Commentary
What the election results mean for schools
Fasten your seatbelts, education fans. Now that the 2018 midterms are in the books, all sorts of posturing and proceedings lay ahead.
Event
Accountability & Testing
Inflated Grades: What Happens When Report Cards Lie
Join the Thomas B. Fordham Institute on November 8, as we present the findings of Fordham’s latest study, Grade Inflation in North Carolina’s High Schools, and a panel of experts discusses the causes and consequences of inflated grades and possible policy solutions
Podcast
The Education Gadfly Show: Much about the midterms
On this week’s podcast, Andy Rotherham, co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education Partners, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the midterms’ effects on education policy. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how voucher regulations impact program participation and school quality.
Commentary
Secretary DeVos has earned our respect—and a dignified return to private life
The results are in, and this time the polls were mostly right: The Republicans lost the House but strengthened their control of the Senate, setting the stage for a new chapter in our country’s uncivil war. At the state level, the Blue Ripple gave Democrats gubernatorial victories in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, though it wasn’t enough to flip Florida or Ohio.
Commentary
How to better translate research for the classroom
When it comes to using data to enact meaningful changes at the school level, few of us know where to begin. That’s why the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago Consortium) just published a new report based on its own experiences translating research to the classroom.
Commentary
How test-based retention affects high school outcomes
Test-based retention policies require students to repeat a grade if they do not meet a minimum level of academic performance on, you guessed it, a test.
Commentary
The new Perkins Act is a great opportunity to invest in work-based learning
This summer, President Trump signed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act into law. The legislation, often referred to as Perkins V, is the long-awaited reauthorization of the Carl D.
Commentary
Education as a public good in a time of choice and diversity
The distinguished Stanford education historian David F. Labaree recently published a perceptive, provocative essay in the Kappan that I found myself nodding in agreement with about three-quarters of the time and shaking my head the other quarter.
Commentary
Developing academic acceleration policies
Research tells us what works to serve gifted and talented students, including how best to identify these students and how to use acceleration strategies appropriately.
Commentary
Our schools fail dyslexic children, but the Louisiana Key Academy is a model solution
After Hurricane Katrina, charter schools became the dominant system in New Orleans, as city dwellings were destroyed by water and the school system was devastated by corruption.
Podcast
The Education Gadfly Show: An #Eduween riddle: How is pre-school research like a skunk?
On this week’s podcast, Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and founding director of the Institute of Education Sciences, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss early childhood education and whether we expect too much from it. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines an alternative approach to remedial education in Tennessee.
Commentary
Changes in teacher practices throughout the Common Core era
A recent RAND report examines how math and English language arts teachers’ use of instructional materials and knowledge of state standards and standards-aligned practices have changed during the Common Core era.
Commentary
The next British Invasion: ResearchEd comes to the U.S.
Last Saturday was cold, grey, and dismal in Philadelphia. I spent the day warming my soul inside a Jesuit high school among a disparate group of teachers, researchers, academics, and school leaders at a ResearchED conference, the fourth one held in the United States. If you’re not familiar with ResearchEd—and I’d wager you’re not—allow me to introduce you.
Commentary
We measure what matters, which is why subgroups in ESSA accountability systems are important
Recently, Mike Petrilli wrote about the Alliance for Excellent Education’s analysis of state ESSA plans in which we found that twelve states do not ensure
Commentary
We measure what matters, which is why subgroups in ESSA accountability systems are important
Recently, Mike Petrilli wrote about the Alliance for Excellent Education’s analysis of state ESSA plans in which we found that twelve states do not ensure
Commentary
School choice is not at odds with community-building
A recent Atlantic article by Amy Lueck critical of school choice rightly celebrates the civic purpose of the traditional American public high school, “not only as an academic training ground, but also as a center for community and activity in American cities.” Shared exp
Commentary
What's at stake for schools in next week's elections
There’s been a lot of talk about “blue waves” and “red walls,” but what will November 6 mean for federal and state education policies? Days away from the crescendo, the answer may depend in part on where you get your news.
Commentary
State standards that make the grade
Academic standards have become the foundation on which much of contemporary U.S. public education rests. They dictate the knowledge and skills that students are expected to master, grade by grade, and communicate those expectations to educators, parents, curriculum writers, and other stakeholders.
Podcast
The Education Gadfly Show: School report cards in the ESSA era
On this week’s podcast, Stephani Wrabel, an associate policy researcher at RAND, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss states’ ESSA-driven school report cards. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines Kentucky’s school turnaround efforts in the late NCLB period.
Commentary
Teachers, curb your activism
At the height of the battle to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court a few weeks ago, a California math teacher took to Twitter, as many of us are wont to do, to vent. “I’m a teacher, and I don’t know what I’m going to say to my students if Kavanaugh gets confirmed,” fumed Nicholas Ponticello.
Commentary
Parental engagement: A promise, not a program
“Parental engagement” is one of those self-evidently appealing ideas for improving education. Who doesn’t want to engage parents? What child isn’t well served by more of it?
Commentary
Can community colleges reinvigorate apprenticeships?
As “career and technical education” (CTE) continues to get more attention from policymakers, education leaders, and the media, one valuable component of CTE often gets overlooked: apprenticeships.
Commentary
From straight A’s to STEMs: Four great things happening in Ohio education
In our recent writings at the Ohio Gadfly, we’ve expressed dismay—sometimes outrage—at the education goings-on in the Buckeye State.
Commentary
Families are willing to go the extra mile for a great school
Although ardent school choice supporters often argue that having options is an end in itself, the more pragmatic among us recognize that important real-life factors must be considered when describing the health of an area’s school choice landscape.
Commentary
The concern about subgroups in ESSA accountability systems may be overblown
A recent analysis by uber-wonk Anne Hyslop and her colleagues at the Alliance for Excellent Education adds to a long list of reports expressing concern that many states’ accountability systems are turning a
Commentary
Personalized Learning
Addressing high school dropout rates starting at the elementary school level
By Jeff Murray
Commentary
Improving education requires new voices, fresh ideas, and more questions
By Derrell Bradford and Brennan Brown
Commentary
Commentary
A worthy requiem for Pat Moynihan
Tragically, the mold seems to have been irrevocably shattered, if not discarded on the ash heap of history.
