I am always surprised when I comb through my page views at the end of each year. What struck a chord with readers in 2024 were stories about teacher pay, reading instruction and artificial intelligence. (Though they didn’t rise to the threshold of my 10 most read stories, I would also recommend these three stories about troubles with tutoring, something called subitizing and the puzzle of chronic absenteeism.)
Thank you to everyone who read and commented about my weekly stories about education data and research. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you next year. If you would like to receive my newsletter by email and be notified when the column comes out each week, please click here and fill out the form. I’ll be back again on Jan. 6, 2025. Happy New Year!
Here are my 10 most popular stories of 2024:
1. What one state learned after a decade of free community college
36 states have since followed Tennessee’s lead and offer some version of free tuition to residents
In this story, I tracked the startling rise of free community college across the country. More students are earning degrees, but it’s unclear if free tuition is the driving force. For the poorest Americans, community college was already free, through the federal Pell grant program.
2. Controversies within the science of reading
A growing number of researchers are criticizing an overemphasis on auditory skills
In this story about the over-teaching of phonemic awareness, I explained how companies encouraged schools to spend a lot of time on sound exercises when the research evidence in teaching reading said otherwise. This story was circulated widely among teachers and school leaders. Education researchers have told me that it has played a role in shifting beliefs and changing classroom practice.
3. When schools experimented with $10,000 pay hikes for teachers in hard-to-staff areas, the results were surprising
Special ed vacancies rose in Hawaii, while low-performing schools in Dallas experienced ups and downs
Two efforts show the limits of throwing money at teacher shortages.
4. Two studies find scattergrams reduce applications to elite colleges
A debate emerges among researchers, counselors and corporate vendors about the costs, benefits and unintended consequences of a popular data display
Two fascinating studies show how the information age changes our behavior for better and for worse. Low-achieving students aim higher while high-achieving students are discouraged from applying to the Ivy League.
5. Many high school math teachers cobble together their own instructional materials from the internet and elsewhere, a survey finds
Researchers say this DIY approach isn’t serving students well
This piece generated a lot of discussion online with many teachers explaining why they ignore the official curriculum and write their own lesson plans from scratch. My colleague Javeria Salman subsequently wrote a story about the debate.
6. A decade of data in one state shows an unexpected result when colleges drop remedial courses
Students earned more credits at first, but graduation rates didn’t increase at Tennessee’s community colleges
Reforming and eliminating remedial education has been one of the biggest policy changes at colleges around the country. An important study shows it isn’t helping students – especially the weakest students – over the long haul.
7. We have tried paying teachers based on how much students learn. Now schools are expanding that idea to contractors and vendors
Lessons from school districts that tied pandemic-era tutoring contracts to student achievement
Vendors stand to earn more when they tie their pay to how much students’ test scores rise. But it’s still not proof that their services or software are effective. Outcomes-based contracting was hotly debated at a session of the education investor conference, Holon IQ, in New York City.
8. Why an end-of-the alphabet last name could skew your grades
A study finds an unintended consequence of computerized grade books
Wilsons and Zieglers beware! I had fun writing about this tiny example of how technology affects education.
9. AI essay grading is already as ‘good as an overburdened’ teacher, but researchers say it needs more work
AI scoring could spur teachers to assign more writing although there are risks
Researchers pitted humans against AI on essay grading and the robot did OK. In a companion study on evaluating student essays, ChatGPT also produced impressive feedback, sometimes better than human writing instructors. In a separate essay grading study, it appeared that AI was consistently penalizing Asian American students. It’s still not known whether instant grades or feedback improves student writing.
10. Kids who use ChatGPT as a study assistant do worse on tests
Researchers compare math progress of almost 1,000 high school students
ChatGPT can be an unhelpful crutch. In an experiment, students who used ChatGPT to help solve practice problems ultimately did worse on a test of the topic. I was pleased to see this cautionary tale republished in hundreds of newspapers around the country, from the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming to the Florence Morning News in South Carolina.
Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595 or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This story about education research was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up forProof Points and other Hechinger newsletters.
