ACADEMIC STANDARDS RESEARCH
How Massachusetts Let School Accountability Slip—and Student Achievement with It
The Commonwealth’s enormous investments in its schools—over 100 billion dollars since MERA was enacted—have continued to this day, but basic accountability has not. It is time to honor the original bargain. Massachusetts must once again couple its record-high investments with the same uncompromising scrutiny that made our schools the envy of the nation. That means prying accountability out of the foxes’ paws and restoring it to a truly independent watchdog—an EQA reborn.
Lessons from Military-Run Schools: America’s Secret Weapon in Education
Military-run schools lead every U.S. state in NAEP scores and even outperform educational juggernauts abroad—despite half of their students living at the poverty line. “Lessons from Military-Run Schools: America’s Secret Weapon in Education” argues that, rather than embracing new fads and experimental programs, American public schools ought to be studying the DoDEA playbook.
Truth on Trial: Relativism in the Classroom
As Steven Wilson argues in his new book, The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America, “central to a liberal education is the pursuit of truth, however elusive.” Indeed, the quest for truth, and knowledge of it, is enshrined in the slogans of most universities, including my own—the University of Chicago—as a reminder of our purpose. It seems absurd to suggest otherwise, to propose educating students in anything but rationality, logic, and ultimately, truth; but absurdity has taken hold in education.
Examining the Academic Achievement Decline in New England Prior to COVID-19
COVID-19 was not the beginning of student performance declines in the United States. Academic achievement for students across the country began to drop-off following the widespread implementation of the Common Core curriculum in 2013. While declines have occurred across the country, New England has experienced a particularly sharp decrease in student achievement.
Columbia’s Prof. Roosevelt Montás on the Great Books & a Liberal Arts Education
Professor Roosevelt Montás, Director of the Freedom and Citizenship Program at Columbia University, and author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation, shares his immigrant story and what inspired his appreciation for the Great Books tradition.
UK’s Prof. Michael Slater on Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge, and A Christmas Carol
This week on “The Learning Curve," co-host Gerard Robinson and guest co-host Mary Connaughton talk with Prof. Michael Slater, Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London, and the world's foremost expert on Charles Dickens and his works. They discuss some of the main elements of Dickens’ brilliant, prolific, and complicated life, as the 19th century’s most influential, best-selling writer of memorable works, from Oliver Twist to Great Expectations.
Poll Finds Strong Majority of Massachusetts Residents Support Restoring U.S. History MCAS Graduation Requirement
Sixty-two percent of Massachusetts residents support restoring passage of a U.S. history test as a public high school graduation requirement, according to a poll of Massachusetts residents’ attitudes toward education policy commissioned by Pioneer Institute and conducted by the Emerson College Polling Center.
UK’s Miranda Seymour on Mary Shelley and Frankenstein for Halloween
This week on a Halloween edition of “The Learning Curve," guest host Mary Z. Connaughton talks with Miranda Seymour, novelist and definitive biographer of Mary Shelley, author of the classic Gothic novel, Frankenstein.
UCLA’s Dr. Maryanne Wolf on Reading, Brain Science, & the Digital Age
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, Director of the Center for Dyslexia and Diverse Learners at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World.
Independent Institute’s Dr. Bill Evers & Ze’ev Wurman on K-12 STEM Education & California’s Woke Math
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Bill Evers and Ze'ev Wurman, of the Independent Institute, about the challenges of ensuring all students have access to quality K-12 math and science education in California and across the U.S.
UVA’s Prof. Angel Adams Parham on Classical Education, Black Intellectuals, & Homeschooling
This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Angel Adams Parham, Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (IASC) at the University of Virginia, and the author of The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature. Professor Parham shares her background as an academic and former homeschooling mom, her embrace of classical education, and her philosophy about what constitutes a sound humanities curriculum.
School-Age Population Remains Steady, but Boston Struggles With Declining Enrollment
Hopefully, new leadership will ensure that the system makes the changes necessary to improve public education in Boston. Otherwise, enrollment declines will continue.
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