The Education Policy Hotlist
Top News in US Education Policy for the Week of March 7th
THE WEEK AHEAD
On Thursday, March 10, at 11:00 AM CT, Tennessee Score is hosting a conversation with district leaders about their approaches to spending education recovery funds. I’ll be sharing the latest national spending trends, as well. Register for this event here.
On Tuesday, March 15, at 2:00 PM ET, FutureEd is hosting a webinar on local and national perspectives about COVID-relief aid. The panel will include Nick Simmons, special assistant to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. Register for this event here.
On Wednesday, March 23, at 3:00 PM ET, ECS and NGA discuss trends among the state of the state addresses and what themes are emerging as governor priorities this year. Register for this event here.
COVID-19 IN SCHOOLS
WaPo | The majority of children, have had COVID-19.
K12Dive | The CDC now provides flexibility for school districts in areas with low community transmission to remove their universal masking requirements. Secretary Cardona says that US schools are entering “a new recovery phase.”
CALDER | Students offered more virtual learning experienced higher attendance rates but less academic growth than students participating in more face-to-face instruction.
NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY
NCES | IES released the latest findings from the NCES pulse panel collected through the NAEP pre-assessment activities.
“For public schools who reported having either a teaching or staff vacancy, over 50 percent of vacancies were due to resignation.”
EduRecoveryHub | The Education Recovery Hub added at least 40 new promising practices to their database. Here is one of my favorites from Utah.
C4C | This week Chiefs for Change released a resource for state and local leaders about how to tell the story of their federal pandemic relief fund plans.
K12Dive | The National Assessment Governing Board met last week to discuss making their data more useful and how to include diagnostic reporting around equity issues.
K12DIVE | Biden committed to funding more counselors and psychologists, but there may be supply and pathway challenges for district leaders on the ground.
STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATION POLICY
WV | A new West Virginia bill expands some state regulations to allow more micro-school options.
AL | Companion bills in the Alabama legislature will reduce teaching certificate time and include for-profit teacher preparation operators.
OR | Oregon legislators are investing $150 million into summer learning. Local plans for summer programming are not fully baked yet.
NM | The New Mexico governor signed four new bills to fund education and increase teacher salaries.
NY | NYC public schools increased student retention rates during the pandemic.
NC | The NC State Board of Education heard from the state’s Office of Learning Recovery and SAS about a new analysis of school growth and value-added teacher measures.
EQUITY IN SCHOOLS
Brookings | The number of children whose education has been disrupted by disaster or displacement is 128 million.
NYT | Texans are now investigating parents of transgender children following Gov Abbott’s latest order that parents providing medication to transgender children may be investigated for child abuse.
The74 | Biden’s supreme court nominee will face pressure over critical education-related cases in the coming years.
SUPPORTING TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
LPI | DiNapoli outlines the federal mechanisms for improving the teacher workforce, including investing in teacher preparation reform and innovation.
Child Trends | Most communities in the US lack accessible and equitable mental health services. State policymakers can act to make sure services for youth are prioritized.
Brookings | Hear from four finalists in AASA’s annual superintendent competition about their experiences with staffing shortages during COVID-19.
GA | A Georgia bill will provide bonuses for university, K12, and early childhood educators ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
K12Dive | Some schools are taking new approaches to address students’ socio-emotional development.
ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Brookings | NWEA researchers unpack how schools can respond to the unfinished learning from school closures.
“Clearly, however, there’s work to do. School districts and states make important decisions about which interventions and strategies to implement to mitigate the learning declines during the last two years.”
AP News | Schools are becoming more intentional about eliminating bias from grading systems, including what it means to use extra credit.
Medium | Rick Hess gives us a thought piece on the challenges facing testing and accountability advocates.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
NYC Early Childhood Research Network | An excellent overview of alternative assessment's role in early childhood education.
Brookings | A new study from Tennessee revealed that students are attending the state preschool program performed worse on academic measures in the long run. This critical conversation raises the need for better early childhood education quality measures.
“If the programs we have created do not produce the desired effects, the findings should not be dismissed simply because they were unanticipated and unwelcome. Rather, they should stimulate creative research into both policies and practices with the potential to have the desired effects.”
DID YOU MISS IT?
The Center on Reinventing Public Education released a series of pandemic pods reports. This is a significant moment for us to learn from pandemic experimentation to inform future school innovation.
Dr. Christine M. T. Pitts serves as Resident Policy Fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, overseeing policy leadership for research, advocacy, and government relations. A former teacher and administrator, she previously led research and evaluation for Portland Public Schools. She also served as Policy Advisor at NWEA, where she oversaw state and federal policy to advance equity and innovation in educational assessment. Follow her on Twitter @cmtpitts.