Unlocking Potential

The Unlocking Potential Datacenter is a new national dataset from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) that tracks fifty years of state-by-state special education trends, revealing how identification, eligibility, and outcomes have changed, and how they differ across states. The project is designed to help families, educators, and policymakers understand how the system works today and inspire new ideas for how it can better serve the millions of students still not getting the support they need.

The Problem

• The divide between the educational haves and have-nots is growing. 
• Special education enrollments are rising. 
• Teachers are outmatched. 

These challenges are rooted in an education delivery system designed for batch processing. We cannot expect public schools to close the distance between where students start and where they need to end to succeed by relying on a system designed to provide the same thing to everyone. 

Our Approach

1. Expose the circuitry: Illuminate how today’s education system fails to provide students with what they need to succeed. 
2. Advance solutions: Identify evidence-based solutions that decision-makers can use to close the gap between what students need and what schools reliably provide. 
3. Engage stakeholders: Collaborate with diverse stakeholders to remedy the policy and political obstacles to change.