A new generation of local parent organizations had begun to emerge in public education in the years before the pandemic, groups more interested in school quality and educational equity than bake sales, many of them led by people of color. The Covid crisis quickened the movement, turning kitchen tables into classrooms and stoking parents’ frustrations with school closings and the education they watched live. And the pandemic spawned another strand of parent organizations pursuing cultural conservatism.
A new FutureEd report examines the rise of the new generation of activist parent organizations in public education, the people behind the movement, and its consequences for education policy and policymakers.
We’ve also created a legislative tracker to follow the dozens of parents’ rights bills moving through state legislatures.
The Covid Billions
We continued to analyze local education agencies’ plans for spending billions of dollars in federal Covid-relief aid with a look at tutoring, a widely adopted academic recovery strategy. The analysis includes planned spending on tutoring by state.
We also shared a range of perspectives on local Covid-relief spending in a webinar. And we provided strategies for reading local Covid-spending plans.
What's Next on Standardized Testing
Scott Marion of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment shared insights on how we should think about the standardized testing that’s taking place throughout the nation this spring.
To gauge governors’ 2022 education priorities, we analyzed this year’s state-of-the-state addresses and found some surprising trends. And we continued to update how Congressional spending impacts K-12 schools.
On the podcast front, research associate Robert Nishimwe hosted a conversation about the movement to abandon high school grades. And the latest FutureU podcasts included discussions of expanding the most selective universities and consolidating those that are struggling.
We continue to chronicle leadership changes throughout the education sector in The Churn, and we post upcoming in-person and virtual education policy events in The Horizon. Send your events and leadership news to [email protected], and we’ll be happy to post them.
Thanks very much and best wishes,
Tom
Thomas Toch
Director, FutureEd
McCourt School of Public Policy
Georgetown University [email protected]
@thomas_toch
