Tag Archive for: education

Columbia’s Pulitzer Winner Prof. Eric Foner on Lincoln, Slavery, & Reconstruction

This week on The Learning Curve, guest cohosts Charlie Chieppo and Alisha Searcy speak with Dr. Eric Foner, Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author on Lincoln, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Teachers union wants ed reform money — but not accountability

MTA campaign against graduation test takes their stand to 'farcical…

Study Finds COVID Led to Significant Declines in Massachusetts School Enrollments

After a decade of relative stability, COVID has wreaked havoc with Massachusetts public school enrollments, and the U.S. Department of Education projects more declines by 2030, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute. The figures should serve as a warning to vulnerable districts that they must be prepared for the financial, staffing, and facilities impacts that may accompany substantial drops in public school enrollments.

Fmr. Mississippi Chief Dr. Carey Wright on State Leadership & NAEP Gains

This week on The Learning Curve, Dr. Carey Wright, former Mississippi state superintendent of education, discusses the dramatic improvements in fourth graders' reading scores in Mississippi during her time there, the importance of early childhood education and literacy programs, the role of literature and art, and the inspiration educators can draw from Mississippi's heroes in the Civil Rights Movement.

U-Hong Kong Prof. Frank Dikötter on China: Mao’s Tyranny to Rising Superpower

This week on The Learning Curve, Dr. Frank Dikötter discusses Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist revolution, the Great Leap Forward, China's economic ascent under Deng Xiaoping, and the realities that the U.S. and the West must understand as they seek to engage with China as a rising superpower.

Prof. Lorraine Pangle on the Founders, Education, and Civics

This week on The Learning Curve, Lorraine Pangle, professor of political philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, discusses how the Founding Fathers' grounding in classical and Enlightenment thought helped shape America's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the role of public education as a wellspring of republican self-government.

U.K.’s Robert McCrum on P.G. Wodehouse, ‘Jeeves & Wooster,’ and April Fools’ Day

In this special April Fools' Day edition of The Learning Curve, British writer and editor Robert McCrum, discusses English comic genius P.G. Wodehouse, his inimitable prose style, and much-needed humor he brought to 1920s and '30s Britain in the wake of World War I and the 1918 flu epidemic.

Ashley Soifer on Microschools, Pods, & Homeschooling

This week on The Learning Curve, Ashley Soifer, Chief Innovation Officer of the National Microschooling Center discusses these innovative schooling options, in which families and innovators are using a wide array of education choices that offer parents flexibility and greater control over how, where, what, and when their children learn.

UVA Prof. Dan Willingham on Learning Science & K-12 Schooling

This week on The Learning Curve, University of Virginia Professor Dan Willingham discusses the psychology of learning, his advocacy of using scientific knowledge in classroom teaching and education policy, and his critique of the “learning styles theory” of education.

UK Oxford’s Sir Jonathan Bate on Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’

This week on The Learning Curve, U.K. Oxford and ASU Shakespeare scholar Prof. Sir Jonathan Bate, discusses Shakespeare's timeless play Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. Sir Jonathan explains the Roman lessons for American constitutionalism, including warnings against the dangers of dictatorship and civil war.

Supreme Debt Consideration: Will Biden’s Student Debt Cancellation Get Passing Grade?

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Joe Selvaggi talks with constitutional scholar Ilya Somin about the merits and likely success of the two Supreme Court cases Nebraska v. Biden and Department of Education v. Brown, which challenge the President’s constitutional right to cancel more than $400 billion in student debt.

“The Last Candid Man”: B.U.’s Dr. John Silber

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This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Rachel Silber Devlin about her memoir, Snapshots of My Father, John Silber, which captures the wide-ranging and remarkable life of the late philosopher, teacher, and president of Boston University.

Award-Winning UK Author & Filmmaker Laurence Rees on the Holocaust, Auschwitz, and Remembrance

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To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Laurence Rees, a former head of BBC TV History Programmes and author of The Holocaust: A New History, sheds light on Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and the cultural and political conditions that led to the Holocaust.

D.C.’s Kevin Chavous on National School Choice Week

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This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Kevin Chavous, president of Stride K12, Inc. and a former member of the Council of the District of Columbia, on the growing movement toward school choice in education. Chavous discusses recent Supreme Court rulings and the expansion of school choice programs, education savings accounts, and vouchers.

School-Age Population Remains Steady, but Boston Struggles With Declining Enrollment

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Hopefully, new leadership will ensure that the system makes the changes necessary to improve public education in Boston. Otherwise, enrollment declines will continue. 

Hoover at Stanford’s Dr. Eric Hanushek on NAEP, PISA, International Comparisons in Education

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Eric Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Dr. Hanushek shares how he first became interested in the economics of education, his plans for the nearly $4 million in funding from the prestigious Yidan Prize, which he received in 2021, and where he sees the greatest need for additional research in education.

Time for Receivership in Boston

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recently launched its second review of the Boston Public Schools (BPS) in three years. The move has some up in arms because state law requires that officials conduct a review no more than a year before approving state receivership. For BPS, receivership is long overdue. After more than 15 years of consistent and rapid decline, the district has shown no ability—and limited will—to stem the tide

Civics Education is More Important than Ever

Rather than seeking to raise a generation of political activists and community organizers, civics programs should instill an informed love of our country based on the nation’s founding, how our system of government works, and what Americans have achieved – together with our many failings – since the nation was created.

Maine Tries to Ignore a Clear Supreme Court Ruling on Education

As the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Carson v. Makin, the facts are clear. Maine has chosen to subsidize private education. As such, it cannot disqualify all religious schools from receiving public dollars under its school choice program.

Time for State Action on Troubled Boston Schools

Given the failures of both appointed and elected school boards, perhaps the time has come to have the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education appoint the members of the Boston School Committee. Patience might be warranted if the Boston Public Schools were improving. But we have waited for decades, and they are only getting worse. Holding adults in the system accountable was a cornerstone of the Education Reform Act. If not now, when?

Patterns Among Cape Cod Communities with a High Proportion of Private School Students

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In Massachusetts, the association between education and demographic…

“Hellhound on My Trail” Celebrating American Blues Music – 35 Resources for Students

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As music historian Ted Gioia tells us, the blues are disappearing from popular music, because of modern technology and it not being taught. American schoolchildren need to know more about the basics of blues music history and its many African-American geniuses, who reshaped the sounds and rhythms of all peoples across the globe. To remedy this, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high schoolers.

A truly progressive student loan policy

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This op-ed originally appeared in the Boston Globe. It was written…

School Expenditures in the 2019 and 2020 School Years

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The Massachusetts K-12 school system has been regarded as the…

Rigorous Civics Education Needed Now More Than Ever

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After decades of being overlooked, the importance of teaching US history and civics in public schools is at last gaining momentum. At the same time, the American Rescue Plan will bring an influx of tens of millions of dollars into Massachusetts schools. The confluence of these two events could transform civics education, but turning potential into reality will require combining a high-quality, fact-based curriculum with strong accountability measures.

“Be Strong, Saith My Heart” – National Poetry Month – 40 Resources for K-12 Students

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In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating National Poetry Month.

The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews on An Optimist’s Guide to American Public Education

This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara talk with Jay Mathews, an education columnist for The Washington Post and author of the recent book, An Optimist's Guide to American Public Education. Jay describes the three key trends in K-12 schooling that he views as cause for hope.

Poll Finds Mixed Views About Schools’ Pandemic Performance

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts residents have mixed opinions about how K-12 education has functioned, but they tend to view the performance of individual teachers more favorably than that of institutions like school districts and teachers’ unions, according to a poll of 1,500 residents commissioned by Pioneer Institute.

Public Opinion Survey of Massachusetts Residents’ Perceptions of K-12 Education During the Covid-19 Pandemic – March 2021

An Emerson College Poll a poll of 1,500 residents commissioned…

The Republic of Gadgets – America’s Great Inventors – 25 Resources for K-12 Education

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Understanding the enduring public and private benefit that great inventors and their contraptions have made to our civilization is to better appreciate the connections between human necessity, creativity, and ingenuity. Yet, in American K-12 education very little focus is placed on studying who America’s great inventors were and the central role they’ve played in shaping our republic of gadgets. We’re offering a variety of links on the topic for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren to enjoy and better realize authentic innovators.