Matt Barnum
@mattbarnum.bsky.social
New: Pandemic-era school closures still occupy a significant part of the American political discourse, but do they still matter for student test scores?
Answer: yes, but only a bit.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...
Answer: yes, but only a bit.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...
November 14, 2025 at 2:53 PM
New: Pandemic-era school closures still occupy a significant part of the American political discourse, but do they still matter for student test scores?
Answer: yes, but only a bit.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...
Answer: yes, but only a bit.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...
Meanwhile, preliminary new data suggests another uptick in college enrollment this year. nscresearchcenter.org/enrollment-i...
November 13, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Meanwhile, preliminary new data suggests another uptick in college enrollment this year. nscresearchcenter.org/enrollment-i...
Technologists have long chased the dream that technology-powered tutoring can improve student learning by two standard deviations, a massive effect. OpenAI is the latest.
The problem: Effects of this size are virtually never seen even by human tutors.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
The problem: Effects of this size are virtually never seen even by human tutors.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
November 5, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Technologists have long chased the dream that technology-powered tutoring can improve student learning by two standard deviations, a massive effect. OpenAI is the latest.
The problem: Effects of this size are virtually never seen even by human tutors.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
The problem: Effects of this size are virtually never seen even by human tutors.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
also a good point. these trends are very striking. Seems likely that deseg contributed, though don't think we know the precise causes
October 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
also a good point. these trends are very striking. Seems likely that deseg contributed, though don't think we know the precise causes
yeah I couldn't immediately find a race breakdown for the most recent data, rendered the same way, though I imagine it's out there. Here's data with Black students running through the '70s cohorts.
October 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
yeah I couldn't immediately find a race breakdown for the most recent data, rendered the same way, though I imagine it's out there. Here's data with Black students running through the '70s cohorts.
on a different point, I'm not sure I would say the attainment gains during the ed reform era were terribly "remarkable." here they are in context! lkatz.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...
October 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
on a different point, I'm not sure I would say the attainment gains during the ed reform era were terribly "remarkable." here they are in context! lkatz.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...
New: The Trump administration is now targeting race-neutral efforts to achieve racial diversity. This marks a striking shift from what some opponents of affirmative action had previously argued. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
August 25, 2025 at 12:51 PM
New: The Trump administration is now targeting race-neutral efforts to achieve racial diversity. This marks a striking shift from what some opponents of affirmative action had previously argued. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Here's how one student used AI to pass their classes:
March 17, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Here's how one student used AI to pass their classes:
New: After pandemic-era declines, there's been little progress on national tests since—in fact reading scores have fallen even further.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
January 29, 2025 at 12:07 PM
New: After pandemic-era declines, there's been little progress on national tests since—in fact reading scores have fallen even further.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Many ed-tech companies say their products lead to remarkable gains in student learning, citing internal analyses. But as we show in our recent piece—examining the popular digital learning platform IXL—there is often more than meets the eye to these claims.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
January 27, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Many ed-tech companies say their products lead to remarkable gains in student learning, citing internal analyses. But as we show in our recent piece—examining the popular digital learning platform IXL—there is often more than meets the eye to these claims.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
New from me: Why there are so few male teachers in U.S. public schools—and why have their ranks been declining in recent decades?
One theory: the teacher pay "penalty" is worse for men than for women.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
One theory: the teacher pay "penalty" is worse for men than for women.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
January 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
New from me: Why there are so few male teachers in U.S. public schools—and why have their ranks been declining in recent decades?
One theory: the teacher pay "penalty" is worse for men than for women.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
One theory: the teacher pay "penalty" is worse for men than for women.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
NEW: Girls have consistently lost more academic ground than boys since the pandemic. This is clear across a wide range of tests, but has gotten little attention to date. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
January 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
NEW: Girls have consistently lost more academic ground than boys since the pandemic. This is clear across a wide range of tests, but has gotten little attention to date. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
So the new PIACC data shows that older adults—who of course weren't in school during the pandemic—have also experienced steep "learning loss." Not quite sure what to make of that! nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaa...
December 10, 2024 at 3:50 PM
So the new PIACC data shows that older adults—who of course weren't in school during the pandemic—have also experienced steep "learning loss." Not quite sure what to make of that! nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaa...
New: U.S. scores fall sharply on international 4th and 8th grade math tests.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
December 4, 2024 at 3:03 PM
New: U.S. scores fall sharply on international 4th and 8th grade math tests.
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
This is very similar to what I found in reviewing data from ten other states. wsj.com/us-news/educ...
March 27, 2024 at 1:51 PM
This is very similar to what I found in reviewing data from ten other states. wsj.com/us-news/educ...
New teacher attrition data from Texas: teacher exits are down from last year but still substantially higher than any year on record pre-pandemic. tea.texas.gov/reports-and-...
March 27, 2024 at 1:50 PM
New teacher attrition data from Texas: teacher exits are down from last year but still substantially higher than any year on record pre-pandemic. tea.texas.gov/reports-and-...
Teacher salary lags significantly behind that of most other professionals. Schools—public and private, alike—have prioritized hiring more staff rather than raising teacher pay. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
March 26, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Teacher salary lags significantly behind that of most other professionals. Schools—public and private, alike—have prioritized hiring more staff rather than raising teacher pay. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
New from me: Why teacher salaries have been flat for three decades. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
March 25, 2024 at 1:30 PM
New from me: Why teacher salaries have been flat for three decades. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
New: Teacher turnover remains significantly elevated in many places, although it's dipped from its peak in 2022, according to data from ten states I compiled
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
March 4, 2024 at 1:29 PM
New: Teacher turnover remains significantly elevated in many places, although it's dipped from its peak in 2022, according to data from ten states I compiled
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
New: Teachers, teenagers, and parents have significantly overlapping views on how schools should — or should not — teach about controversial topics. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
February 22, 2024 at 8:46 PM
New: Teachers, teenagers, and parents have significantly overlapping views on how schools should — or should not — teach about controversial topics. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Learning loss in historical context.
February 1, 2024 at 8:15 PM
Learning loss in historical context.
Two things are true: There were unusually large test score gains between '22 and '23 (relative to historical test score trends), but they were not nearly sufficient to close pandemic-era learning loss. educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/u...
February 1, 2024 at 8:14 PM
Two things are true: There were unusually large test score gains between '22 and '23 (relative to historical test score trends), but they were not nearly sufficient to close pandemic-era learning loss. educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/u...
Dennis Prager of PragerU suggests bringing education back to the 1930s — but "minus the bad things."
www.nbcnews.com/news/educati...
www.nbcnews.com/news/educati...
January 16, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Dennis Prager of PragerU suggests bringing education back to the 1930s — but "minus the bad things."
www.nbcnews.com/news/educati...
www.nbcnews.com/news/educati...