America Can’t be Great Without Good Schools: How Policymakers Can Create More of Them
A policy agenda for K-12 schools 1. Take a reasonable middle ground in the culture wars 2. Invest in systems that keep students safe 3. Help schools provide the academic preparation students need 4. Use accountability systems to benchmark results and protect against educational neglect Reality check: Education reform can only succeed with teacher support […]
Picking Up the Pieces of Federal Education Programs: Can Block Grants Help Marginalized Learners?
The Trump administration is following the Project 2025 agenda, vowing to turn federal education programs into block grants or issue blanket waivers that would let states see money in any way they want. The results might not be what the Trump movement hopes, or what educators fear. Much will depend on whether local actors who […]
What AI Can Teach Us about Learning and Development
As I continue to wrestle with the implications of artificial intelligence, one particular question intrigues me: What if engineers working on generative AI are more attuned to the learning process than most educators are? Think about it. For engineers, getting and using feedback is central to their process. Make a prediction. Run the model. Get […]
New Research Finds Schools of Education Fail to Prepare Teachers to Use AI
This article originally appeared in The 74. The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence is exposing a glaring disconnect in teacher preparation. While forward-thinking superintendents are rolling up their sleeves to build AI literacy among teachers, college programs tasked with preparing the next generation of educators are largely absent from the conversation. This isn’t just a missed opportunity; […]
Mend, Don’t End, the Institution for Education Sciences
This piece originally appeared in The 74. Last week, DOGE’s “shock and awe” campaign came to education. The chaotic canceling of grants and contracts for various research activities at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), a little-known yet important agency rarely at the center of public debate, was unprecedented. It showed that the Trump administration is becoming adept […]
Launching districtwide innovation: Lessons learned from a year of pursuing “Bold Ideas” for systemic change
What does it really take to pilot bold, systemwide innovation in public education? Over the 2023–24 school year, CRPE partnered with 11 districts across the country to support and study their “Bold Ideas”—ambitious initiatives designed to make student learning more joyful, individualized, and relevant. These pilots weren’t just tech upgrades or isolated experiments. They were […]
Calming the Noise: How AI Literacy Efforts Foster Responsible Adoption for Educators
In the two years since ChatGPT’s release, generative AI (genAI) tools have flooded the K-12 education space. Each day, educators and administrators hear new claims about AI’s power to transform learning, while also facing warnings about its dangers. Caught between the hype and the fear, they struggle to distinguish real opportunities from noise. This uncertainty […]
Running fast but not getting far: Five years of studying the pandemic’s impact on education
This report distills five years of research to understand how the pandemic reshaped public education. Drawing from over 100 reports and articles, we examine the crisis response, recovery efforts, and ongoing challenges facing schools today. Key Findings Crisis Response: Schools struggled to maintain instruction with little federal or state guidance, facing political conflicts, mental health […]
How Have High Schoolers Fared in the Aftermath of the Pandemic? New Evidence from CRPE Evidence Project Grantees
As we continue to grapple with the long-term effects of the pandemic on K-12 education, the need for high-quality research to support recovery is greater than ever. In 2023, to better understand the impact of the pandemic on high school-age students, CRPE awarded nine grants to researchers as part of its Evidence Project with support from the Walton […]
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. The pandemic exposed longstanding weaknesses in the education system—rigid structures, inequities, resistance to […]
