Inflation is projected to be much higher than expected at the time of the 2021 Spending Review. This could wipe out up to £850 million of the value of skills funding in England over the next three years, leading to either fewer adults accessing learning or risks to the quality of learning. This Briefing Note addresses what the 2021 Spending Review…

Young adults today are the least happy demographic group, departing from a long-established U-shaped relationship between life satisfaction and age in many countries worldwide. The longstanding U-curve reflects the unhappiness and stress that most people experience in the midlife years as they juggle financial and family constraints while both the…

The USAID Education Policy guides Agency-wide investments in education and is the primary source of direction for all education programming. The Education Policy outlines key principles and priority areas that are critical to supporting partner country education systems to achieve equitable, sustainable, quality learning and education outcomes. It…

State policies to expand computer science (CS) education have popped up nearly everywhere since 2016. This acceleration speaks well to the collaborative work of state boards of education, intermediary and national organizations, state legislatures, and governors who championed those policies. It also speaks to the urgency of increasing all…

State correctional education leaders responded to cancellations of in-person programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic by using technology to provide and expand access to high-quality educational content. This response both allowed participants to continue their learning and provided them with equitable access to technology they will use to navigate…

Just decades ago, the internet was an entirely new concept, but it's become second nature for billions of people and is now embedded into daily life across the world. While the internet is old news, there are recent technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the cloud that have gone from niche, specialized roles in the global…

No matter what path students pursue in postsecondary education and in life, they need to be able to problem-solve and think critically. The study of mathematics teaches skills and habits of mind that are an essential part of the formula for students to succeed in further studies and in their careers. Requiring all students, regardless of the…

The instructional barrier matrix can support teachers in identifying student's diverse needs. Combined with Universal Design for Learning, the matrix gives all students access to engaged learning, and the planning process for teachers becomes proactive, time-saving, and effective.

The transition to online learning has highlighted the pervasiveness of the digital divide as more than inequitable access to computers and internet (Hohlfeld et al. 2017). Even when students have laptops and physical connectivity, their participation depends on teachers who position them as mathematically competent (Berry 2018; Langer Osuna 2017)…

Roughly 75 million Americans don't have the work or wages they need to get by. They either lack the skills employers seek or can't access jobs with sufficient pay. These are America's untapped workers--people who are unemployed or underemployed, but who can succeed in the nation's rapidly changing economy if offered the right education, training,…

The massive challenges created by 2020's global pandemic--and a renewed resolve to address educational equity--have sounded an urgent call to act on behalf of students and their future. For more than a decade, ExcelinEd has been at the forefront of a movement to transform education across America. This playbook describes ExcelinEd's broad range of…

This toolkit that can empower state leaders to transform their vocational-technical schools for the better. It builds on "Hands-On Achievement," a book detailing the Massachusetts model that Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research published earlier in 2022. The toolkit describes three keys to success, provides a brief history of…

Competence in contemporary working life requirements is increasingly aligned with electronically mediated tasks and work roles: ie, the digitalisation of work. This alignment necessitates workers learning and utilising the conceptual knowledge and ways of working needed for this work. This knowledge is often distinct from and displaces workers'…

Videos continue to be useful educational tools for low-literacy adults in rural developing areas. This article outlines a project that combined applied cognitive science and participatory video methodology to design and create high-quality skill-learning videos for adults in The Gambia, West Africa. First, it provides an overview of the…

While the COVID-19 vaccines bring hope about the end of pandemic-related closures, leaders worldwide recognize that a fundamental shift has occurred in the way we work, live, and learn. Though we will always need brick-and-mortar schools, our "new normal" must include hybrid and virtual education options for students who do not have…