The Think Twice Weekly Report compiles public education-related policy reports, research and articles of interest to policymakers, educators and stakeholders. This list is not exhaustive but is meant to highlight recent reports that may be used to support or undermine the work of our subscribers in supporting public schools. We encourage you to take a moment to scan these reports and determine if they may be used by policy makers to assist or erode your mission.
The number of educational opportunities that children accrue at home, in early education and care, at school, in afterschool programs, and in their communities as they grow up are strongly linked to their educational attainment and earnings in early adulthood, according to new research. The results indicate that the large opportunity gaps between low- and high-income households from birth through the end of high school largely explain differences in educational and income achievement between students from different backgrounds.
Since 2015, changes in the curriculum and the MCAS have made it more difficult to track student progress. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth has not participated in either international exam since that time, and we cannot evaluate how the changes affected the performance of Massachusetts students relative to students overseas. Rejoining one or both international exams would provide a useful measuring stick for Massachusetts schools, and it could also help set a high goal as we strive to be among the best in the world. Regular assessment on the MCAS played a part in improving Massachusetts schools, and international exams could serve the same purpose by providing feedback on the quality and rigor of the MCAS and curriculum.
New federal data on K-12 special education expenditures from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) enables us to begin to understand the proportional roles of federal, state, and local funds in paying for special education services within and across states. For fiscal year (FY) 2020, sufficient data were available for 5,694 districts in 24 states, serving nearly 3 million students with disabilities, or 41% nationally.
GLC seeks to ensure that policy briefs impacting education reform are based on sound, credible academic research. Below are reviews conducted with GLC support.
A recent Fordham Institute report contends that the state's charter schools have outperformed traditional public schools and implies that they merit continued or expanded state investment.
These flaws are detailed in a review of Ohio Charter Schools After the Pandemic: Are Their Students Still Learning More Than They Would in District Schools? University of Kansas professor Bryan Mann finds that the report's evidence does not match its claims.
Research and articles that we want to highlight for subscribers as potential resources:
In a Gallup study across a number of industries, employees who received high-quality recognition on the job were 45% less likely to have left that job between 2022 and 2024.
The Network for Public Education (NPE) has launched the National Center for Charter School Accountability “to provide research and recommendations on the lack of charter school transparency and accountability to guide needed reform. The Center includes a portal to lodge concerns and complaints, an interactive national map that rates state charter school laws which provides the number of charter schools open in the state in 2022-2023 and the number of schools that have closed, and a searchable database of charter school issues in the press.
The Network for Public Education (NPE) has launched the National Center for Charter School Accountability “to provide research and recommendations on the lack of charter school transparency and accountability to guide needed reform. The Center includes a portal to lodge concerns and complaints, an interactive national map that rates state charter school laws which provides the number of charter schools open in the state in 2022-2023 and the number of schools that have closed, and a searchable database of charter school issues in the press.
This is a two-part interview with Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University about his new book The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.
"The findings underscore the need to invest more in expanding the number of opportunities low-income children access across the childhood and adolescent years... This includes enrolling more eligible children in programs like federally-funded Early Head Start and Head Start, and investing more in “community school” models, which provide broad support and enrichment opportunities for students."