State Policy
Podcast: Is There a Future in Standards-Based Reform?
After penning a provocative essay on education standards for FutureEd, Mike Cohen, former president…
What the Florida CRT Controversy Means for the Future of Textbooks
When the news broke about Florida rejecting math textbooks that they said could…
Legislative Tracker: Parent-Rights Bills in the States
The growing movement to give parents more control of their children’s education has produced a…
Leaning In: The New Power of Parents in Public Education
A new generation of far more activist parent organizations is springing up…
Smart State Strategies for Building Intensive Tutoring Systems
When school buildings closed nearly two years ago, students across the…
Education in the 2022 State-of-the-State Addresses
As governors take to the podium to deliver their annual state-of-the-state addresses to their legislatures,…
The Surprising Effects of Teacher Strikes on the Political Landscape
Teachers strikes often generate headlines where they’re taking place, but their influence can extend beyond…
Education in the 2021 State of the State Addresses
When governors delivered their State of the State addresses this winter — often via…
State Legislation Restricting the Teaching of Racial History
(Updated Feb. 10) The latest culture war in education is being fought over how schools…
Don’t Abandon Standardized Testing; Rethink It
This appeared as a commentary piece in The Hill. Not surprisingly, the nation’s 13,300…
Kamala Harris’s Surprising Evolution on Truancy
Much has been written about Kamala Harris’s decision as San Francisco district attorney to threaten…
With an Influx of Covid Relief Funds, States Spend on Schools
This piece and interactive maps were published in The 74. Asked by the U.S. Education…
The Challenge of Taking Attendance in Remote Learning
This piece ran as a commentary in The 74. In suburban Detroit, a teenage girl was…
How Governors Are Using Their CARES Act Education Dollars
Back in March, when the coronavirus crisis first shuttered schools and universities, Congress dedicated some…
Public Health and the Safe Reopening of Schools
This piece was originally published as a commentary in Politico. The unfolding complexity of school reopening…
A Debate on School Reopening Plays Out on Twitter
The reopening of schools and the wearing of masks have dominated the national coronavirus debate…
Tennessee’s School Voucher Law Gets What it Deserves
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a school voucher law, permitting some of the state’s students…
Inside Post-Covid Schools, Next Year and Beyond
Let’s not repeat the mistakes the education sector made in responding to the last major…
Podcast: How Tennessee is Improving Teaching & Learning
Nearly a decade ago, Tennessee embarked on an ambitious effort to strengthen teaching and learning from…
Scaling Reform: Tennessee’s Statewide Teacher Transformation
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act has placed authority for improving education squarely in states’…
How the Common Core Changed Standardized Testing
When the U.S. Department of Education awarded $350 million to two consortia of states in…