PPI Senior Advisor Bruno Manno is set to interview Governor Jared Polis, Chair of the National Governors Association, about his year-long 鈥淟et’s Get Ready: Educating All Americans for Success鈥� initiative, which emphasizes work-based learning, dual and concurrent enrollment, skills-based education and non-degree credentials. Alison Griffin will then moderate a special panel conversation, featuring such local experts as Colorado Succeeds President Scott Laband and Michael Macklin, Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Solutions at the Colorado Community College System.

Sign up for the Zoom or tune in to this page Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Recent work-based learning coverage from 社区黑料: 

• Indiana Banking Apprenticeships and Academy to Break the Mold for U.S. Training
  
• New York City鈥檚 First Hybrid School Gives Students Flexible, Real-World Learning
  
• Supe鈥檚 View: How My Colorado District Is Helping Students Find Their Life鈥檚 Path
  
• Indianapolis High School Carves Time Away from Class for Internships for All

Join 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute for a special conversation about the ways in which community service programs and school curriculum and practices can help strengthen social cohesion among students of different backgrounds. 鈥淭eaching Common Democratic Values in a Divided America鈥� will stream Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Joining moderator Tressa Pankovits from PPI will be American Exchange Project Co-Founder and CEO David McCullough III, Maryland Secretary of Service and Civic Innovation Paul Monteiro, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Robert Pondiscio and Richard Kahlenberg, director of PPI鈥檚 American Identity Project. 

Sign up for the Zoom or tune in to this page at 2 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Explore more civics education topics from 社区黑料: 

• It鈥檚 Time for a Ceasefire in the Civics Wars

• Opinion: Teachers in All Subjects Must Help Prepare the Next Generation of Voters

• 5 Lessons From Civics in How to Achieve Agreement Across the Political Divide

• There is Agreement on Civics Education 鈥� If You Know Where to Look

• How Texas Lawmakers Gutted Civics

Ahead of Election Day, join 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute for a special conversation about families, education politics and how parents鈥� rising influence could shape the results at the ballot box next month. 鈥淭he Politics of Education: Parent Voice and People Power” will stream Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. ET.

In the replay below, you’ll hear from such leaders and experts as Georgia State Senator Jason Esteves, former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools Howard Fuller, National Parents Union鈥檚 Keri Rodrigues Langan, and 社区黑料鈥檚 Jo Napolitano. Curtis Valentine of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project will moderate.

Recent EDlection 2024 coverage from 社区黑料: 

• Amid GOP Calls for Bible in Public Schools, Some Religious Voters are Tuning Out
  
• Opinion: How to Talk to Your Children About Politics, Abortion and America鈥檚 Future
  
• School Choice Questions Dominate November Ballot Propositions
  
• Long a Stranger to the Spotlight, Child Tax Credit Earns Embrace of Both Parties
  
• Opinion: Want to Win Over Male Voters? Harris Should Talk about Boys Failing in School

Only 7% of U.S. students can do advanced math, and affluence is no guarantee of student performance.

These disappointing stats will be examined in the next online panel presented by the Progressive Policy Institute and 社区黑料 at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. Panelists will put the PISA outcomes into perspective and offer answers to the inevitable, 鈥淣ow what?鈥� moment of reckoning.

The speakers include Dr. Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 National Center for Education Statistics; Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Directorate of Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and Jonathan A. Supovitz, professor at the University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Graduate School of Education.

Go Deeper: Explore more coverage surrounding America鈥檚 math crisis: 

• PISA Exam Tests Real-World Math Skills. But That鈥檚 Not What U.S. Schools Teach

• American Math Scores Fall on International Test 鈥� But Many Other Countries Suffered More
• As Test Scores Crater, Debate Over Whether There鈥檚 a 鈥楽cience鈥� To Math Recovery
• Advanced High School Math Classes a Game Changer, But Not All High Achievers Have Access

That was the foundation of a special Dec. 5 webinar sponsored by the Progressive Policy Institute and 社区黑料. Featured speakers included Executive Director of Change Inc.’s Jody Nelson; State Rep. Matt Norris; Khalique Rogers, founder of Good Riddance Consulting and Co-Director of the Center for School Change; and PPI’s Tressa Pankovits.

This panel’s focus: The Guadalupe Alternative Programs in St. Paul, Minnesota, a community-based middle and high school serving grades 7-12, and its work expanding career opportunities in residential construction.

Watch the full replay of the event:

Recent coverage of education reform and innovation from 社区黑料: 

• The Future of High School: Engaging Students & Careers Through Modern Apprenticeships

• Charters Yield More Learning, Higher Earnings than District Schools Per $1 Spent
  
• Alaska Leads States in First-Ever Rankings of Charter Performance on NAEP
  
• Indiana Seeks To 鈥楾ransform鈥� High School, Making Work Skills A Priority

社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute this week convened for an online panel discussing career training lessons from Illinois. The speakers included associate superintendent Dr. Lazaro Lopez; Dr. Rita Gura, William Rainey Harper College dean of health careers; clinical nurse manager Susan Volpe; and Michael Piagari, a 12th grade student at Prospect High School.

Recent coverage of college and career pathways from 社区黑料: 

• To Combat Nursing Shortage, Rhode Island Charter Turns to High School Students
  
• Build Your Own High School: Phoenix Students Choose from 500 Classes, Internships, College Courses, Career Programs & More
  
• Why Wait To Graduate? Georgia Apprentices Start Training As Sophomores
  
• Opinion: 3 Ways to Help Students Gain the Career Connections They Need to Succeed

社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project recently convened this online panel on Denver and the future of education reform. The speakers include Colorado State Senator James Coleman; Alex Magana, head of Beacon Network Schools; State Rep. Jennifer Bacon; and Nate Easley, former Board Chair of Denver Public Schools.聽

Sign up for 社区黑料’s newsletter to be the first to hear about future events.

Recent coverage of education reform and innovation from 社区黑料:

• Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America鈥檚 Most Innovative High Schools
• Conor Williams: Wait. Did Education Reform Just Become Inescapable?
• 社区黑料 Interview: Cara Fitzpatrick on 鈥楾he Death of Public School鈥�
• Opinion: Charters Are the Most Popular Form of School Choice. Democrats Must Get on Board

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; 社区黑料 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI鈥檚 Taylor Maag moderates. 

Sign up for 社区黑料鈥檚 newsletter to follow our coverage of America鈥檚 innovative high schools and learn about future events.

Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• In This School District鈥檚 鈥楾est Kitchen,鈥� Teens Go Beyond the Classroom to Build Drones, Research Cancer & Try Out Careers
• Indiana Looks to Make High School Curriculum More Focused on Career Paths
• Michigan Teens, Schooled in an Old Museum Without Classrooms, Eclipse Status Quo

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; 社区黑料 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI鈥檚 Taylor Maag will moderate. Please join us at 2 p.m. Eastern. 

, or tune in here at 2 p.m. to livestream the event.

Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• Watch: Educators & Experts Talk About How High Schools Are Innovating to Better Prepare Teens for College & Work
• Robotics-Themed NYC High School Fills Roster in Inaugural Year
• Watch: Inside Indianapolis鈥檚 Purdue Polytechnic High, an Innovative School Built Around Design Thinking That Offers a Direct Pathway to College

The conversation included Maryland state Sen. Alonzo Washington; Dr. Julius Davis of Bowie State University; Dr. Daria Valentine, principal of the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College; Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet of Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools; and Sidney Foster, a sophomore at the academy. 

Panelists talked in depth about the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College, an innovative high school that partners with colleges and universities to prepare students for career paths in medicine, teaching and other fields. 

鈥淚 need people to understand that career and technical education is not vo-tech, it鈥檚 not vocational education,鈥� said Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet, who leads the Career and Technical Education department in Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools. 

鈥淚f anything, you can consider it the evolution or the reimagining of project-based learning, because what really happens is students are able to find areas of interest and passion and then they鈥檙e able to link up with industry specialists, and [professionals will] say, 鈥榯his is what it looks like to operate on a body, this is what it鈥檚 like to build a building from the basement to the roof, this is what it鈥檚 like to build a computer from parts on a table,鈥� 鈥� he said.

Related coverage 

New Nonprofit Teaches Philly Students CTE Skills 鈥� and Pays Them for Their Work

How Rethinking Industry-Recognized Credentials Can Help Boost Student Success

After School, Students Are 鈥楶laying the Whole Game鈥� in Activities From Drama to Sports to Debate. Backers of Project-Based Learning Ask: Why Can鈥檛 All of Education Look Like This?

That will be the key question on the table Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern, when the Progressive Policy Institute and 社区黑料 present a special live streamed panel on the 鈥淔uture of High School,鈥� featuring Maryland state Sen. Alonzo Washington; Dr. Julius Davis of Bowie State University; Dr. Daria Valentine, principal of the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College; Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet of Prince George’s County Public Schools; and Sidney Foster, a sophomore at the academy. 

Panelists will examine a unique partnership between the Prince George’s County district and Bowie State, focused on developing strong college and career pathways for high-schoolers in the field of medicine. 

or refresh this page at 2 p.m. to watch the presentation right here. 

Background reading: Some recent coverage about how high schools and career preparation are changing:

• Changing Course: Indiana Looks to Make High School Curriculum More Focused on Career Paths
• Innovation in Iowa: Teens Are Spending Less Time in Classrooms, and Succeeding More 鈥� Here鈥檚 How
• Big Investment: $2.5M Gen Z Program Aims to Expand Career Options for High School Students

Panelists include Maryland state Sen. Jim Rosapepe; Don Fraser, Education Design Lab chief program officer; and Lateefah Durant, vice president, Cityworks DC. Taylor Maag, PPI director of workforce development, will moderate. or watch the livestream at The74Million.org beginning at 2 p.m. ET Thursday.

Recent coverage from 社区黑料 about schools and careers:

• Indianapolis Students Get 鈥楲eg Up鈥� On Careers With European-Style Apprenticeships
• Irked by Skyrocketing Costs, Fewer Americans See K-12 as Route to Higher Ed
• 鈥楢cademic Career Plans鈥� Have Students Exploring Careers as Early as Kindergarten
• New Data: Female College Enrollment Drops at Twice the Rate of Male Students

These post-election crosscurrents were the topic of a webinar sponsored by 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools project, featuring Andy Rotherham, a member of the Virginia State School Board and 社区黑料’s Board of Directors; journalist and author Anya Kamenetz; Michael Hartney of the Hoover Institute; George Parker, former educator, teachers union president and adviser to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; and 74 Senior Writer Kevin Mahnken. The event was moderated by PPI’s Tressa Pankovits.

Read 社区黑料鈥檚 election coverage:

• Second-Highest Youth Midterm Voter Turnout in 3 Decades, Early Estimates Show
  
• DeSantis Solidifies Control of Florida Ed Policy With Pickup of 6 School Board Seats
  
• Wisconsin Re-Elects Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Derails Push for School Vouchers
  
• Easily Winning 2nd Term, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt Plans to Move Forward on School Vouchers
  
• Read all of 社区黑料鈥檚 2022 election coverage here.

If the Biden Administration has its way, big changes could be in store for the nation鈥檚 charter schools.

Charter advocates say the proposed rules would make it harder to get new charters off the ground. What this means for school choice was front and center as 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute presented an April 28 panel discussion: 鈥淭ell Them We Are Rising: Parental Choice in America.鈥�

Here’s a full replay of the conversation:聽

The panel featured insights from Atasha James, CEO of Legends Public Charter School; Ebony Lee, of Charter School Growth Fund; Dr. Howard Fuller, Professor Emeritus at Marquette University; and Earl Martin Phalen, CEO of Phalen Leadership Academies. Curtis Valentine, co-director of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project, moderated the conversation.

See more of our recent school choice and policy coverage below:

• Charter Schools: Charter Backers Blast Ed Dept. Proposal That Could Curb Sector鈥檚 Growth
  
• 74 Interview: Co-Founders of Nashville鈥檚 First New Charter School in 5 Years on Offering Dual Language to All Families
  
• Michigan: In Her Home State, Betsy DeVos is Closer than Ever to Realizing Her Dream of Private School Choice
  
• Public Opinion: Young Republicans, Old Democrats: Exclusive Poll Points to Stark Generation Gaps on School Choice, Teachers鈥� Unions
  
• Politics: Pushing for 鈥楽chool Choice,鈥� U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz Splits With Gov. Greg Abbott in His Endorsements for Texas House Runoffs

Today at 1 p.m. Eastern, 社区黑料 is honored to partner with the Progressive Policy Institute to present an online panel discussion: 鈥淭he Science of Reading and Closing Literacy Gaps in a Post-COVID World.鈥� Joining the conversation will be:

• Dr. Kymyona Burk, early education policy director for ExcelinEd
• Mary Clayman, director of the D.C. Reading Clinic
• Cassandra Gentry, a parent leader with DC PAVE
• Dr. Michael Durant, chief academic officer of Academy of Hope Adult Charter School
• Rep. Allister Chang of the D.C. State Board of Education
• Christina Grant, Acting State Superintendent of Education in Washington, D.C.

, or watch the Wednesday livestream by refreshing this page at 1 p.m.  You can also stream directly on .

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

See some recent coverage of literacy and equity from 社区黑料:

• Giles: Schools in Washington, D.C. Are Facing a Reading Crisis. The District鈥檚 New Literacy Initiatives Could Change That
• A New Kind of Curriculum Night: Armed With Protest Signs and Data, Diverse Group of Minneapolis Parents Demands Better Reading Instruction for Their Kids
• The Gifted Gap: Best and the Brightest among Black & Low-Income Students Fall Behind Their Whiter, More Affluent Peers, Study Finds
• Whitmire: Looking for Answers to the Current Male Education Crisis? Start With Elementary School
• Curriculum Case Study: From 鈥楩ocus鈥� to 鈥楨xceptional,鈥� How a Delaware School Transformed Student Literacy in Just 3 Years

According to School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood, educators and district leaders had 鈥渁 lot of hope about moving our students back into face-to-face school environments in their loving school families and communities where we could love and support each other and help each other academically, where we could provide the mental health support that we need.鈥�

But as the first day of school got closer and fights broke out over masks in her state, that hope started to fray.

鈥淚t has been horrific for board members,鈥� Osgood said Thursday during a panel discussion co-sponsored by 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute that examined the question of how to restart education safely despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

Watch the full conversation to hear from Osgood and other district leaders 鈥斅燼s well as a doctor and economist 鈥斅燼bout reopening amid the Delta variant and showdowns over masks.

If this video isn鈥檛 playing, click here to watch.

According to School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood, educators and district leaders had 鈥渁 lot of hope about moving our students back into face-to-face school environments in their loving school families and communities where we could love and support each other and help each other academically, where we could provide the mental health support that we need.鈥�

鈥淲e attempted to do that, and all hell broke loose.鈥�

Dr. Osgood was recounting what it’s been like to be on the front lines of the COVID-19 mask wars in the past few weeks. Protesters have burned masks outside a school board meeting. Others have videotaped students going into schools wearing masks. And through it all, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has berated local school officials for passing mask mandates for students and for districts with such laws.

鈥淚t has been horrific for board members,鈥� she said. Dr. Osgood was one of several school leaders who joined a panel discussion on Thursday co-sponsored by 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute that examined the question of how to restart education safely despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

鈥淲hat is happening is something that is immoral and unacceptable,鈥� she said of the ways that Gov. DeSantis and others have politicized what should be a public health issue.

鈥淭here is absolutely no conscience for the lives of human beings. As school board members we are people; we are human beings; we鈥檙e living every day with people dying, people being impacted with COVID-19 and people being left with life-long implications.鈥�

Dallas School Superintendent Michael Hinojosa has been fighting a similar battle in his state with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He too described a sense of optimism as recently as June, as the 2020-2021 school year came to a close. By that time, the daily count of new COVID cases in Dallas County had fallen to 100 per day.

But with the dawn of the new school year, 鈥渁lmost immediately, we started seeing the cases go up, up, up, up.鈥� Dr. Hinojosa said it was time for 鈥渂old steps.鈥� But there was one problem: In May, Gov. Abbott had forbidding school districts to impose mask mandates.

Dr. Hinojosa said he concluded that the order was not enforceable and started consulting with leaders of other urban school districts. 鈥淲e had a call with all the urban superintendents and the same was happening in every urban county in Texas, when all the people are so close together.鈥�

This morning, Superintendent Hinojosa joined students and staff at in celebration of their first day! Learn more about this new Montessori campus at .

鈥� Dallas ISD (@dallasschools)

鈥淭hen I asked my team to give me a plan that I was going to execute within 24 hours and challenge the Governor,鈥� Dr. Hinojosa said. 鈥淲e challenged the Governor, and now 60 school districts in the state of Texas have joined us in defying the Governor.鈥�

The battle over whether students should be forced to wear masks is hardly over. Gov. Abbott and his administration has sought to overturn mandates imposed in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and other cities.

So far, lower courts have generally upheld the local school districts, while the state Supreme Court has sided with the Governor. (All eight of the high court鈥檚 current justices are Republicans, as is Gov. Abbott.)

In fact, shortly before Dr. Hinojosa spoke to the panel on Thursday he learned that the Supreme Court had sided with Gov. Abbott in . At least for now, the mask mandate in Dr. Hinojosa鈥檚 district stays in place.

Maritza Guridy, Northeast Regional Organizer for the National Parents Union, had caustic words for the Governors of Florida and Texas, whom she described as 鈥減eople in power playing games of chess with people鈥檚 lives.鈥� She added: 鈥淭his is not about infringing on people鈥檚 freedoms; this is about keeping children alive, keeping our future citizens safe and away from harm.鈥�

The Dallas Superintendent and other speakers on the panel spoke forcefully about the need to have children in classrooms and not in remote learning environments.

He noted that his district was 95 percent ethnic minority and 90 percent economically disadvantaged. 鈥淥ur parents don鈥檛 have the option to work from home,鈥� he said 鈥淥ur parents are in the service industry; they鈥檙e running this beautiful city.鈥�

He said about half the district鈥檚 students returned to in-person learning last October. 鈥淎nd the once that came back have learned a lot more than the ones that stayed out.鈥�

Guridy, a mother of six, offered a personal testimonial to the value of in-person learning. 鈥淢y rising second-grader, when she was finally able to go back in school when they started hybrid instruction back in March in Philadelphia, she was able to get on the honor roll just because of that contact, face-to-face, with her teacher.鈥�

Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist for the Progressive Policy Institute, said that once the pandemic itself is finally under control, governments will need to spend significant money to make up for the vast amounts of learning loss experienced by students during the pandemic, particularly those in disadvantaged communities.

He pointed to one study that looked at extending the school year by an extra month, which would cost $75 billion across the nation. That 鈥渟ounds like a lot of money,鈥� he acknowledged, but the potential payoff is impressive: $1.2 trillion over the next three decades.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 equal to about a $16 return for every dollar invested,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd when you鈥檝e got an investment like that, this is a no brainer.鈥�

Now, it鈥檚 time to pivot into the future and face the question, what happens now? What will school choice look like 30 years from now? How will America’s public school system be structured in 2050? What should we be fighting for? Who should be at the table driving change? How will charters grow and evolve?

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These and more questions will be on the table today, when 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute present an important panel discussion, 鈥�.鈥� Joining the conversation will be former Georgia State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan; Dr. Charles Cole, founder of Energy Convertors; Naomi Shelton, CEO of the National Charter Collaborative; Jada Bolar, executive producer of the National Parents Union; and Patrick Jones, senior vice president of The Mind Trust. Curtis Valentine, co-director of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project, will moderate.

To get a sense of what this session will be like, check out Shelton鈥檚 recent opinion article in 社区黑料: 鈥嬧��”Charter Sector Approaches its 鈥楽econd Great Awakening鈥� As it Turns 30 Years Old: Committing to Community Schools and Leaders of Color.鈥� In it, she addresses the painful reality of racial bias that has crept into the charter system, throwing up barriers to potential charter teams led by people of color.

She writes: 鈥淓ssentially, authorizing bodies have become comfortable approving schools that fit a mold, spurring the replication of models that veer further from the innovation and supports that meet the needs of students and communities.鈥�

Today鈥檚 panel will be something of a bookend to one that PPI and 社区黑料 presented in June that assessed the first 30 years of the charter school movement, which featured a keynote address from former President Bill Clinton. You can watch and read about that session here.