The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results have long displayed student achievement in two ways: as points on a stable vertical scale that typically runs from 0 to 300 or 500 and as the percentages of test takers whose scores reach or surpass a trio of "achievement levels." These achievement levels--dubbed…

Results-based school accountability has been the linchpin of education reform in the United States for at least two decades. But the COVID-19 pandemic led many schools, states, and districts to put their testing and accountability programs on hold. Chester E. Finn, Jr., argues that it is time for the accountability holiday to end and makes…

When COVID-19 forced a hiatus in federally mandated assessments in spring 2020, it interrupted a quarter century of effort to track, disaggregate, and publicize achievement levels at the school level. The aborted school year put a big data gap where 2020 scores should have been. Combined with the already raging assaults on testing, state education…

The principal opportunities awaiting the Trump administration in K-12 education are only loosely related to the candidate's campaign comments about advancing school choice and reducing the federal Education Department. Recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act signals that Congress will be loath to re-open the major federal K-12 programs…

This article probes ways in which the school-choice marketplace as it developed via chartering has not worked as well in practice as many had hoped. It includes reflection on the profoundly different operating principles and theories of action that separate the district and charter sectors in their pure forms. It also offers market-strengthening…

The enthusiasm for digital learning is contagious. More than 2 million K-12 students are enrolled in online courses today, and research firm Ambient Insight projects that figure will hit 10 million by 2014. Will today's wave of technology inexorably change the face of schooling, or must school administrators first alter policy? This article…

Of all the arguments that critics of school voucher programs advance, the one that may resonate loudest with the public concerns school accountability. Opponents say it's not fair to hold public schools accountable for their results (under No Child Left Behind and similar systems) and then let private schools receive taxpayer dollars--however…

Over the past two decades, many efforts to infuse K-12 education with innovation and enterprise have flamed out or settled into cozy symbiosis with the status quo. Today, an unprecedented (if still small) number of entrepreneurial efforts are taking root in the rocky soil of elementary and secondary education. Those who crack the constraints of…

"Troublemaker," the memoir of "Education Next" senior editor and veteran education reformer Chester E. "Checker" Finn Jr., weaves into the chronicle of Finn's life and career the broader history of education reform, in which he has played a vital and sometimes rambunctious role. Currently president of the Thomas B.…

Discusses a growing belief that the present U.S. school enterprise is incapable of doing much better because it is intellectually misguided, ideologically wrong-headed, and organizationally dysfunctional. Explains the implications of charter schools for public education, examining the present status of charter schools, accounting for where they…

When replacing the 35,000 to 50,000 principals who will change jobs or retire during the next five years, school boards need to follow certain steps to ensure that the best executives are hired. The search committee should consider proven leaders in other fields and learn effective ways to evaluate the candidates, narrow the choices, and support…

Discusses how the charter school movement is having systemic effects on U.S. education, examining eight important issues that, when resolved, may make charter schools valued community institutions and spur K-12 education to reinvent itself. Surmounting the eight challenges would keep charter schools in the center stage of the education reform…

Discusses the dismal results of the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) appraisal of American high school students' knowledge about history and literature. Explores connections between cultural literacy and students' family background, homework, and television viewing habits. Recommends more and better history and literature…

Two recent visitors to the People's Republic of China report on dramatic changes in that nation's educational system. Besides experiencing some student problems similar to those in the U.S. (such as disobedience, early maturity, and reluctance to attend school), China faces the major problems confronting any Third World nation emerging in a…

Outlines the special summer humanities institutes for secondary school principals that began at three universities in 1984 and were funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. (MD)