The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) program was designed to meet the unique needs of the State of Tennessee, while also incorporating the hallmark elements of existing merit-based aid programs in other states. This manuscript provides a snapshot of TELS recipients and their outcomes, including narrative discussion on the current…

States diverge widely when it comes to education funding choices, leading to substantial differences in how much states spend on schooling, the role of local versus state revenue sources, and relative differences among districts in funding levels. Prior studies have documented that Democratic party control of state governments appears to be…

Taking college courses while in high school--known as dual enrollment (DE)--gives students greater access to core subjects like English and math. Along with legislation, in the past few years California has invested nearly $700 million to support K-12 and community college districts to expand and support dual enrollment--and to help accelerate…

School improvement is complex and difficult, especially in comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) schools, which concurrently struggle with multiple challenges. To guide state education agencies (SEAs) in supporting schools, this report summarizes the resources that SEAs have identified and developed, insights from national technical…

School improvement is complex and difficult, especially in comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) schools, which concurrently struggle with multiple challenges. To guide state education agencies (SEAs) in supporting schools, this annex provides (1) the resources that SEAs have identified and developed to support the identification and…

This appendix contains programmatic updates regarding the Washington Student Achievement Council's (WSAC) regional partnership work: (1) Strategic Involvement; (2) Long-Term Outlook Based on the 2025 Biennial State Budget; (3) Upcoming Report on Regional Partnership Outcomes for the 2024-25 Academic Year; and (4) Reapplication and Investment…

The 2010 health reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, included a provision that would expand eligibility of the public insurance program Medicaid. One concern raised about implementing the Medicaid expansion is that it would lead to reductions in state spending in other policy domains. In this study, we test whether adopting…

While the popularity of state-financed merit-based scholarships has increased since the 1980s, policymakers struggle to maintain these programs because of growing costs. Some have tried to manage this tradeoff through eligibility changes or award amounts; however, little empirical research exists on the effectiveness of these changes. We add to…

Understanding the funding requirements of public institutions starts with recognizing them as state assets with capacity to meet state needs, especially those that disproportionately serve underrepresented, low-income, or rural student populations and adult learners. As policy makers wrestle with resource allocation decisions under unfavorable…

States have increasingly relied on financial policies to address teacher staffing challenges, particularly in high need areas. Case in point, South Carolina developed the Rural Recruitment Initiative (RRI) to provide funding for recruitment and retention efforts in rural and other underserved districts facing severe teacher staffing challenges.…

California approved a massive overhaul of its byzantine and unequal school finance system when the state Legislature passed and Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in 2013. LCFF featured a new state finance model, but it was much more than a change in finance distribution formulas. It also provided districts with…

As part of its Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sponsored the RAND Corporation to study the cost of high-quality pre-K programming. The RAND study included three states--Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington--that were partnering with the foundation under PPI. The objective of the study was to…

Afterschool programs inspire kids to learn, help them build foundational skills like the ability to communicate effectively and think critically, and give parents peace of mind knowing that their child is in a safe space with caring adults. For more than 25 years, 21st Century Community Learning Centers have helped young people academically and…

Despite substantial investments in financial aid programs, the available aid often falls short of covering the total cost of attendance (Hanson, 2023). Today, college expenses represent 30% of the annual median family income, pushing many students to rely on loans to finance their education (US Census Bureau, 2023). Among student loan borrowers,…

After a white supremacists' rally which fomented terror and death in Charlottesville, VA, a group of local educators came together to reflect on what happened and determine what they could do to push for racial justice in their community. "Reframing the Narrative" (RtN) was created, a years-long grant-funded project to produce and…