian Wooldridge published a column claiming that “America is facing a great talent recession.” He noted that, “today, demand for top talent in the corporate world and elsewhere is exploding just at a time when the supply is t