The Top 20 Education Next Articles of 2015

UPDATE: Check out our top 20 articles of 2016.

Every December we release a list of the most popular articles Education Next has published over the course of the year.

Which topics were most popular with Education Next readers in 2015?

Poverty and inequality have been major themes in the U.S. in 2015 and Ed Next readers were particularly interested in articles looking at the intersection of these topics with K-12 education policy.

Five of the articles in the top 20 are from a special issue Ed Next released last spring on the 50th Anniversary of the Moynihan Report which examined the rise in the number of children growing up in single-parent families. Several of the articles in that issue take a close look at the impact of changes in family structure on educational attainment in the U.S. and in other countries.

The top Ed Next article of 2015 is one that investigates whether the poverty rate in the U.S. explains the lackluster performance of America’s schools, and concludes that it does not. That article, “America’s Mediocre Test Scores,” by Michael Petrilli and Brandon Wright, launched a debate over the best way to compare poverty rates across countries.

Without further ado, here are the top 20 articles:

1.		America’s Mediocre Test Scores Education crisis or poverty crisis? By Michael J. Petrilli and Brandon L. Wright
2.		What Explains Success at Success Academy? Charter network focuses on what is being taught, and how By Charles Sahm
3.		States Raise Proficiency Standards in Math and Reading Commitments to Common Core may be driving the proficiency bar upward By Paul E. Peterson and Matthew Ackerman
4.		One-Parent Students Leave School Earlier Education attainment gap widens By Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, Greg J. Duncan and Ariel Kalil
5.		Was Moynihan Right? What happens to children of unmarried mothers By Sara McLanahan and Christopher Jencks
6.		The Rise of AltSchool and Other Micro-schools Combinations of private, blended, and at-home schooling meet needs of individual students By Michael B. Horn
7.		The 2015 EdNext Poll on School Reform Public thinking on testing, opt out, common core, unions, and more By Michael B. Henderson, Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West
8.		Good News for New Orleans Early evidence shows reforms lifting student achievement By Douglas N. Harris
9.		An International Look at the Single-Parent Family Family structure matters more for U.S. students By Ludger Woessmann
10.		Learning English Accountability, Common Core, and the college-for-all movement are transforming instruction By Joanne Jacobs
11.		Fixing Detroit’s Broken School System Improve accountability and oversight for district and charter schools By Robin J. Lake, Ashley Jochim and Michael DeArmond
12.		The Ideal Blended-Learning Combination Is one-third computer time about right? By Paul E. Peterson and Michael B. Horn
13.		Should Personalization Be the Future of Learning? Benjamin Riley and Alex Hernandez square off By Benjamin Riley and Alex Hernandez
14.		Family Breakdown and Poverty To flourish, our nation must face some hard truths By Robert P. George and Yuval Levin
15.		More Middle-Class Families Choose Charters A political game changer for public school choice? By Richard Whitmire
16.		Boosting Educational Attainment and Adult Earnings Does school spending matter after all? By C. Kirabo Jackson, Rucker C. Johnson and Claudia Persico
17.		Black Men and the Struggle for Work Social and economic barriers persist By James M. Quane, William Julius Wilson and Jackelyn Hwang
18.		Teachers Unions and the War Within Making sense of the conflict By Mike Antonucci
19.		New Hampshire’s Journey Toward Competency-Based Education State lifts barriers to innovation, allowing districts and charters to personalize learning By Julia Freeland
20.		In Defense of Snow Days Students who stay home when school is in session are a much larger problem By Joshua Goodman