Think Twice Weekly Report

JANuARY 31, 2026 - FEBRUARY 6, 2026

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


4 day work week; Teacher Retention

Source: The Annenberg Institute
Date: Dec 2025
The Effect of Four-Day School Week Adoption on Teacher Retention and Sorting

As teacher shortages worsen across the U.S., many school districts have implemented a unique solution to attract and retain effective teachers: switching from the traditional five-day school week to a four-day school week (4DSW). I use 17 years of teacher-level employment data from Texas in a difference-in-differences analysis to examine whether the 4DSW truly affects teacher retention and sorting across districts. I also introduce Google's PageRank algorithm as a revealed preference measure of school district attractiveness, ranking districts based on how teachers change workplaces over time in a network analysis. I find that the 4DSW decreases turnover by 2.7 percentage points (p.p.). This effect drives a 5.2 percentile increase in the statewide attractiveness rank of adopting districts, from the 39th to the 44th percentile. Districts with a four-day week also see a 5.1 p.p. increase in the share of entering teachers coming from other districts, suggesting substitution away from first-time teachers and those from outside the Texas public school system during hiring. However, the 4DSW causes no change in measures of PageRank that capture attractiveness to teachers in other districts, and has no effect on the experience or education levels of incoming cohorts of teachers.

Teacher Compensation, Teacher Retention, Bargaining, Higher Education

Source: The Annenberg Institute
Date: June 2025
No Pay? No Way! Teacher Compensation Reforms and the Market for Graduate Degrees

A new study by Stanford University researcher Thomas Dee presents compelling evidence that the escalated immigration enforcement efforts in early 2025 have increased student absenteeism in communities with large immigrant populations.

Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Education

Source: CRPE
Date: December 2025
Think Forward: Building a Coherent Approach to AI in Education

Graduate degrees in education provide financial stability for many institutions, yet reformers have sought to decouple teacher pay from these credentials. Without a wage premium, educators may skip advanced study, reducing enrollment at nearby universities. Using a natural experiment in Tennessee, we show that eliminating a graduate degree wage premium for teachers led to a 27% (140 student) enrollment decline in education fields alone, with larger effects at non-researchintensive universities. This drop subsequently reduced institutional tuition revenue and related state funding. We discuss implications for universities, the teacher pipeline, and the broader relationship between state higher education and K-12 policy.

Accountability and Testing

Source: Pioneer Institute
Date: 2/5/26
Post-MCAS Assessments and Accountability in Massachusetts

In late 2024, the citizens of Massachusetts voted in favor of Question 2, which prohibits the continuation of the MCAS exam graduation requirement. Technically, however, it changes only one paragraph of state law, leaving other sections in apparent contradiction. The Massachusetts legislature must resolve the ambiguity. ... It is important that key quality control measures be independent of and external to the entities being evaluated. It is just as important that the education system offer multiple curricular options with multiple targets for success. Students vary in ambition, comportment, organization, and aptitude, and those differences widen over time during their school years. An efficient education system offers meaningful, challenging options of interest to all.

Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Education

Source: Center for American Progress
Date: 2/4/26
10 Policy Recommendations To Address Cellphone Use in Schools

This report reviews the current state of cellphone use in schools and offers recommendations for federal and state policymakers to better support students' academic performance and mental well-being.

Gender Issues

Source: Annenberg Institute
Date: 2/3/26
Gender Gaps in the Early Grades: Questioning the Narrative that Schools are Poorly Suited to Young Boys

A growing number of scholars and educational leaders have raised concerns that the mismatch between an increasingly academic focus in the early grades and boys' maturity at school entry is disadvantaging young boys in school. In this study, we use a unique dataset of ten million students to trace the development of math and reading gender gaps from kindergarten to fifth grade for nine cohorts of students. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, girls entered kindergarten with advantages in both subjects, but their initial advantage in math disappeared in recent years. Boys quickly surpassed girls in math during elementary school, a trend that has been stable over the past two decades. In contrast, girls maintained a steady advantage in reading from school entry through fifth grade. These findings suggest that while boys are not disadvantaged in early grades, gendered patterns of achievement persist and require targeted support. Educators should address boys' reading challenges and potential negative stereotypes facing girls in math to foster equitable learning environments for all students.

Rural Education

Source: Bellwether
Date: 2/3/26
Designed for Distance: How State K-12 Finance Systems Can Support Rural Districts

In November 2025, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) convened a diverse group of policymakers, system leaders, educators, researchers, funders, and technology experts for the Think Forward: Learning with AI Forum in New Mexico. At a moment when rapid advances in artificial intelligence are colliding with longstanding inequities and structural challenges in K-12 education, participants came together to grapple with a shared question: how can education lead, rather than react to, AI-driven change? Through candid discussions and working sessions, the group examined where current AI efforts are falling short and what it would take to build a more coherent, human-centered approach to teaching and learning in an uncertain future. This white paper is the result of those discussions.

School Choice

Source: Ed Choice
Date: 2/3/26
The ABCs of School Choice

As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of this seminal publication, you may notice that this year's book looks a bit lighter than normal, but don't worry! It still includes all the information you're accustomed to reading and more. In fact, we've streamlined each program page to focus on the most critical information, while keeping all the key details intact. We've also brought back our universal maps (now in their second year) so you can quickly see which states meet the high bar of universal eligibility, options, and funding.

New this year, we've included an overview of the federal tax credit program, which provides yet another avenue for families to access the education of their choosing. The biggest change is reorganizing the book by state, rather than program type, so you can more easily find the information you need most.

This slimmer, more digestible edition continues to evaluate every program against the three pillars of universality: who is eligible, how broadly families can use their funds, and how those programs are funded. These benchmarks, pioneered by Milton Friedman and now EdChoice, help policymakers, parents, and stakeholders assess what's working and what still needs improvement.

School Reform and Restructuring

Source: Hoover Institute
Date: 2/2/26
Can't Get There from Here: A Framework for the Start, Spread, and Scale of Bottom-Up Innovation in Education

The education ecosystem does not currently create an environment conducive to innovation for those on the front lines of teaching and learning. This paper presents a framework for understanding what helps and hinders the growth of local innovation at all stages of development-from idea creation to eventual scaling and sustainability. Ultimately, only a paradigm shift will foster a rich, generative space for innovation in education.

Teacher Education, Quality, and Professional Development

Source: ExcelinEd
Date: 2/2/26
Educator Preparation Program Literacy Policy Playbook

Postsecondary schools across the country, especially research universities, are facing large federal funding cuts. Meanwhile, to help relieve its tightening budget, Colorado's government is expected to diminish the share of state spending it allocates to higher education. These circumstances will force schools to either raise revenue from other sources, like tuition, or cut costs; diminished state support, however, alongside negligible enrollment growth over the last two decades, renders the former mostly impractical.

 

Fortunately, there is evidence that at least some of Colorado's schools can overcome these threats by cutting administrative costs or duplicative services. Dual-mission institutions, which combine the functions of a four-year university and a community college, are growing in number in other states and have proven effective at managing costs by avoiding redundant spending. Simpler solutions may also be available in cases like that of the Auraria Campus, whose central administrative body has raised its spending far faster than its tenant institutions have raised their spending on education.

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 Redrawing the Lines: How Purposeful School System Redistricting Can Increase Funding Fairness and Decrease Segregation

Source: New America
Reviewed by: Christopher Cleveland and Joshua Almes of Brown University

A recent New America report argues that states can advance educational equity by redrawing school district boundaries to reduce within-state fiscal and demographic disparities. While the analysis has some methodological limitations, it offers policymakers a useful framework for understanding how existing district lines shape unequal access to resources.

Christopher Cleveland and Joshua Almes of Brown University reviewed Redrawing the Lines: How Purposeful School System Redistricting Can Increase Funding Fairness and Decrease Segregation. Their review assesses how well the report meets its goals, and it identifies areas where additional research could strengthen the discussion.



What We're Reading


Research and articles that we want to highlight for subscribers as potential resources:



Building Worker Power When Federal Labor Laws Are Under Attack

By: Economic Policy Institute

The Economic Policy Institute is holding a webinar on Thursday, Feb 19 that you may find helpful to your work: "Join our discussion on Thursday, February 19, 2026, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET with policy experts, organizers, and state advocates from EPI's Economic Analysis and Research Network on building worker power in the states when federal labor laws are under attack."


National Coalition of Public Education Advocates Responds to Senate Education Hearing, Urges Governors to Block Federal School Voucher Tax Scheme

By: Wisconsin Public Education Network

More than 150 education organizations warn that a tax credit would divert public dollars to private schools and undermine public education nationwide


Doctor on How Screen Time Hurts Kids' Cognitive Development

By: C-SPAN

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a former teacher and now cognitive neuroscientist testified in Congress about the impact of screen time on cognitive development. This is a 5 minute watch that is well worth your time.


As School Choice Goes Universal, What New Research Is Showing

By: Matthew Stone & Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, EdWeek

"The number of students using public funds to enroll in private school or pay for home-school expenses has been growing rapidly following a wave of state policies that have launched new private school choice programs or expanded existing ones." This article includes an embedded state by state map.