The Top Education Next Articles of 2014

UPDATE: Check out our top 20 articles of 2015 and our top 20 articles of 2016.


Each year we provide readers with a list of the most popular articles we published that year.

This year the list is topped by four major research pieces:  an analysis of how U.S. students from highly educated families perform compare with similarly advantaged students from other countries; a study investigating what students gain when they are taken on field trips to see high-quality theater performances; a study of teacher evaluation systems in four urban school districts that identifies strengths and weaknesses of different evaluation systems; and the results of Education Next’s annual survey of public opinion on education.

The rest of the list is a combination of research, longer feature stories, interviews, short pieces, and book reviews.

Without further ado, here is the top 20 list:

1. U.S. Students from Educated Families Lag in International Tests
It’s not just about kids in poor neighborhoods
By Eric A. Hanushek, Paul E. Peterson and Ludger Woessmann
2. Learning from Live Theater
Students realize gains in knowledge, tolerance, and more
By Jay P. Greene, Collin Hitt, Anne Kraybill and Cari A. Bogulski
3. Getting Classroom Observations Right
Lessons on how from four pioneering districts
By Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, Matthew M. Chingos and Katharine M. Lindquist
4. No Common Opinion on the Common Core
Also teacher grades, school choices, and other findings from the 2014 EdNext poll
By Michael B. Henderson, Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West
5. Beyond the Factory Model
Oakland teachers learn how to blend
By Joanne Jacobs
6. For Education Entrepreneurs, Innovation Yields High Returns
Learning from Larry Berger, Jonathan Harber, and Ron Packard
By Julie Landry Petersen
7. What Effective Schools Do
Stretching the cognitive limits on achievement
By Martin R. West, Christopher F. O. Gabrieli, Amy S. Finn, Matthew A. Kraft and John D.E. Gabrieli
8. Choosing the Right Growth Measure
Methods should compare similar schools and teachers
By Mark Ehlert, Cory Koedel, Eric Parsons and Michael Podgursky
9. The Texas Ten Percent Plan’s Impact on College Enrollment
Students go to public universities instead of private ones
By Lindsay Daugherty, Paco Martorell and Isaac McFarlin
10. Inside Successful District-Charter Compacts
Teachers and administrators collaborate to share best practices
By Richard Whitmire
11. Does Student Attrition Explain KIPP’s Success?
Evidence on which students leave KIPP middle schools and who replaces them
By Ira Nichols-Barrer, Brian P. Gill, Philip Gleason and Christina Clark Tuttle
12. Common Core in the Classroom
New standards help teachers create effective lesson plans
By Lucy Boyd
13. Does Better Observation Make Better Teachers?
New evidence from a 
teacher evaluation pilot in Chicago
By Matthew P. Steinberg and Lauren Sartain
14. Comparing Public Schools to Private
Lubienskis’ conclusions rely on flawed research design
By Patrick J. Wolf
15. Teacher of the Year to Union President
Lily Eskelsen García is poised to take over at the NEA
By Richard Lee Colvin
16. Schooling Rebooted
Turning educators into learning engineers
By Frederick Hess and Bror Saxberg
17. The Philadelphia School District’s Ongoing Financial Crisis
Why the district has a money problem
By John Caskey and Mark Kuperberg
18. Catholic School Closures and the Decline of Urban Neighborhoods
What is the cause, and what the effect?
By Nathan Glazer
19. The Common Core Takes Hold
Implementation moves steadily forward
By Robert Rothman
20. The Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship
College funds boost grades of African American students
By Timothy J. Bartik and Marta Lachowska

Congratulations to all of our authors!

—Education Next

P.S. You can find the Top 20 Education Next articles of 2013 here.

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