Dive Brief:
- In a new policy brief, New America’s Education Policy program outlines 10 top priorities for an education agenda and makes the case for why state leaders, the Trump administration and Congress should adopt them.
- The K-12 priorities include expanding access to quality early learning, smoothing the transition points from pre-K through higher education and the workforce, transforming the preparation and ongoing development of educators, and aligning research and development to educational practice.
- New America also recommends improving links between education and workforce data (while protecting privacy) and building an infrastructure for supporting dual language learners — including by creating pathways for bilingual paraprofessionals to become teachers.
Dive Insight:
A majority of state governments are controlled by Republicans, who also have control of both houses of Congress. Improving education is a bipartisan issue, but the methods of doing so are hotly contested from one party to another.
The idea of expanding access to quality early learning is generally supported across both parties. One of the few education topics President Donald Trump mentioned on the campaign trail was investing in the youngest learners. The Every Student Succeeds Act also creates new opportunities for allocating federal dollars to these efforts. Many regions are also paying more attention to creating a unified pre-K through 20 pipeline, though the rest of the New America priorities may face resistance when it comes to the details and funding priorities.
