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The Current Crisis Five years after the pandemic disrupted education, public schools are still struggling to recover. Achievement gaps have widened, student performance is in decline, and many schools have reverted to an outdated, ineffective system that fails to meet today’s challenges. The pandemic exposed longstanding weaknesses in the education system—rigid structures, inequities, resistance to change, and an over-reliance on traditional instructional models that do not meet the needs of today’s students.
Must-Reads

- The Lens
Announcing a new forum for bold ideas to build momentum Proposals to eliminate the Department of Education (ED) have been a Republican talking point since Ronald Reagan first suggested it in the early 1980s.

- The Lens
For decades, students of color and those from low-income communities have faced persistent achievement gaps in our education system. Despite countless reform efforts, these students continue to encounter barriers to accessing high-quality, personalized instruction that builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Latest Research Publications
- Research Reports
Unfinished Business: What Must Come Next for Public Education, Five Years After Pandemic Shutdowns
The Current Crisis Five years after the pandemic disrupted education, public schools are still struggling to recover. Achievement gaps have widened, student performance is in decline, and many schools have reverted to an outdated, ineffective system that fails to meet today’s challenges.
- Research Reports
In Search of Opportunity: Can Families Use Education Choice to Secure More of What They Want?
As education choice programs expand, the promise of securing better educational opportunities remains unevenly realized for many families. This report examines the challenges families face and offers practical solutions to help education choice programs deliver on their potential.
- Research Reports
Promising progress, fragile foundations: A five-year analysis of school innovation, 2019-2024
Over the past five years, the Canopy Project has documented innovations in K-12 education, uncovering how schools are addressing systemic challenges and envisioning the future of learning.
- Research Reports
AI is Evolving, but Teacher Prep is Lagging: A First Look at Teacher Preparation Program Responses to AI
AI has transformed the education landscape, but are teacher preparation programs keeping pace? In CRPE’s latest report, we surveyed leaders from schools of education to understand how their faculty and preservice teachers are engaging with AI, their views on its long-term impact, and how institutions are embedding AI into their curricula.
- Research Reports
State Secrets: How Transparent Are State School Report Cards About the Effects of COVID?
How easy would it be for a parent or advocate to compare student performance pre- and post-COVID? The short answer: in most states, it’s not easy at all.
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