Featuring @chadaldeman.bsky.social @natwexler.bsky.social @carlhendrick.substack.com @dtwuva.bsky.social @gtoppo.bsky.social @dkthomp.bsky.social @weisenthal.bsky.social @hollykorbey.bsky.social @alexanderrusso.bsky.social ++

Holy moley, this disconnect. From @hollykorbey.bsky.social latest: open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

The most mind-blowing thing I read this week was this by @hollykorbey.bsky.social on the "phonics wars" in the USA. UK readers may well be aware that the USA has only relatively recently got on board with phonics following the "Sold a Story" podcast but.... substack.com/inbox/post/1...

In her recent piece @hollykorbey.bsky.social profiles edu leaders across Maryland who are leading a movement to align teaching with the #ScienceOfLearning—featuring DFI partners Laurie Henry @salisburyuniv.bsky.social, FCPS Maryland & @hoodcollege.bsky.social hollykorbey.substack.com/p/marylands-...

Maryland’s Big Bet on the Science of Learning Sounds like Maryland is doing something right! 👍👍 #edusky @hollykorbey.bsky.social

This by @hollykorbey.bsky.social is going to a useful resource for the US. I am glad that UK education reporting tends to get more into the issues. open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

Thanks to @hollykorbey.bsky.social for covering Ben Solomon's petition to retract the NY Math briefs, which he describes as pseudoscience. Check out her newsletter here: hollykorbey.substack.com/p/when-the-m...

“We cannot have a perfect inclusion system - inclusion is a process” This is one of those rare 'must read' articles on the topic of inclusion by @hollykorbey.bsky.social. It explores the realities of the SEND system in the UK & the US. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

The US and UK are both in a spiral of increasing SEND requirements but are taking different paths in response - what can each show the other about the best way forward for pupils and staff? Fascinating deep dive from @hollykorbey.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

I find it somewhere between unbelievable and disheartening that people without empirical research credentials propose a new, untested, unresearched theory of learning; a new cognitive philosophy (!!) of learning. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... predictablycorrect.substack.com/p/beyond-loa...

I just spoke with Ivana Greco about the supply side part of this issue. @hollykorbey.bsky.social and I discussed it on the Bell Ringer podcast. I’m gonna spend this school year talking about this one on repeat.

I was honored to be on The Pulse to explain the science of learning and why understanding how we learn matters so much more to transforming education than AI and the internet. Get a primer on the research and why it matters in this episode 👇

@sbook.bsky.social Hi Susan, I'm a reporter working on a story about special education inclusion, I can tell you more, would you be interested in talking to me? You can reach me at [email protected]. Thanks!

Help a reporter: I'm looking for experts on special education inclusion, who should I be talking to? For a story.

US ignores home-grown education ideas that are accelerating progress overseas. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

Education professors scored no better than physics or business faculty on basic learning science, raising serious questions about teacher preparation programmes. researchandeducation.ro/2025/06/30/d...

"AI is not that novel. It is not that potentially revolutionary. It is in a long continuum of technologies that promise to transform education, starting with the TV, the typewriter, VCRs, tablets [and] Chromebooks." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

Teachers, school leaders, students and parents have a lot of problems with the digital math practice platforms that have become ubiquitous in classrooms, even though research shows they "work." So what do we mean by "work"? In education, it's complicated. www.educationnext.org/practice-pro...

In year after year of reform efforts, teachers had been told to “do explicit instruction,” with no roadmap on how to do it, or how to do it well. @gtavernetti.bsky.social and @hollykorbey.bsky.social discuss. open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

Many teachers don’t know how to translate the concepts around explicit instruction into practice. It doesn’t help that most think explicit instruction simply equals “lecture.” This is why I am a curriculum person. Curriculum offers exemplars. A roadmap. The HOW.

NEW from me: Research on digital math practice platforms like i-Ready, IXL, Zearn and others show that students who use them in the way recommended really benefit. So why do the vast majority of students *not* use them in the recommended way? You might be surprised at the multitude of answers:

It's not only the science of reading—there's a science to how learning happens, and teachers, parents and the public deserve to know. Learn more at The Bell Ringer—reporting, resources and tools all about the science of learning. hollykorbey.substack.com

It's not only the science of reading—there's a science to how learning happens, and teachers, parents and the public deserve to know. Learn more at The Bell Ringer—reporting, resources and tools all about the science of learning. hollykorbey.substack.com

The Science of Learning movement is about the science conducted on teaching and learning. Imagine if doctors wanted to become a research-based field of expertise, and the public fiercely resisted, saying that doctors who follow the science on how best to treat sickness must be captured.

“That is one of the hallmarks, typically, of professions: There’s an agreed-upon body of knowledge that constitutes the things that professionals need to know in order to be practitioners in that space. And education, at least in the United States, has never really done that.”

My newsletter from last week, an interview with @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social on the importance of math knowledge and how teachers can build it with students, is republished today at the Fordham Institute blog. You can read it here: fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

From @nctq.bsky.social pres. Heather Peske: “Holly's right! Telling teachers to ‘value the community’ and other such platitudes won't improve math outcomes, but providing a solid understanding of core math content along with concrete guidance on how to teach math will.” substack.com/home/post/p-...

We know there's a knowledge-building movement for reading, should there be one for math? @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social says yes. Explicitly teaching the hundreds of math vocabulary terms students need to know, for example, helps students build their math background knowledge.

3) Public school enrollment losses are almost entirely in middle grades (5-8), where enrollment is down 8%. The magnitude of middle grade losses accounts for all of the total enrollment declines. Elementary grades have more than fully recovered and high school grades have been fairly stable.

Our 3 main findings: 1) 5 years post-pandemic, there has been a substantial shift away from public schools. - Relative to pre-pandemic trends, fall 2024 enrollment was down 2% in MA local public schools. - Conversely, private school enrollment was up 14% and home school enrollment was up 45%.

NEW from me: Over the last decade, evidence-based phonics instruction for young children learning to read has become universal in England. But in the rest of the English-speaking world, it's been a much rockier road. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

👉Why phonics hasn't won the reading wars - yet While phonics is universal in England, it is far from it in other English-speaking countries like the US and Australia. In New Zealand, there are fears it may be too dominant. Great piece from @hollykorbey.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Has phonics really won the so-called 'reading wars'? Phonics teaching is universal in England, but as @hollykorbey.bsky.social‬ finds, few other countries have followed suit… Read her full investigation here ⬇️

New from Gallup. 6 in 10 think math needs to be a higher priority. Interesting timing considering the legislation of reading instruction. www.gallup.com/analytics/65...

This is so important to me as an educator and as a parent. 👇🏼Books are so essential to English instruction it almost feels not worth saying. EXCEPT, as this interview shows, that may not be the case!

The Hunger Games + Night + movie clips as junior year curriculum? Eek. I agree with Marnie Ginsberg about all of this: A wise comment on my conversation with @hollykorbey.bsky.social : hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

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There's been lots of media attention on how many college students can't get thru a book—but students aren't getting much practice reading books before they get to college. A new survey finds top elementary English programs feature few—or no—books. hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

News at The Bell Ringer today: Students read few—or no—books in top ELA programs, survey finds. “If we look at the Wonders curriculum...grades three through five, it has no whole books...zero actual books,” says @karenvaites.bsky.social. hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

An enterprising researcher should think about how to document the prevalence and impact of K-12 curricula that do not feature the reading of whole books. My 9th grader's ELA class read only two entire books this year: "Lord of the Flies" and "Romeo and Juliet" (not really a book).

There's been lots of media attention on how many college students can't get thru a book—but students aren't getting much practice reading books before they get to college. A new survey finds top elementary English programs feature few—or no—books. hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

News at The Bell Ringer today: Students read few—or no—books in top ELA programs, survey finds. “If we look at the Wonders curriculum...grades three through five, it has no whole books...zero actual books,” says @karenvaites.bsky.social. hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

Coming Friday: Educators and experts say students are reading fewer books in English class—that the entire priority of English class has changed. What’s behind the shift? Subscribe to The Bell Ringer and find out which ELA curricula make reading whole books a priority.

Wow.. over 10,000 educators registered for this now. Going live at 4pm GMT info.mheducation.com/science-lear...

Can we declare victory for the Math Wars? A new paper argues that it's not memorization *or* thinking strategies: it's both—but dosage matters, and order matters. And timed practice really matters. Read more at The Bell Ringer! hollykorbey.substack.com/p/the-end-of...

“Right now, there are no education goals for the country,” said Arne Duncan... “There are no metrics to measure goals, there are no strategies to achieve those goals and there is no public transparency.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/u...

The Bell Ringer is launching a book club, and I'd love for you to join us! The first book, Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking, comes from experts like Dylan Wiliam and Paul Kirschner and is free to download. We start June 2! Get info here: hollykorbey.substack.com/p/join-the-b...

From this special report at The Bell Ringer, on how teacher prep programs don't provide future teachers with enough math content knowledge: hollykorbey.substack.com/p/special-re...