I tend to think philanthropy has a valuable role to play in American education. As I suggest in A Search for Common Ground, unlike those who insist that education giving is “anti-democratic,” I believe philanthropy can make “for a more pluralistic, responsive education system by supporting voices, programs, and organizations that challenge the routines of district and state machinery.” It can offer a lifeline to those otherwise boxed out by teachers’ unions, education bureaucracies, textbook companies, and ed. schools.
Yet, just because philanthropy can play this role doesn’t mean that it will. Indeed, too often, as in the cases of…
During the pandemic, nearly every American schoolchild has experienced some kind of mixture of home-based and school-based learning. What many may not realize is that this phenomenon was happening even before the pandemic. Mike McShane, the director of national research at EdChoice, spent a year talking to parents and educators involved in this kind of learning for his new book, Hybrid Homeschooling: A Guide to the Future of Education. I recently spoke with Mike about the realities of hybrid home schooling, what it looks like when done well, and why he calls it the future of education.
— Rick
Rick…
The “Roadmap” issued by Educating for American Democracy (EAD) is barely a month old, but EAD is already experiencing the good times that await anyone audacious enough (or foolhardy enough) to pursue national initiatives regarding the stuff of history, civics, and standards. The Roadmap has been hammered as a politicized, ideological exercise.
My friend Mark Bauerlein, English professor at Emory and senior editor at First Things, has written, “Organizers present the Roadmap as bipartisan and balanced, but if you scan the details, you’ll find it relentlessly focuses on group identity, access and exclusion, agency and dissent, and diversity.” Joy Pullman…
Dr. Sam Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford University, where his research examines how people judge the credibility of digital content. His work has appeared in prominent publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, and Smithsonian Magazine. The digital document-based history curriculum he helped create has been downloaded 10 million times. Of note: Wineburg is the only one out of the top 50 in this year’s RHSU EduScholar rankings with a primary focus on online learning or education technology. …
Recently, in the midst of a short, charming interview, an award-winning 2nd grade dual-language teacher casually offered an offhand comment that gave me pause. She said, “With gentrification, there are many more affluent families in the neighborhood who are attracted to the benefits of bilingual education. It takes a conscious effort on my and the school’s part to make sure that our dual-language classrooms serve our Latinx families and put their language needs first.” The teacher later added, “Latinx children are diverse and have varying needs,” and explained, “I teach for equity, not equality.”
The interview clearly revealed a thoughtful…
City Year partners with public schools in 29 cities across the U.S., where its AmeriCorps members provide full-time support to students and teachers. Especially in light of the pandemic, I was interested in learning how City Year has adapted its approach to meet student needs. Recently, I spoke with CEO Jim Balfanz, who served as a City Year corps member in Boston 25 years ago, about the program and its response to COVID-19.
— Rick
Rick: So, what is City Year, and how did the program get started?
Jim: City Year, which was founded in 1988, partners with 320 systemically…
Waterford Upstart uses adaptive software to provide online early education support to four-year-olds. Since its inception in Utah in 2009, Waterford Upstart has grown to serve over 90,000 children across 28 states. I spoke with Dr. LaTasha Hadley, Waterford Upstart’s vice president of state partnerships, about the program and its work, especially in the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19.
— Rick
Rick: So, what is Waterford Upstart?
LaTasha: Waterford Upstart is an in-home, technology-delivered school-readiness program that children use independently for 15 to 30 minutes each day, five days a week. The software itself presents a wide range…
As millions of students return to school this spring and fall after many months of isolation, angst, and disruption, it’s a good bet there’ll be plenty of issues relating to behavior, discipline, and safety. For me, this raises the question of what, if anything, policymakers should do to ensure that the raft of well-meaning reforms intended to help schools tackle these challenges are indeed keeping students and staff safe. …
FIRST aims to engage students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by holding robotics and building competitions sponsored by the likes of LEGO, Lucasfilm, and Disney. Launched in 1989, FIRST now partners with more than 200 companies in the Fortune 500 and has 320,000 volunteers working with 650,000 students across 110 countries. I recently had the chance to chat with Erica Newton Fessia, vice president of field operations at FIRST, about their work.
— Rick
Rick: So, what is FIRST?
Erica: FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the first portable insulin pump and many…
Decisions regarding renamings and cancellations are typically made behind closed doors, making it hard to gauge how much deliberation goes into them (as with the recent, deservedly controversial decision to cease publishing six Dr. Seuss titles). In a bit of a twist, however, another such push has played out more publicly: the San Francisco school board’s move to strip existing names, including Abraham Lincoln and Dianne Feinstein, from 44 schools. Because that process (momentarily on hold) unfolded over Zoom, outsiders like my AEI colleague Greg Weiner were able to document the deliberations of the School Names Advisory Committee. …
Frederick M. Hess
Direct Ed Policy Studies at AEI. Teach a bit at Rice, UPenn, Harvard. Author of books like Cage-Busting Leadership and Spinning Wheels. Pen Ed Week's RHSU blog.
