Published Articles & Media
Can You Be an Ed Reformer and a Conservative?
The real challenge for conservatives has less to do with the nature of school reform than ensuring that the public and private functions served by education are brought into proper balance.
New York’s Common Core Tests: Tough Questions, Curious Choices
The bottom line: the tests are hard, as expected, but the choice of texts needs work.
Not Teacher Quality, but Quality Teaching
Any pedagogy, curriculum, approach, or technology has to be within the skills of ordinary teachers to implement well and effectively. If it takes a superstar teacher it's a nonstarter.
Why Johnny Won’t Learn to Read
We know for a fact that "balanced literacy" has had little effect on closing stubborn achievement gaps. So why is New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina bringing it back?
A Missed Opportunity for Common Core
Common Core supporters should be showcasing lessons that represent a sharp break with the skills-driven, all-texts-are-created-equal approach that has come to dominate too many classrooms.
Conscious Incompetence: New Ed-School Grads are Unprepared to Teach — and We Seem Fine With That
Ask a teacher about his or her first year in the classroom and you’ll hear, either with a smile or a shudder, how “nothing prepared me for my first year as a teacher.”
GPAs, SATs, and TMI?
Our elite universities, should they wish, could end epic oversharing, help student writing, and improve college readiness in one fell swoop.
‘No Excuses’ Kids Go to College
Will high-flying charters see their low-income students graduate?
