Is Detente Possible? District-charter school relations in four cities

By Daniela Doyle, Christen Holly, and Bryan C. Hassel (Public Impact) Foreword by Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli Tweet...
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Schools of Thought: A Taxonomy of American Education Governance

Report by Dara Zeehandelaar and David Griffith, with Joanna Smith, Michael Thier, Ross Anderson, Christine Pitts & Hovanes...
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"Astoundingly" few preschoolers actually face suspension

Kevin Mahnken
It’s difficult to get your arms around the idea of suspending a three- or four-year-old from preschool. For most of us (if we’re...
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Why this year's NCTQ yearbook is the tipping point for teacher effectiveness

Sandi Jacobs
Upon the release of our first comprehensive Yearbook that included state grades in 2009, the headline read: “Taken as a whole,...
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America's best (and worst) cities for school choice

Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Michael J. Petrilli
We’ve learned a few lessons about school choice over the past few decades. Key among those lessons are that quantity does not...
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Resistance is futile

David Griffith
Victory is inevitable. That’s my biggest takeaway from Fordham’s new report on America’s best and worst cities for school choice...
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The value of comparability

Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Robert Pondiscio
Our friend and colleague Mike Petrilli is right about many things, but he’s wrong to dismiss solid interstate comparisons of...
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How five states are boosting college readiness in twelfth grade

Nancy Brynelson, Corley Dennison, Daniel Doerger, Jacqueline E. King, William Moore, and Faith Muirhead
As states have implemented college and career readiness standards, it has sometimes been assumed that most of the work and...
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Don't let shuttered schools rot

Kevin Mahnken
There’s something about the sight of an abandoned school that tears at your heart. Far more than the caved-in factories, theaters...
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States v. districts in the Every Student Succeeds Act

Andy Smarick
The dominant narrative about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is that it shifts authority over schools back to state...
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Parents: Children's first math teachers

Laura Overdeck
We’ve seen a lot of hand wringing over math achievement in this country. Our students continue to underperform against their...
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ESEA and the return of a well-rounded curriculum

Robert Pondiscio
Like many, I’m convinced that what happens inside the classroom—curriculum and instruction—has as much of an impact (if not more...
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A Common Core check-up: Not dead yet

Michael J. Petrilli
Aided by a highly misleading New York Times article , the anti-Common Core crowd is pushing the narrative that Massachusetts’s...
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Accountability and the Every Student Succeeds Act

Andy Smarick
Earlier this year, when it looked like ESEA finally had a chance of being reauthorized, I came up with a graphic for assessing...
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How Washington State can keep the door open to charter schooling

Robin J. Lake
In refusing to reconsider its September ruling that public charter schools are unconstitutional and not entitled to receive...
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The new ESEA will help America's high achievers, but only if states rise to the challenge

Brandon Wright
The ESEA reauthorization conferees delivered some good news for America’s high-achieving students last week. Absent further...
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On payday lending and parental choice

Michael J. Petrilli
If every school in America was pretty good—if not better—our education policy debates would largely evaporate. Politicians would...
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The new ESEA, in a single table

Michael J. Petrilli
As first reported by Alyson Klein at Education Week ’s Politics K–12 blog, Capitol Hill staff reached an agreement last week on...
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MCAS 2.0 charts a good course, but more wind is needed

Gary Kaplan
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education wisely decided this week to tack between the Scylla of MCAS and the...
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Let's check our halos at the door, education reformers

Michael J. Petrilli
The Achilles’ heel of the West, I read not long ago , is that many people struggle to find spiritual meaning in our secular,...
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Fordham's Mike Petrilli and Checker Finn on the ESEA compromise

Michael J. Petrilli
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Editor's note: Politics K-12 reports that House and Senate negotiators have reached a preliminary compromise on reauthorization...
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R.I.P. John Chubb

Chester E. Finn, Jr.
John Chubb was not only a fine scholar, tireless education reformer, and creative innovator. He was also my friend and colleague...
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Failing Our Brightest Kids: A talk with NAGC's executive director René Islas

Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Brandon Wright
Last week, at NAGC's splendid 62nd Annual Covention and Exhibiton, NAGC's executive director René Islas interviewed us about our...
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Rubio, Carson, and the Republican conundrum on education

Kate Stringer
Ever since the birth of the modern reform movement, the GOP has faced a dilemma on federal education policy: Should it focus on...
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Behind in the ninth inning, Duncan digs in again

Andy Smarick
Any baseball team finding itself down 3-0 in a seven-game series points to the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Despite the longest of odds—...
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Here's my roadmap to a 2016 education agenda

Andy Smarick
Editor's note: This post is the final entry of a three-part series on Race to the Top's legacy and the federal role in education...
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