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This paper advocates for the integration of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into educational curricula to foster holistic student development. SEL equips students with emotional intelligence, resilience, and interpersonal skills, which are crucial for personal and professional success. As the global focus on mental health and emotional well-being grows, embedding SEL in educational systems offers a proactive approach to addressing these priorities while creating well-rounded individuals capable of navigating complex social and emotional landscapes.

Early childhood education (ECE) conflict zones face profound challenges that undermine children's cognitive, emotional, and social development. Armed conflicts disrupt access to education through displacement, infrastructure destruction, and insecurity, leaving millions of children without safe learning environments (UNICEF, 2023). This report focuses on Syria, where years of war have deprived over two million children of education (UNESCO, 2018). These children face severe psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, impairing their ability to learn and develop (Save the Children, 2020). This report emphasizes the dual importance of immediate and sustainable solutions to address these challenges. Immediate measures include providing psychological support, temporary learning spaces, and access to basic educational resources, while sustainable approaches, such as the "Hope Initiative," focus on creating resilient educational systems capable of withstanding future crises. This initiative, inspired by global best practices, proposes an integrated framework of proactive strategies, including teacher training, resource mobilization, and technology-driven learning solutions (Moving Minds Alliance, 2023). Using a mixed-methods approach, the study incorporates interviews with affected families, surveys with victims and their families, and case studies, such as that of Ahmed, a young Syrian child navigating educational challenges amid conflict. Findings reveal that displacement, resource shortages, and psychological stress significantly hinder educational progress, while community-driven initiatives provide hope and resilience. The report underscores the urgent need for regional collaboration and innovative policies to ensure that education remains a priority, even in the most challenging environments (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019). This research reaffirms the transformative power of education as a tool for resilience, community empowerment, and long-term peacebuilding. By addressing the unique needs of children in conflict zones, we can pave the way for a future where every child, regardless of circumstance, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to a more peaceful world.

Policymakers and the public are increasingly concerned about the payoff students and taxpayers receive from government subsidies for postsecondary education. This concern has led advocates and policymakers to call for stronger quality assurance policies for colleges and universities. Past efforts to enact quality assurance policies have focused on minimum graduation rates or student loan repayment progress. More recent proposals focus instead on earnings. Data collection capabilities can now show what graduates earn after completing a credential from a particular institution, creating opportunities to link quality assurance rules directly to the wages gained from a credential. This report examines how earnings change in the initial years after graduates complete postsecondary credentials. The analysis uses new data from the College Scorecard showing earnings up to five years after students complete their educational programs. It focuses on fields with low initial earnings that are likely to fail earnings-based quality assurance policies tests and fields where students go on to achieve high earnings outside the policy's measurement window. [Additional support for this report was provided by the Career Schools Private Education Network.]

Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of economic background, and aims to strengthen farm-to-school systems and school food service workers' pay. After unexpected increases in student participation, the program faced a significant budget shortfall that raised warning flags for program sustainability. In response, Colorado's Joint Budget Committee called for a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to develop policy options that balance revenue and expenditures to be considered during the 2025 legislative session. Many students in Colorado are receiving free meals in schools because of HSMA, which is paid for by a voter-approved tax increase on high-earning Coloradans. The Colorado General Assembly will be considering how to sustain the program moving forward during the 2025 legislative session. The Urban Institute facilitated the TAG, engaged with stakeholders, and conducted other research to develop this report, which summarizes 27 policy options for the state to consider. This report, additional supporting documentation maintained by the Colorado Department of Education, and planned updates to the revenues and expenditures in the coming months will ensure the Joint Budget Committee, governor, Department of Education, legislators, stakeholders, and voters have the information they need to make HSMA sustainable.

Recent higher education accountability policies and proposals have often linked programs' or institutions' federal aid access to students' postcompletion earnings. But proposals differ regarding when to measure earnings. Policymakers may want to know how fast earnings typically grow and when in an individual's career earnings growth rates change. To inform policies that measure earnings after students complete a credential, this brief examines average earnings trajectories for the first 5 years after graduation using program-level earnings data in the College Scorecard and for 25 years in the American Community Survey (ACS). Findings suggest that the effects of an accountability policy that measures earnings after graduation can be sensitive to which year is chosen, particularly for bachelor's and professional degrees.

Reclassification, the process by which English learner (EL) students exit EL classification, often determines ELs' access to mainstream academic coursework. While existing research finds that many students who demonstrate English proficiency do not reclassify, few studies evaluate policies that effectively reclassify eligible students. This study examines the impact of shifting reclassification responsibility from school districts to the state in Michigan. Using a difference-in-regression discontinuities design, we find that state-level responsibility increases reclassification rates by 35 percentage points compared to district-level responsibility. The effects are larger for Spanish speakers, indicating that state procedures may reduce linguistic bias. Our findings contribute to the literature on default policies in K-12 education and provide evidence on policies that promote equity in EL education.

This study examines the impact of statewide Restorative Justice (RJ) policy reforms in Michigan and Texas on student disciplinary outcomes and behavior, in light of increasing concerns over the negative effects of zero-tolerance policies. As schools move away from exclusionary discipline practices, this research focuses on three primary questions: (1) Are these policies effectively implemented statewide? (2) Do they contribute to a reduction in problematic behaviors, such as bullying? (3) Does the distinction in policy implementation--Michigan's prescriptive approach versus Texas's permissive framework--affect outcomes? Utilizing school district-level data and a penalized synthetic control estimator for multiple treated districts, the analysis reveals that Texas has an overall reduction in out-of-school suspensions and bullying incidents, while Michigan shows an increase. However, taking these as a main takeaway would be misleading, as at a fine-grained level, more than half of the Michigan school districts show a reduction in bullying incidents. The results are further discussed, revealing patterns of racial composition in the districts with respect to their success in implementation of reforms. The findings highlight the critical role of implementation fidelity and the importance of local context in assessing the success of RJ initiatives while also filling a critical gap in understanding the multifaceted consequences of RJ practices.

There is limited empirical evidence about educational interventions for students experiencing homelessness, who experience distinct disadvantages compared to their low-income peers. We explore how two school staffing interventions in New York City shaped attendance outcomes of students experiencing homelessness using administrative records from 2013-2022 and a difference-in-differences estimator. We find suggestive evidence that an intervention that placed social workers in schools to serve students experiencing homelessness is associated with a 1.2 percentage point increase in average attendance rates of students in shelter. We discuss this small association relative to program costs and implications for education policies targeting homeless students.

Dr Mahmoud M. S. Abdallah's article, "The New Territory of Educational Research in TESOL/TEFL: What Novice Researchers Should Know", provides a comprehensive guide for novice researchers in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). It emphasises the importance of research in enhancing teaching practices, informing educational policies, and understanding second language acquisition (SLA). It defines research as a systematic, cyclical process aimed at discovering new knowledge or validating existing knowledge. The article explores various research approaches, including qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and action research. Qualitative research is highlighted for its ability to explore human experiences through methods like ethnography, case studies, and discourse analysis. Quantitative research is presented for testing hypotheses and generalising findings through experimental, quasi-experimental, and survey research. Mixed methods research combines both approaches for a holistic understanding, while action research empowers teachers to become researchers in their own classrooms. The article introduces essential research terminologies, such as variables, hypotheses, data, reliability, validity, and generalisability. It outlines the research process, from identifying a problem to writing the report, emphasising the importance of thorough literature reviews, clear research questions, appropriate research designs, data collection and analysis, and findings interpretation. The article encourages TESOL/TEFL educators to embrace research as part of their professional identity, becoming informed consumers and producers of knowledge. It provides criteria for selecting research topics, including relevance, originality, feasibility, personal interest, potential impact, alignment with current educational contexts, and interdisciplinary potential. In conclusion, the article equips novice researchers with the knowledge and tools necessary to engage in rigorous and impactful research, contributing to the continuous improvement of language education.

As publicly funded private school tuition systems have expanded, independent research has documented their negative outcomes. However, the prevalence of the programs continues to grow. This brief summarizes the research evidence about vouchers and identifies three areas of policy design that are especially important for student success and a good-faith use of public funding: accountability, access, and transparency. It also reviews the extent to which legislation provides for new, independent evaluation of these programs, and provides policy recommendations to ensure that new or existing voucher systems follow evidence-based practice.

The U.S. Department of Education is committed to supporting innovative advances in educational technology to improve teaching and learning across the nation's education systems and to support educators as they incorporate emerging technology into their learning communities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is a complex and rapidly expanding topic because individuals have different knowledge, opinions, and perspectives on using AI, which has implications for all members of school communities. This user-friendly toolkit was developed through engagement with educators, community members and technology leaders and is designed to help educational leaders make critical decisions about incorporating AI applications into student learning and the instructional core. This document connects broad ideas about AI to the establishment of school and district use policies that will guide its effective implementation. This toolkit provides guidance for the effective use and integration of AI in teaching and learning and presents an overview of Federal laws and considerations that are essential to anchoring and ensuring the use of AI in a safe, secure, and non-discriminatory manner across ten key modules--from federal policies to pressing educational issues, including privacy, data security, civil rights, and digital equity. Finally, the toolkit promotes the principles of transparency and awareness in the use of AI in schools, and emphasizes the importance of providing students, teachers, and parents opportunities to opt out of AI-enabled applications in school.

As our education systems continue to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic we urge the next administration to prioritize investing wisely in the future of our nation through federal programs and policies that support the nation's 50 million K-12 public school students. A comprehensive and significant investment in the education of our public school students has never been more important to reducing the racial and socio-economic inequities plaguing American society today and providing a pathway for social and economic mobility. On behalf of public schools CEOs with deep expertise in education policy and as the largest employer in many communities, AASA crafts these recommendations for how the next administration can dramatically improve educational outcomes, reduce educational inequities and ensure the students in our schools today are able to excel in an increasingly competitive global workforce. Public schools perform critical functions for children and families, as well as for businesses, industries, and communities. Public schools are not just places where children can come to learn about democratic values; they are polling locations, interim food banks, and emergency shelters. The pandemic reminded us that the health and wellness of a community is directly linked to the health and wellness of the school system.

This study examines strategies implemented by UAE schools to enhance Emirati student achievement while fostering a strong sense of national identity and cultural heritage. Guided by the UAE 2015 School Inspection Framework, which emphasizes essential elements of quality education and social and cultural understanding, this research explores how schools balance academic rigor with cultural identity reinforcement. The study analyzed inspection reports from nine diverse UAE schools, using a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative data on Emirati student performance in Arabic, Islamic Studies, and Social Studies with qualitative data on school-based cultural initiatives. Quantitative findings revealed that student achievement ratings across these subjects were consistently high, suggesting that culturally integrative practices positively impact Emirati student performance across disciplines. The qualitative analysis identified three primary strategies for promoting cultural identity: curriculum integration, community engagement, and parental involvement. Schools that embedded UAE cultural themes into the curriculum, organized community events, and actively involved parents in cultural activities demonstrated higher levels of student engagement and academic success. Statistical tests, including ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis H-tests, confirmed that these strategies produced uniform positive effects across subjects, highlighting the effectiveness of a holistic approach to cultural education. These findings have important implications for UAE educational policy, suggesting that schools benefit from policies that support curriculum adaptations, community-based learning, and parent-school partnerships. The study recommends expanding professional development for teachers on culturally responsive teaching, increasing funding for community engagement initiatives, and refining curriculum standards to emphasize cultural themes. By fostering a strong connection to heritage, UAE schools not only support academic achievement but also contribute to the broader national vision of developing globally competent, culturally rooted citizens.

This paper presents the findings from the second case in a multiple-case study examining the implementation of federal and state policies by State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to provide Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) to disabled students in two Southern states, referred to as State 1 and State 2. The first case, focusing on State 1, has been previously published (Shaheen & Curry, 2023). This study builds on those findings, offering a comparative analysis of the approaches and challenges faced by State 2 in ensuring AEM accessibility. The insights gained from this research contribute to a broader understanding of policy enactment and its impact on educational equity for disabled students.

The school-choice landscape in the United States is undergoing a rapid transformation, as states increasingly enact a new form of vouchers called Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Unlike earlier voucher programs, which generally allowed subsidies only for private school tuition, ESAs represent a radically expansive--and potentially very costly--vision for the private use of public education funds. ESA participants receive public monies via direct deposit and can use them for various expenses, including private school tuition and fees. Many states, in fact, allow the funds to be used for nearly any purportedly educational expense. ESA funds are thus widely dispersed among participants and private providers with surprisingly little or no oversight or accountability. This policy brief explores the evolution of these ESA programs, with attention to the policy characteristics that shape this large transfer of unrestricted public subsidies for private and at-home education.

The U.S. education system is facing severe challenges, including student learning loss, declining academic performance, a youth mental health crisis, and increasing absenteeism. Yet these challenges also provide a catalyst for transformational change. But a new paradigm for education cannot be done without the support for transformative school leaders. This paper advocates for reimagining the role of principal as pivotal agents of change, moving beyond outdated managerial frameworks to empower them as visionary leaders. It outlines innovative policy solutions, or "big bets," aimed at reshaping principal preparation, support systems, and responsibilities. These proposals call on educators, policymakers, and communities to embrace new models of school leadership that can drive lasting success for students and schools.

For any dual enrollment (DE) reform to be effective, educators must acknowledge and understand the diverse experiences of all DE students, especially those from historically underrepresented populations. As part of CCRC's DEEP research, the author of this brief investigates the experiences of students historically underserved in DE to understand what these students want from their DE programs and the educators who lead them. An analysis of focus group interviews with 97 predominantly Black, Hispanic, and low-income students uncovered six themes that the author frames as students' wants: (1) Students want to know about DE options earlier; (2) Students want well-informed DE advisors who empower them; (3) Students want their DE courses to be aligned with career and academic pathways in their fields of interest; (4) Students want engaging learning experiences in their online courses; (5) Students want to know how to balance the high school experience and DE coursetaking; and (6) Students want to know how to find scholarships and manage debt to help them attend college after high school. For each of these six wants, the brief describes the students' perspectives and presents research-based strategies educators can use to support DE students in the realization of these wants. The brief also outlines questions educators can ask their students to gain a better understanding of their experiences.

More than half of states have implemented tuition-free college policies aimed at reducing attendance costs and incentivizing enrollment. We review the academic literature on the design features and impacts of these tuition-free policies, and we analyze an initiative Virginia implemented in 2021 called Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead (G3), which provides tuition-free community college to students enrolled in eligible associate degree, certificate, and noncredit occupational training programs in five high-demand fields. Our descriptive analysis of G3 from 2016-17 through 2022-23 shows that both institutions and students responded to the tuition-free messaging and eligibility criteria. Specifically, G3-eligible institutional program offerings and student enrollment in such programs both increased by roughly 30% within the first two years of program implementation. While Virginia's tuition-free policy promotes enrollment in targeted occupational programs, overall enrollment effects are partially offset by a 3% enrollment reduction in aid-ineligible transfer-oriented programs. To promote skill development and improve labor market outcomes, policymakers should ensure that programs eligible for tuition-free college include pathways to longer term credentials.

Since the peak of the pandemic in 2020, enrollment in virtual schools has steadily increased, with virtual schools now accounting for approximately 1.4% of the nation's public school students. While the effects of the pandemic on student achievement and mental health have been extensively studied, research has yet to thoroughly examine the impact of the pandemic on state policies and local organizational practices related to virtual schooling. Although some believed the onset of the pandemic would fundamentally reshape virtual schooling options in K-12 education, others were more skeptical, believing expanded virtual learning options were merely a temporary fix. This study examines whether the pandemic shaped virtual schooling at both the local and state levels, and if the changes made are likely to last and/or improve equity. The authors interviewed state and local education leaders and advocates, analyzed policy documents, websites, and media, observed legislative proceedings, and examined organizational practices in a sample of schools between 2019 and 2022 in Oregon. This state had an extensive history of virtual schooling before the pandemic, and enrollment continues to grow. The findings offer important lessons for policymakers and leaders to consider as the availability of virtual schools remains widespread across the country.

The research was commissioned by the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) and Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) to estimate the costs and possible impact on teacher supply of introducing a new Teacher Student Loan Reimbursement (TSLR) scheme. Under a TSLR scheme, the government pays back any student loan repayments a teacher made in the previous year provided they are still teaching in a state school and are in the first ten years of their career. The report presents analysis modelling the possible impact on teacher retention of introducing a TSLR scheme. We also compared the value for money of a TSLR scheme to other financial incentives designed to improve teacher supply, namely bursary increases and early-career retention payments (ECRPs). The research suggests that a TSLR scheme could prove a cost-effective option for policymakers alongside ECRPs, particularly when bursaries are already at a high level. Key findings: (1) Our modelling estimates that introducing a TSLR scheme in 2025/26 for all teachers who are in their first ten years since qualifying would lead to an increase of around 2,100 teachers in the first year of the programme; (2) The cost per additional teacher-year gained was lowest for bursaries, where a subject had no existing bursary (around £9,000) or where the existing bursary was low (around £10,000 per additional teacher-year for an existing bursary of £10,000). This suggests that a policy approach of first raising bursaries where they are low is likely to be most cost effective; and (3) The cost per additional teacher-year gained was similar for TSLRs and ECRPs (around £12,500). Both were also very similar to the cost per additional teacher-year where bursaries are already around £30,000. This suggests that where there is already a high bursary (e.g. maths and physics currently attract a £28,000 bursary) it is worth focusing on incentivising retention.

Sometimes a treatment, such as receiving a high school diploma, is assigned to students if their scores on two inputs (e.g., math and English test scores) are above established cutoffs. This forms a multidimensional regression discontinuity design (RDD) to analyze the effect of the educational treatment where there are two running variables instead of one. Present methods for estimating such designs either collapse the two running variables into a single running variable, estimate two separate one-dimensional RDDs, or jointly model the entire response surface. The first two approaches may lose valuable information, while the third approach can be very sensitive to model misspecification. We examine an alternative approach, developed in the context of geographic RDDs, which uses Gaussian processes to flexibly model the response surfaces and estimate the impact of treatment along the full range of students that were on the margin of receiving treatment. We demonstrate theoretically, in simulation, and in an applied example, that this approach has several advantages over current approaches, including over another nonparametric surface response method. In particular, using Gaussian process regression in two-dimensional RDDs shows strong coverage and standard error estimation, and allows for easy examination of treatment effect variation for students with different patterns of running variables and outcomes. As these nonparametric approaches are new in education-specific RDDs, we also provide an R package for users to estimate treatment effects using Gaussian process regression.

Jobs for the Future (JFF) is developing this state policy framework to outline the steps states can take toward fully adopting each of the Big Blur's four key components and creating a more effective system for grades 11-14. The Big Blur argues for the need to erase the arbitrary boundaries between high school, college, and careers and create one new system for grades 11-14. The model opens the opportunity for all students to start earning a postsecondary credential and preparing for career success in 11th grade. The framework describes a continuum of four types of state policy environments that states currently have or will experience on the road toward a fully reimagined system of education-to-career pathways that work for all students. The four policy environments are: (1) fragmented; (2) coordinated; (3) integrated; and (4) transformed. In the framework, JFF provides examples of how each of the key components of the Big Blur (incentives, alignment, governance, and staffing) evolves from a fragmented to a fully transformed state policy environment.

The expansion of early childhood education (ECE) and increased spending have benefited children and supported families. However, these investments have not addressed inequities within the ECE workforce. ECE providers face economic insecurity, earning an average of $14 per hour, which is below a living wage. In rural communities, this median wage drops to $11.42, and in Tennessee, it is even lower at under $10 per hour. Women of color, especially in rural areas, are disproportionately affected by poor compensation and benefits. To address these issues, this project partners with an organization called Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA) to understand the experiences of ECE providers in an effort to raise awareness of: (1) the benefits of the TECTA program and the resources they provide; (2) the key challenges and barriers they navigate on the pathway to their education; and (3) the need for program expansion to enable opportunities for social and economic mobility. This study underscores the need for systemic changes to support ECE providers, particularly in rural areas and other marginalized communities. By addressing economic insecurity, professional recognition, training disparities, and policy inconsistencies, we can create a more equitable and effective ECE workforce.

The current U.S. secondary education, postsecondary education, and workforce training systems are failing to serve the needs of many of today's students. Securing a good job with a family-sustaining wage increasingly requires workers to possess industry certifications, degrees, and credentials, but U.S. education systems are not set up to help enough students secure them. In addition, there are significant economic disruptions on the horizon that are going to have big implications for the future of education and work. Jobs for the Future's Big Blur vision calls for entirely new educational institutions and systems to better prepare 16-to-20-year-olds for college and careers. This paper examines new structures for teaching and learning to help states create more effective grade 11-14 schools and systems, with examples of promising state-level instructor models. This paper outlines new types of instructor preparation, accountability systems, and learning management structures that are needed to effectively serve the developmental needs of young people in grades 11-14 and the unified system envisioned in the Big Blur.

Supporting student success and meeting college completion and equity goals requires institutions to do more than just work at the margins. Overcoming deep-seated challenges means that campuses need to transform. Successful transformation requires identifying, understanding, and navigating campus culture so initiatives can both implement new strategy and build improved systems. Through the PEP initiative, Complete College America (CCA) provided resources and support to numerous institutions in three states over three years to enact transformational change aligned to the CCA Pillars of Transformation. While each participating institution implemented strategies to meet its own goals and needs, the PEP work revealed five common behavioral patterns, or archetypes, that initially limited the institutions' capacity to change.

This is the 12th edition of EdChoice's Schooling in America survey. The purpose of this annual survey is to gauge public opinion on a range of issues in K-12 education, including school choice policies and parents' schooling experiences. From April 9 to April 30, 2024, we surveyed 2,319 current school parents and 1,502 members of the general population. We report polling results based on a nationally representative sample of both groups. Nearly 4,000 interviews were conducted online and over the phone. In this year's survey, we also asked new questions related to recent issues in education pertaining to transparency, accountability, technology, and artificial intelligence. The survey yielded many findings including: (1) School safety is now the top reason to choose a school for charter (37%), private (36%) and homeschool (53%) parents; (2) Most Americans (70%) and nearly two-thirds of parents (64%) say K-12 education is on the wrong track; (3) The majority of school parents think standardized tests are an important accountability measure, especially for teachers (67%), schools (65%), and school districts (65%); and (4) Two-thirds of parents (66%) say that schools should teach students how to use artificial intelligence responsibly.

School improvement is an iterative process through which districts and schools develop their capacity, implement and refine new policies and practices, and respond to new developments and needs over time. School improvement policy can also be considered an iterative process, with policy implementors learning from previous rounds of a policy. Michigan developed the Partnership Model for School and District Turnaround to provide support and accountability for its lowest-performing schools (i.e., Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools, or CSI schools). In November 2022, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) identified the current round (Round 4) of Partnership schools and districts. By the spring of 2023, Partnership districts outlined new improvement goals and accountability measures, and by fall of 2023 they developed improvement plans to meet those goals. Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, they began to implement those improvement plans. This report describes the goals and planning activities for Round 4 of Partnership schools and districts and analyzes the targets that they set, the accountability measures they selected, and the specific activities they planned to implement as part of their improvement efforts.

California's K-12 funding and instructional policies for English learners (ELs) have changed significantly over the past 2 decades, including new requirements for instructional materials specific to ELs statewide and a new school funding system that funds ELs at a higher rate. These major policy shifts held the potential to change student learning outcome patterns for ELs. This brief summarizes those policy changes and, as a first step in identifying their impact, describes changes over time in the development of academic skills and English proficiency among ELs in California. We find that English learners' academic achievement by 3rd grade has improved over time, shrinking the achievement gaps between K-cohort ELs and other students in English language arts (ELA) and math. We also find that more-recent cohorts of kindergarten ELs are reaching English proficiency on the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) in earlier grades than previous cohorts did. For the less recent cohorts who had reached Grade 5 by 2018-19, we find almost no change in the overall share who were proficient in English by the end of elementary school. We also find only half of kindergarten ELs were reclassified as English proficient by the end of elementary school in 2018-19.

In July 2023, Governor DeWine and the General Assembly enacted bold literacy reforms via his budget plan (House Bill 33) that require Ohio elementary schools to follow the Science of Reading starting in 2024-25. This approach to reading instruction emphasizes phonics to help students "decode" words, as well as knowledge- and vocabulary-rich content to help them comprehend what they're reading. The bill also prohibits use of "three-cueing," a widely used but discredited technique that prompts children to guess at words rather than sounding them out. Recognizing that extra resources were needed to transition schools successfully to the Science of Reading, lawmakers budgeted $169 million for better instructional materials, professional development, and literacy coaching. To prepare schools for the transition, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) recently laid the groundwork for classroom-level implementation of scientifically based reading programs. This report focuses on three important steps the agency has taken since passage of House Bill 33 in July 2023: (1) vetting and approving a list of high-quality instructional materials from which schools may choose; (2) collecting, via statewide survey, information about the English language arts (ELA) curricula used by Ohio schools prior to the recent reforms; and (3) allocating state funds to subsidize the purchase of new curricula and materials. Key takeaways based on analyses of these activities and policy recommendations are offered.

Since 2005, the Chinese government has vigorously extended influence over American education. While well-researched in some areas, that influence is merely noted elsewhere. This report fills a gap in previous work by examining the role of Mandarin education in Communist China, how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) developed language as a tool of political warfare, and then deployed it to the United States. Confucius Classrooms did not simply expand Confucius Institutes (CIs) into K-12 schools; instead, they grew out of China's strategy to influence policymakers and society at the state and local levels. The first chapter of this report discusses the origins and strategy of China's use of Confucius as a label for its soft power efforts to gain influence abroad. The role of language education in China's conduct of political warfare is discussed in the context of how the Chinese Communist Party reformed Mandarin to indoctrinate its population after 1949. This chapter also examines the relationship between Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms, and how Beijing's Confucius programs differ from the foreign language initiatives of other countries. The second chapter examines CCs in the US, and how they have been founded and sustained by the efforts of nonprofits and policymakers at the state and local level. This chapter also discusses a number of the nonprofits involved in enabling Confucius Classrooms to survive the closure of Confucius Institutes, and how China's use of nonprofits demonstrates Beijing's strategy to use education as a means of influencing other parts of American society. This chapter also notes how CC programs play a role in building economic ties between the US and Chinese business interests. The third chapter surveys three surviving Confucius Classrooms discovered by Parents Defending Education last year. This chapter examines Minnetonka Public Schools, Sisters School District, and St. Cloud Area Schools, and shows how these schools demonstrate the macro trends discovered in this report. In both Minnesota and Oregon, economic interests and local policymakers played a role in establishing the CCs located there. The fourth and final chapter offers policy recommendations based on the findings of this report.

The Partnership for College Completion (PCC) was founded to "advance equity in higher education" by supporting colleges and universities to improve college completion for Black, Latinx, and Pell-eligible students--those groups that experience persistent disparities in completion. Simultaneously, PCC engages in state policy reform to bring about systems-wide change. Begun in 2018, the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative (ILEA) is its flagship initiative, designed to partner with Illinois colleges and universities to assist them in narrowing their college completion gaps. Promising new research suggests improving equity in college completion requires an explicit focus on race, attention to organizational change, commitment to equity-focused policies and plans, and cross-institutional partnerships to help manifest change. Drawing from this research, ILEA and its partner institutions developed and implemented public-facing equity plans to improve graduation rates for their Black, Latinx, and Pell-eligible students. This study examines how the ILEA collaborative institutions confronted and negotiated structural barriers inhibiting graduation for these historically marginalized groups. The report aims to: (1) Provide study partners, including the Partnership for College Completion, with program feedback; (2) Inform readers about equity plan development and implementation, policy, and practice collaboratives; (3) Identify strengths and growth opportunities about PCC's efforts to bring colleges and universities together to jointly improve college completion for Black, Latinx, and Pell-eligible students; and (4) Reflect on implementation successes and challenges.

This is the technical document for the report, "Centering Quality, Centering Equity: Lessons Learned in Increasing Early Childhood Educator Credentials." The report explores Early Childhood Education (ECE) credential requirements in California (CA) and Washington, D.C. (D.C.) for two key reasons: 1) both recently raised these requirements and 2) both are in the process of implementing the new changes. The study does not seek to advocate in favor of or against the adoption of increased credential requirements. Rather, its purpose is to shed light on the need to center racial and economic equity in policy design and implementation--focusing on the impact of increased credential requirements on early childhood educators in states pursuing these changes. The appendices in this technical document are: (1) Make-up of Early Care and Education Workforce; (2) Center-Based Early Educator Characteristics by Role; (3) Center-Based Early Educator Work Experience and Credentials by Role; (4) Center-Based Early Educator Time Worked, Income, and Wages by Role; (5) Lead Teachers' Work Experience and Credentials by Race and Ethnicity; (6) Lead Teachers without a Postsecondary Degree, Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity; (7) Focus Group Interview Protocol for California; (8) Focus Group Interview Protocol for Washington, D.C.; (9) Hourly Wages for Early Childhood Educators; and (10) Comparison of D.C. Teacher Salaries in 2022 and Minimum Salaries Required in Fiscal Year 2024 for Programs Receiving Pay Equity Funds.

Thriving communities depend on a strong early childhood education (ECE) system--one where both young children and members of the workforce are served and supported. In recent years, state government leaders have increasingly focused on changing qualifications for specific ECE roles, as increasing credential requirements has sometimes been associated with increasing quality. However, across the country, early childhood educators face significant barriers to economic security and continuing education--all while supporting children, parents, and their communities with specialized education services. This report examines the barriers that even highly qualified early child educators experience in the face of increased credential requirements. Featuring case studies of California and Washington, D.C., the report offers implications for policies that protect educators and advance racial and economic equity in the profession. Included with the report are an Executive Summary encapsulating the findings and a Technical Document describing the methodology, data collection, and quantitative analysis.

Since the 1990s, there has been a growing demand for evidence-based education policy and practice. This demand stems from concerns that education systems are not meeting the needs of a changing world and that education research lacks rigor. While this demand aims to improve the quality of education, silos between different actors often hinder how evidence informs policymaking. We encourage researchers to use a collaborative research approach by involving multiple education actors in the research process to close the gaps between research, policy, and practice. This paper is the third in a series of three working papers meant to serve as references and conversation starters for policymakers and researchers as they navigate pedagogical reform for education system transformation in their local contexts. Together, the three working papers emphasize the need for more locally driven collaborative research on how the interaction of culture, local education ecosystems, and learning theories--collectively called Invisible Pedagogical Mindsets--influences teachers' pedagogical choices in the classroom. Primarily intended for education researchers, Working Paper III advocates the use of collaborative research approaches to actively include multiple education actors in the research process, foster complementary relationships between actors with different expertise, and make research findings more relevant and responsive to the local education ecosystem. The paper has three parts that discuss the need for flexible research approaches to inform policy given the complexities of education decision-making, the importance of communication and dissemination, and how collaborative research can bridge the gaps between research, policy, and practice. The paper concludes by looking at the ongoing work of the SPARKS project at the Center for Universal Education and how collaborative research can contribute to education systems transformation.

Despite the popularity of teacher leadership since the 1980s, little research examines its effects on student achievement. In this paper, I assess the influence of the New York City Department of Education's Teacher Career Pathways program, a teacher leadership initiative, on student achievement in grades three through eight. Using difference-in-difference approaches, including new event study estimators, I find that where school leaders staffed teacher leaders into formal roles with defined responsibilities, positional authority, and commensurate salary increases, student achievement in ELA and math improves. Moreover, the improvement in scores compounds over time, with schools exhibiting increasing gains in each year following the initial introduction of teacher leaders. Schools that do not staff teacher leaders do not observe similar outcomes. I consider these results in the context of democratic policymaking and teacher empowerment, suggesting that teachers must be formally empowered in schools to lead meaningful changes that ultimately improve student achievement.

We use frame analysis to analyze the first iteration of the Texas District of Innovation policy, which allows districts to take exemption from state education requirements mandating the hiring of a state certified teacher. We analyzed 451 district policies and find the plans use very similar, and sometimes identical, language to frame both the problem of teacher shortage and their proposed solutions, even though the districts may be geographically and demographically different. The districts most often propose two solutions to the certified teacher shortage, 1) flexibility and 2) local control over teacher certification decisions, including hiring unlicensed teachers and locally certified teachers.