Education and the Workplace

Source: Fordham Institute

Date: 7/15/25

The state of career-and-technical education in Ohio: An analysis of coursework, industry-recognized credentials, and work-based learning

Rigorous career-and-technical education (CTE) can give students an edge when they enter the workforce, while also benefitting employers seeking skilled workers. But just how many students in Ohio avail themselves to CTE opportunities during high school? And what does CTE look like when they participate in such programs? Conducted by Dr. Jay Plasman of The Ohio State University, this study provides an overview of recent trends in CTE participation across the Buckeye State. It includes deep-dive analyses of coursetaking patterns, industry-recognized credentials, and work-based learning.

Education and the Workplace

Source: Urban Institute

Date:7/15/25

Aligning Youth Apprenticeship and Career and Technical Education

Career and technical education (CTE) and apprenticeship share many common goals, combining workplace skills with academic knowledge. Yet, CTE and Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Programs have historically been separate systems in the United States. This began to shift a decade ago with public and philanthropic investment in youth apprenticeship programs. This report examines the available, although limited, data from emerging high-school-based (HS-based) RA programs to see how they align with and could better serve CTE programming and goals. With further alignment, CTE-based apprenticeships can become a scalable model serving the goals and students of both systems.

School Choice

Source: EdChoice

Date:7/14/25

The 2025 EdChoice Bundle Is Here: A Complete Guide to Understanding Educational Choice

At a time when school choice is expanding rapidly and public interest is high, the need for trusted, accessible information has never been greater. That's why we're proud to release the 2025 EdChoice Bundle, a curated collection of five resources designed to give policymakers, advocates, journalists, and families a full picture of educational choice in America today.

 

This year's Bundle includes updated and renamed publications, new insights from our ongoing polling and research efforts, and, for the first time, a resource entirely focused on K–12 education funding. Together, these five guides form a comprehensive, plain-language foundation for anyone seeking to better understand the programs, policies, perceptions, legal context, and fiscal impact of educational choice.

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.

Judge strikes down Ohio's $700 million school voucher program: 3 key findings

By: Laura Hancock, Cleveland.com

A judge's ruling on a challenge to Ohio's private school vouchers followed the money to conclude the program is unconstitutional.

Legal experts weigh in on the implications of the 2025 Supreme Court term for K-12 education

By: Robert Kim, Derek Black, Suzanne Eckes, Preston Green III, and Rachel M. Perera, Brookings

In this commentaty piece, experts on education law and policy were invited to share their reactions to the Supreme Court's recent decisions this term.

Preparing Rural Students for College and Beyond by Improving Access to Coursework

By: Bri Crawford, Paige Shoemaker DeMio, & Sara Partridge, Center for American Progress

"Amid efforts from the Trump administration to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education,2 privatize education,3 stop research projects that advance teaching and learning,4 and cut federal funding for public schools, 5 it is crucial that policymakers understand the impact these decisions will have on rural schools, which are already at a disadvantage with inequitable funding and limited access to rigorous educational opportunities. Rural schools' heavy reliance on state and federal funding means these attacks would create significant harm, leaving them without critical funding needed to keep their doors open and provide a quality education to the 9.8 million rural students nationwide.6"

How Trump is deploying multiple agencies to set education policy

By: Naaz Modan, K-12Dive

"The Trump administration is tapping agencies other than the U.S. Department of Education to implement its agenda in schools, sometimes circumventing typical rulemaking procedures that would allow districts months to give feedback on and prepare for policy changes before they roll out. The use of other agencies to set or enforce education policy marks a significant shift from typical K-12 policymaking, some education policy experts say."

GreatLakesCenter.org