Notations From the Grid (Final Year-End Edition): Year-End Reads

As we celebrate the holiday season, we wanted to share two very interesting and engaging perspectives from the Stanford Business School along with Education Next which are must reads for us as we hope all enjoy as we say Happy holidays!  This Stanford Business email, we're slowing it down with longer reads and video experiences. Here you'll find our brand-new View From the Top podcast series, which offers up hours of in-depth conversations with top business leaders, as well as faculty recommendations of books you’ll want to add to your nightstand. Whether you’re hustling to the last possible minute or getting away early on a well-earned vacation, we hope you’ll find warmth, happiness, and quality time with your loved ones this holiday season.

Leadership Podcast: Take in the View From the Top Business executives from Facebook, LinkedIn, Merck, and others share their management advice and insights in this Stanford GSB speaker series. Listen In

Page-Turners Five Books To Read Over the Holidays Stanford GSB professors offer up their recommendations for those quiet winter days. Read More

Insights 2018's Most-Read Stories What resonated with readers this year? Stories on effective communication, venture capital's secrets, and workplace culture’s dire toll on American health. Read More

Streaming Most-Watched Videos of 2018 Listen to IBM's CEO describe how she created a startup mentality at a tech giant, then learn what your work emails reveal about you, all part of the most viewed videos of the year. Watch More  Yesterday Education Next released a list of the top articles of 2018. Today we announce our top blog entries of 2018. These are the 10 the most popular entries on the Education Next blog as determined by readership. The list spans a broad range of topics: What works? Direct instruction? Teacher evaluation reform? Common Core-aligned testing? And what might work? Making high school students take the citizenship test? Adding an extra grade to elementary school for low-income students? Teaching more facts and less interpretation? Here’s the list: 1. Meta-Analysis Confirms Effectiveness of an Old School Approach: Direct Instruction By Robert Pondiscio 2/8/18 2. The Gates Effective Teaching Initiative Fails to Improve Student Outcomes By Jay P. Greene 6/22/18 3. How the Common Core Changed Standardized Testing By Laura Slover and Lesley Muldoon 9/6/18 4. How Does Charter Expansion Affect School District Finances and Student Achievement? New Evidence from Massachusetts By Camille Terrier, Stephen O’Connell and Matthew Ridley 9/24/18 5. How Life Outside of School Affects Student Performance in School By Brian A. Jacob and Joseph Ryan 3/26/18 6. The Case for Adding a Second 2nd Grade to High-Poverty Elementary Schools By Mike Petrilli 9/28/18 7. Has Evaluation Reform Chased Away Competent Would-Be Teachers? By Frederick Hess 2/16/18 8. Should Passing the Citizenship Test Be a High School Graduation Requirement? By Chester E. Finn Jr. 5/3/18 9. Emphasis on Thinking Skills over Facts in Schools Contributes to Truth Decay By Chester E. Finn Jr. 1/26/18 10. Why Can’t the Middle Class Afford Catholic School Anymore? By Greg Dolan 8/15/18 Congratulations to all of our authors! — Education Next P.S. You can find the Top 10 Education Next blog entries of 2017 here, 2016 here, 2015 here, 2014 here and 2013 here. P.P.S. You can find the Top 20 Education Next articles of 2018 here.