Like the White Queen in “Alice in Wonderland,” Republican voters seem capable of believing “as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” In their looking-glass world, Donald Trump trounced Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, the world’s scientists are colluding in a climate change hoax and evil epidemiologists pushed mask mandates to deprive Americans of their liberty, not to protect them from a virus that’s killed more than six million people.

Democrats are wondering how they could possibly be losing to a defiantly delusional GOP in party preference matchups. One answer is that midterm elections are always tough on the party in power. Another is that Democrats have been falling into rabbit holes too.

Their illusions are explored in “The New Politics of Evasion,” a new study by two veteran political analysts, Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck published by the Progressive Policy Institute. It’s a timely and incisive exercise in political reality therapy for President Biden and his party, whose public approval has cratered over the past year. 
 
By ignoring defecting swing voters, the authors warn, Democrats could not only take a beating in November but also reopen the door to Trump’s return, putting our democracy at risk.
 

Reality therapy for Democrats
By: Will Marshall
President of the Progressive Policy Institute

A new report by the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project provides a deep dive look into a promising, innovative education initiative in Texas. The Leadership Academy Network (LAN) is a novel partnership between the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) and Texas Wesleyan University (TXWES). Through a performance contract, TXWES is responsible for the governance and day-to-day operations of six of the district’s most challenged schools. Supported with additional funding from the state, pursuant to Texas’ 2019 statute commonly referred to as “Senate Bill 1882,” the LAN operates autonomously from the district’s central office, with the deliverable of earning an Texas Education Agency “A” rating for each of the six campuses by 2024.

During this high-tension time for educators, school administrators, and parents, report author and Co-Director of the Reinventing America’s Schools Project Tressa Pankovits covers how and why the school district leaned in on this partnership, the state policy that authorized and sustains the partnership, how it works, and how it’s currently working.

PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project has partnered with The 74 Million to tape a new podcast series on "The Future of Teaching” recorded at the SXSW Education conference in Austin, Texas. This four-part series features interviews conducted by RAS co-director Curtis Valentine with pioneers in the field of education. Get up to speed on what is happening within the American education landscape and what to be on the look out for in the coming months!