Announcing the Future of Evidence in Education Network! It's been dark times for #EdResearch since Feb. 2025, but it's also brought together a lot of thoughtful people who really believe in research for the public good. www.edevidencenetwork.org

The Future of Evidence in Education Network

A cross-sector network of researchers and evaluators strengthening how education evidence is generated, interpreted, and used.

edevidencenetwork.org

🚨Happy Monday, the 2023-24 CRDC LEA and school files are now live at ED: civilrightsdata.ed.gov/data

New Working Paper with Micah Baum and Joaquin Endara: Students tend to become more liberal during college. We study whether individual faculty make their students more liberal. We find no evidence that faculty affect student partisanship. Working Paper: edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1538 1/

Do Faculty Affect Student Partisanship?

We study whether Democratic college professors make their students more liberal. We link voter data to salary records from 33 state flagships and show that faculty skew Democratic, especially in the h...

edworkingpapers.com

Debates over USPS often center on its finances—but who actually relies on the mail, and for what? New research from Elena Patel, drawing on four decades of USPS data, finds mail remains critical for medications, voting, tax filing, and rural service access.

Beyond the Balance Sheet: What American Households Still Use the Mail ForBeyond the balance sheet: What American households still use the mail for | Brookings

New analysis of USPS Household Diary Study data shows how Americans still rely on the mail, from paper bills to package delivery, and which households depend on it most.

brook.gs

New research from Jon Valant, Ariell Bertrand, Rachel M. Perera, and Nicolas Zerbino examines how COVID, culture-war conflicts, and political tensions have impacted America's school boards—and how board members themselves feel about serving during this pivotal moment.

America's school boards | Brookings

A look at the America's most accessible political institutions in an era of conflict and partisan division.

brook.gs

I wrote about the quiet erosion of the five day school week. Take Wake County Public Schools, for example, where students will experience only two uninterrupted five-day instructional weeks in Sept, Nov, Dec, and Mar next year. I worry we haven't fully considered the costs of this policy choice.

In this blog post, I put together an updated dataset of how colleges have fared over the last decade on: --Net margin --Enrollment --State appropriations --Endowments Most colleges struggled with enrollment, but appropriations and endowment were generally strong. Play around with the data!

An Updated Look at the Financial Health of American Higher Education

I frequently get asked by reporters and policymakers to provide my thoughts on the stability of individual colleges, which takes me on many fun trips through financial statements, IRS Form 990 fili…

robertkelchen.com

Kudos to my brilliant colleagues on their new report "America's school boards"! Using original surveys, media reports, & voter data, Jon Valant, Rachel Perera, Nico Zerbino & Ariell Bertrand dive into "the most accessible of our democratic institutions" www.brookings.edu/collection/a...

America's school boards | Brookings

A look at the America's most accessible political institutions in an era of conflict and partisan division.

brookings.edu

Turns out it is possible to make financial aid simpler for students! The FAFSA is working, more students are applying for and qualifying to college, and qualifying for aid. @donmoyn.bsky.social was nice enough to have me guest author for Can We Still Govern donmoynihan.substack.com/p/good-news-...

Good News! FAFSA is Actually Working

It is possible to fix burdensome administrative systems

donmoynihan.substack.com

🚨 Getting state ‘free college’ right: Design choices that matter In a new report, @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social and I highlight what we know about state free college and suggest how policymakers can update programs for a changing higher education landscape: www.brookings.edu/articles/get...

Getting state 'free college' right: Design choices that matter | Brookings

Katharine Meyer and Isabel McMullen assess state "free college" designs, showing how simple, generous aid boosts completion.

brookings.edu

Reflecting on #AEFP2026: @dbassok.bsky.social, Michal & I talk about the amazing work the @aefpweb.bsky.social community is doing 💗 Many thanks to the @brookings.edu team, especially Jon Valant, @rachelmarisa.bsky.social & Mike Hansen for helpful feedback. www.brookings.edu/articles/reb...

Rebuilding IES to amplify the impact of education research on student outcomes | Brookings

Leaders of AEFP discuss the state of education policy research and the future of the Institute of Education Sciences.

brookings.edu

New data for the 2024 election and the 119th Congress is available here: www.brookings.edu/articles/vit...

Vital Statistics on Congress | Brookings

Vital Statistics on Congress is a collection of impartial data on the U.S. Congress. It includes more than 90 tables of data related to Congress’ members and activities, many of which date back nearly...

brookings.edu

Checking in on the Department of Education - a year(ish) into the second Trump administration and ahead of SOTU tomorrow, we looked back at what has happened to ED and what you might expect in the year ahead www.brookings.edu/articles/faq...

FAQs: Checking in on the Department of Education | Brookings

A year into the second Trump administration, Brown Center scholars offer a check-in on the Department of Education—what has happened and what might lie ahead.

brookings.edu

🚨Sharing my newest post - A coordinated retreat from college access: What TRIO and GEAR UP cuts reveal www.brookings.edu/articles/a-c...

A coordinated retreat from college access: What TRIO and GEAR UP cuts reveal | Brookings

Katharine Meyer discusses how TRIO and GEAR UP programs have been impacted by the first year of the Trump administration.

brookings.edu

A new report warns that AI poses a serious threat to children's cognitive development and emotional well-being. n.pr/4pA3kkl

The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says

A new report warns that AI poses a serious threat to children's cognitive development and emotional well-being.

n.pr

It would appear I am now a columnist at Inside Higher Ed. My first piece focuses on McCarthyism, censorship, and our current moment in higher education. This is an essay I started nearly 6 months ago so I'm glad to finally share it with y'all. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Censorship Arrives on Campus

In her debut column, “Echoes in the Quad,” higher education policy scholar Dominique J. Baker explores how the political oppression of the McCarthy era reverberates in the stifling of academic freedom...

insidehighered.com

Addressing these questions requires a team effort. To that end, we're hiring a postdoc to start summer 2026. Please submit your materials by the end of the month and/or share the posting: postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...

The D.C. region saw the largest increase in home sale listings of any major metro area, according to the Brookings Institution. 2025 has changed the “trajectory of the District’s economy,” said one expert. Here's why:

D.C. region heads into 2026 with an economy teetering toward recession

Economic indicators show declines in retail sales, hotel numbers and a rise in empty office space

washingtonpost.com

This !@#$% year in review: the wrecking ball that was February 2025 brought the abrupt end to many Institute of Education Sciences contracts for data collection, evaluation and research. www.brookings.edu/articles/cut... 🧵

Cutting research funding would make education less effective and efficient | Brookings

Presidents of education research associations explain the impacts of recent funding cuts to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

brookings.edu

We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges. But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.

This Thanksgiving, my eight year old is thankful for quality higher ed 😂 We’ll maybe hold off on debt-to-earnings conversations until she’s a few years older…

The “professional” loan limit discourse this past week has been wild. I wrote up some thoughts on what recent policies and neg-reg actions actually mean and what impacts on graduate studies we should be focusing on: www.brookings.edu/articles/def...

Defining professional programs: Why evidence and clarity matter in ED’s rulemaking | Brookings

Katharine Meyer discusses recent changes to student loan caps and clarifies misconceptions on the borrowing limits established by OBBBA.

brookings.edu

5/5 Bottom line: extreme heat is undermining teacher productivity and reshaping learning in ways we’ve totally missed. As heat waves become more common, schools with older workforces or weak cooling systems will be especially vulnerable. Climate change is already affecting American teachers.

📢 New postdoc opportunity at Annenberg! The Annenberg Institute is seeking a postdoctoral research associate for a 2‐year appointment to join a diverse community of scholars committed to educational equity and improvement! More info here: annenberg.brown.edu/opportunitie...

📢 #EdWorkingPapers: Behind the scenes of student success interventions: Faculty & staff collaborate and make key changes that strengthen low-touch supports 🔍@ellenbryer.bsky.social, @catherinematah.bsky.social, @katharinemeyer.bsky.social & @linzpage.bsky.social 📄 edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1314

NEWS (?): The formula that USDA has asked states to use to get to 50 percent of SNAP benefits *does not produce a number that is 50 percent of benefits* for any family that has net income. Illustrative example below. www.fns.usda.gov/snap/benefit...

This is my last week at the Wall Street Journal. I'll be returning to Chalkbeat to launch a new section focused on the big ideas and debates in American education. More on this soon! You can sign up to keep following my work here: www.chalkbeat.org/newsletters/...

Haven't been on Bluesky in awhile, but popping in to say I wrote a policy piece based on my transfer paper for @brookings.edu Chalkboard! Many thanks to @econsarahreber.bsky.social, @katharinemeyer.bsky.social, & Michael Hansen for the opportunity and the editing. www.brookings.edu/articles/com...

Community college students don’t always benefit from transferring to a 4-year college | Brookings

Lois Miller examines community college transfer, finding it boosts degree completion but can reduce earnings afterward.

brookings.edu

📢 #EdWorkingPapers: Do RCTs in higher ed risk contamination? From a large in-person college course intervention, @catherinematah.bsky.social, @katharinemeyer.bsky.social & @linzpage.bsky.social show when individual-level randomization is preferred 📄 Full paper here: edworkingpapers.com/ai24-1083