It turns out that educational disruptions are bad for kids. Perhaps you already knew that? In a series of posts in 2020 and 2021, I wrote about the research on past educational disruptions and predicted what they might mean for children going through COVID-19. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the pandemic. What have...

The Los Angeles Unified School District will spend $2.2 billion to rebuild three schools destroyed or badly damaged in January’s deadly wildfires – and protect the entire district from natural disaster, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a press conference Tuesday. “It’s the right investment at the right time for absolutely the right reasons,” Carvalho said. ...

If asked to name the school districts that do the best job of teaching math, people might think of wealthy enclaves like Scarsdale, New York; tech hubs in California’s Silicon Valley; or college towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan. Few of them would think of Neshoba County in Mississippi. But Neshoba County schools are doing something...

After years of political popularity, public investments in early education have mostly struggled to get traction in recent years. Federal momentum toward universal pre-K has stalled, and some successful local experiments from the 2000s and 2010s have struggled to deliver on the optimism that accompanied their launches.  California is a notable, laudable exception to this trend. In 2021, under the leadership...

Most people who know me would probably say I’m a data and accountability advocate. I’m on the board of the Data Quality Campaign and I’ve written extensively (and favorably) about the role of accountability in promoting educational improvement. But I’ve also been critical of accountability, especially so-called public accountability organized around the idea that parents...

Hey, young people: Want a good job? You might consider becoming a teacher. You won’t get rich, but teachers earn more money than you might think. Plus, you’ll have a much easier time landing (and keeping) a job than many of your peers. This might sound like counterintuitive career advice given the current state of...

California public school enrollment passed the 5 million mark in 1991. That number quickly grew to 6 million by 1999 and then reached 6.4 million students in 2004.  Then, the growth machine stalled. California has long seen a large percentage of its residents move to other states, but international immigration and high birth rates more than...

The ESSER cliff is coming. Most districts and states that initiated high-impact tutoring using federal ESSER dollars are scrambling. Many believe they must eliminate or reduce the scope of their programs; but this is not the case. Here are six durable funding streams that could replace the ESSER dollars to help provide highly effective tutoring...

One of the challenges schools face is that there’s very little evidence directly connecting most pre-K-12 skills to measures of success in adulthood such as economic mobility. This means school and district leaders must rely on instinct and guesswork when faced with decisions about how much to prioritize teaching math (and which specific aspects), fostering...

In joyful preschool classrooms, three- and four-year-olds play and pretend together. They sing and dance, listen eagerly at story time, and ask endless questions. Nearly everything is new, which fuels an intense enthusiasm for learning. High-quality preschool supports social skills, fosters friendships, and builds a sturdy foundation for kindergarten and beyond. As researchers specializing in...