Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Teacher unions are strongest in blue states.

The strongest unions are concentrated in Democrat-led states, while the weakest are found in Republican-led states. Our new report explores what that pattern reveals about union strength and state education politics.

See the key findings: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/crowded-table-teacher-union-strength-2026

We know it’s valuable for students to read full-length books. So why are two-fifths of secondary students—and about half of disadvantaged students—not assigned enough of them?

Meredith Coffey argues that flawed curricular materials are part of the problem, but not the only one.

Read more:
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/flawed-curricular-materials-arent-only-reason-students-arent-reading-enough

ICYMI in this week’s Education Gadfly Weekly:

• Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli examine the changing power of teacher unions across all fifty states and D.C.
• Meredith Coffey looks at why too many secondary students still aren’t reading enough full-length books.
• Kathleen Porter-Magee reflects on Pope Leo XIV’s warning about the “wise use of powerful tools” and what it means for AI literacy.

Read more:
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/education-gadfly-weekly

AI proficiency is knowing how to use the tools. AI literacy is something deeper.

Kathleen Porter-Magee reflects on Pope Leo XIV’s call for the “wise use of powerful tools” and argues that schools should not let Big Tech define AI literacy on its own terms.

Genuine literacy, she writes, requires students and teachers to understand how AI works, whose interests it serves, what it costs, and how it shapes the people using it.

Read more:
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/wise-use-powerful-tools

How much influence do teacher unions still have in today’s K–12 education landscape?

Our new report from Melissa Arnold Lyon, Sandy Frost Waldron, and Rebecca Jacobsen updates Fordham’s 2012 rankings of state teacher union strength, drawing on the latest public data and a new survey of K–12 stakeholders across all fifty states and D.C.

The takeaway: The K–12 landscape has grown more crowded and contested over the past fifteen years. In many places, teacher unions remain influential, but they are no longer necessarily the most powerful voice in the room.

Read A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/crowded-table-teacher-union-strength-2026

What if we’ve been trying to fix school improvement at the wrong level?

Christy Wolfe joins the Education Gadfly Show to discuss workforce readiness, K–12 reform, and why the next wave of improvement may need to focus on systems, not just individual schools.

Plus: Amber Northern on new research about school phone bans.

🎧 Listen now: https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/resources/schools-systems-rethinking-improvement-episode-1016-education-gadfly-show

The science of reading has gained a lot of ground.

But is it actually showing up in classrooms?

This piece looks at where progress is happening—and where gaps remain.

Read more:
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/science-reading-has-won-argument-has-it-won-classroom

New findings highlight the shifts in reading curriculum, PD, and teacher practice during the "science of reading” movement.

📖 Read more: https://bit.ly/4elHsam

Can raising minimum teacher pay help schools keep great teachers?

A new study from Arkansas takes a closer look at how salary floors impact retention.

Read more:
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/minimum-pay-maximum-impact-arkansass-teacher-retention-strategy