Classroom Teaching and Learning

Source: TNTP

Date: 3/4/26

Coherence by Design​: Building Instructional Systems That Help Students Catch Up

Achievement and opportunity gaps were exacerbated by the pandemic, and students who were already furthest behind have struggled the most to recover. In schools across the country, instructional incoherence, particularly across core classrooms, intervention, and other academic supports, undermines learning acceleration and widens opportunity gaps.

 

Coherence by Design: Building Instructional Systems That Help Students Catch Up makes the case that districts can transform students' experiences and outcomes by aligning instruction, content, and goals across all learning settings. When systems create the conditions for instructional coherence, every student can engage in grade-level learning. Drawing on national data and real district practice, this publication shows what coherence looks like in classrooms and across systems, why it matters for learning acceleration, and how coherent systems of academic support help educators make better decisions that lead to improved student outcomes. Learn more about how TNTP can help you build coherent instructional systems.

School Choice

Source: WILL

Date: 3/5/26

Apples to Apples: A Look at School Sector Performance in Wisconsin for 2025

WILL's Apples to Apples report provides a rigorous, side-by-side comparison of academic performance across Wisconsin's public, charter, and private choice schools. Because student achievement is strongly shaped by factors such as income, disability status, and English learner status, simple comparisons of raw test scores can be misleading. This report addresses that problem by applying a consistent analytical framework that adjusts for key student and school characteristics, allowing for fairer comparisons across sectors. The 2026 edition uses the most recent data from Wisconsin DPI's 2024–25 report cards and reflects important methodological updates, including the addition of disability rates as a control variable directly for the first time.

School Finance and Funding

Source: Urban Institute

Date: 3/4/26

How Did School-Level Expenditures Change in the Wake of the Pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a substantial federal investment in K–12 education known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), aimed at supporting student learning during the pandemic and recovering from the loss of learning time in the wake of schooling disruptions. This report is the first assessment of how school-level spending changed in the two years after the start of the pandemic.

Review of NEPC Review: Estimating the LongRun Impact of a Universal ESA Program in Mississippi

Source: EdChoice

Reviewed by: David S. Knight, University of Washington

A recent report from EdChoice estimates the long-term economic returns of a universal education savings account (ESA) policy in Mississippi. ESA policies provide taxpayer dollars to households that decline to send their children to public schools, allowing those funds to be used for private school tuition or other educational expenses. As ESAs and similar school choice programs expand rapidly across the country, rigorous research is essential to inform sound, evidence-based policymaking.

Although the EdChoice report attempts to measure the long-term economic benefits of a universal ESA, it contains significant methodological errors, questionable assumptions, and misleading conclusions. University of Washington professor David S. Knight reviewed Estimating the Long-Run Impact of a Universal ESA Program in Mississippi and found it offers limited value for informing sound public policy.

America's teachers are working two jobs and barely getting by

By: Matt Egan, CNN

"The majority of public school teachers (71%) hold at least one side job, according to a survey released Monday by Gallup in partnership with the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Walton Family Foundation."

NLRB reinstates 2020 joint employer rule that will make it harder for workers to join unions and bargain contracts

By: Economic Policy Institute

"The 2020 rule narrowed the definition of joint employer to firms that exercise direct and immediate control over a worker's essential terms and conditions of employment. This narrow definition makes it harder for workers to bring all firms that have influence over their wages and working conditions to the bargaining table. In 2018, EPI estimated that the 2020 joint employer rule would cost workers $1.3 billion annually. "

Strategic Research and Campaigns Webinar

This is an invitation to a webinar on Thursday, April 2nd. The link is to register. "Find out how we are using a member-based, democratic approach to train rank-and-file researchers to investigate and beat the firms that control so much of our lives. Hear about how we did it with workers at Delta Air Lines, Google, Apple, Trader Joe's, The New York Times, Tyson Chicken processing plants, and more. This webinar will cover the basics of our research framework, why conducting research is vital to winning a campaign, how to form a research team, and more."

Vimeo: Federal Voucher Myths

By: Netweork for Public Education

A great resource from the Network for Public Education: "The US. Department of Education released a "fact sheet" describing the federal voucher program. But "the facts" are just not true. Watch the following video as we debunk them one by one."

GreatLakesCenter.org