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Dear John,

It is week 228 in our new reality and we are thinking about what makes an education system more “public.”

That’s the topic of a new essay ([link removed]) by Chad Adleman in the 74. “Hard-won lawsuits and pieces of legislation have made schools open to more kids, but they’re still not public in the same way a public park or an FM radio station is free and open to all,” Adleman writes. “That’s because education has space constraints. There are only so many seats at a school, so local districts reserve spots only for those people who can afford to live in the surrounding community.”

When public education is organized into strictly enforced district boundaries, it will always limit how “public” it can really be. Making education more public often requires policies that “support good schools, regardless of sector.”

What’s true for schools is ever more true for learning outside of school walls. Expanding public access to the full diversity of after school programs, summer camps, tutoring and more requires the kind of flexible funding that simply isn’t possible by limiting ourselves to neighborhood boundaries. Far from moving away from a public education system, this family-centered approach is the next big leap forward in providing equal access to all.

Last time ([link removed]) in the New Reality Roundup, we looked at tutoring’s dramatic impact and offered a free copy of our new book ([link removed]) , in partnership with FutureEd. This week, we warn that the FAFSA chaos will stretch into a second year and dive into a major literacy win in New Jersey.

Best,

Marc Porter Magee, PhD
50CAN Founder and CEO

@marcportermagee ([link removed])

Help students navigate another year of FAFSA challenges
“It was community members who brought this to my attention, but the more I’ve learned the more alarmed I’ve become,” reflects HawaiiKidsCAN Executive Director David Sun-Miyashiro. “FAFSA completion rates are down over 11% across all income levels. I’m really concerned about what that means for college matriculation in the fall, especially coming right on the heels of the education crisis spun up by the pandemic. It’s unacceptable that the bureaucratic problems will now continue into 2024-2025.”

For the past six months, David has been working with partners in community organizations across the state to bring awareness to the funding available to students and guiding them through the application process. These efforts have culminated into the HawaiiKidsCAN Afford College ([link removed]) campaign which has hosted numerous community awareness events, piloted partnerships with local high schools to up FAFSA completion rates and recommended to the Hawaii State Board of Education ([link removed]) that FAFSA completion should be added into any financial literacy graduation requirements.
The campaign has even taken to the streets ([link removed]) with high school student volunteers to get the word out, including with students featured on local morning shows ([link removed]) . “At a time when more and more high school students and their families are reconsidering higher education, we need to be offering clearer pathways to credentials and degrees that lead to great jobs and economic stability,” said Sun-Miyashiro. “Instead, confusion over the financial aid process leads to billions ([link removed]) of dollars in vital support left on the table. The bungled rollout of the 2023-2024 FAFSA cycle made a bad situation even worse, leading to hundreds of thousands less students being able to pursue their higher education dreams than before.”

The problem extends far beyond the Hawaiian islands and is affecting American families in every state. As The Economist argues ([link removed]) : “The question is no longer whether this will drive down the number of people starting degree courses this autumn, but how sharp the drop will be.”

With the passing of the 2023-2024 deadline, advocates are already gearing up for what could continue to be a bumpy process this coming year. The 2024-2025 deadline will also be delayed ([link removed]) from its usual October timeframe to December, meaning this next year could feel like déjà vu for students, families and counselors.

* The task this week is to partner with schools, districts and families to ensure that the 2024-2025 rollout doesn’t replicate the harm done to students in 2023-2024.

Take stock of progress and the work left to do in literacy
Tomorrow morning, JerseyCAN Executive Director Paula White will head to a local elementary school in Newark. There, she’ll stand alongside Governor Phil Murphy as he signs S2644 ([link removed]) into law. The bill is another major step in reforming how the Garden State supports students in literacy, with a universal screener mandate, the formation of a policy and implementation working group and a professional development requirement for educators.

“It was more of a fight than I originally anticipated, but I’m glad we got this done,” Paula told us. “We have the data from multiple states over multiple years: foundational literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading works where balanced literacy has failed. I’m thankful that our elected leadership is making the necessary investments to ensure that New Jersey’s kids are strong readers.”

Paula is quick to note, however, that this important step is also merely the first one. “Universal literacy screeners are going to be critical to helping us size the problem and get families the support they need immediately rather than years down the road. The professional development investment will equip our educators with the skills and knowledge of the best practices for structured literacy. And a bill the Governor signed that ties this to the ongoing issue of learning recovery will be crucial as well. But I know from years on the ground in schools just how critical implementation and continued professional development will be. There’s far more work to do.”

* The task this week is to take note of your state’s progress in shifting the literacy landscape, along with the work left to do.



NewMexicoKidsCAN is launching their Progress is Possible giving campaign this week, where they’ll be sharing stories of success against a landscape of challenges and trace the work forward from here. Check out the campaign all week at their website ([link removed]) and on social ([link removed]) .

Congratulations to 50CAN National Voices fellows Leslie Cowell and Sam Duell for their selection ([link removed]) in Fordham’s annual Wonk-a-Thon competition. Leslie is taking home the second place prize and Sam’s piece has attracted media attention and upcoming interviews.

66% of parents believe cell phones should be allowed in school but only 30% want them in classrooms, according to new polling ([link removed]) from EdChoice.

Brookings finds ([link removed]) that Grow Your Own teacher training programs can have a noticeable effect on teacher supply, including in hard-to-staff subject areas, but long-term retention concerns remain.

Student test scores increased ([link removed]) as a result of weighted-student funding formulas, according to a new paper from Ed Working Papers.

Rhode Island’s chronic absenteeism rate is down 10 points ([link removed]) over the past two years due to a combination of community initiatives and sports in this new deep dive from FutureEd.

Colleges are implementing ([link removed]) new courses, revamped coursework and new degree programs to prepare students for an AI-driven world, the Wall Street Journal reports.

AEI’s podcast The Report Card asks ([link removed]) the question, “Did ESSER work?” The answer, according to Nat Malkus and Dan Goldhaber, is closer to no than yes.

Marguerite Roza, the director of Georgetown’s Edunomics Lab shows ([link removed]) that increased special education funding isn’t leading to better outcomes for students.

CRPE’s Robin Lake, writing for The 74 Million, offers ([link removed]) advice for districts preparing to close schools due to enrollment declines and the ESSER cliff.

Urban Institute is out ([link removed]) with a study of Georgia’s quality review system for child care providers, offering a look into best practices for measuring quality.

Contrary to popular belief, a new study from Brookings finds ([link removed]) that net college tuition costs haven’t grown in the past two decades, yet student borrowing has tripled.


With a Taiwan semiconductor company investing $65 billion into an Arizona plant, the race is on to boost the skills of Arizona college and high school students to ensure the talent pipeline to power the plant for years to come. As reported ([link removed]) by The New York Times, this includes a “clean room” being built at the Maricopa Education Center, a public high school system focused on technical careers. Students will don protective equipment while working with the highly sensitive technology for hands-on experience.

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ABOUT 50CAN

50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now is a nonprofit organization that works at the local level to advocate for a high-quality education for all kids, regardless of their address.

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