In our new @shankerinst.bsky.social paper, we show how TIME is the crucial mediating variable when seeking to change classroom practice via policy. (1 of 3)
Albert Shanker Institute
@shankerinst.bsky.social
Non-profit think tank providing research and commentary on education, labor, and democracy.
June 16 marks 50 years since the Soweto Uprising. Join @aft.org & @shankerinst.bsky.social 6/16, 12 PM EDT, for a Defending Democracy webinar on youth movements, justice & democratic rights. ✊🏽📚 sharemylesson.com/webinars/def... @rweingarten.bsky.social @sharemylesson.bsky.social @mugwena.bsky.social
Defending Democracy: South Africa: The Legacy of Youth Activism in the Fight for Global Democracy
June 16, 1976 thousands of high school students in South Africa’s SOWETO township called a strike over the restive education policies of the apartheid regime. As they marched unto an open field adjace...
sharemylesson.com
Shanker Institute Fellow Tiffany Broadbent analyzes the complex structure of D.C.'s public school system and suggests meaningful changes to governance, accountability, and community participation. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/account...
The Accountability Gap: D.C. Schools and Students with Disabilities
DC's public school system needs changes to governance, accountability, and community participation.
shankerinstitute.org
Shocking, heretofore unseen levels of misNAEPery going on at the Edunomics Lab edunomicslab.org/new-hampshir...
New Hampshire ROI Over Time - Edunomics Lab
New Hampshire: Change in Spending Alongside Reading & Math Outcomes Edunomics Lab analyzed ROI data from 2013-2024 (NAEP 4th grade reading and 8th grade math scores alongside per-pupil spending) to se...
edunomicslab.org
If I hear another f--ng interview about how the long run learning loss which started pre-covid (esp in reading) is probably caused by social media and failure to implement Science of Reading, while totally ignoring the post-recession great disinvestment - for which we already have causal evidence...
ASI Fellow Tiffany Broadbent analyzes how English learners are rarely the starting point of policy design and are instead expected to adapt to systems built around other priorities. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/do-one-...
Do One-Size-Fits-All Literacy Programs Serve English Learners?
English language learners are rarely the starting point of policy design.
shankerinstitute.org
TODAY, 5/17 @ 5:30PM 📖 Educators, this conversation matters. Join @rweingarten.bsky.social & J.Kozol for an @aft.org Book Club event focused on equity, access, & the role of schools in shaping democracy. Save your spot: https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/aft-book-club-conversation-jonathan-kozol 👩🏫
We've also uploaded the latest version of our District Cost Database, which provides adequacy estimates for about 12,000 school districts between 2009-2023. You can check out your district's results with our visualization tool (or download the full dataset). schoolfinancedata.org/visualizatio...
The School Finance Indicators Database has a new website! schoolfinancedata.org
Tracking School Finance Equity and Adequacy Across the U.S.
A collection of sophisticated school finance measures that can be used to assess the adequacy and fairness of state and district revenue, spending, and resource allocation, and to compare these measur...
schoolfinancedata.org
New WP: NAEP and State tests often disagree about educational progress. How much? What do we do? We show how to use these "two watches" to improve trend measurement whenever we have multiple trends. Our paper, including methods underlying our new SEDA/EOP data: edopportunity.org/papers/two_w...
New: Since DOGE cut the statistical arm of the Education Department, basic facts about American schools are no longer readily available. Some of these data points can be found elsewhere but are now harder to track down. Others simply don't exist anymore. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/07/e...
Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould @faithinaction.bsky.social recounts the historical efforts of the black community to resist, organize, and expand democracy, and how this moment demands a renewed commitment to solidarity across race, class, faith, and geography. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/voter-s...
Voter Suppression Will Not Have the Last Word
This moment demands courage, clarity, and collective power.
shankerinstitute.org
Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould recounts the historical efforts of the black community to resist, organize, and expand democracy, and how this moment demands a renewed commitment to solidarity across race, class, faith, and geography. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/voter-s...
Voter Suppression Will Not Have the Last Word
This moment demands courage, clarity, and collective power.
shankerinstitute.org
Please join us MONDAY, April 20th at 10am ET for our panel discussion, "Defending Democracy: The Hungarian Elections and the Future of Hungarian Democracy." More information and registration --> www.shankerinstitute.org/event/hungar...
Defending Democracy: The Hungarian Elections and the Future of Hungarian Democracy
Join us on April 20 at 10 am EDT for this important conversation.
shankerinstitute.org
Is Your State Shortchanging Public Schools? @schoolfinance101.bsky.social @mattdicarlo.bsky.social @jerseyjazzman.bsky.social bit.ly/4t2t5M7
Is Your State Shortchanging Public Schools?
The latest installment of an annual school finance report finds that states continue to devote a smaller share of their gross domestic products to K-12 education than they did during the Great Recessi...
nepc.colorado.edu
Guest author Cooper Sved analyzes his experience trying to implement Virginia's new Literacy Act, with implications for future legislation. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/when-li...
When Literacy Reform Meets the Classroom
Literacy legislation should consider the experience educators and students.
shankerinstitute.org
NEW: The 8th edition of our annual report evaluating state K-12 school finance systems, as well as one-page state profiles, visualizations, full datasets, and more. www.schoolfinancedata.org/the-adequacy...
The Adequacy and Fairness of State School Finance Systems 2026
An evaluation of the K-12 school finance systems of all 50 states and D.C.
schoolfinancedata.org
After visiting the National Civil Rights Museum's new exhibit on Bayard Rustin ("Speaking Truth to Power"), I looked to Rustin's writings for guidance on today's challenges to democracy. The result is a two-part series in the @shankerinst.bsky.social's Blog. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/what-wo...
What Would Bayard Rustin Do? Part 1
Part I of “What Bayard Rustin Would Do” describes the context of Rustin’s work up to 1965.
shankerinstitute.org
Read the new @shankerinst.bsky.social blog by The Horizons Project's Adam Fefer and Maria Stephan breaking down how educators can and do resist censorship, disinformation and fear-based politics. https://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/when-educators-confront-authoritarianism
School policies on personal device use are changing rapidly! Round-ups are often super useful for seeing what's new ... a few I've read recently 1. Blog from @shankerinst.bsky.social asks whether tablets provided by school are different from cell phones www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/school-...
School Cell Phone Bans: Listen to Researchers and Stakeholders
School cell phone policy must reflect the research and views of stakeholders.
shankerinstitute.org
With banning cell phone use in schools becoming increasingly popular, ASI Fellow Tiffany Broadbent writes that it is important for policymakers to consider the research and listen to stakeholders. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/school-...
School Cell Phone Bans: Listen to Researchers and Stakeholders
School cell phone policy must reflect the research and views of stakeholders.
shankerinstitute.org
The US ranks 22nd in educational spending among its peer countries. Recent studies show that money DOES matter when it comes to school spending, especially in high-poverty districts. We need to spend more on public education! Learn more: www.epi.org/publication/...
Esther Quintero unpacks the arguments around reading laws, showing how priors shape both support and skepticism. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/mindset...
The Mindsets We Bring to Understanding Reading Laws
Our priors affect how we understand literacy mandates and that is ok. We can still find common ground.
shankerinstitute.org
www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/mindset... New blog by @equintero.bsky.social: We all bring priors to debates re literacy. Over time, these can harden into fixed positions. By unpacking where each side is coming from, we can soften divides, open space for dialogue, & set a few shared non-negotiables.
The Mindsets We Bring to Understanding Reading Laws
Our priors affect how we understand literacy mandates and that is ok. We can still find common ground.
shankerinstitute.org
Five ways to rethink the future of teaching based on our recent work on developing teacher-designed innovation. Open access for Teach Secondary. cdn.teachwire.net/e-mag/Teach-... @shankerinst.bsky.social @uottawa.ca @crownhousepub.bsky.social @dutaut.bsky.social @onishiacais.bsky.social
Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6
cdn.teachwire.net
Graph of the day - why it's important to maintain a balanced revenue portfolio of state & local revenues for schools (for more, see: www.shankerinstitute.org/revenuecomp)
The gap between higher- and lower-spending education states is growing. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/revisit...
Revisiting the Great Divergence in State Education Spending
The gap between higher- and lower-spending education states is growing.
shankerinstitute.org
It has been a joy to help create the kind of professional development I wish I had when I was in the classroom: instructionally-focused, teacher-led, video-based. I wrote a piece for the @shankerinst.bsky.social about how it works and how you can DIY this PD in your own school or district.
Albert Shanker Institute@shankerinst.bsky.social · last yr.In a new post, @katasolow.bsky.social highlights a model of PD that bridges the research-to-practice gap by providing teachers with concrete examples of great literacy instruction. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/when-te...
From my thoughts in June 2020: "I suspect the bigger question is whether and how the pandemic and economic turmoil reshapes the relationship between schools and families." Also see short section "Opting Out on the Continuum of Participation in Schools" in Ross et al. (2023) doi.org/10.1177/2332...
The Pandemic And Cultural Scripts Of School-Family Relationships
Arizona State professor Sherman Dorn recommends viewing the current crisis as the basis for asking important "what if?" questions about public schooling in the U.S.
shankerinstitute.org
In a new post, @katasolow.bsky.social highlights a model of PD that bridges the research-to-practice gap by providing teachers with concrete examples of great literacy instruction. www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/when-te...
When Teachers Teach Teachers, Teachers Learn
Teachers deserve concrete, practical, and teacher-led PD.
shankerinstitute.org