Reckoning with Reality: The Case for a New Union Strategy in K–12
Public school districts are facing an existential threat. Demographic shifts and school choice policies are exacerbating declining enrollment. A diminishing role for the federal Department of Education alongside broad economic uncertainty could further erode state and local revenues. These trends threaten student outcomes and teacher jobs, as well as district solvency. When we talk about […]
A Truce in the Accountability Wars
In American education, the scars of the “accountability wars” still run deep. More than two decades after the federal No Child Left Behind Act established punitive, high-profile accountability requirements for America’s K–12 schools, states and districts remain wary of debates over testing, student performance, and school improvement. This understandable backlash has pushed many states toward […]
Meeting the AI Moment Requires a New Education R&D Infrastructure
Depending on where you sit in the education ecosystem, 2025 has felt either deeply discouraging or full of possibility. On one hand, earlier this year, the federal government signaled retreat from its commitment to education research, and just this week, the Trump administration took further steps to dismantle the Department of Education. National assessments show […]
A “Zero-Based Budgeting” Approach for High School Course Requirements in the Age of AI
For better or worse, AI, and especially chatbots associated with Large Language Models, are already changing the daily rhythms of education here and around the world. Organizations, including the Center on Reinventing Public Education, are providing critical guidance to schools and policymakers about how educators can best take advantage of AI’s opportunities (such as personalized […]
AI Is Moving Fast—But School Responses and Parent Opinions Are Not
This piece is a follow-up to this blog, published last year. AI is present in classrooms more than ever before, partly due to tech companies’ provision of professional learning for teachers and partly due to school districts’ large-scale purchases of AI software. Beyond helping educators save time and enhance student learning, AI has also given […]
Tragic Practices: Why Public Education Is Not Designed to Prioritize Efficiency, Innovation, or Results
The changing landscape of education under new federal legislation places heavy responsibility on states to create policies that ensure better student outcomes amid tight fiscal realities. States are rightly focused on how to improve reading, math, and career readiness in K-12 schools. They cannot do that, however, without a firm understanding of why making such […]
Request for Analysis: Unlocking Potential Data Center
More students than ever are being identified for special education. CRPE invites you to explore why using our new Unlocking Potential Data Center. In early 2025, the National Center on Education Statistics reported a record 7.9 million public school students identified with disabilities under IDEA. This continues a decades-long rise in students placed in special […]
Why School Choice Needs Market Enablers, Not Just Policies
Imagine a family—let’s call them the Carters—navigating their state’s school choice options. They live in a blue-collar, inner-ring suburban neighborhood with decent schools, but their second-grade son is struggling socially and academically at their public elementary school. The Carters are desperate to make a change. They wonder if a charter school, a nearby private school, […]
Announcing CRPE’s Inaugural Think Forward Fellowship Cohort
The Center on Reinventing Public Education has announced its inaugural AI Fellowship Cohort, a group of visionary policymakers, system leaders, educators, researchers, funders, and tech experts who will collectively work to address the toughest challenges around AI in education. Education systems are at a critical crossroads with AI. New tools are emerging every day in […]
School Choice Without Sacrificing Education Quality: Experts Weigh In
Each spring, when families across Florida have the opportunity to apply for an education savings account—as more than 220,000 did this year—they’re met with an onslaught of options for how to use the state school choice subsidy. Suddenly, instead of their in-district options, they have more than 2,000 private schools at their fingertips, as well […]