Siegfried “Zig” Engelmann, the designer of Direct Instruction, died this weekend. As the website of the National Institute for Direct Instruction explains, Direct Instruction (DI) is a model for teaching that emphasizes well-developed and carefully planned lessons designed around small learning increments and clearly defined and prescribed teaching tasks. Robert Pondiscio notes...

Try to think of an education policy that 1) has been shown, in dozens of studies across multiple decades, to positively affect student outcomes; 2) has the overwhelming support of parents and voters; 3) reinforces many other policies and facilitates quality research; and 4) has been used widely at the district, state, and national levels for decades or more. You might be thinki...

Is test-based accountability “on the wane”? The question is based on a fallacy. For something to be on the wane, it has to exist, and test-based accountability has never truly existed in the United States. Holding people accountable requires that they face significant consequences as a result of their actions. Despite years of “high stakes” student testing, very few of the nati...

The reality is 1 in 4 high school students are academically ready for college by the end of 11th grade. If we’re willing to think and act outside the century-old box of requiring all students to complete 12 years of school before starting college, we could cure “senioritis” for many, reduce college costs—as well as student loan debt—and empower college-ready students to chart ...

It may seem like money is tight, but we’re actually spending at a relatively high level on schools right now. When state revenues decline, districts will have to make some tough choices. Marty West talks with Marguerite Roza, the Director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, about what’s coming and how school districts can prepare. Roza addresses these top...

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/* custom css */ .tdi_2_a62{ min-height: 0; } /* custom css */ .tdi_4_964{ vertical-align: baseline; } Speakers of the Program on Education Policy and Governance’s spring colloquium series. Top row, from left: Marguerite Roza, Parag Pathak, Shaun Dougherty, and Emily Hanford. Bottom...

Psst, districts! We’ve seen this script before. Back in 2008, it’s a fair bet that most school systems didn’t know they were in a financial boom before the Great Recession unleashed the bust, filling subsequent years with program cuts, furloughs, school closures, and fights about seniority-based layoffs. Today, signs suggest we’re once again at a peak, with a likely financial ...

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