Speeding Ahead: COVID-19 School Closures and Distance Learning

By Nicholas Munyan-Penney In the wake of school closures across the country, state officials are scrambling to help districts to stem the dramatic loss of learning time for students by providing guidance and support as they embark on an effort to deliver long-term remote instruction. When states are able to conduct needs assessments and present

CARES Act Policy Summary

Key Provisions of CARES Act for K-16 Education $30.75 billion Education Stabilization Fund $14 billion – Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund $13.2 billion – Elementary and Secondary Education Relief Fund $3 billion – Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund $307.5 million – States with the highest Coronavirus burden $153.75 million – Bureau of Indian Education  $153.75 –

Sanders v. Biden on Higher Ed

by Michael Dannenberg Below is our 30,000 feet high view of the main difference between Senator Sanders and Vice President Biden’s 2020 Presidential campaign higher education plans. — Editor’s Note: Late breaking **UPDATE** at the conclusion of this piece. — The trade publication Inside Higher Ed already has done fine job summarizing the details of the

ERN Statement on COVID-19

Education Reform Now National President Shavar Jeffries released the following statement in response to COVID-19, the Novel Coronavirus, response: “Across our nation, we are facing unprecedented circumstances—ones that not only jeopardize the health and well-being of ourselves, our children and our families, but our financial stability. While the virus does not discriminate by race/ethnicity or

Innovative Assessment Pilot: North Carolina’s Personalized Assessment Tool

Read the full report here. North Carolina was was the fourth state approved to participate in the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) pilot program under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Districts participating in the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT) are free of federal requirements that the same summative assessments be administered in math

Statement on Bloomberg Higher Ed Plan

Michael Dannenberg, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Policy at Education Reform Now and a longtime senior Democratic advisor and national expert on higher education policy, released the following statement on Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s higher education plan:   “Mike Bloomberg’s higher education plan combines both resources and rigor to promote racial justice and economic mobility for historically underserved students,

The Truth Behind the Trump Education Agenda and How It’s Hurting Students

By Charles Barone For the past three years, those opposed to public school choice in general, and public charter schools in particular, have tried to tie Democrats who support public school options to President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The theory goes that public charter schools are part of a far-right agenda to

On HEA, Congress Needs a More Ambitious Agenda to Transform and Diversify the Teaching Force

By Charles Barone and Dana Laurens It’s an open inside-the-Beltway secret that the Committees of jurisdiction in both the House and Senate want to pass a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act before the end of the year. The House passed a bill out of Committee in 2019 that most expect to come to the

Financial Planners Won’t Fix the Cost of College

By: James Murphy Financial planners who equate the cost of college with published prices at highly selective private universities and believe that any student debt is bad or argue that college is a bad investment are wrong. Dangerously wrong.     This opinion can be particularly harmful to first-generation and low-income students who, already facing steep challenges

Innovative Assessment Pilot: New Hampshire’s Performance Assessment for Competency Education

Read the full report here. In 2014, New Hampshire was the first state to be granted an innovative assessment waiver from the U.S. Department of Education, and in 2018 was the second state-approved to participate in the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) pilot program under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Districts participating in New