issue: Education

Not a Moment Too Soon: Newsom Mandates Teacher Vaccines

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

It is good to see a pragmatic Democrat following the data. The percentage of total COVID-19 cases represented by children is growing: 14.3% in the week ended Aug. 5, compared with less than 2% for most of 2020. Until the vaccine is available to children under 12, more states should follow California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new requirement that all public school teachers to get fully vaccinated or face frequent testing. The option to remain “unvaccinated but frequently tested” should be limited to school staff with valid medical exemptions. Unvaccinated adults working in public schools, paid with public dollars, have no place contributing to the current public health crisis caused by a rampant variant that not only puts kids in harm’s way, but continues to mutate in the unvaccinated.

Children — even the vast majority who have remained physically healthy — have suffered too much in this this pandemic. With schools shuttered for significant periods spanning two school years, they have been isolated from teachers, friends, and other role models. They have been barred from sports and extracurricular activities. Some have missed meals usually provided by their school. Many have been unsupervised in households where parents are required to work in person; they have suffered through COVID-caused deaths of older relatives, and so on. We may not know the full extent of the trauma for years.

The safest and healthiest place for students to be is in school — even before academics are taken into consideration. Learning loss is real — and it exacerbates existing inequities in our public education systems. Using the imperfect but best data available, McKinsey & Company translated 2021’s spring in-school test scores of more than 1.6 million elementary school students across 40 states into “months of lost learning.”  It found, compared to similar students in previous years, students on average were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading. Students in majority-Black and predominantly low-income schools were even further behind their higher-income and suburban peers, as were younger students. When considering the huge strides first and second graders usually make in learning to read, and the importance of literacy to future school work, recent reports putting those 2021 students’ average two grade levels or more behind schedule are alarming.

Newsom — unlike a handful of Republican governors who are kicking and screaming in opposition to common sense safety measures — recognizes our urgent national imperative: Ensuring our public schools open, remain open, and operate as safely as possible this fall. His decision follows the Biden administration and Congress’ leadership on this enormous task. They have sent almost $200 billion in aid to the nation’s public schools to help them rise to the challenge. Those dollars flow through the states before reaching districts and schools. The stakes are far too high to leave districts free to take the money, but ignore science and common sense.

We applaud California’s governor for being the adult in his state on this issue. The other 49 should waste no time following suit.

Tressa Pankovits is Co-Director of Reinventing America’s Schools Project at Progressive Policy Institute.

America’s Public Schools Must Open in the Fall — Safely

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

As the delta variant drives up infection rates in every state in the nation, Americans face an urgent national imperative: Making sure our public schools open and operate safely this fall. We can’t allow our children to suffer another round of large-scale learning losses as they did the previous two school years.

Learning loss is real — and it exacerbates existing inequities in our public education systems. Using the imperfect but best data available, McKinsey & Company translated 2021’s spring in-school test scores of more than 1.6 million elementary school students across 40 states into “months of lost learning.” It found, compared to similar students in previous years, students on average were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading. Students in majority-Black and predominantly low-income schools were even further behind their higher-income and suburban peers, as were younger students. When considering the huge strides first and second graders usually make in learning to read, and the importance of literacy to future school work, recent reports putting those 2021 students’ average two grade levels or more behind schedule are alarming.

To avoid compounding such losses, schools must safely reopen their classrooms for in-person instruction for students of all ages. At the onset of the pandemic, in their haste to slow the spread of the virus, state and local governments too frequently closed public schools for prolonged periods as a first resort, rather than as a last measure. The second back-to-school under COVID must be different.

Read the full post here.

We Got Next… The Future of School Choice

Join us on Wednesday, August 4th at 1:00 PM EST for a one-hour Zoom webinar with the leaders who will shape the next chapter in the fight for educational equity in America. In a follow-up to our celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the passage of the first charter school law in America, we look forward 30 years. What will America’s public school system look like in 2050? What should we be fighting for? Who should be at the table driving change? Tune in to learn from experts who are taking steps to shape the future of Black & Brown students in America.

The webinar is the first in a series co-sponsored by Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project and The 74.

Panelists will include:

  • Alisha Thomas Morgan, Former State Representative, Georgia
  • Dr. Charles Cole, Founder, Energy Convertors
  • Naomi Shelton, CEO, National Charter Collaborative
  • Jada Bolar, Executive Producer, National Parents Union
  • Patrick Jones, Senior Vice President, The Mind Trust

 

Moderator: Curtis Valentine, Co-Director of Reinventing America’s Schools Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.

Join us for an engaging talk on what these experts have learned, and get their advice for other public schools and districts.

Save the date for our important conversation on Wednesday, August 4th at 1:00 PM EST. 

Register Here.

PPI Celebrates 30th Anniversary of First Charter Schools Legislation, Featuring a Special Video Message from President Bill Clinton

Posted on by dcadmin

This week, the Progressive Policy Institute and the Reinventing America’s Schools Project hosted a webinar celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first charter school legislation. The event featured a panel of charter school advocates, experts, and trailblazers. Former President Bill Clinton, a longtime advocate of charters, provided a special video message for the event.

The panel discussed the most pressing issues facing charter schools, including what’s next for charter schools in America. The event was co-hosted by The 74 Million.

“Thank you to President Clinton for his leadership in supporting charter schools, and our esteemed panel of leaders and trailblazers for working to provide opportunities to generations of students. It’s because of these advocates that we can celebrate 30 years of charter schools, and look forward to many more years to come,” said Tressa Pankovits, Co-Director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project.

“Our panel discussion centered on educational equity because providing high quality school options to families of color, especially in America’s urban centers, is an enduring element of the legacy of the past 30 years,” continued Pankovits.

Watch the event livestream here:

 

The event was moderated by Tressa Pankovits, Co-Director of Reinventing America’s Schools project, and opening remarks were provided by PPI President Will Marshall. The Panelists for this event included:

Myrna Castrejón, President, California Charter Schools Association

Karega Rausch, President & CEO, NACSA

Ember Reichgott Junge, Former Minnesota State Senator

Paul G. Vallas, Founder, Vallas Group

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.

The Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) project inspires a 21st century model of public education geared to the knowledge economy. One model, charter schools, are showing the way by providing autonomy for schools, accountability for results, and parental choice among schools tailored to the diverse learning styles of children. The project is co-led by Curtis Valentine and Tressa Pankovits. Learn more about RAS here.

Follow the Progressive Policy Institute.

Follow the Reinventing America’s Schools Project.

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PPI Statement on David Osborne’s Retirement from the Reinventing America’s Schools Project

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Famed “Reinventing Government” author led PPI’s school reform work

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today announced the retirement of David Osborne, who has directed PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) project since 2014.

“David Osborne has long been one of America’s preeminent thinkers about how to modernize and strengthen progressive governance,” said PPI President Will Marshall. “Under his visionary leadership, PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project has documented the emergence of a new way of organizing public education in the 21st Century.”

As reported in his seminal 2017 book, “Reinventing America’s Schools,” the new model has evolved from the most successful public charter and “innovation” schools that are delivering high-quality learning to children in disadvantaged and minority communities in New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Denver and other U.S. cities. Its hallmarks are school autonomy, customized rather than standardized learning programs, and strong public accountability for results.

Osborne is the author or co-author of many influential books, notably “Reinventing Government”, the 1992 best-seller that inspired the Clinton-Gore administration’s “rego” initiative to create higher performing public agencies.

“I’ve known David since the early 1990s, when we worked together to craft new themes and ideas that defined the “New Democrat” movement of progressive policy, “ said Marshall. “David has a rare talent for combining analytical rigor with compelling story-telling that enables him to reach a wider audience.”

David Osborne provided the following statement on his retirement from the Reinventing America’s Schools project:

“I’m going to miss my colleagues at the Progressive Policy Institute, but I plan to stay involved even as I retire. I will chair our Advisory Council, I’m sure I will continue to write, if less often, and I will continue to work on a documentary on New Orleans’ remarkable education reforms of the past 15 years, which produced the fastest improvement in the nation for a decade. But as I turn 70, I will not miss the eight-hour days at the computer.

“I want to thank PPI President Will Marshall for all his support over the years. Though I only started working at PPI in 2014, our collaboration goes back more than 30 years, and it has been not only a joy but a source of inspiration. I like to think we have nudged the country in the right direction.

“I also want to thank my Reinventing America’s Schools team, which has done yeoman’s work these past years. I have full confidence that they will continue their great work, and I promise to be there to help when needed. Finally, I am deeply grateful to our two largest funders, the Walton Family Foundation and The City Fund. They have done so much over the years to create real opportunity for low-income children, and without them we would never have been able to get this project off the ground.”

Following David’s June 1 retirement, the Reinventing America’s Schools Project will be co-led by Curtis Valentine and Tressa Pankovits. They will be supported by Veronica Goodman, who is adding a new focus on career pathways and school-to-work transitions, as well as Sloane Hurst. Will Marshall will continue to serve in an advisory role.

If you would like to send David your well wishes for his retirement, please send an email by clicking here. You can also tweet out your message and tag @RAS_Education.

About PPI:

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.

Follow the Progressive Policy Institute.

Follow the Reinventing America’s Schools Project.

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LA Times: How many high school students will come back in the fall? Dismal return rate raises alarms

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

By Howard Blume, LA Times Staff Writer

Only 7% of high school students and 12% of middle school students have returned to reopened campuses in the Los Angeles school district, sounding alarms about what these figures portend for next fall and highlighting the need for intense intervention when more traditional in-person schooling resumes.

As the school year winds down with the vast majority of students at home online, an uncertain summer and fall back-to-school future is emerging: How soon will families be ready to return children to campus? Will many demand an online option? Will students attend summer school to stem learning loss?

For state Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), the return data denote a crisis.

“It’s tragic for the future of those students and tragic for the future of California,” said O’Donnell, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee. “It means students are not receiving in-classroom instruction — where they learn best. What does this mean for the fall?”

Although officials insist they will act aggressively to help students, the low return rate could intensify pressure on the school district.

Even after L.A. Unified instituted some of the most extensive safety measures in the nation, it was not enough for many families still fearful of the pandemic. Others, especially high school students, rejected the strict limitations on movement, instruction, enrichment activities and socializing and opted to stay with distance learning. For many, the gradual reopenings from mid- to late April were too little, too late — and families chose not to disrupt schedules and obligations so late in the school year, which ends June 11.

The L.A. Unified reopening plan offers both middle and high school students a half-time, on-campus academic schedule that includes no in-person instruction. Instead, students must remain in one classroom, from which they log into their classes. The teacher in the room is instructing other students online in various places. Twice a day for 30 minutes, that teacher will engage directly with the students in the room for an activity to support their social and emotional needs.

The district adopted this approach to limit the mixing of students as they move from class to class, something that many other districts have allowed.

This format was a miscalculation, said Tressa Pankovits, associate director for Reinventing America’s Schools at Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

“If a kid is miserable doing Zoom lessons, why force them to do it in an unfamiliar classroom with a teacher whose attention is on students in another class? It’s a ridiculous proposition, really,” Pankovits said. “It’s inarguable that LAUSD tried too hard to balance the demands from the adults, clearly at the expense of its students.”

Read the rest here.

Ensuring That Degrees Lead to Labor Market Success

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Last week, the White House unveiled President Biden’s American Families Plan, which includes $109 billion for two years of free community college with the aim that more Americans have access to a degree or certification. Americans generally support making public colleges and universities tuition free, with the bulk of support coming from women, young people, and Black and Hispanic adults. Already, there are reports from states like Michigan, which launched a free community college program last year, and was inundated with applications and interest. However, policymakers need to ensure that we do not just increase the quantity of degrees, but their quality and how schools help match students with high-value, in-demand credentials linked to the labor market.

The package recognizes that access alone will not improve low completion rates, and alongside the community college expansion, it calls for a $62 billion investment in “evidence-based strategies to strengthen completion and retention rates at community colleges and institutions that serve students” who have historically been unlikely to complete a postsecondary degree. Many community college students do not complete their degrees or end up with credentials with “low labor market value” that can leave students with significant debt and set up to default on their loans.

For decades, community colleges have educated a significant portion of low- and middle-income Americans, yet have historically been underfunded and overlooked compared to public and private four-year colleges. For millions, community colleges have served as their pathway to the middle class and this proposal by the Administration is fulfilling President Biden’s campaign promise to expand economic opportunity for Americans across the distribution. Experts have suggested that with extra funding, community colleges could spur economic mobility if investments go toward career counselors, mental health resources, and academic coaching which would increase enrollment and completion of degrees.

Yet, completion rates alone should not be the measure of success. A key goal of community colleges, and postsecondary education generally, should be the labor market outcomes of their graduating classes. If there is to be an education expansion in community colleges, it should be paired with accountability systems that track outcomes and link funding to programs that are seeing results. Additionally, there needs to be more communication across the network of community colleges as to what practices are working so that evidence can be shared and disseminated widely.

Community colleges in particular are well-poised to build robust partnerships with local employers to place students in high-demand industries with good wages, such as healthcare and information technology. Programs that have apprenticeships, job training, or work-based learning as part of the curriculum have been shown to better set up students for economic success. The American Jobs Plan also proposes a $100 billion investment in workforce development to help connect workers to jobs in the ongoing post-pandemic recovery. These efforts should be coordinated to ensure that U.S. job training and placement programs work much more effectively and reach dislocated workers and those who stand to benefit the most, such as women and Black and Hispanic workers.

Lastly, schools and policymakers should also be thinking outside of the box for how to meet students where they are and community colleges are not always the answer for every student. Many students face challenges at home or at work that make it difficult for them to complete their degrees. New initiatives, such as Degrees of Freedom in Vermont, are experimenting with innovative models to reach low-income and first-generation college students with hybrid late high school, early college experiences. These capitalize on lessons learned from the pandemic, such as virtual learning experiences, to pioneer new approaches.

A college degree will also not be the path to a successful career for every American. In fact, among recent high school graduates ages 16 to 24, 30 percent do not enroll in any postsecondary education, and only 60 percent of students in two- or four-year programs graduate within six years. To that end, President Biden has repeatedly stated that 90 percent of the opportunities created by the American Jobs Plan, a major public investment in expanding apprenticeships and job training programs, do not require a college degree. These are proven non-college career pathways that give more students a path to the middle class. Policymakers will need to consider these in tandem with free community college if we are to offer options to a vast majority of America’s workers.

The Biden administration is right to call for major national investment in educating and training young workers, many of whom have lost a year of their lives to the pandemic. But now it’s time for the administration and Congress to think harder about how to maximize the impact of whatever lawmakers eventually pass. The kind of transformative change that the President is prioritizing requires that we think beyond the old systems of workforce development and education to a more diverse set of career pathways. The focus should be on effective, evidence-based approaches paired with innovation and accountability for results.

WEBINAR: Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways, with Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01)

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

On Tuesday, April 27th, PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project hosted a webinar with special guest Rep. Chris Pappas on creating more school-to-work pathways for our students and young adults.

Keynote Speakers:

Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01)

Jennifer Kemp, Director of Youth Services, U.S. Department of Labor; Office of Workforce Investment

Panel:

Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI
Tressa Pankovits, Associate Director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project
Jeanne Russell, Executive Director of the Centers for Applied Science and Technology
Cate Swinburn, President of YouthForce NOLA
Ryan Craig, Managing Director of Achieve Partners

Watch the event here. 

WEBINAR: Helping Women Return to the Workforce, with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

On Tuesday, April 27th, PPI hosted a webinar with special guest Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on policies to help women return to the workforce following the devastating effect of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation. Our panel included policy experts on labor, child care, and gender equity.

Keynote Speaker:

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

Moderator:

Veronica Goodman, Social Policy Director, Progressive Policy Institute

Panel:

Chandra Childers, Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Elliot Haspel, Author of Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It
Rhonda V. Sharpe, founder & president, Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race

Watch the event here. 

PPI Hosts Event with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Helping Women Return to the Workforce Post-Pandemic

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Today, the Progressive Policy Institute and PPI’s Mosaic Economic Project hosted a webinar with special guest Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on policies to help women return to the workforce following the devastating effect of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation.

The panel included esteemed policy experts on labor, child care, and gender and racial equity, including Chandra Childers, Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Elliot Haspel, Author of Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, and Rhonda V. Sharpe, founder & president, Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race.

“The pandemic recession threatens to erase decades of progress in women’s labor force participation, which hasn’t been this low since the 1980s. But we know that even before the pandemic, women and working mothers were not adequately supported and struggling to thrive. That’s especially true of Black and Hispanic female workers. As the White House and President Biden unveil the American Family Plan this week, we hope that policies to support women and working families are top of mind. We also thank Senator Gillibrand for being a tireless advocate for women and families throughout her time in Congress,” said Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI and moderator of the event.

The event covered a wide variety of roadblocks women face when returning to the workforce, including access to paid family leave, affordable child care, workforce development, and expanding apprenticeships and other educational and job training opportunities.

According to the Department of Labor, Black and Hispanic women workers were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, as they are overrepresented in low-paying service sector jobs, which were slower to hire workers back as communities reopen and recover from the pandemic. As of March 2021, almost 1.5 million fewer moms of school-aged children were actively working than in February 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Watch the event livestream here.

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.

The Mosaic Economic Project brings together a network of diverse women who are experts in economics and technology – fields where women’s perspectives are grossly underrepresented. Mosaic trains, connects, hosts and advocates for the network’s participation in meaningful policy influencing conversations, with a particular focus on Congress and the media.

Follow the Progressive Policy Institute.

Follow the Mosaic Economic Project.

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Media Contact: Aaron White, Director of Communications: awhite@ppionline.org

PPI Hosts Event with Rep. Chris Pappas on Creating More School-to-Work Pathways for Students and Young Adults

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Today, the Progressive Policy Institute and the Reinventing America’s Schools Project hosted a webinar with special guest Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) on creating more school-to-work pathways for our students and young adults. Congressman Pappas was joined by Jennifer Kemp, Director of Youth Services at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workforce Investment, and an esteemed panel of experts in the subject.

Today’s high school students and young adults face a difficult job market. The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly hard on less educated workers without a college degree. The 10 million jobs lost by Americans at the pandemic’s onset disproportionately impacted young adults between the ages of 16-24 – especially Black and Hispanic workers. Some estimate that as many as 25% of our youth will neither be in school nor working when the pandemic ends.

Watch the event livestream here.

Panelists for this event included: Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI; Tressa Pankovits, Associate Director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project; Jeanne Russell, Executive Director of the Centers for Applied Science and Technology; Cate Swinburn, President of YouthForce NOLA; and Ryan Craig, Managing Director of Achieve Partners.

“The Biden administration, Congress, state and local policymakers have the opportunity to revamp our education system for a 21st-century workforce by creating a more diverse set of career pathways for today’s students. Connecting students to work — such as through career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities — before they graduate high school can be key to their future economic success. We thank Congressman Chris Pappas and Jennifer Kemp of the Department of Labor for all of their work to connect America’s youth to employment,” said Veronica Goodman and Tressa Pankovits of PPI.

This event builds off of PPI’s new report, Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways for Young Adults, which argues schools across the country should be incorporating school−to−work models into their curriculums in order to ensure that teens and young adults are set up for success in the workforce. Report authors Veronica Goodman, Tressa Pankovits, and Tess Murphy analyze a number of case studies to provide evidence showing that there are better models for helping students find their economic footing as they transition to jobs and adulthood.

Read the report here.

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock.

The Reinventing America’s Schools Project inspires a 21st century model of public education geared to the knowledge economy. One model, charter schools, are showing the way by providing autonomy for schools, accountability for results, and parental choice among schools tailored to the diverse learning styles of children.

Follow the Progressive Policy Institute.

Follow the Reinventing America’s Schools Project.

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Media Contact: Aaron White, Director of Communications: awhite@ppionline.org

PODCAST: The Reinventing America’s Schools Project Joins The Neoliberal Podcast

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Can charter schools help improve America’s education system? Tressa Pankovits and Curtis Valentine from the Reinventing America’s Schools Project at PPI join the show to discuss charter schools and school choice.  What’s the value in having local autonomy and experimentation in schools? How do you guard against potential downsides to charter schools? Ultimately, how can charter schools help improve outcomes for students?

Find more about the RAS Project here – https://www.progressivepolicy.org/category/projects/reinventing-americas-schools/

Learn more about the Neoliberal Project here – https://neoliberalproject.org/

Listen on Anchor.

Listen on Spotify.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

 

PPI to Host Two Events with Members of Congress Tuesday

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Save the Date!

On Tuesday, April 27, the Progressive Policy Institute will host two events with Members of Congress and diverse panels of experts on supporting women in the workforce and creating more opportunities for students and young workers.

In the morning, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) will keynote an event focused on policies that help women return to the workforce as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Later that day, Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) will keynote an event with PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project on creating more school-to-work pathways for our students and young adults. Recently, PPI’s Veronica Goodman, Tressa Pankovits, and Tess Murphy published a report titled Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways for Young Adults, which focused on four key themes across school-to-work models, including the importance of work-based learning that connects students to employers, re-designing curriculums to emphasize soft skills and social capital, increasing supportive or wraparound services to help students get across the finish line, and helping high-school students earn credits toward postsecondary education.

Information and registration links for both events are below:

Helping Women Return to the Workforce with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Terri Sewell

On Tuesday, April 27th, PPI is hosting a webinar with special guests Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Terri Sewell on policies to help the women return to the workforce following the devastating effect of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation. Our panel includes policy experts on labor, child care, and gender and racial equity.

Date/Time:
April 27, 2021 at 10:30AM ET

Keynote Speakers:
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07)

Panel:
Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI
Chandra Childers, Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Elliot Haspel, Author of Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It
Rhonda V. Sharpe, founder & president, Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race
Kate Bahn, Director of Labor Market Policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Register here.

Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways with Rep. Chris Pappas

On Tuesday, April 27th, PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project is hosting a webinar with special guest Rep. Chris Pappas on creating more school-to-work pathways for our students and young adults.

Date/Time: 
April 27, 2021 at 1:00PM ET

Keynote Speakers:
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH)
Jennifer Kemp, Director of Youth Services, U.S. Department of Labor; Office of Workforce Investment

Panel:
Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI
Tressa Pankovits, Associate Director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project
Jeanne Russell, Executive Director of the Centers for Applied Science and Technology
Cate Swinburn, President of YouthForce NOLA
Ryan Craig, Managing Director of Achieve Partners

Register here.

Media interested in attending the events can RSVP through Aaron White, PPI’s Director of Communications: awhite@ppionline.org

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Valentine for The 74: National Parent Union’s Keri Rodrigues on Public School Disenrollment Amid the COVID Crisis

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

America’s education system continues to reckon with the enormous disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some students and families became well-acclimated with the distance learning process overall, many others found it challenging—and often impossible—to participate in because of persistent barriers like job losses, lack of stable housing, insufficient internet access and dysfunctional devices. And across the country, educators quickly became aware of a widespread trend: children were flat-out missing from school, virtual or otherwise. Some parents had turned to homeschooling or pods; others enrolled their children in private schools that opened in-person learning, and some moved to distant cities or states where they felt their children would have a better chance learning.

Comprehensive national data is not yet available to show the full scope of disenrollment from public schools, but throughout the current school year, individual districts from Florida to Alaska and points in between reported significant enrollment declines ranging into the tens of thousands.

To examine these issues from the perspective of parents, the Progressive Policy Institute’s Curtis Valentine sat down for a Q&A with Keri Rodrigues of the National Parents Union, who shared her thoughts on the impact of parents pulling children out of schools during the pandemic.

Read the full interview on The 74.

Osborne for The 74: How Can We Make School Quality Matter? By Creating Consequences for Success and Failure

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

In the education wars of the past 20 years, one of the most contentious issues has been what to do when a school is rated as failing for four or five years in a row. In some cities, at some times, district leaders have replaced such schools — the administrators and staff, not the buildings — with more promising teams. But 2015’s Every Child Succeeds Act removed any pressure to do that, and outside of a few districts, little of it is happening.

As a result, millions of urban children are stuck in failing schools, which should be a national scandal. Experience is clear: Replacing a struggling school is far more effective than trying to turn it around.

The Obama administration poured billions of dollars into School Improvement Grants for struggling schools, to strengthen them. Studies show some improvement, but hardly enough to justify the huge expenditures. It is very difficult to turn around a failing school when the staff remains largely the same and the bureaucratic web of rules and constraints within which it must work remains unchanged.

A research team recently reviewed 67 studies that examined such turnaround efforts. On average, they showed only moderate improvement. The one exception came when states or school districts replaced failing schools with charter schools. This replacement strategy yielded double the impact of the turnaround efforts on math test scores and almost 10 times the impact on reading/English language arts.

Replacement strategies in cities from New Orleans to Chicago to Newark have produced rapid improvement. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the Louisiana legislature voted to move all but 17 New Orleans public schools into the state’s Recovery School District, which over the next 10 years replaced them with charter schools. Over that decade, New Orleans experienced the most rapid school improvement in the nation. A respected research team at Tulane University concluded that replacement of failing schools accounted for 25 to 40 percent of that improvement.

Read the rest on The 74.

Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways for Young Adults

Posted on by The Progressive Policy Institute

Today’s high school students and young adults face a difficult job market. The Covid pandemic has been particularly hard on less educated workers without a college degree. The 10 million jobs lost by Americans at the pandemic’s onset disproportionally impacted young adults between the ages of 16 and 24, and especially Black and Hispanic workers. Some estimate that as many as 25 percent of our youth will neither be in school nor working when the pandemic ends. 

Research shows that employers are less likely to hire workers with little to no experience for the “first jobs” that many younger workers rely on to build their skills and credentials. Without those first jobs, many will face fewer paths to enter the workforce. To help the non-college-bound, our education system needs to create alternative pathways to careers.

The Biden administration and Congress have the opportunity to create a revamped system that addresses inequality by building continuous pathways between high school and work. As part of his Build Back Better plan, President Biden has called for grants to states to accelerate students’ attainment of quality credentials, degrees, and opportunities in job training programs. As we discuss in this paper, there are promising existing models to draw on in thinking about how to provide more job opportunities to young adults.

This paper reviews several case studies to provide evidence-based examples of how to better connect students to careers. We first address the need for broad-based pathways to careers and then focus on four key themes across school−to−career models, including: (1) the importance of work-based learning that connects students to employers; (2) curriculums that emphasize soft skills and social capital to prepare young adults for their first jobs; (3) the need for supportive or wraparound services to help students get across the finish line; and, (4) high schools that help students earn credits toward postsecondary education along the way to graduation.

Read the full report here.