Chad Aldeman

The State of Private School Choice Programs in America They're still small and largely unaccountable, but at least they're growing fast!

"Would you accept that deal? Public investment, lower math scores?" www.chadaldeman.com/p/the-state-...

Value-added models (VAMs), also referred to as growth models, are used in education research and policy to estimate the impacts of districts, schools, and teachers on student outcomes. Read Cory Koedel's chapter to learn more about this topic: livehandbook.org/k-12-educati...

Are Teachers Abandoning Teaching? On the contrary, data show teacher turnover remains consistently low

{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...

Is a Master’s in Education Really Worth It? Probably Not, Research Shows Aldeman: Educators take on huge debt to earn advanced degrees, and taxpayers foot the bill for higher pay. But an M.A. doesn't make teachers better.

I almost let this go without saying anything, but I can't. This issue of the non-value (to student test achievement) of the generic MA is such an old one (e.g.,
www.jstor.org/stable/20439...). Why aren't we learning from the evidence?

www.the74million.org/article/is-a...

In New Book, Researcher Calls Out Dumbed-Down Method of Teaching Reading Aldeman: In 'Leveled Reading: Leveled Lives,' Tim Shanahan argues that protecting students from difficult texts puts them on a treadmill with no exit.

{new} It makes sense that for kids to learn, they should be gradually eased into more challenging material.

But how gradual is too gradual?

A powerful new book argues that America’s classroom literacy practices are moving far too slowly -->
www.the74million.org/article/in-n...

College Prices Have Not Risen Dramatically in the Last Decade—But Will That Change? Higher education is facing a crisis of confidence among the general public, and much of that is driven by concerns regarding affordability. For example, about 80 percent of Democrats and Republican…

I was sufficiently annoyed with a piece claiming that inflation-adjusted college costs have doubled over the last 20 years that I wrote a response. There really haven't been increases over the last decade, but I fear that promising trend may be changing.

YouTube video by The 74 These Schools Are Beating the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read

Watch: These schools are beating the odds in teaching kids to read @chadaldeman.bsky.social www.youtube.com/shorts/8hec1...

Nation’s Parents Release Annual Ranking Of Top 50 ‘Perfectly Good’ State Schools The list includes dozens of totally fine schools where students can learn all the same things they’d learn at one of those expensive colleges on the East Coast.

When satire is actually pretty good advice. theonion.com/nation-s-par...

I'm on the job market!

My JMP studies the role of high school teachers in preparing students for college success

I find significant positive effects of high school teachers on
🔹College admissions test scores
🔹College enrollment
🔹College performance

🧵(1/10)

The American penny died on Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was 232. The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said. Nothing could be bought any more with a penny, not even penny candy. Moreover, the cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin. The final pennies were minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded. In its heyday, the penny had immense cultural impact. It was the going rate for thoughts. It was a symbol of frugality, saved and/or earned. It could sometimes be pretty and other times arrive from heaven. And how many ideas would never have come to light without a penny dropping?

I love this lede from NYT's Victor Mather on the death of the penny

These Schools Are Beating the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read New analysis compares literacy vs. poverty rates for 10,000 districts, 42,000 schools and 3 million kids. Is your school a Bright Spot?

Interactive —10,000 districts, 3 million kids: These schools are beating the odds in teaching kids to read @chadaldeman.bsky.social www.the74million.org/article/thes...

These Schools Are Beating the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read New analysis compares literacy vs. poverty rates for 10,000 districts, 42,000 schools and 3 million kids. Is your school a Bright Spot?

{new} Which schools do a good job teaching kids to read?

In a new project @the74.bsky.social, we set out to find schools where third-grade reading scores are much higher than might be expected, based on the schools’ poverty rates alone -->

www.the74million.org/article/thes...

What if every student had an IEP? Students with disabilities should not be the only children who benefit from a federal guarantee of an adequate education, two researchers argue in a new report.

"Imagine two elementary students: One struggles to read because she has dyslexia. The other struggles to read because she received poor reading instruction.

The first student is entitled to specialized instruction ... The second student is entitled to nothing." www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/28/a...

Thank Goodness for Mississippi (and Louisiana) States like New Jersey can copy their playbook for educational improvements

"I want to double back on Sherrill’s casual slams on MS & LA. Do they have some of the “worst schools” in the nation, as Sherrill claimed? And by implication, is NJ doing better than these states? The answer to both...is no." via @chadaldeman.bsky.social www.chadaldeman.com/p/thank-good...

The dangerous war on Tylenol Autism diagnoses have increased because diagnostic practices changed.

The dangerous war on Tylenol (and what's really causing the rise in Autism) open.substack.com/pub/matthewy...

Just in case you need another reason to read Squawk of Spanish, it’s not only #HispanicHeritageMonth but also #NationalPetBirdDay 🦜

Complement the book with fun mazes, word searches, and crafts. Check out the activity kit here:

static1.squarespace.com/static/5d0e4...

Student Achievement Is Down Overall — But Kids at the Bottom Are Sinking Faster Aldeman: It's not about race, income or parents' education. But across tests, grades and subjects, gap between higher and lower performers is growing

“over the last decade, [achievement] declines have not been about specific student groups. Instead, the story is largely about a growing divergence between higher- and lower-performing kids”

Read my latest piece @the74.bsky.social --> www.the74million.org/article/stud...

Student Achievement Is Down Overall — But Kids at the Bottom Are Sinking Faster Aldeman: It's not about race, income or parents' education. But across tests, grades and subjects, gap between higher and lower performers is growing

Analysis: Student achievement is down overall, but kids at the bottom are sinking faster.

Read more here from @chadaldeman.bsky.social:

The responses here are a nice balm today

Perceived Importance of College Hits New Low The percentage of Americans who consider a college education "very important" has slipped below the majority level.

Actual importance of college is probably about as high as ever. // Perceived Importance of College Hits New Low news.gallup.com/poll/695003/...

#BookFestival time is here!

Meet me at the #BaltimoreBookFestival in September
And at the #CrozetBookFest this October.

See here for more: www.writebetween.com/events

@freespiritbooks.bsky.social
@charlesbridge.bsky.social

Building a new education research agenda | EduProgress On Wednesday, August 27th, I’m going to be moderating a panel for The Collaborative for Student Success on, “Filling the Void: Setting the Academic Research Agenda for Education.”

{new} Join us TOMORROW for a webinar on the education research we need for the future: eduprogress.org/building-a-n...

Reading the Project 2025 doc for the first time. I know irony is dead, but in the education section writing "Stopping executive overreach. Congress should set policy—not Presidents through pen-and-phone executive orders, and not agencies through regulations and guidance." is...

(NBC News) - President Donald Trump's pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics was among the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the White House saying he was a "bystander" who wandered over after seeing coverage on the news.

@ryanjreilly.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

The Gender Gap in Math Starts Early - We're All Solvers Gender gaps in math start have been growing in recent years. A recent report from NWEA found that, from 2021 to 2024, boys have steadily pulled away from girls in both math and science. Importantly, t...

{new} Want to see more girls in STEM fields? In my latest piece @studentsuccess.bsky.social, I look at a large study in France which found that math gender gaps start early: weareallsolvers.org/the-gender-g...

Texas Pays Its Best Educators up to $32,000 to Keep Them in the Classroom Aldeman: Incentive program rewards schools and teachers for educational quality with real cash payments. Your state should, too.

{new} Great teachers matter.

We all know this, but Texas is actually acting on it: www.the74million.org/article/texa...

This is an incredible story.

Here’s why the budget deficit for Chicago Public Schools just went up by $205 million Macquline King, the interim CEO of CPS, said the budget gap for the district has risen to $734 million due to costs related to pensions and charter schools. District labor leaders and school board mem...

Chicago Public Schools budget deficit rises to nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars: www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025...

Preferences, Selection, and the Structure of Teacher Pay (July 2025) - I examine teacher preferences using a discrete-choice experiment linked to data on teacher effectiveness. I estimate willingness to pay for a rich set of compensation elements and workin...

Preferences, Selection, and the Structure of Teacher Pay www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

"for three key objectives: maximizing teacher utility, maximizing teacher retention, and maximizing student achievement...schools underutilize salary and performance pay while overutilizing retirement benefits"