Curriculum and Teaching

Source: New America

Date: 10/4/2023

What Should Our High School Students Study?

How many and what kinds of courses should students take in high school? Do today's requirements put them on a path toward success after graduation? For too long, answers to these questions have been hard to come by. But a new project, led by New America and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, is tapping into a set of state data systems to offer some answers. This brief kicks off the project, providing background on landmark movements in education that have led to the requirements that students face today and highlighting key questions to explore with new data.

Diversity – Race, Ethnicity, Class, Culture, and/or Gender

Source: Heritage Foundation

Date: 10/4/2023

Equity Elementary Extended: The Growth and Effects of "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" Staff in Public Schools

Bellwether's School Cohort Program has helped school and system leaders across the country create high-quality, actionable school improvement plans to strengthen educational practices and give more students access to high-quality learning opportunities. Our analysis, Shared Strategies: An Examination of Bellwether's School Cohort Program, provides an overview of the Cohort Program and its work with schools supported by Great Minnesota Schools, a nonprofit based in Minneapolis.

Politics, Policy, and School Practices

Source: Center for American Progress

Date: 10/4/2023

5 Ways State Governments Can Support Student Mental Health

Across the country, students, parents, and teachers face the realities of a student mental health crisis. Many look to schools for solutions, yet on their own, schools often do not have the resources necessary to provide comprehensive mental health services. This issue brief outlines how state governments can support schools in best serving their students and addressing the student mental health crisis.

School Reform and Restructuring

Source: AEI

Date: 10/4/2023

College-Simulated Learning for K–12

Key Points --Recent polling suggests that nearly half of parents would prefer a hybrid approach for their child's education, combining on-campus and at-home learning days each week. A promising model of hybrid education exists by the name of college-simulated learning. --The rise of education savings accounts and various voucher programs will allow entrepreneurs to dramatically expand this current niche model. --Beyond the private sector, conservatives can and should take steps to enable the college-simulated learning model to take root in traditional public schools and public charter schools.

Teacher Education, Quality, and Professional Development

Source: EdChoice

Date: 10/5/2023

Surfing the Pipeline: Understanding Pathways into Teaching in Alternative Models of Schooling

According to the Secretary of Education's 2022 annual report on teacher preparation, in 2018-19 around 560,000 individuals were enrolled in one of the nation's 21,510 teacher preparation programs housed at 2,178 different institutions. Around 150,000 people completed a teacher preparation program that year. Few, if any, were even taught about microschooling or hybrid schooling, let alone prepared to teach in them. In Surfing the Pipeline, author Mike McShane marshalled survey data as well as reviewed course offerings by colleges of education in some of the most choice-rich states and found few examples of courses designed to prepare teachers to teach these emerging models.

Review of Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit: Economic Analysis

Source: Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts

Reviewed by: David Knight, University of Washington

A recent report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts examines the monetary costs and benefits of the state's Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit (QEEC), a voucher policy that provides a public subsidy for families to pay for private school tuition. A review of the report, however, contradicts its claim that the policy provides a net fiscal benefit to the state budget.

David Knight of the University of Washington reviewed Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit: Economic Analysis, and he found several methodological challenges that undermine the report's conclusions and its usefulness.

Hispanic Heritage Month Resources

By: Learning for Justice

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed in the United States from September 15 through October 15. It's imperative to respect and uplift the identities of all people year-round, but we also appreciate heritage months that offer a special opportunity to celebrate-and center-diverse identities.

GreatLakesCenter.org