-
1 week ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
President Donald Trump’s early months in office have featured an unprecedented burst of executive activity. Amid all the directives, cuts, and pyrotechnics, it’s been tough to make sense of what it all means. Well, I recently offered my two cents. But I was curious to get a second opinion from a veteran insider.
-
2 weeks ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
President Donald Trump’s second first 100 days have already felt like being trapped inside a Russian novel—and we’re barely underway. Here’s my take on what we’ve seen in K-12. Be forewarned, you’ll need to look elsewhere for a blistering denunciation or an exercise in cheerleading. That’s because I’m feeling pretty conflicted. On the one hand, I support Team Trump’s priorities and vision.
-
3 weeks ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
There’s a familiar divide between practice and policy. When it comes to grading, devices, equity, choice, student behavior, and much else, the views from inside and outside the schoolhouse are very different. That’s a big part of why educators and policy types tend to talk past one another. To delve into this disconnect, I reached out to Alex Baron, the director of academic strategy at a District of Columbia charter school, an Oxford Ph.D., and a former early-childhood and high school math teacher.
-
4 weeks ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
In “Straight Talk with Rick and Jal,” Harvard University’s Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what’s being proposed and what it means for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we’ll try to be candid and ensure that you don’t need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us.
-
1 month ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
Teach For America is one of the most influential educational organizations of the past few decades. Starting 35 years ago as an undergraduate thesis, TFA’s aim was to bring high-performing college graduates to teach in high-need schools and create a generation of leaders. Since then, it has grown into a national enterprise with a vast web of alumni in educational leadership roles.
-
1 month ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress results had a lot of bad news, but there were some scattered bright spots. Louisiana was one of them. In fact, the Pelican State was the only state in the nation that outperformed its pre-pandemic 4th grade reading scores on the 2024 NAEP. Over the past two testing cycles, Louisiana led the nation in reading growth and is in the top five for gains in math.
-
1 month ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
Education policy can feel far removed from the real work of schooling. Why is that? What can we do about it? These are crucial questions, never more so than in 2025, and I can’t think of anyone better to help tackle them than Andy Rotherham, the author of the Eduwonk blog, co-founder of Bellwether, member of Virginia’s board of education, and former special assistant for education to President Bill Clinton at the White House.
-
1 month ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
This summer, in a hotly watched Oklahoma case, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on whether states can ban faith-based charter schools or whether such restrictions violate the First Amendment’s right to the free exercise of religion. The outcome of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond has big implications for charter schooling, of course, but some observers have argued it could also have wider implications for public education.
-
1 month ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has loomed large. Educators are seeking strategies and partners who can help tackle it. Well, getting kids back to school is one place where it’s long struck me that professional sports franchises could make a big difference. After all, professional athletes live daily with a show-up-early, work-hard routine.
-
2 months ago | 
edweek.org | Rick Hess |Frederick M. Hess
For the past 15 years, I’ve done my annual ranking of Edu-Scholars. The point is to spotlight the scholars who are influencing policy and practice, in ways good and bad. Well, consultants Tom Coyne and Susan Miller recently wrote me to argue that the Edu-Scholar metrics overlook the ways in which scholars impact schools through partnerships and consulting arrangements.
