Report
Calculus or Statistics: Does it Matter?
Release Date: 4.23.25 Calculus or Statistics: Does it matter for high school students’ long-term success?
Commentary
Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
Power plays in federal education: Three flashpoints, three branches
Three emerging issues—each unfolding in a different branch of government—offer a telling snapshot of where federal education policy could be headed. They involve religious charter schools, tax-credit scholarships, and ESSA waivers. On their own, each represents a flashpoint. Taken together, they provide a rare glimpse into the full machinery of federal influence—and a timely reminder that education policymaking in Washington still matters.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Meeting the moment: A response to Robert Pondiscio’s essay on AFT’s "American Educator"
In this time of uncertainty and divisiveness, I’ll begin by thanking Robert Pondiscio for lifting up the AFT’s magazine, American Educator.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Answering Randi Weingarten
I appreciate and admire Randi Weingarten’s willingness to engage in a discussion about American Educator and the American Federation of Teacher’s role in education.
Commentary
Commentary
What we’re reading this week: April 17, 2025
The Education Department under the Trump administration has adopted a more aggressive civil rights enforcement strategy, marked by rapid investigations, funding threats, and a focus on LGBTQ+ and antisemitism issues.
Podcast
#965: Understanding ESSA Waivers, with Anne Hyslop
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Anne Hyslop, Director of Policy Development at All4Ed, j
Commentary
School Finance, Charter Schools, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
Can the left deliver education abundance?
Ezra Klein’s new book has sparked an important discussion about how the left can provide more housing and transportation. However, one area that particularly needs self-reflection is education. The left has often obstructed the creation of new and innovative schools.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
How the AFT could have changed teaching and learning (and maybe still can)
The AFT’s journal, The American Educator, was for many years a reliable source of first-rate research and practice tips for those who think teaching should run on evidence, not folklore and philosophy. It could still be an important engine of K–12 instructional reform today. All it would take is for Randi Weingarten and the AFT to give it some attention and visibility. Or failing that, just leave it the heck alone.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Governance, Private School Choice, Teachers & School Leaders
A K–12 public school choice agenda for the Trump administration
The Trump administration’s K–12 education policy prescriptions typically focus on ways to provide financial support for private schools, including federal vouchers and tax-credit scholarships.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Teachers & School Leaders
What are students doing between 6 p.m. and midnight?
Editor’s note: This is the first of two posts on what students do outside of school hours. For decades, field biologists tried to understand animals by observing them during the day. They’d sit in a jeep, holding a notebook, maybe wearing a funny hat. They observed what lions, elephants, or jaguars did under the sun.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Short- and long-term impacts of school closure on student outcomes
According to a report issued by the OECD in 2018, school closures are an inevitable consequence of declining populations of school-age children across much of the world, and the United States is not im
Commentary
Commentary
What we’re reading this week: April 10, 2025
Students with Indiana’s new Enrollment Honors Plus diploma, which requires advanced coursework and work experience, will gain automatic admission to state colleges, while those on career or military tracks will receive guaranteed job or enlistment opportunities.
Podcast
Accountability & Testing
#964: Why states should keep testing, with Scott Marion
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Scott Marion, Executive Director of the Center for Assessment, joins Mike and
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Advanced Education, Teachers & School Leaders
Advanced students rebounded faster from learning loss. They still need our attention.
Countless articles have been written about students’ recent bleak performance on the Nation’s Report Card, most of which rightly bemoaned declines in reading and math, compared to 2019 and 2022 scores, especially among lower-scoring students.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
The best colleges for political diversity
It is decision time for the high school class of 2025, with commitments due to colleges by May 1. Among the many factors that students might consider when deciding whether a college is the right fit for them is the political climate on campus. Simply put, are both liberals and conservatives relatively well represented in the student body?
Commentary
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
Waiver and out: How red states plan to push the limits of federal ed policy
Red states are lining up to test just how much leeway they can get from Uncle Sam’s education mandates, with some pushing for block grants that would allow them to consolidate federal aid into a single grant with few spending restrictions.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders
12 guiding principles for the future of American education
It’s a bleak time in education policy.
Commentary
Commentary
What we’re reading this week: April 3, 2025
Prolonged school closures and shifting rhetoric have undermined Democrats' once-clear commitment to education as a transformative force. To regain their edge, Democrats must refocus on student learning and outcomes, rather than just education spending.
Podcast
Governance
#963: All about the Educational Choice for Children Act, with Jim Blew
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense
Podcast
#4125: The mini gadflies: Chaos with a cause
On this week’s very serious Education Gladfly Show podcast, the adults take a backseat as Fordham’s next generation of thinkers—er, kids—grab the mic.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
Freddie deBoer is right about one thing, not everything
The writer Freddie deBoer makes one really important point about the ed reform movement: We have overpromised and underdelivered because we ignore the obvious truth that some kids are smarter than others. Where he’s wrong is in thinking that this one good point makes the whole reform enterprise a waste of time.
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
New Nation’s Report Card disappoints—but shouldn’t surprise
The latest Nation’s Report Card dashed hopes that U.S. students might have finally closed pandemic learning gaps. The results show reading scores are down nationally in both fourth and eighth grade, compounding declines on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders
The pandemic was a Sputnik moment for rethinking education, and we blew it
The pandemic gave the country a chance to rethink how states and school districts deliver quality education.
Commentary
Evidence-Based Learning, School Finance, Governance, Private School Choice
Do education savings accounts increase the cost of private school tuition?
Education savings accounts (ESAs) are taxpayer-funded spending accounts with differing eligibility requirements and usage guidelines depending on the state. Between the 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years, participation in them nearly tripled nationally, rising to roughly 489,000 total students.
Commentary
Commentary
What we’re reading this week: March 27, 2025
New research shows that Democrat-leaning states saw greater pandemic-related learning loss, especially in math, likely due to longer school closures.
Podcast
#962: Replacing DEI with something better, with Richard Kahlenberg
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Richard Kahlenberg, author of Class