The disruption of the pandemic underscored inequities in education systems and prompted educators to think beyond traditional measures of student achievement. However, as students returned to the classroom, conventional narratives of learning loss reemerged. Learning loss implies students, not systems, need to be "fixed," which misses…

Two advocates of grading reform, Joe Feldman and Douglas Reeves, answer questions about how grading practices and policies could--or should--be influenced by the current pandemic, and by U.S. schools' switch to distance learning. They weigh in on how the K-12 grading landscape will differ this fall--with likely more clarity about learning gaps and…

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that students don't need more stress. Fortunately, we can reduce students' anxiety about grading--and improve their learning. Grading expert Joe Feldman shares four "outdated" grading practices and their constructive, more equitable alternatives.

Miguel A. Cardona, the former commissioner of education in Connecticut, became the U.S. Secretary of Education on March 2, 2021, taking office in the midst of an historic pandemic that had profoundly reshaped the nation's schools. In his initial months on the job, Cardona- also a one-time public school teacher and principal--has focused closely on…

Although there has been much debate about how "learning loss" is conceptualized and the degree to which the pandemic has affected it (Dickler, 2021; Jacobson, 2021; Strauss, 2021), one thing is certain: the pandemic has likely exacerbated the instructional gaps that students already had, especially in the case of those who attend…

Throughout the pandemic, the Getting Smart team (which Tom Vander Ark leads as CEO) worked with public school districts in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas, as well as charter schools in six additional states to support hybrid, virtual, and return-to-school strategies and plans. During the year and a half that education systems spent in crisis…