Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Teach Like a Champion versus the Common Core: Do pre-reading activities help or hurt struggling students?
Two competing perspectives on reading instruction.
Curriculum & Instruction
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
How will reading instruction change when aligned to the Common Core?
The Common Core emphasis on "close reading" challenges teachers to focus reading on actually reading.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Will Steve Jobs finally conquer the classroom?
The education sector remains an elusive prize for Apple, but the company is making a big move to change that.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Preparing for Change: A National Perspective on Common Core State Standards Implementation Planning
Act now, align later
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
An Apple on every desk?
Why iPads won't replace textbooks in every classroom anytime soon.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Adoption was the easy part: Gauging Common Core implementation progress across the country
When the Common Core academic content standards were first introduced, most observers thought at best ten or 12 state would adopt them, and few thought it possible they’d be adopted by all but a handful of statesHow is Ohio doing when it comes to preparing for the full implementation of the Common Core standards by 2014?
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
Raising Job Quality and Skills for American Workers: Creating More-Effective Education and Workforce Development Systems in the States
The U.S. economy has shed more than eight million jobs since 2008, and has created only two million new jobs in that same period of time, resulting in not only a high number of unemployed people, but also a high number of job vacancies.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Some classroom practices should be refined, not abandoned
When done correctly, data-driven instruction and lessons organized around clearly-defined aims are critical parts of improving student performance.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
States on common core implementation: Act now! (Align later.)
It's nice to see that states have plans for Common Core implementation--let's just hope they're good plans.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Should schools turn children into activists? And should Uncle Sam help?
Thinking twice about “action civics” education
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Evolution is to climate change as…
Walking the line between science and politics
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Reviewing “The Tyranny of the Textbook”
Structural reform alone won't boost student achievement--but neither will a single-minded focus on curriculum and instruction.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
The case for more details in Ohio’s history standards
Hearken back to junior high and high school for a moment. What “historical documents” were you taught in social studies and American history classes? The U.S. Constitution? Your state’s constitution? What about the Declaration of Independence or the Federalist Papers?
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Live Free or Die: Curriculum Edition
The New Hampshire GOP primary is overshadowing an important new Granite State law that allows parents to have their children exempted from elements of the curriculum they find objectionable.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
What the iPod can teach us about the failure of NCLB
Why education needs to learn a few lessons from Apple about evolving and improving over time.
Commentary
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Welcome to Common Core Watch!
Editor Kathleen Porter-Magee introduces Fordham's new center for commentary and analysis on standards, curriculum, and instruction: the Common Core Watch blog.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Common Core implementation: Let’s not lose the forest for the trees
Let's not gloss the challenges of transitioning to Common Core
Commentary
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
All Over the Map: Comparing States’ Expectations for Student Performance in Science
The Proficiency Illusion, science edition
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Schooling in the Workplace: How Six of the World’s Best Vocational Education Systems Prepare Young People for Jobs and Life
America: Take notes
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
How about better parents? Ask Clarence Lee
Peter Meyer reflects on Tom Friedman's column about parents and education.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Teacher Prep Falls Short
To improve student learning in Ohio, and in other states, we need to improve the quality of our teaching force.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
Congratuations to Andy Boy!
Congratulations to Andrew Boy, the co-director and founder of Columbus Collegiate Academy, one of the six charter schools Fordham authorizes.
Report
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Needles in a Haystack
Despite the overall dismal performance of schools serving Ohio's poor, urban youngsters, there are a handful of schools that buck these bleak trends and achieve significant results for their students. This report examines eight of these schools.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Ohio superintendent under fire for asking teachers to do lesson plans
The superintendent of Ohio's Twin Valley Community Local School District has come under fire in his first year on the job from the local teachers union for, among other grievances, trying to mak
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Surprise, Surprise? Not in Ohio's NAEP reading results
The 2009 NAEP reading scores were released this morning with little fanfare for Ohio. There has been virtually no growth in the Buckeyes State's NAEP reading results, with only 36 percent of fourth graders and 37 percent of eighth graders in Ohio proficient or above in reading.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Bottom-up creation of new teacher evaluation systems unlikely in Ohio
Brookings' Brown Center on Education Policy just released a proposal for ???America's Teacher Corps,??? a federally funded program that would recognize highly effective teachers in Title I schools, award them a salary bonus ($10,000), and give them a ???portable credential???
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
Today's Ohio Education Gadfly: find out why Ohio might be a trailblazer in charter accountability
This week's edition kicks off with a great piece by Terry discussing the unprecedented move by the Ohio Department of Education to close a charter school sponsor (aka authorizer) for fiscal mismanagement.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction
The latest Ohio Education Gadfly ?????' who knew decreasing class size was so expensive?
It's no surprise that Ohio's economy is in crisis, but you might be amazed at the price tag for some of Gov. Strickland's new education mandates. Terry points out the implications of decreasing class size in grades K-3 alone (to 15:1), which will cost $784 million per year by 2014.