Think Twice Weekly Report
JUNE 9 - June 13, 2025
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.
Policy Reports
School Schedules; Four day week
Source: Annenberg EdExchange Ed Working Papers
Date: May 2025
The Four Day Gamble: The Quasi-Experimental Effects of Four-Day School Week Adoption on Teacher, Principal, and Paraprofessional Staff Turnover and District Financial Outcomes
Four-day school week (4DSW) adoption is an increasingly popular policy, particularly for rural districts that are seeking to reduce educator turnover and district expenditures. Using a staggered treatment event study design, I am among the first to estimate the quasi-experimental effects of 4DSW adoption on teacher, principal, and paraprofessional staff turnover. Further, I provide a valuable conceptual replication of prior work by examining the implications of 4DSW adoption on district expenditures and revenue. Results suggest that 4DSW adoption may not impact educator turnover. However, I do detect possible short-term reductions in per-pupil federal revenue, support service expenditures, and salary expenditures. Expenditure savings are driven by reductions in food service and transportation salary expenditures. Future research should examine changes in the total hours worked by 4DSW staff and potential heterogeneous effects by the type of 4DSW schedule implemented. Overall, district leaders who seek to decrease turnover rates should pursue alternative strategies. Those who seek to decrease expenditures may see savings actualized, however, they should carefully consider potential negative effects on student achievement and redistribute dollars saved in ways that will positively improve student outcomes.
Reports Reviewed
GLC seeks to ensure that policy briefs impacting education reform are based on sound, credible academic research. Below are reviews conducted with GLC support.
Review of Apples to Apples: The Definitive Look at School Test Scores in Milwaukee and Wisconsin for 2024
Source: Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Reviewed by: Benjamin Shear, University of Colorado Boulder
A recent report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) examines publicly available test score data from Spring 2024 in Wisconsin to investigate the relative effectiveness and cost of school choice programs.
The report claims to provide evidence that private schools participating in the state's voucher programs and charter schools yield better academic results as compared with traditional public schools, but Benjamin Shear of the University of Colorado Boulder identifies several critical limitations in the data and analyses behind those claims. NEPC today published Professor Shear's review of WILL's Apples to Apples: The Definitive Look at School Test Scores in Milwaukee and Wisconsin for 2024.
What We're Reading
Research and articles that we want to highlight for subscribers as potential resources:
Why the Trump administration grounded these middle schoolers' drones - and other STEM research
By: Kalyn Belsha, Chalkbeat
For decades, the federal government believed getting more students interested in science, math, and technology was a national security priority. But in April, the Trump administration cancelled funding for Take Flight and over 800 other STEM education projects funded by the National Science Foundation. The agency said it primarily terminated grants related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as environmental justice and combatting disinformation. It's yet another way the Trump administration has sought to undermine efforts specifically meant to help women and girls and students of color.
Federal Policy Watch: Tracking how the Trump administration, Congress, and the courts are affecting workers' quality of life.
By: Economic Policy Institute
The Economic Policy Watch has launched Federal Policy Watch, an online tool to document actions by the Trump administration, Congress, federal agencies, and the courts that affect working people. Maintained by a team of economists and lawyers, Federal Policy Watch will serve as a one-stop shop for cataloguing and analyzing legislation, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings as they unfold.
A new way to help some college students: Zero percent, no-fee loans
By: Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report
"...charitable foundations and employers in Hawaii and elsewhere are setting up pilot programs to show that pay-it-forward works, in the hope that states will adopt and expand on it. Two, Massachusetts and New Jersey, have teamed up with these private efforts in small-scale experiments, at a time when millions of people who have defaulted on their student loans face renewed enforcement measures by the federal government."
Trump and Republicans Want Taxpayers to Fund Their Pet Project: Private Schools
By: Jeff Bryant, CounterPunch
When is a “school choice” proposal not really about school choice? In the budget bill that Republicans rushed through the House on May 12, 2025, school choice is just a cover-up for tax relief for the rich.
Science of Reading Laws: Let's Begin with the Facts
By: Esther Quintero, Kayla Reist and Susan B. Neuman, Albert Shanker Institute
In the past five years almost every state has enacted legislation aimed at improving reading instruction-a wave of reform the Shanker Institute has been (and still is) following closely. In this piece Esther Quintero, Kayla Reist and Susan Neuman address four common misconceptions about legislation aimed at improving reading instruction.
About the Think Twice think tank review project
The goal of the Think Twice project is to provide the public, policymakers and the press with timely academically sound reviews of selected think tank publications. The Think Twice project is funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. The reviews that are part of this project are expert third-party reviews produced by the National Education Policy Center.
About the Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice
The Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is an independent nonprofit organization supported by education stakeholders across the country. The mission of the Great Lakes Center is to support and disseminate high quality research and review of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for us by those who advocate for education reform.
