Education Next

In the New York Times, Emily Hanford writes that “Mississippi was the only state in the nation to post significant gains on the fourth-grade reading test” in the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress. In the Spring 2020 issue of Education Next, Michael J. Petrilli writes, “There are isolated examples of improvement—Mississippi, for example, requires aspiring teachers to take two phonics-focused classes in reading instruction, and it passed a law supporting phonics training for professors at schools of education throughout the state. The latest results from the NAEP showed Mississippi students making progress in reading, even as student performance declined nationwide.”

The BBC has an article with a look at “which is better for helping children learn”: intrinsic motivation (“natural curiosity”) or extrinsic motivation (“linked to reward”)? The article extensively quotes Adam Tyner, whose article with Michael J. Petrilli, “The Case for Holding Students Accountable,” appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of Education Next.