Recently in Chalkbeat, Tracie Mauriello reviewed a new program in Michigan that allows student teachers to get paid for the time they spend in the classroom. Excerpts from the piece appear below: The Michigan House passed a bill that would provide student teachers a stipend of $90 per day. Experienced teachers who serve as their Read more about Michigan Student Teachers could Get Paid for their Classroom Time[…]
At a recent event hosted by the AIR Equity Initiative, a panel of experts discussed different strategies for systematically and meaningfully engaging diverse voices and perspectives in research, technical assistance, and policy development and implementation to address long-standing social inequities. This included examining internal structures and practices, partnering with a variety of stakeholders, and reimagining Read more about Working to Make Diverse Perspectives in Research, Policy, and Technical Assistance the Norm[…]
In the New York Times newsletter, David Leonhardt works against bad-news bias and covers a positive and mostly overlooked trend in American education: the educational progress of the 1990s and early 2000s. Excerpts of the piece appear below: For years, you’ve probably been hearing that our schools are in crisis. And K-12 education in the Read more about Learning More: Why did U.S. schools make so much progress in the 1990s and early 2000s?[…]
NWEA recently released new research using data from over 2,300 rural schools across the US providing unique insight into math and reading achievement of students in rural schools. Key findings and recommendations from the report appear below: KEY FINDINGS • Kindergarten math and reading achievement is slightly higher in rural than non-rural schools, but by Read more about The forgotten 20 percent: Achievement and growth in rural schools across the nation[…]
Writing for the Bush Institute, Ann Wicks recently penned an opinion piece about the need for public education in a democracy. Excerpts from the piece appear below: A district superintendent, a school board member, a teacher, and a concerned parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing, and book lists. Who pays Read more about America’s Democracy Can’t Afford for Our Public School Experiment to Fail[…]
Writing for Brookings, Rebecca Winthrop, Adam Barton, Mahsa Ershadi, and Lauren Ziegler introduce a new playbook on family-school collaboration that makes the case for why family engagement is essential for education systems transformation and why families and schools must have a shared understanding of what a good quality education looks like. Excerpts of the piece Read more about Collaborating to transform and improve education systems: A playbook for family-school engagement[…]
A few months ago, Michael Petrilli wrote a piece exploring the common ground that most everyone can agree on related to education’s culture wars about critical race theory, anti-racist education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom. As it looks like these school board feuds are ramping up rather than dying down, I wanted Read more about Finding Common Ground in the Education Wars[…]
The economic and societal instability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic compounded and laid bare the inequities in American education and workforce systems. It also forced policymakers to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that programs remained accessible. Amid these unprecedented challenges, the states in the National Governors Association Center’s Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Read more about Advancing Equitable Access To And Success In Work-Based Learning[…]
A four-day school week (4dsw) is becoming more common, especially in areas across the western United States. States with large rural areas are spearheading this change. For example, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have more than 500 districts using a 4dsw. Champions of the shorter week contend that it saves Read more about Can Four Equal Five? Assessing the Four-Day School Week[…]
Innovation zones represent an important policy lever states can use as K-12 reimagines its future post-COVID. Innovation zones are created through state legislation to give schools and districts freedom from burdensome administrative regulations. This flexibility gives schools and districts a chance to modernize teaching and learning. An updated policy brief from the Aurora Institute examines Read more about Innovation Zones: Policy Flexibility to Reimagine and Modernize K-12 Education Post-COVID-19[…]
A new report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) focuses on the fundamental importance of the fine arts and provides policy recommendations for reclaiming the arts and culture in education. Key points of this report include the following: Despite overwhelming support for arts education, an increasing share of children is growing up without any exposure Read more about Reclaiming Arts & Culture in Education: The Fundamental Importance of the Fine Arts[…]
The College in High School Alliance (CHSA) has released a series of resources focused on providing design principles for policymakers at the federal level looking to expand support for college in high school programs like dual enrollment and early college. Federal Design Principles are provided for: Creating a Dual Enrollment State Grant Program Proposes the Read more about Restructuring the High School-to-College Transition[…]
Writing for Education Strategy Group (ESG), Nicole Osborne recently reviewed promising initiatives that serve to diversify the teacher workforce by engaging high school students in an educator pipeline. Excerpts of the piece appear below: There are bright spots within programs across the country with strong practices in place that can serve as signposts for building Read more about Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Through Early Pathways[…]
Among all in-school factors that impact student learning, teachers carry the most weight — but school leaders are not far behind. Decades of research have proven the positive influence principals can have on student achievement, school climate and teaching quality. New evidence suggests that their impact may be even greater than previously thought, as principals Read more about The Changing Role of School Leaders[…]
Excel in Ed has established the first comprehensive learner-centered education to workforce continuum for state policy, Pathways Matter. Beginning in K-12 and extending to and through postsecondary and on to employment, this resource takes the fragmented narrative and structure of state education to workforce policy efforts and turns it into a comprehensive policy continuum. PathwaysMatter.org Read more about Pathways Matter: Let’s Continuum the Conversation[…]
Instructional time policy is critical to education service delivery because it sets minimum, and sometimes maximum, requirements for learning time. Each state defines instructional time differently, and states have varying requirements in policy. Education Commission of the States (ECS) has released three papers that provide an easy reference for top-level information on instructional time, including Read more about Instructional Time Policy 101[…]