The end of affirmative action helped mostly white women, not white men: "Among 71 private, highly selective colleges, only 72 more white male students enrolled in 2024 than in the previous fall. (White women increased by 479 students at those colleges.)" hechingerreport.org/after-affirm...

I don’t represent an education reform organization, but I would sign this letter penned by @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

A way forward on ICE for ed reformers, with perspectives from @deniseforte.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social @karenvaites.bsky.social & @radiokeri.bsky.social. A narrow focus on reinstating schools as safe zones can attract broad support. Demanding everyone join the ICE #resistance will not.

At minimum I'd like to see reformers acknowledge that ICE is compromising schools' ability to operate in accordance with Plyler v. Doe. It would also be great to see attention to the evidence on this issue www.nber.org/papers/w34452

Anyone who believes in the rule of law should oppose stopping people based on their assumed race/ethnicity, attempting to change established asylum law by force rather than through legislation, targeting children, and creating an environment of state terror.

Should education reformers join the resistance against ICE? schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/should-edu...

I'm with the teachers unions on this one, which is not something I say often. Schools are for learning, not immigration enforcement.

Minnesota teachers sue to keep ICE off school property Two school districts and a teachers union allege that the immigration crackdown has spilled onto campuses and interrupted the functioning of schools across the state. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

All of this via Boston College's John Reyes via @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social: "More expansive approaches to parental choice that de-prioritize serving populations most in need...in favor of universal access is hard to square with the Church’s teaching on the preferential option for the poor."

This is a @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social appreciation post. Everyone should read his newsletter today, which dissects what's going on with private vs. charter choice w great clarity.

For National School Choice Week, supporters keep moving the goal posts Their latest demand: Funding parity for private schools, even though they exclude all manner of kids and aren't held accountable for results. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/for-nation...

Should tutoring play a big role in America’s schools going forward? That's the question we've been debating over at SCHOOLED for the past two weeks, with @lizcohen12.bsky.social @kevinhuffman.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @cedr.bsky.social and many more.

Here's hoping that more Democrats--and more presidential aspirants--embrace education reform like Rahm has. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

“It is a very strange phenomenon, but the fact that you have states left, right and center adopting mandates that children learn cursive is not something I could have predicted,” Mr. Polikoff added. “Who hand-writes hardly anything?” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/n...

How Do Charter Schools Serve Students with Disabilities? Lessons from Michigan reachcentered.org/publications...

As reporters get ready to publish their "Trump year one" stories, I hope someone can nail down what has and hasn't changed in the real world. Including: Did they really end up cutting many grants? Contracts? Including from IES? All the money went out the door, so where did it go?

Liz Cohen and Kevin Huffman make the case for tutoring schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/liz-cohen-... @lizcohen12.bsky.social @kevinhuffman.bsky.social @marcportermagee.bsky.social @alexanderrusso.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com

Do Universal SEL Programs Raise Test Scores? www.educationnext.org/do-universal... Maybe not super clear.

The Education Exchange: Teacher Salaries Cut, Even When Public Districts Have More Money www.educationnext.org/the-educatio... It seems like maybe a strategic political - and quite possibly substantive - error for the left to keep ceding ground on teacher salaries to the right.

Love this review of @aefpweb.bsky.social's Live Handbook (@aefplivehandbook.bsky.social), a terrific resource for those wanting a quick take on many ed policy/practice topics, the connections between them, & where you can go to get more info: livehandbook.org fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

Via @mattyglesias.bsky.social: Schools are getting worse in most red states The “Southern surge” is great, but it’s just four states. www.slowboring.com/p/schools-ar...

wait, so where did the idea that small-group tutoring failed and was a waste of money come from? or is it just that it fell short of the highest effect sizes from prior literature?

I mean these effects are not quite as big as we might have hoped but nothing to sneeze at.

I admittedly have not dug into the research super closely or read Liz's book yet (though I plan to). But I don't look at this graph and think all the money on tutoring has been "wasted." I think we've run a bunch of underpowered studies but in aggregate they clearly lean positive.

So tutoring doesn’t necessarily require a huge influx of cash. Re: idea of grade retention, short-term test score gains might be offset by long-term losses, e.g. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

As you note, “tutoring” in-school is sometimes equivalent to “small group instruction.” It’s also basically “Response to Intervention” in some cases (side note: that’s not a criticism; people who call RTI tutoring are likely just trying to get $ for cash-strapped systems).

But also count me on team — lets make targeted investments in teacher compensation and provide educators with great support and instructional materials. 3/3

I think we got the order wrong in our understandable attempt to help as many kids as we could as fast as possible. We went for scale and are now trying to get to quality. We need to focus on quality & then scale horizontally (lots of small programs) instead of vertically (expanding program size) 2/3

Mike - I think you are asking the right questions. My take is while the post-pandemic tutoring evidence has been less positive than hoped, that is in part because our expectations were inflated and our evaluations were premature. These programs take time get right at scale. 1/3

Should tutoring play a big role in America’s schools going forward? I'm not so sure. What do you think? schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/should-tut...

Our experiment in answering the question "what if you made the single worst person the most powerful man on the planet?" is really not going well.

A new roundup from me: -Was the Mississippi miracle really debunked? -Can better schools help address affordability? -An update: Which party do voters trust on education -Higher-ed's "vibecession" continues cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/a-debunkin...?

The Middle Class Is Shrinking Because of a Booming Upper-Middle Class www.aei.org/research-pro...

Teacher human capital...more evidence that it really matters for long-run student outcomes: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

{new} The rate at which teachers leave the profession has been remarkably stable for the last 40 years. Read my latest for @educationnext.bsky.social --> www.educationnext.org/are-teachers...

I'd also add that I wish we saw more federal leadership on education, at least bully pulpit work drawing attention to the fact that we need to do better for the nation's students.

I do feel like we've turned a corner based on the reaction to stories like those about the UCSD report, but I'll believe that things have really changed when we see policy changes. Also, I'm sure my views are colored by living in WA state, which is very anti testing.

Episode 999 altert! I love the year end summaries, especially when it's about ed policy/research. And while I might change the emphases - a bit less optimistic - this one is great. 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Workers are feeling increasingly anxious about losing their jobs in a tough labor market...and those with higher education levels aren't exempt. The prospect of AI being used for job cuts is scaring people. www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

Smart, from Josh Barro, especially: "Many of the people who have pushed this anti-assessment agenda are the same people who lament declining political support for educational institutions and declining funding for their activities."

Four day school weeks are featured prominently in my upcoming book about bad ideas in education because they are one of the absolute worst ideas in education.

Of all the terrible ideas... Toledo Public Schools is considering a four-day week. This is a TERRIBLE move for rural schools, but at least you can understand the argument wrt long bus rides. But an urban district? Despicable! www.toledoblade.com/local/educat...

I enjoyed joining @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social to discuss the new mythologies of higher education. Net tuition is not soaring, the value of a degree is not plummeting and neither is four-year college enrollment. educationgadflyshow.substack.com/p/is-the-col...

My Fordham Institute colleagues David Griffith and Jill Hoppe on a recent study by Michael Hartney & @dmhouston.bsky.social Better Schools Start with Better School Board Elections www.the74million.org/article/bett... @the74.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social

@michaelpetrilli.bsky.social with a nice roundup of responses to that "debunking" of the Mississippi Miracle (which was pretty thin gruel, I agree). Really enjoying this newsletter - worth the (free) subscription. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/debunking-...

Wow, good for Governor Polis! Colorado governor plans to opt into Trump-endorsed initiative that some fear will lead to voucher program coloradosun.com/2025/12/05/c...

🔥🔥🔥

One of THE hardest conversations to have in progressive spaces is about supporting public ed and what that means. Part of that is accepting it's a conservative (small c) project and that means that sometimes, Conservatives (big C) are worth listening to and make good allies. Case in point.

What do knowledgeable GOP ed leaders think of Linda "A1" McMahon moving Ed programs to the Dept of Labor? "absurd on its face."

A smart conservative points out the obvious