Teachers Say ‘Yes!’ to Opportunity Culture
A year ago, Public Impact began working with school design teams of pilot schools to choose and tailor school models for extending the reach of excellent teachers to more students.
Will the Assessment Consortia Wither Away?
If ACT and College Board scarf up much state business, there won’t be a lot left for the consortia.
Missing the Mark at the Arizona State Ed Tech Summit
It’s a big mistake to position technology as a way to replace teachers.
Proud to Be a Private Public School Parent
Public schools can be just as exclusive—often more exclusive—than private schools.
Do Math and Science Teachers Earn More Outside of Education?
Efforts to provide better pay for teachers in the high-demand subjects of math and science may be insufficient to offset the differences in outside earnings opportunities.
The RNC on the CCSSI, OMG!
Count us as among those surprised and alarmed by the Republican National Committee’s ill-considered decision to adopt a resolution decrying the Common Core standards.
Time to Abandon the Egg Crate Approach to Education
One of the most powerful ways to counteract inertia in the classroom is technologies that free teachers to collaborate.
The End of the Testing Consortia As We Know It?
Alabama’s decision to drop out of both consortia and choose a battery of ACT exams is enormous. This is the “Plan B” that many states have been looking for.
What’s Your “Summer 2015 Plan”?
When scores from the first Common Core-aligned assessments are publicly released in the summer of 2015, lots of parents are going to be looking for solutions. The reform community should have a response.
Behind the Headline: Nation’s Best High School May Be Closed
The American Indian Public Charter High School, which took first place in Jay Mathews’ rating of the U.S.’s most challenging high schools, has been threatened with closure by the Oakland school district because of financial irregularities.
Work for Education Next as Communications Consultant
The position will be available beginning May 1, 2013.
Texas: Big, Proud…and Wimpy?
By scrapping ten of the state’s fifteen “end of course” exams, Texas essentially forfeits uniform academic expectations and returns to the days when individual districts, schools, and teachers decided which students get diploma credit for which classes.
Mr. Secretary, Please Don’t Do It
Unless Secretary Duncan can be prevailed upon to reconsider, decades of education policy will be overturned and a federal agency will have assumed authority that should remain squarely in the hands of Congress.
Margaret Thatcher, Education Reformer
Foreign policy isn’t all that Margaret Thatcher and her team had in common with Ronald Reagan and his. The 1980s also saw much crossing of the Atlantic—in both directions—by their education advisers, too.
When Foundations Focus on Top-Down Reform
In her new book, Follow the Money, Sarah Reckhow is clearly advising foundations to avoid top-down reform strategies, but the largest foundations are not heeding her advice.
Behind the Headline: Margaret Thatcher, Iron Lady of British Politics, is Dead
On Top of the News Margaret Thatcher, Iron Lady of British Politics, is Dead USA Today| 4/8/13 Behind the Headline The British Experience Education Next |Summer 2004 Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, has died. Christopher Woodhead, who served as Britain’s chief inspector of schools from 1994-2000, wrote for Ed Next about the Education [...]
Ability Grouping, Tracking, and How Schools Work
It’s heartening to note that as the use of ability grouping is increasing a new generation of researchers is bringing sophisticated statistical techniques (and open minds) to bear on questions involving both ability grouping and tracking.
The Right Response to the Atlanta Cheating Scandal
The burden rests on those who want to eliminate testing and accountability to provide assurance that the system won’t revert back to its bad old ways.
The Promise and Peril of Cage Busting
Reforming policy isn’t easy. But it’s the only path that will ensure lasting change.
Left-of-Center Reformers: Join the Voucher Movement Today
If the lack of accountability is reformers’ beef with voucher programs, that concern has been alleviated, at least in several states.
Limiting What Students Can Say Using School Computers
Courts are undoubtedly going to be called upon to draw lines which will inevitably have some appearance of arbitrariness.
The Truth about Common Core
Why are prominent conservatives criticizing a set of rigorous educational standards?
Update on the Milwaukee School Choice Evaluation Dust-Up
Even in the face of substantial program attrition, students who were in the MPCP in 9th grade in 2006 graduated from high school, enrolled in college, and persisted in college at rates higher than similar students in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS)
There Are Ineffective Teachers (and Principals, Superintendents, Librarians, Janitors, etc.)
If an employer can’t differentiate between their employees, they’re likely to treat them all as interchangeable widgets when it comes time to decide on how to help them improve, how much to pay them, or which ones should be retained.
