Paul DiPerna

Last month I had the opportunity to present a new paper at the PEPG conference "School Choice: Tradeoffs and Evidence-Based Policy Making" — analyzing more than a decade of public opinion data on ESAs, school vouchers, and charter schools. I also focus on subgroup trends and question framing/wording effects in our monthly and annual national surveys. Thanks to @Paul_E_Peterson, @MichaelTHartney, and the @edchoice team for their support throughout. @EducationNext @TaubmanCenter It was great learning from a lot of the other presenters and speakers. I definitely enjoyed it.

March Madness in 1954!

In our first @AdvocacyLabs report, I highlighted Chavez as a cautionary tale. Even then, just below the surface was story after story of very bizarre behavior.

The Washington Star is back in the news ... with speculation that @NOTUSreports might call its new DC-based publication that very name. What did the beloved Washington Star print edition & newsroom & computers & even cigarettes look like? Take a look -- from October 27, 1980 ...

Latest from Alli Aldis and our team’s Substack

Today we released our new NBER working paper: "Easy A's, Less Pay: The Long-Term Effects of Grade Inflation." Joint work with Rachel Nesbit, Nolan Pope, and Merrill Warnick. Grades in U.S. high schools have risen steadily over the past several decades, but the effect is unknown

@stevemagness Here is another survey trend chart that might be of interest #page=20" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">edchoice.mcdatahub.com/edchoice/Repor…

Follow up with more info: The data isn't perfect. And yes, the x-axis needs fixed (it's not my graph.) But follow up data including 2023 and 2024, shows the same trend, where satisfaction does not increase. Why does this occur? What can we do? In no particular order: 1. Pay teachers more. Incentives should align for good teachers to keep teaching. 2. Increase the status of the profession. We need more & better talent. We've made teaching low status. 3. Address combative parenting-teacher relationships. 4. Behavior issues have skyrocketed 5. We've outsourced too much to schools. Schools have to do and handle everything. They become de-facto mental health, behavioral, etc. places. 6. Admin bloat. 7. Tech in the classroom was a mistake. Social media is ruining both kids and parents. Essentially, when you teach in a classroom, you've got: -People telling you that you're indoctrinating kids. -Parents in denial saying Jimmy would never do that. -Way too much bureaucracy, no autonomy. So the good talent leaves, because the pay sucks and environment sucks. We've essentially created environments that go against everything we know about motivation and thriving: autonomy, competency, and belonging. We've created spaces that are controlling, adversarial, with little room to grow. Politicians have made this worse. By using education as a lightning rod to create us vs. them. All while passing legislation that creates bureocracy and paperwork like crazy. This has occurred in every state, red and blue. In places with unions and without. Education is everyone's business. It makes for a better society. source: fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/…

In 2008, 62% of teachers said they were very satisfied with their job. In 2022, that dropped to 12%. We've got a serious problem brewing in education...

@stevemagness Thanks for sharing, this is what we observed last fall edchoice.mcdatahub.com/edchoice/Repor…

🚨Education Freedom Account (EFA) applications open March 16 For the first time, New Hampshire families will apply for the EFA through ScholaVia - our new, faster & more responsive application system. Learn more: nh.scholarshipfund.org/apply/nh-educa… #NHPolitics #ScholaVia #SchoolChoice

*Update* Here's a chart of all the published non-correlational (i.e., attempt to have a control group) studies done on the iReady adaptive learning platform. Only recent study not commissioned or paid for by Curriculum Associates is a doctoral dissertation that found students who used iReady were HALF A YEAR BEHIND (~5.5 pts) of relative growth compared to students in a school that didn't implement. Outcome measure was NWEA's MAP assessment, not iReady's own test, after first year of implementation. Sample is very small (530 students across two schools), but both schools were 100% FRL and had same curriculum, same district, same baseline scores. One implemented iReady, other didn't. Should take results with caution given other possible confounders between schools. Number of design flaws, but honestly did a decent job given the constraints of a small sample - it is still leagues ahead of the MCAS study above. However, how is an UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATION the best independent evaluation that exists???

Update - only non-correlational independent study that doesn't use the iReady assessment as an outcome measure is an unpublished dissertation that finds large negative effects 😶‍🌫️🥲

Thank you @EdWeekOpinion for inviting me to write about the #IranIsraelWar: edweek.org/teaching-learn…

New year, new polling data! The EdChoice research team, with the help of Morning Consult, surveyed thousands of Americans and school parents on the new Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships, how parents grade their child’s school and more! Check out the full report today ⤵️ edchoice.org/2026-polling-s…

As more states opt in to the federal tax credit scholarship program, our researchers wanted to know whether parents had heard about it. 27% of school parents said they've heard "a great deal" or "a lot" about the program. edchoice.org/2026-polling-s…

School parents are more likely than the general public to donate to a scholarship granting organization to receive a tax credit. What if their state doesn't opt into the program? Parents are still most likely to donate to an SGO, in a different state, in exchange for a tax credit. edchoice.org/2026-polling-s…

@doughesm 📣 Full Interview: buff.ly/UZKPAvx

For decades we’ve framed post-K-12 education as a binary choice: ➡️ College ➡️ Workforce We've got to think more fluidly. “In 18 months, I can earn the credential I need for an entry-level job.” Earn. Learn. Keep building. It's not so binary. Great insight from @doughesm on @QMCast.

Legislators in 16 states have introduced bills this year that would limit education technology in public schools, spurred by a growing number of parents concerned about the amount of time their children are spending on screens. nbcnews.com/news/education…

30 years ago I published an essay on education technology, "Why Aren't Computers Used More in Schools?" First presented at a conference of ed tech pioneers, the paper was not well liked by the audience. archive.org/details/ERIC_E…