Reforming K-12 Education

Conventional wisdom downplays student progress and laments increasing achievement gaps between the have and have-nots. But as of 2017, steady growth was evident in reading and especially in math. While the seismic disruptions to young people’s development and education due to the Covid-19 pandemic have placed schools and communities in distress, the successes of the past may give educators confidence that today’s challenges can be overcome.

- Senior Fellow Paul E. Peterson writing with M. Danish Shakeel in Education Next, Summer 2022

The preparation of those young people for citizenship is the ultimate reason we send them to school in the first place. It’s not just to teach them the Three R’s, important as that is, or to expose them to chemistry or poetry or computer programming. We educate kids in many ways and for many reasons. But none matters more in the long run that their readiness to participate in sustaining the vitality and integrity of our democratic republic.

- Senior Fellow Chester E. Finn, Jr. in Flypaper, a publication of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, September 1, 2022

Vibrant, high-quality instructional materials can promote active student engagement, as can dropping the boundaries between schools and their communities. Coupling academic learning and exposure to people working on real-world problems can deepen student thinking and open possibilities for further learning.

- Distinguished Research Fellow Margaret (Macke) Raymond in How to Improve Our Schools in the Post-COVID Era, a volume of the Hoover Education Success Initiative, May 2021