Professional Development; Politics, Policy and School Practices

Source: Albert Shanker Institute

Date: Jul 2026

On the Clock: The Centrality of Time in Teacher Work

"On the Clock presents evidence that time constraints undermine effective policy implementation. Without sufficient time to learn new practices, implement them with fidelity, and collaborate with colleagues, even well-intentioned policies can lead to superficial compliance, temporary transformation, or complete failure. Using the recent wave of literacy legislation as a case study, this paper illustrates-through the hypothetical case of Ms. Smith-how even committed, skilled teachers face impossible constraints when policies add significant responsibilities without restructuring existing time demands."

School Finance and Funding

Source: Brookings Institute

Date: 7/7/26

School spending equity since 1976

Contrary to common narratives, high-poverty and predominantly non-white districts have spent more per pupil than their lower-poverty counterparts for decades. However, higher labor costs offset much of this advantage for predominantly non-white districts.

Within states, spending became modestly less progressive during the 1980s and early 1990 but was increasingly targeted to high-poverty districts after the mid-1990s.

Differences in average spending between states remains a major driver of spending inequity overall, as high-poverty and non-white districts are disproportionately located in lower-spending states.

High-poverty and predominantly non-white districts were the least protected from spending cuts during the Great Recession.

Research Issues

Source: AEI

Date: 7/9/26

Improving Federal Education Research and Development Through Other Transactions Authority

This report proposes extending OTA to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), a reform that would nurture a more competitive environment for education R&D and perhaps open the way for a new generation of education neoprimes to help modernize education research.

Politics, Policy, and School Practices

Source: Center for American Progress

Date: 7/7/26

Congressional Republicans' Big Beautiful Bill Threatens Access to Free School Meals

Students across the country could lose access to free school meals, forcing the typical family with two children to spend $1,900 to $2,200 more per year for school meals.

Education and the Workplace / Higher Education

Source: Harvard - CEPR

Date: 7/7/26

From Analysis to Action: How States Can Use the College and Career Readiness Data Infrastructure Matrix to Improve Their Data Systems

The College and Career Readiness Data Infrastructure Matrix and its accompanying visual summary tool, developed by the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, are designed to help states reflect on and strengthen their data infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of improving students' college and career outcomes. States can use the matrix to assess whether their data systems can be used to answer the practical college and career readiness questions leaders face, such as: Who has access to high-value pathways? Which pathways lead to postsecondary and workforce success? Where do students fall off track? Which programs should be scaled, redesigned, or better supported?

Curriculum and Teaching

Source: CRPE

Date: 7/7/26

A Mile Wide, an Inch Deep:The State of Civic Learning in U.S. School Districts

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, civic learning is having a moment-but new data suggest that more support is needed to move students from knowing the basics to participating in civics learning and practice within their communities. This brief is the first in a three-part series from the American School District Panel (ASDP), a research partnership between RAND and CRPE that surveys hundreds of school district leaders.

Early Childhood Education / Politics, Policy, and School Practices

Source: Heritage Foundation

Date: 6/25/26

From Washington, DC, to the States: Rethinking Head Start

Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for children from low-income families, does not prepare children for K-12 education, nor does it improve their social skills. Reports also find that Head Start centers waste money and that their operators often fail to keep children safe. New findings on the program's strict rules, along with the second Trump Administration's latest budget plans, have drawn fresh attention to the laws and policies governing Head Start. Ideally, lawmakers should end Head Start. For now, officials must cut the program's webs of red tape.

Literacy Education

Source: Center for American Progress

Date: 6/29/26

How Early Childhood and K-12 Systems Can Work Together To Support Early Literacy

Amid declining reading scores, early childhood education and K-12 systems should work together to improve reading achievement for young children.

Review of The Economic Impact from Colorado's Choice to Participate in the "Education Freedom Tax Credit" Provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Source: Common Sense Institute

Reviewed by: Joydeep Roy, Teachers College, Columbia University

The Common Sense Institute recently published a report declaring large potential benefits of the federal education tax-credit voucher program created through President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill. However, the report's claims about the improvements the program would create for Colorado are unlikely to materialize.

Joydeep Roy of Teachers College, Columbia University explains why in his review of The Economic Impact from Colorado's Choice to Participate in the "Education Freedom Tax Credit" Provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Teachers in Michigan school district can pick from 32 phrases or face legal review over classroom posters

By: Lily Altavena,Chalkbeat

"Teachers and parents in Romeo Community Schools, about 40 miles north of Detroit, said the approved phrases themselves aren't what they find offensive. But they said the list grew out of what they describe as an effort by the school board to root out signs and symbols associated with LGBTQ pride, and a policy the school board passed last year banning displays of political ideology."

What It Means That Offices of Civil Rights, Special Education Are Leaving ED

By: Frederick Hess, Education Next

A conservative take on the recent actions by USED to move Civil Rights and Special Eduction oversight offices. This is a series of questions posed by Rick Hess from the American Enterprise Institute to Lindsay Fryer, president of Lodestone DC; she's worked on both the House and Senate education committees and was the Senate's lead negotiator on the Every Student Succeeds Act. "But we don't yet know whether they're actually making the programs more effective or creating bureaucratic headaches...Watch for changes in guidance, enforcement practices, reporting requirements, and communication channels. Those are more likely to affect day-to-day operations."

Seventeen states and localities are increasing their minimum wage this July

By: Sebastian Martinez Hickey and Emma Cohn, Economic Policy Institute

"On July 1, the minimum wage will increase in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.-lifting wages for more than 361,000 workers and collectively raising their earnings by more than $221 million. In addition to these two states and D.C., 14 cities and counties are also increasing their minimum wage this summer, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco."

Big Changes to Federal Grants Are Coming: What They Could Mean for Schools

By: Mark Lieberman, EducationWeek

"New rules currently under review would add new restrictions on grant-funded efforts that clash with the current and future presidents' policy positions, empower political appointees to intervene in ongoing awards and even terminate them early, and create new paperwork burdens for recipients of federal money."

Protect Public Schools: An Advocacy Toolkit to Fight School Voucher Programs

By: Emily Young, Nadia Torney, EdTrust

"School voucher programs and their many iterations (education savings accounts, tax credits, etc.) drain funds from public schools while disproportionately harming Black and Brown students from low-income backgrounds and students with disabilities. This toolkit [from EdTrust] provides the resources and information communities need to launch effective advocacy campaigns against school voucher programs in their state."

GreatLakesCenter.org