The school choice war has gone hot, writes Neal McCluskey on the Cato @ Liberty blog. New America’s Kevin Carey lamented “dismal voucher results” in the New York Times, which followed with an editorial calling choice an academic “failure.” However, “the vast majority of random-assignment studies of private school voucher programs — the “gold-standard” research method that even controls for… Read more →
Nearly 500 people — all college graduates — applied for a communications job at Marc Tucker’s organization. Candidates were asked to write a one-page summary of a report published last year. “Only one could produce a satisfactory summary,” writes Tucker. The kids can’t write, he concludes. . . . we do not build our curriculum around the assumption that we… Read more →
Why do students who did well in high school fail in college? Good work habits distinguish “thrivers” from “divers,” concludes a University of Toronto study reported in the Washington Post. New college students predicted they’d earn grade-point averages of 3.6, but averaged only 2.2 at the end of their first year. Students with similar high school records had very different college outcomes. Researchers… Read more →
Head Start has long-term benefits, according to an analysis by Brookings’ Hamilton Project. Head Start participants are more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, and receive a post-secondary degree or certification, the study found. And as adults, they’re more likely to use “positive parenting” practices with their children. Especially for black children, “Head Start also causes social, emotional, and… Read more →
This post first appeared on the blog, JoanneJacobs.com Tracking in eighth grade — usually in math — correlates with higher scores on AP tests at the end of high school, concludes the 2016 Brown Center Report on American Education. In eighth grade, the tracking question currently boils down to whether high achieving students who are ready for a formal algebra… Read more →