As full-time virtual learning moved from the fringe to the mainstream in mid-March 2020, onlookers expressed concerns about access for learners and accountability for the learning itself. Concerns have not applied only to full-time virtual schools, however. Alternative schools that serve students who have dropped out or transferred from…

In education policy, conservatives have often been more identifiable by what they are against than what they are for. Ronald Reagan ran in 1980 promising to eliminate the Department of Education, and since then, numerous conservative politicians have stated they wish to do the same. At times, conservatives have been known to support school choice…

Education reformers have spent decades doggedly working to improve student outcomes in K-12 education by championing policies spanning federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Higher education is a much different story. Policy ideas at the federal level are plentiful; however, state- or institution-level policies are examined and implemented far…

The Southern Nevada Urban Micro Academy (SNUMA) is a first-of-its-kind partnership between the North Las Vegas city government and an innovation-focused education nonprofit to create microschools, operated entirely outside of incumbent public school systems and designed specifically as an in-person solution for city families to counter pandemic…

This report examines how media covered the critical race theory (CRT) debate in schooling through an analysis of all news articles published between September 2020 and August 2021 by four major newspapers (the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today) and three major education press outlets (Education Week, the 74, and…

A founding purpose of public education is to adequately prepare children for thoughtful self-government, citizenship, and independent adult life. This end is served by having educators teach students not what to think about controversial or contested public matters but how to think such issues through. When educators fail in this essential duty,…

Between 2020 and 2021, Congress appropriated nearly $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding for K-12 schools. Passed in three waves, ESSER is by far the largest federal infusion ever provided to K-12 schools--more than 11 times annual Title I spending and almost five times as large as total federal K-12…

The "Wall Street Journal" declared 2011 the "year of school choice" after 13 states enacted new choice policies or expanded existing ones. This brief discusses coalitions as the secret ingredient of the choice movement's success and shares lessons learned from the most effective coalitions. Key points include: (1) parental…

In their quest for broad support for school choice, proponents have conceded to Democrats' policy demands, including limited student eligibility and regulations, therefore weakening the options available to families. However these concessions have not won Democratic policymakers' support and may have alienated Republican policymakers. School…

COVID-19 caused the most dramatic disruption of elementary and secondary education in our lifetime. By late March 2020, every US state had closed public schools in an effort to flatten the curve. Delays in reopening schools have coincided with the emergence of sharp divisions among parents in their willingness to send their children back to…

As educators confront the challenge of remediating COVID-19 learning loss--and policymakers wrestle with measuring it amid widespread discontent with testing--now is an apt time to consider how much of the current accountability and assessment regime is truly necessary. This report examines the state of testing post-March 2020 and explores how a…

During the pandemic, there have been bipartisan calls for dramatically increased public funding for early education and care (EEC). As that money is being invested, more needs to be done to make it easier for families to exercise true choice--in which they have affordable, accessible, and high-quality options and the information they need to make…

The challenge of reopening US public schools in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has high-lighted the significant role that local teachers unions play in setting policy. The politics of school reopening during the pandemic has brought to the national spotlight the outsized role that teachers unions play in managing big cities. Bureau of Labor…

Whether and how to hold schools accountable for their performance has been a topic of debate in education circles for decades, and the use of standardized achievement test scores for accountability has been particularly contentious. One proposed strategy for reducing reliance on test scores is to incorporate non-test measures into accountability…

One of the most hotly debated K-12 education issues in recent decades has been the appropriate federal role in defining how states should measure, identify, and intervene in low-performing schools. In December 2015, after more than a decade of complex debate, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to reauthorize the Elementary and…