Matt Barnum
National Reporter
Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s National Reporter, covering education policy and research. Previously he was a staff writer at The 74, the policy director for Educators for Excellence – New York, and a middle school language arts teacher in Colorado.
Experts aren’t sure why recovery has been more consistent in math.
Here’s what we know: high-poverty schools face a bigger cliff, that more federal money won’t be forthcoming, and that school budgets will be shaped both by districts’ own financial decisions and those made by state politicians.
Her book discusses the racial history of school vouchers, the more progressive arguments for school choice, the rise of charter schools, and choice advocates’ recent focus on culture war issues.
The loss of extra programming — like after-school tutoring, smaller class sizes, additional staff — could make learning loss recovery even more challenging.
This suggests that critiques of American education are making inroads with the public, but don’t appear to reflect most parents’ own experiences.
Is school integration a path to racial equality? Journalist Laura Meckler on her new book Dream Town
Meckler describes the lessons from Shaker Heights, Ohio, which has maintained racially integrated schools for decades.
The new civil rights guidance suggests practices related to curriculum and support for certain groups are permissible, but race-exclusive groups may not be.
Good reading requires more than phonics. It also requires comprehension skills, including background knowledge — an issue that has gotten relatively little attention.
Under the class size law, new resources could be funneled to some of the city’s better-off schools.
A new study provides evidence that a key learning loss recovery strategy is paying off — but also shows that summer school on its own won’t catch students up.
Jackson has produced influential studies on school finance and teacher quality. His pick might signal a growing interest from the White House on K-12 education issues.
Offering free school meals for all students succeeds in increasing take-up of breakfast and lunch at school. Evidence of its impact on academic improvement is more mixed, but suggests some benefits.
Researchers say that’s because the program is complex and hard to access.
The idea has divided the charter movement and will likely face a lengthy legal battle that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Frustration with public schools seems to be coming more from non-parents than parents, surveys show.
Mississippi’s improvements seem to be legitimate, but some of them can’t be explained as easily as some are suggesting.
The deep proposed cuts are a sign of conservatives’ growing critique of public schools, rooted in cultural issues and the pandemic.
It’s a concerning indication that the steep learning losses seen since the pandemic have proven difficult to ameliorate and could have lasting consequences.
The research suggests that charter schools have a test-score edge over district schools. However, the magnitude of this advantage is small.
Politicians might consider raising teacher pay, providing more help to new teachers, and supporting all teachers in managing student behavior.
Teacher turnover is up. Morale is down. Fewer people want to become teachers. High-poverty schools face persistent challenges keeping teachers.
This leaves big legal questions about religious charter schools and constitutional protections unanswered. But the issues could end up back at the Supreme Court.
It’s just more evidence that the pandemic and school closures exacted a steep toll on student learning.
Decades of research don’t provide clear conclusions on the long-standing retention vs. social promotion debate. Here’s what we know and don’t know.
The vote could spark a legal battle over religious charters that might reach the U.S. Supreme Court. It could also lead to a moment of reckoning for the charter movement.
Do vouchers raise test scores or lower them? Do they damage public schools or push them to improve? Here’s your cheat sheet to the big questions about school vouchers.
Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, has spent four decades arguing that more money won’t help schools.
More teachers than usual left the classroom after last school year, confirming fears of a pandemic-fueled wave of departures.
50 years ago, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision was shaped by the racist idea that poor children can’t learn.
State test score results show uneven evidence of correlation with learning and in-person instruction.