The Education Policy Hotlist
Top News in US Education Policy for the Week of October 24th
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, October 25, 2022, at 3:00 PM EST, New America is hosting a webinar titled “A Pivotal Year: Kindergarten’s Important Role in Students’ Education.” Register here.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 10:00 AM EST, join the Collaborative for Student Success and the Hill for a live and virtual event. More details are here.
Monday, October 24, 2022, The National Summer Learning Association kicks off the Summer Changes Everything conference in Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, NASBE is hosting the Annual Conference for state board members in Phoenix, AZ.
NAEP 2022
FutureEd released a comparison of state summative and NAEP results by state [FutureEd].
Rotherham makes the case that schools need to be more honest with parents so there is a common understanding of the scale of the problem that students face [The74].
Fourth-grade reading trends reveal that we’ve lost nearly 30 years of reading progress. Andrew Ho shared a series of Tweet threads about best interpreting NAEP results without drawing unfair conclusions [Andrew Ho].
Dr. Siddiqi provides actionable policy recommendations to address NAEP results [The Hunt Institute].
STUDENT WELL-BEING
A New York report finds that Black students are 1.8 to 5.8 times more likely to be suspended than white students [Politico].
Currently, in New Jersey, students seeking SNAP benefits are obligated to participate in a work-study program or work off-campus at least 20 hours per week, this policy may go away soon [NJ].
New data reveals how safe LGBTQ+ students feel in school [The74].
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
EdSource collected individual summative test results from ten large districts showing declines across most students and some variations among subgroups [EdSource].
Remote learning decreased achievement for many students across the country [AP].
PANDEMIC RELIEF SPENDING
In Russellville, Alabama, school leaders use COVID relief money to hire local Spanish-speaking staff as ELL teachers [AL].
Learn how ESSER III funds can be used for early childhood education [New America].
SCHOOL BOARDS
Only 38% of school board members plan to run for reelection, according to a new survey from School Board Partners [SBP].
North Dakota is investing $500,000 in federal COVID relief funds to create a comprehensive school board training institute, which includes two years of ongoing coaching for participating board members [EduRecoveryHub].
ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE
Attendance data released by the federal government likely underreported chronic absenteeism rates [The74].
SCHOOL LEADERS
The Education Policy Innovation Center released a policy brief summarizing perspectives from school and district leaders during the pandemic [EPIC].
“Many leaders connected successes during the COVID-19 pandemic to the presence of dedicated staff coming into the crisis. One district administrator shared that “the best thing” about the district were ‘the people who work in our school system.’”
FEDERAL EDUCATION POLICY
The US Department of Education is hosting a new webinar series to highlight strategies and best practices to improve learning outcomes for students, especially in literacy and mathematics [USED].
COVID-19 IN SCHOOLS
A CDC advisory committee approved adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the recommended immunizations list for children and adolescents [COVID-19].
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is setting a new goal “to help students succeed in school and land well-paying jobs when they graduate, given research that shows the connection between strong math skills and career success” [The74].
ICYMI
Petrilli warns about the political implications of state-by-state NAEP data release [The74].
“The big state-by-state story, of course, is going to be about the pandemic and the resulting school shutdowns.”
Dr. Christine M. T. Pitts serves as Director of Impact and Communications at the Center on Reinventing ic Education, overseeing policy leadership and external affairs. A teacher and researcher by training, she previously led research and evaluation for Portland Public Schools and served as Policy Advisor at NWEA, overseeing state and federal policy to advance equity and innovation in educational assessment. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @cmtpitts.