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My Uber Driver Doesn’t Get the Finer Points of the Newton Teachers’ Strike
I was wrapping up an interview on the Newton teachers’ strike as I hopped in an Uber. “Obviously,” I was saying on the phone, “nine days of missed school is really disruptive for kids and families. And I know thousands of Newton students are still recovering from the extended school closures during the pandemic. But we need to appreciate that the teachers wouldn’t be striking unless they had no choice.”
Artificial Intelligence, Real Anxiety
In a little more than a year, freely available artificial intelligence technology has evolved from generating half-right passages of slightly awkward text to creating artistic original images, generating error-free computer code, and even passing an MBA exam at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. If a user-friendly computer assistant like ChatGPT can already do all of that, AI seems poised to upend traditional work practices and hiring patterns—even when it comes to knowledge-economy jobs.
Is a Chatbot Editing a Well-Known Education Journal? I’ve My Suspicions
I’ve long had a sneaking suspicion that DARPA-produced AI bots are editing journals of education research. Crazy, you say? Well, it would certainly explain the esteemed Review of Research in Education’s annual call for proposals on “Equitable Educational Systems That Cultivate Thriving.” (They’re due this week, if you were wondering.) I mean, the call is pretty clearly the handiwork of a poorly trained AI, with the “editors” explaining that they’re seeking . . .
“Honestly Assess Your Strengths and Limitations”
Outgoing NAPCS president reflects on the state of charters during tenure and the future of the sector. After serving as president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools since 2012, Nina Rees stepped down last month. Charter schools thrived on Rees’s watch but also became increasingly contentious. Given that, it seemed like a good time to check in with Rees and get her frank perspective, now that she’s newly freed from the responsibility of being the official voice of the charter sector. Before taking on the role of representing the nation’s nearly 8,000 charter schools, Rees served as the first head of innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. Here’s what she had to say.
The Education Exchange: The Rational Case for Loving America
Paul Carrese, a Professor in the School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how civic education is taught, and improvements that can be made by state and local leadership in education. Carrese’s article, “Civic Preparation of American Youth: Reflective...
For All Mankind: Complex Quasi-History without the Self-Loathing Ennui
The speculative TV series celebrates resilience in adversity—a message American students need right now. For All Mankind just wrapped its fourth season on AppleTV+. It’s propulsive, beautifully written, terrifically acted, and plays like a first-run theatrical release. If you’ve not seen it, you really should check it out. Oh, and it ought to be mandatory viewing for the nation’s social studies teachers.
A New Crop of School Models Expands Choice
New school models are having a moment. They are receiving favorable media coverage in outlets from the Washington Post to the Wall Street Journal to Good Morning America and tens of millions of dollars in venture capital investments. Parents are telling pollsters that they are open to the idea of educating their children in new ways. Teachers are expressing frustration with the traditional public school system.
Prep-School Nostalgia Evoked in The Holdovers
The Oscar-nominated film delivers a blast from the past—and a reminder of how things have changed. As reviewed by Chester E. Finn Jr. Warning: This review contains plot details from the movie. In this superb but “of-its-period” movie, Paul Giamatti deserves an Oscar for Best Actor based on facial...
There’s No School Like the Old School
“There’s no school like the old school.” It’s a wry tribute proffered by the two old guys in 2004’s The Incredibles when our heroes come out of forced retirement to save the day. (A less G-rated version of the sentiment is offered in 2008’s RocknRolla). But it’s the kind of tribute that has, I fear, fallen out of fashion. The disdain for old-school norms is palpable in an “OK, boomer” era of post-liberalism, performative populism, cancel culture, and 14-year-old TikTok millionaires.
The Education Exchange: An Inflated Sense of Student Achievement
Doug Lemov, the author of the international bestseller Teach Like a Champion, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how grade inflation is impacting student achievement. “Your Neighborhood School Is a National Security Risk,” by Lemov, is available now. Follow The Education Exchange on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or...
Covid-19 Hit Hardest at the Most Vulnerable. So did School Closures
When the Covid-19 pandemic started in March 2020, schools in the United States closed immediately and remained closed for the rest of that school year. When school was set to start again the following fall, many school districts decided to continue online virtual education as a mitigation measure. Other districts decided to resume in-person schooling, many with masking and social distancing in place. Schooling mode decisions varied throughout the school year, and it took until the spring of 2021, a full year after the initial closures, for in-person schooling to be available to all students in the United States.
A Teacher Strike Comes to Portland
My kids returned to school in late November for the first time since Halloween. For over three weeks, public school students of Portland, Oregon, were out of school due to an educator strike. During that period, our children missed 11 days of instruction. Portland Public Schools (PPS) is one of...
The Education Exchange: Are Fewer but Longer School Days a Good Idea?
Nolan Pope, an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Pope’s latest research, which investigates the impact of non-traditional school calendars on student achievement. “Schedule-Driven Productivity: Evidence from Non-Traditional School Calendar,” co-written with Taylor J. Landon, is available now. Follow...
2024 Edu-Scholar Public Influence: Top 10 Lists
Yesterday, we unveiled the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. Of course, education research includes a lot of people doing very different kinds of work. Thus, over the years, readers have been intensely interested in how scholars fared within particular fields of study. Where scholars rank overall may be less telling than where they rank within their field. Today, we’ll report on the top 10 finishers for five disciplinary categories. (For a detailed discussion of how the scoring was done, see Wednesday’s post.)
The 2024 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings
Today, we unveil the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, ranking the 200 university-based scholars in the United States who did the most last year to shape educational practice and policy. The list includes the top 150 finishers from last year, augmented by at-large nominees chosen by the 39-member Selection Committee. So, without further ado, here are the 2024 rankings (scroll through the chart to see all names and scores).
How to Unpack an Ideological Suitcase
As regular readers know, I spent much of the past two years co-leading the Building Bridges Initiative, which sought to bring education reformers from left, right, and center together (again). One of the most useful moments in our deliberations came when one participant introduced the notion of a “suitcase word.” Like a suitcase, such words may look the same to everyone, but we each have different ideas of what may lie inside. In order to avoid misunderstandings or unnecessary conflict, it’s helpful to “unpack” these words and be crystal clear about the concepts we’re discussing.
The 2024 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Scoring Rubric
Tomorrow, I’ll be unveiling the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, recognizing the 200 university-based scholars who had the biggest influence on educational practice and policy last year. This will be the 14th annual edition of the rankings. Today, I want to run through the methodology used to generate those rankings.
What It Takes to Be an Effective Public Scholar
On Thursday, I’ll be publishing the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, honoring the 200 education scholars who had the biggest influence on the nation’s education discourse last year. Today, I want to take a few moments to explain the purpose of those rankings. (I’ll reveal the scoring rubric tomorrow.)
In Memoriam: Linda Brown
Colleagues, pupils, friends reflect on the eminent trainer of charter-school leaders. Some three decades ago, teaching in one of the first Massachusetts charter schools, I met Linda Brown. I had no idea who this woman was who had walked into my classroom. But she was intense. She looked at every...
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