Featuring @chadaldeman.bsky.social @natwexler.bsky.social @carlhendrick.substack.com @dtwuva.bsky.social @gtoppo.bsky.social @dkthomp.bsky.social @weisenthal.bsky.social @hollykorbey.bsky.social @alexanderrusso.bsky.social ++

Karen Vaites@karenvaites.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I wrote this list from memory, in 10 minutes. Which was easier than it sounds. I’ve shared each piece multiple times, with friends, journalists, & social airwaves, BC each serves as an excellent “explainer” for an important topic in K-12. www.karenvaites.org/p/the-articl...

Holy moley, this disconnect. From @hollykorbey.bsky.social latest: open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

The most mind-blowing thing I read this week was this by @hollykorbey.bsky.social on the "phonics wars" in the USA. UK readers may well be aware that the USA has only relatively recently got on board with phonics following the "Sold a Story" podcast but.... substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The phonics wars

Two approaches to early reading, the science of learning and what happens next

substack.com

In her recent piece @hollykorbey.bsky.social profiles edu leaders across Maryland who are leading a movement to align teaching with the #ScienceOfLearning—featuring DFI partners Laurie Henry @salisburyuniv.bsky.social, FCPS Maryland & @hoodcollege.bsky.social hollykorbey.substack.com/p/marylands-...

Maryland’s big bet on the science of learning

They’re training all k-12 teachers in how the brain learns

hollykorbey.substack.com

Maryland’s Big Bet on the Science of Learning Sounds like Maryland is doing something right! 👍👍 #edusky @hollykorbey.bsky.social

This by @hollykorbey.bsky.social is going to a useful resource for the US. I am glad that UK education reporting tends to get more into the issues. open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

Thanks to @hollykorbey.bsky.social for covering Ben Solomon's petition to retract the NY Math briefs, which he describes as pseudoscience. Check out her newsletter here: hollykorbey.substack.com/p/when-the-m...

When the math wars win, kids lose

A new report + a new petition call for schools to stop quibbling and use the 'science of math'

hollykorbey.substack.com

“We cannot have a perfect inclusion system - inclusion is a process” This is one of those rare 'must read' articles on the topic of inclusion by @hollykorbey.bsky.social. It explores the realities of the SEND system in the UK & the US. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Is England on the right path for inclusion?

In both England and the US, SEND provision suffers from poor funding, a lack of trained professionals and system overwhelm. But their responses to these challenges have been very different, with the U...

tes.com

The US and UK are both in a spiral of increasing SEND requirements but are taking different paths in response - what can each show the other about the best way forward for pupils and staff? Fascinating deep dive from @hollykorbey.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Is England on the right path for inclusion?

In both England and the US, SEND provision suffers from poor funding, a lack of trained professionals and system overwhelm. But their responses to these challenges have been very different, with the U...

tes.com

I find it somewhere between unbelievable and disheartening that people without empirical research credentials propose a new, untested, unresearched theory of learning; a new cognitive philosophy (!!) of learning. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... predictablycorrect.substack.com/p/beyond-loa...

Beyond the theoretical and pedagogical constraints of cognitive load theory, and towards a new cognitive philosophy in education

Cognitive load theory (CLT), a construct of instructional psychologist John Sweller, has long been a mainstay of educational psychology and university educational technology courses, regionally and...

tandfonline.com

I just spoke with Ivana Greco about the supply side part of this issue. @hollykorbey.bsky.social and I discussed it on the Bell Ringer podcast. I’m gonna spend this school year talking about this one on repeat.

I was honored to be on The Pulse to explain the science of learning and why understanding how we learn matters so much more to transforming education than AI and the internet. Get a primer on the research and why it matters in this episode 👇

The Pulse@thepulse.whyy.org · last yr.

It's back-to-school time. Students, teachers, and parents are facing numerous challenges — from using AI in the classroom to reckoning with the long shadow of the pandemic. On this episode, we explore how our rapidly changing world is transforming school. 🔗 bit.ly/4lLyHGH

@sbook.bsky.social Hi Susan, I'm a reporter working on a story about special education inclusion, I can tell you more, would you be interested in talking to me? You can reach me at holly@hollykorbey.com. Thanks!

Help a reporter: I'm looking for experts on special education inclusion, who should I be talking to? For a story.

US ignores home-grown education ideas that are accelerating progress overseas. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

The U.S. ignores home-grown ed ideas that are accelerating progress overseas

One could argue that the University of Virginia cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham is one of the most influential Americans of the 21st century. Willingham has observed that we have learned more...

fordhaminstitute.org

Education professors scored no better than physics or business faculty on basic learning science, raising serious questions about teacher preparation programmes. researchandeducation.ro/2025/06/30/d...

"AI is not that novel. It is not that potentially revolutionary. It is in a long continuum of technologies that promise to transform education, starting with the TV, the typewriter, VCRs, tablets [and] Chromebooks." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

Opinion | A.I. Is Fueling a ‘Poverty of Imagination.’ Here’s How We Can Fix It.

nytimes.com

Teachers, school leaders, students and parents have a lot of problems with the digital math practice platforms that have become ubiquitous in classrooms, even though research shows they "work." So what do we mean by "work"? In education, it's complicated. www.educationnext.org/practice-pro...

The Practice Problem

Research shows that students benefit from digital math practice platforms. So why don’t more students use them?

educationnext.org

In year after year of reform efforts, teachers had been told to “do explicit instruction,” with no roadmap on how to do it, or how to do it well. @gtavernetti.bsky.social and @hollykorbey.bsky.social discuss. open.substack.com/pub/hollykor...

4 ways to do explicit instruction right

What does an explicit instruction lesson look like in real life?

open.substack.com

Many teachers don’t know how to translate the concepts around explicit instruction into practice. It doesn’t help that most think explicit instruction simply equals “lecture.” This is why I am a curriculum person. Curriculum offers exemplars. A roadmap. The HOW.

NEW from me: Research on digital math practice platforms like i-Ready, IXL, Zearn and others show that students who use them in the way recommended really benefit. So why do the vast majority of students *not* use them in the recommended way? You might be surprised at the multitude of answers:

The Practice Problem

Research shows that students benefit from digital math practice platforms. So why don’t more students use them?

educationnext.org

It's not only the science of reading—there's a science to how learning happens, and teachers, parents and the public deserve to know. Learn more at The Bell Ringer—reporting, resources and tools all about the science of learning. hollykorbey.substack.com

It's not only the science of reading—there's a science to how learning happens, and teachers, parents and the public deserve to know. Learn more at The Bell Ringer—reporting, resources and tools all about the science of learning. hollykorbey.substack.com

The Science of Learning movement is about the science conducted on teaching and learning. Imagine if doctors wanted to become a research-based field of expertise, and the public fiercely resisted, saying that doctors who follow the science on how best to treat sickness must be captured.

“That is one of the hallmarks, typically, of professions: There’s an agreed-upon body of knowledge that constitutes the things that professionals need to know in order to be practitioners in that space. And education, at least in the United States, has never really done that.”

‘Cognitive Science,’ All the Rage in British Schools, Fails to Register in U.S.

Educators blame this ‘reverse Beatles effect’ on America’s decentralized system and grad schools that are often hostile to research.

the74million.org

My newsletter from last week, an interview with @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social on the importance of math knowledge and how teachers can build it with students, is republished today at the Fordham Institute blog. You can read it here: fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

Math needs knowledge building, too

Over the last few years, schools and teachers have begun to realize the importance of building students’ background knowledge when it comes to new learning.

fordhaminstitute.org

From @nctq.bsky.social pres. Heather Peske: “Holly's right! Telling teachers to ‘value the community’ and other such platitudes won't improve math outcomes, but providing a solid understanding of core math content along with concrete guidance on how to teach math will.” substack.com/home/post/p-...

NCTM position paper ignores reality of math teaching challenges

Suggestions on how to ‘change the culture of math teaching’ aren’t supported by evidence

substack.com

We know there's a knowledge-building movement for reading, should there be one for math? @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social says yes. Explicitly teaching the hundreds of math vocabulary terms students need to know, for example, helps students build their math background knowledge.

Math needs knowledge building, too

An interview with Sarah Powell on the role of knowledge in math success

hollykorbey.substack.com

3) Public school enrollment losses are almost entirely in middle grades (5-8), where enrollment is down 8%. The magnitude of middle grade losses accounts for all of the total enrollment declines. Elementary grades have more than fully recovered and high school grades have been fairly stable.