The Education Policy Hotlist

ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Bellwether | One potential barrier to advancing assessment innovation is the need for states to include comparability between new and old assessments during R&D.
SC | An education committee, voted to begin including 5th-year graduation rates as an accountability metric.
AssessmentHQ | Chu urges states to seize this opportunity and invest in assessment innovation.

EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

The74 | Beth Hawkins covers an inspiring story about a young undocumented immigrant who developed a space for protection and authenticity for undocumented youth in New Mexico.

FEDERAL EDUCATION POLICY

NCES | NCES released the latest school panel data collected in March 2022. Eighty-nine percent of public schools reported that staff had expressed concerns about getting their students to meet academic standards during the 2021-22 school year.
EdSurge | Secretary Cardona penned a piece for EdSurge that covers his vision for education.

FEDERAL PANDEMIC AID

IL | Governor Pritzker signed into law the FY23 budget, including funding for youth violence prevention and mitigating public university tuition.
FL | Florida asks schools to return their unspent federal relief dollars and reapply to receive them.
Education Next | Marguerite explains how inflation will influence district spending plans.
Edunomics | Edunomics released a new state-by-state tracking tool to dive into district-level reimbursements of the ARP funds. Take a look at the map below to see if your state’s data are available yet.

INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

ExecelinEd | Jeb Bush proposes a pathway to school innovation, including an 'unbundling' of our typical school functions and mental models from the services students need most to spur reinvention.
CRPE | CRPE and Transcend released new additions to their Canopy Project database.

STUDENT WELL-BEING

NYT | The latest coverage from the NYT on chronic absenteeism.
ECS | A handful of state legislatures are taking action to secure universal free school meals for one more year.
PEW | New data reveals state efforts to help schools address teen mental health.
"At least 16 states, from Alaska to Massachusetts, plus the District of Columbia, now require K-12 teachers and other school staff to take training courses on how to recognize mental distress in students and what to do when they see it."

TEACHING AND LEARNING

AEI | Nat hosted Commissioner Schwinn and NCTQ’s Kate Walsh on new efforts to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.
Hechinger | Deb Delisle puts out an all-hands-on-deck call to the field to serve in schools.
TX | A four-day school week is gaining popularity in Texas and other states.
ECS | Ross Weiner writes about a coordinating structure to help early childhood services achieve a more cohesive portfolio.

DID YOU MISS IT?

The Region 16 Comprehensive Center released a Request for Quotes from an “individual, team, or organization to conduct a short-term research project, including interviews and outreach with experts in this field, and a literature review on Indigenous P-12 school improvement models rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing across the US.”

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Dr. Christine M. T. Pitts serves as Director of Impact and Communications 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.