Writing for the Fordham Institute, Kalman R. Hettleman proposes a shortened high school experience to allow students to get a jump-start on postsecondary education. Excerpts from the piece appear below. Michael J. Petrilli’s recent article “Half-Time High School may be just what students need“ is compelling. Yet proposals to cut school time in half in Read more about Why not eliminate at least one year of high school entirely?[…]
With all of the uncertainty around the pandemic, getting students settled into the classroom—whether in-person or virtual—and ready to learn this fall was already going to be challenging. But we are also heading into what promises to be a contentious and polarizing election season, and students will need help navigating this difficult political environment. In Read more about Engaging Students in Civic Discourse[…]
Business leaders play a critical role in ensuring that our education systems enable young people to gain the skills, knowledge, and experiences they need to be successful in the current and future economy. Business voices can be powerful tools to help shape policy, champion programs, and advocate for greater coordination and alignment among the early Read more about Making Education Everyone’s Business: Three Studies of Successful Education Advocacy[…]
AdvocacyLabs, a partnership between FutureEd and 50CAN, draws on insights from academia to help education advocates work effectively on behalf of disadvantaged students. In Experiments in Advocacy: What Works and Why, author Marc Porter Magee focuses on the growing number of rigorous experimental studies of effective advocacy campaigns. By leveraging the power of randomized studies Read more about Experiments in Advocacy: What Works and Why[…]
A new 50-State Comparison from Education Commission of the States on Teacher License Reciprocity has been updated for 2020. Most states have policies that allow licensed teachers from other states to obtain a license in their state, under certain conditions – and a growing number of states offer special reciprocity for military spouses. However, few Read more about 50-State Comparison: Teacher License Reciprocity[…]
Degrees, credits, credentials, certificates, badges, microcredentials, and licenses are all ways of communicating to the world that an individual has gained particular knowledge and skills. The problem is, these signals do not seamlessly build on one another to provide a true picture of an individual’s expertise. Even within the higher education system, individuals who transfer Read more about June Issue Brief: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due[…]
Recently The 74 reported on a new initiative in Cleveland designed to confront Coronavirus learning loss by focusing on mastery learning. Excerpts of the piece appear below: A bold proposal in Cleveland could set the tone for how schools around the country could restart in the fall, one that takes into account students’ vastly different Read more about Cleveland Schools Considering ‘Mastery’ Learning Initiative That Would Scrap Grade Levels[…]
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and Chiefs for Change released a report that outlines relevant research and provides key recommendations for reopening K-12 schools when public health officials deem it is safe to do so. A bipartisan network of state and district education leaders, Chiefs for Change, turned to the Institute for its Read more about The Return: How Should Education Leaders Prepare for Reentry and Beyond?[…]
Between 2013 and 2018, the number of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. more than doubled, and the U.S. Department of Labor reports that the return on investment of apprenticeship programs is 147%. Although apprenticeships have long been viewed as for blue-collar industries, tech companies and small businesses in a variety of industries are increasingly adopting Read more about Apprenticeship Programs Are Rapidly Growing in New Industries[…]
Recently, Chester Finn reflected on a new study which finds that achievement gaps have not closed in the last 50 years and educational improvements have not been seen at the high school level. Excerpts appear below: An ambitious, important new piece of analysis in Education Next concludes that young Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum have Read more about Achievement Quandaries[…]
Writing for The Christensen Institute, authors Michael Horn and Richard Price explore the options for improving transfer of credits between higher education institutions. Excerpts of their piece appear below: In an era of increasing data interoperability in almost every sector of life, the idea that today’s students can’t seamlessly transfer credits from one institution to Read more about Creating Seamless Credit Transfer: A Parallel Higher Ed System[…]
NWEA has announced projections that suggest current school closures due to the COVID-19 global pandemic could result in dramatic learning loss for students. The research, conducted by NWEA’s Collaborative for Student Growth Research Center, leverages previous NWEA research on summer learning loss and uses a national sample of over five million students in grades 3-8 Read more about Prepare Now for a a Precipitous ‘COVID Slide’ Next Year[…]
Understandably, the sudden closure of schools has been both immeasurably difficult and confusing for students and adults alike. The first priority for most school districts has been ensuring the safety and nutrition of their students, but now the focus is increasingly on how to keep students learning–and that requires forging teacher policies to address issues Read more about How are school districts adapting teacher work policies for emergency closures?[…]
The National Center for College and Career Transitions (NC3T) has released a new position paper, arguing for Career Connected Learning as a strategy for engaging students and preparing them to thrive in the adult world. Written by Hans Meeder and Brett Pawlowski, this piece provides education decision-makers and stakeholders with a sweeping look at the Read more about NC3T – Preparing Our Students for the Real World: The Education Shift Our Children and Future Demand[…]
Recognizing the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and systems thinking, RAND Corporation researchers, supported by RAND Corporation investment funds, have developed a systems-level, blue-sky approach to conceptualizing and visualizing a 21st-century U.S. workforce development and employment system. A new report from RAND is the first step in moving the United States to a system that accounts Read more about Reimagining the Workforce Development and Employment System for the 21st Century and Beyond[…]
A new two-page policy outline from Education Commission of the States serves as an introduction to trauma-informed practices, as defined in state education policy. Trauma-informed practices intersect with school discipline, student health, educator training, school safety, and more. There are four categories of recent state policy action, including Educator and School Staff Training, Task Forces/Committees, Read more about Education Policy Approaches to Trauma-Informed Practices[…]