The Top 20 Education Next Articles of 2018

Every December, Education Next releases a list of the most popular articles we published over the course of the year based on readership.

The article that generated the most interest this year was one that looked at the policy of inclusion, or mainstreaming, in special education. A response to that article was our third most popular article of the year.

Some other popular articles were studies finding that teachers’ impact on non-cognitive skills is 10 times more predictive of students’ longer-term success than teachers’ impact on test scores; an analysis of the effectiveness of instructional coaching for teachers instead of regular professional development; and a look at whether teacher preparation programs can be evaluated based on the learning gains of their graduates’ students.

Other articles collected data on public support for higher teacher pay and greater school spending, the decline in private school attendance by middle school families, and whether states are lowering their proficiency standards.

Here’s the list of 2018’s Top 20 articles:

1.		Has Inclusion Gone Too Far? Weighing its effects on students with disabilities, their peers, and teachers By Allison F. Gilmour
2.		Unlocking the Science of How Kids Think A new proposal for reforming teacher education By Daniel T. Willingham
3.		The Better Question: How Can We Improve Inclusive Education? A response to “Has Inclusion Gone Too Far?” By Laura A. Schifter and Thomas Hehir
4.		The Full Measure of a Teacher Using value-added to assess effects on student behavior By C. Kirabo Jackson
5.		Who Goes to Private School? Long-term enrollment trends by family income By Richard J. Murnane, Sean F. Reardon, Preeya P. Mbekeani and Anne Lamb
6.		A Stubborn Excellence Gap Despite efforts, diversity stalls at an elite public high school By Hilde Kahn
7.		Where Title IX Went Wrong The equal opportunity law that ran amok By Christina Hoff Sommers
8.		Taking Teacher Coaching To Scale Can Personalized Training Become Standard Practice? By Matthew A. Kraft and David Blazar
9.		The Main Purpose of Schooling Gaining knowledge or earning credentials? By Michael McPherson
10.		Public Support Climbs for Teacher Pay, School Expenditures, Charter Schools, and Universal Vouchers Results from the 2018 EdNextPoll By Albert Cheng, Michael B. Henderson, Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West
11.		Have States Maintained High Expectations for Student Performance? An analysis of 2017 state proficiency standards By Daniel Hamlin and Paul E. Peterson
12.		After Janus A new era of teachers union activism By Bradley D. Marianno and Katharine Strunk
13.		Private Colleges in Peril Private Colleges in Peril By Stephen Eide
14.		The Case for (Quality) Homework Why it improves learning, and how parents can help By Janine Bempechat
15.		Higher Ed, Lower Spending As States Cut Back, Where Has the Money Gone? By Douglas Webber
16.		An Elite Grad-School Degree Goes Online Can Georgia Tech’s virtual master’s increase access to education? By Joshua Goodman, Julia Melkers and Amanda Pallais
17.		Rating Teacher-Preparation Programs Can value-added make useful distinctions? By Paul T. von Hippel and Laura Bellows
18.		The Case for Holding Students Accountable How extrinsic motivation gets kids to work harder and learn more By Adam Tyner and Michael J. Petrilli
19.		Charters and the Common Good The spillover effects of charter schools in New York City By Sarah A. Cordes
20.		Develop and Validate — Then Scale Lessons from the Gates Foundation’s Effective Teaching Strategy By Thomas J. Kane