Ed Note

Our blog features education research and policy trends, promising practices from states and partners, and anecdotes from our work with state leaders across the country.

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K-12

June 11, 2026

How Alaska Brings Indigenous Culture and Community in the Classroom

To launch our inaugural “ECS on the Move” series, we traveled to Alaska, “The Last Frontier,” to learn from communities leading the way in culturally grounded education and student belonging. […]

Early Education (P-3)

June 11, 2026

Keeping Momentum for the Science of Reading in Alaska

In recent years, many states have implemented policies related to the Science of Reading in hopes of boosting student achievement. But how do you keep the momentum going after your state passes comprehensive early literacy legislation? […]

K-12

June 2, 2026

Teacher Collaboration and Student Outcomes in Texas

States are under pressure to strengthen literacy and numeracy and close persistent opportunity gaps during ongoing educator workforce instability. Recent evidence from Texas’ Model Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work® […]

Early Education (P-3)K-12

May 28, 2026

How Maine Is Building a Coherent Statewide Approach to Literacy and Numeracy

Many statewide education initiatives stop at vision documents. Recently, the State of Maine set out to go further. A team at the Maine Department of Education, “What would it look like […]

K-12

May 20, 2026

How the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program May Affect States

The passage of the H.R. 1, called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, by Congress in July 2025 included the first federal school choice program known as the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program. This legislation allows governors or a designated state official to opt in to a federally […]

Postsecondary

May 18, 2026

Accurate and Accessible Data Could Be the Backbone of Direct Admissions

As the school year ends in communities across the U.S., it’s time for students transitioning out of their K-12 journeys to decide on their next steps. Increasingly, many students will choose to attend schools that they hadn’t even […]

K-12 Workforce

May 14, 2026

Puerto Rico Shows Improvement Works Better with Educators at the Center

Over the past decade, Puerto Rico’s education system has faced compounded disruptions — including Hurricane Maria in 2017, earthquakes in 2019 and 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to prolonged […]

High School K-12 Postsecondary Workforce

May 12, 2026

AI in Education Policy – Moving at the Speed of Change

Artificial intelligence is not something that’s coming down the road — it is already here, reshaping how students learn, how educators teach and how work gets done. The challenge for […]

K-12

May 7, 2026

Student Mental Health and School Counselor Licensure

Student mental health has moved to the forefront of state policy agendas in recent years. While concerns were growing before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point, accelerating attention […]

Early Education (P-3)High School K-12 Postsecondary Workforce

April 15, 2026

How Have Issues Evolved in State of the State Addresses Since 2020?

Over the past five years, governors have been pretty consistent when it comes to education issues featured in their state of the state addresses. However, they have completely shifted on what they prioritize within those issues. From COVID-19 pandemic recovery to career and technical education, states […]

Postsecondary Workforce

April 7, 2026

Do States Have the Data Capacity to Implement Workforce Pell?

“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight," Samuel Johnson said of a condemned acquaintance, "it concentrates the mind wonderfully." State leaders staring down an impending and critical July deadline for implementing Workforce […]

K-12

April 2, 2026

What Declining Student Enrollment Means for Schools — and What States Are Doing About It

After decades of steady growth, school enrollments have shifted drastically. K-12 school enrollment has declined by 2.3%, or 1.18 million students, in the U.S. over the past five years, and […]