Purpose: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduced the role of the federal government in K-12 education, giving states more flexibility while maintaining protections for marginalized groups. Despite the potential to leverage flexibility, little is known about how states are addressing equity. Research Methods: Using a critical policy analysis…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a shift in K-12 educational delivery from primarily in-person classroom instruction to remote learning. Developing broadcast instruction is one way to provide learners who experience barriers to contemporary forms of remote learning, which are typically provided over the internet, a way to access quality mathematics…

In anticipation of the 2020-21 school year, states have been creating and updating guidance for district and school reopening plans. This policy update outlines how state guidelines informed by public health guidelines and existing data on the state spread of COVID-19 established a process for engaging stakeholders, a menu of approaches to…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reverses a trend toward centralization of education policy and instead provides greater authority to the states. This study explores states' interpretation and early implementation of ESSA's equity-related provisions. Using a qualitative case study approach, we find wide variation in the design and…

As citizen boards who must be nonpartisan to be effective, state boards of education are uniquely placed to help eliminate the political divides that impede decisive action to end inequities in learning. Three state boards of education and education agency staff--in Nebraska, New York, and North Carolina--committed to joining a National…

The intersection in 2020 of the new COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing pandemic of anti-black racism exacerbated existing injustices as well as caused and revealed new inequities in US higher education. Because inequities in assessment in particular were intensified by these twin pandemics, faculty at several US colleges revised assessment…

This study examines how inequality manifested during the emergency remote COVID-19 transition in higher education. We use 35 in-depth interviews with college students, conducted virtually, in real-time, during spring 2020 lockdowns, to examine how the transition impacted their lives. Students in the sample from lower-income backgrounds reported…

The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the prevailing inequality in the US, as traditionally marginalized groups were disproportionately affected by the disease. This paper seeks to understand how K-12 principals across a southern state in the United States, made decisions in light of these considerations. Specifically, we examined the major…

One of the first challenges state boards of education faced this spring was what to do for the roughly 3.5 million high school seniors whose graduations were derailed by the coronavirus. Most state policymakers across the country readily suspended end-of-year assessments and granted diplomas to those who were on track to graduate. A few states…

This report, the first in the Economic Vitality and Education in the South (EVES) series, provides state-by-state information on more than 20 critical data points associated with the education-to-workforce pipeline. The report looks specifically at the 17 states in the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) region: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware,…

Lumina Foundation seeks to increase the proportion of Americans who hold a postsecondary credential to 60 percent by 2025, across all racial, ethnic, immigration, and income groups. Recognizing that this goal cannot be achieved through a focus on traditional-age college students alone, Lumina launched the Adult Promise initiative in 2017. Between…

As school districts across the country braced themselves for the immensely complicated task of preparing reopening and recovery plans amid a global pandemic, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and the Collaborative for Student Success convened experts in emergency planning, health and safety, parent and family advocacy, special…

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law by the president just over six months ago, represents a rare opportunity for governors to leverage federal education funds largely unencumbered by prescriptive federal rules. The bill appropriated $16.2 billion for K-12 education, and Congress astutely set aside $3…

Even before COVID-19, officials at Waubonsee Community College (Illinois) knew well the difficulties historically underserved students had in meeting their workforce education goals. As the virus crisis has only magnified existing equity gaps, leaders at two-year institutions are putting even more emphasis on bridging societal chasms. Onlookers…

In what ways and to what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted racial and socioeconomic inequities in educational opportunity and access in North Carolina? This report, commissioned by the Brady Education Foundation and prepared by researchers at the Public School Forum of North Carolina and the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at…