#achievement

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Thinking and Linking

Indy charters: 116-day boost in math

Joanne Jacobs

Jun 14, 2022
1 min

Indy charters: 116-day boost in math

Indianapolis charter students are dramatically outperforming similar students in district-run schools, concludes a new study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). Growth scores from 2018-19 show 116 days of additional learning in math, 64 days in reading for charter students, notes the Mind Trust. Black and Hispanic students showed even stronger gains: Black students in charter schools achieved growth equivalent to: 144 days of additional

Trying is not the same as achieving

Joanne Jacobs

Apr 20, 2022
2 min

Trying is not the same as achieving

Grading students based on effort rather than achievement is spreading from P.E. class to academic classes in high schools, but in colleges, writes Adam Ellwanger on the Martin Center blog. contract” or “labor-based” grading is “the latest front in a larger war on intellectual excellence, where the focus has now moved from lowering standards to eliminating them,” Ellwanger writes. He teaches English at a university that serves many first-generation students who face significan

Who’s #1 in ed? Ranking for quality, not $

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 9, 2018
2 min

Who’s #1 in ed? Ranking for quality, not $

Which state has the best schools? Traditional rankings, such as those in U.S. News, factor in school spending, write Stan Liebowitz and Matthew L. Kelly in Reason. In their results-only rankings of education quality, based on National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores, Virginia is number one, with Massachusetts, almost always ranked first, in second place. Florida, New Jersey and Texas round out the top five. Here’s the table. White, Latino, black and Asian stude

Raising achievement in Atlanta — without cheating

Joanne Jacobs

Sep 17, 2018
2 min

Raising achievement in Atlanta — without cheating

New York Times reporter Sara Mosle looks at an Atlanta principal who’s trying to raise reading and math performance at her high-poverty, nearly all-black elementary school by helping teachers improve their teaching. Atlanta’s cheating scandal is history now. Pressure to raise test scores is as strong as ever, especially at Peyton Forest Elementary, which had earned an F on its state report card. Principal Cynthia Gunner or a reading or math specialist visits each teacher’s cl

Has inclusion gone too far?

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 24, 2018
2 min

Has inclusion gone too far?

Inclusion — placing students with disabilities in mainstream classes — may not help special-needs students learn, concludes Allison Gilmour, a Temple University professor of special education, in Education Next. Furthermore, it may stress their teachers and burden their classmates. More than 60 percent of students with disabilities spend 80 percent or more of their school day in regular classrooms, she writes. They’re exposed to grade-level curriculum — but that doesn’t mean

New Orleans improves — a lot

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 17, 2018
2 min

New Orleans improves — a lot

“After Katrina’s devastation, New Orleans embarked on the the most ambitious education overhaul in modern America,” writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. New Orleans’ reforms raised achievement, graduation rates and college success, concludes a new study. “The state of Louisiana took over the system in 2005, abolished the old bureaucracy and closed nearly every school. Rather than running schools itself, the state became an overseer, hiring independent operators of pu

The high cost of cheap diplomas

Joanne Jacobs

Feb 15, 2018
1 min

The high cost of cheap diplomas

“Making graduation too easy” doesn’t just undermine “the motivations of students (and teachers),” writes Robert Slavin, who directs the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins and chairs the Success for All Foundation. “It also undermines the motivation of the entire system” to improve. If educators can keep doing what they’ve always done, knowing that numbers will be fiddled with at the end to make everything come out all right, then the whole system can

Grad rates rise — achievement doesn’t

Joanne Jacobs

Feb 12, 2018
2 min

Grad rates rise — achievement doesn’t

Statewide, achievement declined in math and improved in reading, she writes. “For some student groups, proficiency rates have actually decreased at the same time that their graduation rates have increased.” Beth Hawkins looks at the discouraging data. Consider Minneapolis Public Schools’ Roosevelt High School, which sits solidly in the middle of its district in terms of socioeconomics. Between 2014 and 2016, its graduation rate rose from 58 percent to 75 percent. During the s

Grading ‘floors’ can become learning ceilings

Joanne Jacobs

Jan 25, 2018
2 min

Grading ‘floors’ can become learning ceilings

After a grade-switching scandal at two high schools, Memphis Superintendent Dorsey Hopson has issued a moratorium on “grade floors,” reports Chalkbeat Tennessee. “Proponents of grade floors had called them a useful tool to motivate students who lag far behind to bring up their grades — for instance, bumping a student performing at 20 percent up to a 60 percent on a scale that requires at least a 70 percent to pass.” Failing grades deprive students of hope,” argues Marlena Lit

All-minority charters: Is it segregation?

Joanne Jacobs

Dec 4, 2017
2 min

All-minority charters: Is it segregation?

At 25 percent of urban charter schools, 99 percent of students are non-white, reports AP. That compares to 10 percent of traditional public schools. Does it matter? Kindergartners at a New Orleans charter school. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images Some inner-city families prefer “cultural homogeneity,” AP concedes. Others simply want a safe, effective school. Test scores tend to be higher at integrated schools, reports AP. Only 20 percent of students reach proficiency at traditi

How parents choose schools

Joanne Jacobs

Nov 14, 2017
2 min

How parents choose schools

One daughter goes to a small, fast-paced STEM-focused school with few arts, language, sports or extracurricular options, Fordham’s Jeff Murray writes in Education Next. Her twin sister has moved to a private school that doesn’t care about test scores or AP courses, but offers independent projects, theater, sports and a study trip to Russia. Did he make the right choice? Metro Early College High School in Columbus, Ohio focuses on science and math. Parents know how to choose s

Chicago schools are improving!

Joanne Jacobs

Nov 5, 2017
1 min

Chicago schools are improving!

Chicago Public Schools is the fastest-improving urban district, concludes Stanford’s Sean F. Reardon. Test scores for the average Chicago student went up by six grades in the five years between third and eighth grade, he told a conference of education experts. The gains mean CPS has moved from a low-performing urban district to the national average for big cities, notes the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago’s Latino students are narrowing the achievement gap. Photo: Jose M. Osorio/C

Sleepy teens

Joanne Jacobs

Nov 3, 2017
1 min

Sleepy teens

Teens aren’t getting enough sleep, concludes an analysis by Jean Twenge, a San Diego State psychology professor. In two surveys, 40 percent of adolescents reported sleeping less than seven hours a night in 2015. That’s way up from past estimates. “The more time young people reported spending online, the less sleep they got,” the report noted. “Teens who spent five hours a day online were 50 percent more likely to not sleep enough than their peers who only spent an hour online

Scores slip after ‘equity’ focus

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 9, 2017
2 min

Scores slip after ‘equity’ focus

“Racial equity” became the priority in Edina Public Schools (EPS), an affluent Minneapolis suburb, in 2013. Test scores are falling, writes Katherine Kersten, senior policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, in the Star Tribune. (Thinking Minnesota has a longer version.) The district’s “All for All” plan called for hiring “racially conscious teachers and administrators,” writes Kersten. Students must “acquire an awareness of their own cultural identity and valu

CREDO: NYC charter students learn more

Joanne Jacobs

Oct 5, 2017
1 min

CREDO: NYC charter students learn more

Students are learning more in New York City charter schools, concludes a new study from Stanford’s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO). In schools run by charter networks, such as Success Academy, KIPP, and Achievement First, students gained the equivalent of an extra 97 days of schooling in math, 46 days in reading, CREDO estimated. Independent charter schools, which include both strong and weak schools, did worse than networked charters on average, but gaine

Absentee teachers

Joanne Jacobs

Sep 24, 2017
2 min

Absentee teachers

More than 28 percent of teachers in traditional public schools — but only 10 percent of charter teachers — miss 11 or more days of teaching per year, according to Teacher Absenteeism in Charter and Traditional Public Schools, which is based on federal data. It adds up to a billion hours of wasted class time, estimates researcher David Griffith. “A ten-day increase in teacher absenteeism is associated with the loss of about six to 10 days of learning in English language arts a

Educating Eva

Joanne Jacobs

Sep 17, 2017
2 min

Educating Eva

The Education of Eva Moskowitz, a memoir by Success Academy founder, describes her evolution from charter skeptic to crusader. Moskowitz is always described as “controversial.” She plays New York City politics fiercely to get space for her growing network of schools, which boast very high test scores for low-income, black and Hispanic students. After teaching at Vanderbilt, Moskowitz and her husband moved back to New York City. In 1999, she won a City Council seat and joined

Success succeeds for black, Latino kids

Joanne Jacobs

Aug 27, 2017
2 min

Success succeeds for black, Latino kids

Success Academy Charter Schools students — nearly all from low-income black and Latino families — “outperformed every district in New York state on the annual grades 3-8 exams,” reports Kate Stringer on The 74. Of the New York City charter network’s 5,800 tested students, 95 percent passed the math test and 84 percent passed reading, Success reports. New York City students passed the reading test (29 percent of “children of color”) and 38 percent (24 percent of children of co

Schools improve with charter neighbors

Joanne Jacobs

Aug 10, 2017
1 min

Schools improve with charter neighbors

New York City charter schools help neighboring district schools improve, according to a new study that’s set to be published in Education Finance and Policy. District administrators may pick up ideas from nearby charters to compete for students, said Sarah Cordes, a professor at Temple University and the study’s author. The study compares elementary school performance before and after a new charter opened from 1996 to 2010. A school within a half-mile of a charter school, for

Voucher students catch up in Indiana, Louisiana

Joanne Jacobs

Jun 27, 2017
1 min

Voucher students catch up in Indiana, Louisiana

Vouchers have failed, editorialized the New York Times in March, citing “dismal” results in Louisiana and Indiana on the first year of the programs. Updated research shows a different story, reports Elliot Kaufman in National Review. “After just a few years, voucher students perform as well or better than their non-voucher peers while using significantly less public funding,” says Jason Bedrick, director of policy at EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates free choice in educati

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