Studies Find No Effects
Podcast: Education Next’s Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk this week (Jan. 7) about whether randomized field trials in education should be abandoned, since they so rarely find that the treatments have any effects.
Brighter Choices in Albany
City's charter schools outshine the competition.
Reformers in New York’s capital have brought high-quality charter schools to scale, giving hope to a generation of disadvantaged kids.
Time for School?
When the snow falls, test scores also drop
When the snow falls, test scores also drop
Education Data in 2025
Fifteen years hence, we will know exactly how well our schools, teachers, and students are doing
Fifteen years hence, we will know exactly how well our schools, teachers, and students are doing
Poor Schools or Poor Kids?
To some, fixing education means taking on poverty and health care
To some, fixing education means taking on poverty and health care
Many Schools Are Still Inadequate, Now What?
Is court involvement in school spending essential to reform, or can we use education funding to drive reforms that promise better outcomes for students?
The Turnaround Fallacy
Stop trying to fix failing schools. Close them and start fresh.
Stop trying to fix failing schools. Close them and start fresh.
D.C.’s Braveheart
Can Michelle Rhee wrest control of the D.C. school system from decades of failure?
Can Michelle Rhee wrest control of the D.C. school system from decades of failure?
What Happens When States Have Genuine Alternative Certification?
We get more minority teachers and test scores rise
We get more minority teachers and test scores rise
Accountability Overboard
Massachusetts poised to toss out the nation's most successful reforms
Massachusetts poised to toss out the nation’s most successful reforms
Few States Set World-Class Standards
In fact, most render the notion of proficiency meaningless
In fact, most render the notion of proficiency meaningless
Book Alert: Unlearned Lessons
Testing impresario W. James Popham has penned a volume that mixes anecdote, personal experience, and scholarly analysis to ask why American schooling has had such a terrible time designing, adopting, or employing good assessment.
The International PISA Test
A risky investment for states
States should think twice before paying for more testing. There are easier ways to compare students to their global peers.
Three Voices for English Knowledge: Hirsch, Willingham, and the AFT
Hirsch, Willingham, and the AFT are powerful voices arguing against one of the sorriest trends in English Language Arts over the years, namely, the attempt to convert it into a skills discipline that emphasizes cross-disciplinary capacities (critical thinking, “media literacy,” reading comprehension strategies, etc.) and downplays English knowledge.
Flat NAEP Results Should Be a Signal That Real Change Is Needed
There’s not much good news in the NAEP results for mathematics, which were released earlier this week. Fourth graders have made no progress since 2007, and 8th graders have made very little progress. What is worse than sluggish NAEP scores is their combination with steady, substantial increases in per-student spending in public schools.
The One Winner in Today’s NAEP Release: Michelle Rhee
There’s not much good news in today’s National Assessment of Educational Progress results for mathematics. But there is a silver lining for DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee: her schools, and those in just four states, were the only ones to post gains in both fourth and eighth grades over the past two years.
E Pluribus Unum?
Two longtime school reformers debate the merits of a national curriculum
Two longtime school reformers debate the merits of a national curriculum
Challenging PISA Again
Andreas Schleicher recently blogged in response to my Ed Next article, “The International PISA Test,” but his response fails to deal with important issues I raised in my article: the quality of PISA’s analysis and the degree to which PISA’s reports ignore the limits of the data in support of conclusions that seem to have been determined in advance of the analysis. Another issue I raised is how PISA should fit into the U.S. system of testing and data collection.
Defending PISA
In an article in the Fall 2009 issue of Education Next, “The International PISA Test,” Mark Schneider argues that American states ought to think twice before participating in the PISA exam and that the policy advice offered in connection with PISA is not based on solid research. If Mark Schneider has doubts about the usefulness of PISA, he should wonder whether the United States has, under his leadership, used PISA effectively.
International Benchmarking
Video: Mark Schneider talks with Education Next about the limits to what we can learn from international tests.
Russ Whitehurst Reviews Crossing the Finish Line
Russ Whitehurst, former director of the Institute for Education Sciences at ED, has reviewed the new book Crossing the Finish Line for Education Next. “Crossing the Finish Line …demonstrates the high value of information locked away in administrative databases, and suggests new and potentially powerful approaches to increasing the nation’s population of college-educated citizens,” Whitehurst [...]
Can Johnny Graduate from College?
New book mines data for strategies to boost college completion
Crossing the Finish Line by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson
As reviewed by Russ Whitehurst
Why Don’t More College Students Cross the Finish Line?
A book released today takes a close look at why only 60 percent of students entering four-year colleges are graduating. One finding: scores on the SAT and ACT tests are not good predictors of whether students are likely to graduate from college.
