Think Twice Weekly Report
FEBRUARY 7, 2026 - FEBRUARY 13, 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
Math Education
Source: Bellwether
Date: 2/10/26
Solving for X: A Primer on the Research, Practices, and Policies That Shape Math Education
Building on the Science of Reading and other literacy reform momentum, there is a growing urgency to implement similar solutions to improve math learning for students across the country. It requires school leaders, practitioners, and policymakers to unpack math content students of all ages should learn, how best to teach that content, and what the most effective learning pathways are for students with diverse needs and aspirations amid a stark learning reality.
This stocktaking report aims to build a shared, nuanced fact base on the current state of math research, practice, and policy to inform work to improve math education across the country.
Reading Education
Source: Fordham Insitute
Date: 2/11/26
Wonkathon 2025 Anthology
The science of reading has sparked sweeping policy change-but results are not guaranteed. In Fordham's 2025 Wonkathon, 48 submissions explored how states, districts, and schools can move from laws on the books to real literacy gains in classrooms. The topic is so important and the response was so great, that we created an anthology of all the essays, organized across ten key themes.
School Choice
Source: Ed Choice
Date: 2/13/26
The 2026 EdChoice Friedman Index
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 Finance and Funding
Source: Manhattan Institute
Date: 2/12/26
If You Can't Measure It, Can You Improve It?
This report presents a new, easily understood, framework-Educational Return on Investment (EROI)-which can be used to evaluate which primary and secondary educational options offer the public, students, and other stakeholders the best return on their K–12 educational investment. Using the EROI framework, this report evaluates several existing K–12 systems in New York State, and it offers recommendations as to how this framework should be broadly and deeply deployed-and what is needed to do so.
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:
Special Education Identification: What We Learned from the Unlocking Potential Data Sprint
By: Ashley Jochim, CRPE
"Using longitudinal data on special education revenue from the Census Bureau, Kaput shows that high-spending states do not reliably identify more students for special education compared to low-spending states."
The Fear is Everywhere: U.S. High School Principals Report Widespread Effects of Immigration Enforcement
By: John Rogers and Joseph Kahne with the Democracy and Education Research Team
In a recent report published by UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, NEPC Fellow John Rogers and his co-authors report that nearly two out of three surveyed U.S. principals (64%) said that "students from immi-grant families missed school due to policies or political rhetoric related to immigrants." More than half (58%) reported that parents or guardians of immigrant students had suddenly left the community midway through the 2024-25 school year. And 70% said that "[s]tudents from immigrant families have expressed concerns about their well-being or the well-being of their families due to policies or political rhetoric related to immigrants.
Teacher Residencies in Texas: Supporting Successful Implementation
By: Steve Wojcikiewicz Kimberlee Ralph Jon Snyder Jennifer A. Bland Marjorie Wechsler, Learning Policy Institute
"To address high attrition, Texas is one of a growing number of states investing in teacher residency programs-a research-based strategy designed to strengthen preparation, improve retention, and provide a sustainable solution to persistent teacher shortages."
The Education Department's efforts to fire staff cost over $28 million, watchdog says
By: Cory Turner, NPR
"A new report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) focused specifically on the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which investigates complaints of discrimination in schools based on students' sex, race, national origin, disability and more."
The history of Black History Month, one hundred years in
By: Gene Demby , B.A. Parker, NPR
"In so many spaces, celebrating Black History History month means learning a few fun facts about famous African Americans. But Black History Month was designed to be much more radical - it was an opportunity for Black communities to learn about the aspects of their history that had been downplayed, diminished, or even actively suppressed. We talk to historian Jarvis Givens about his new book, "I'll Make Me A World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month", and how studying and preserving Black history has changed (or not) over the years."
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.
