Safe, orderly, high-expectations schools will enable teachers to teach well and students to learn, writes Rick Hess on Education Next. Restoring common sense to classroom culture" is a "necessary first step," not a distraction. It's "how we help schools rebuild public trust and refocus on academic achievement.
After all, it’s hard to focus on rigorous math instruction when educators fret that it’s racist to worry about correct answers, tell students to show their work, or offer advanced math instruction. It’s tough to create the conditions of academic excellence when educators are reluctant to address student misconduct and when personal responsibility is dismissed as a legacy of white-supremacy culture.
Federal officials should "tackle the rules and regulations that stymie learning" and create disorder," Hess writes. They should "ensure that federal funds are supporting scientifically grounded reading instruction" and "stop subsidizing mediocre schools of education and unserious research."
He's a fan of Penny Schwinn, Trump's appointee as deputy secretary of Education. Some culture warriors on the right think she's too focused on education, not enough on culture, he writes. But we need both. (Schwinn worked in Tennessee, which did relatively well on NAEP.)
We know what to do to start improving achievement, write Robin Lake and Chelsea Waite of the Center for Reinventing Public Education. Their report, The State of the American Student 2024, found that "the average student has recovered about a third of their pandemic-era learning losses in math and a quarter in reading."
Rhode Island and Missouri are promoting "the use of high-quality instructional materials along with aligned professional learning for teachers and a commitment to analyzing and acting on data." Alabama and Colorado are providing more learning time in core subjects. "High-intensity tutoring and summer programs have produced strong results in places like Arkansas, D.C., Colorado, and Indiana."
Every state should be studying the policies adopted in Louisiana, which developed a high-quality, knowledge-rich, language-arts curriculum, Mississippi and Alabama. If they can improve, anyone can.
In The 74, Lake calls for "embracing bold, evidence-based reforms, even when they are politically difficult," such as expanding high-performing charter schools, redesigning high school, leveraging emergin technologies, providing families with honest data and holding adults accountable for student outcomes.thoughtful and fair accountability mechanisms.
TNTP's The Opportunity Makers look at schools that are accelerating student achievement.