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June 12, 2025
Lingering Absence in Public Schools: Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2024
Key Points Chronic absenteeism spiked during the pandemic and remains a serious problem. In 2024, rates were 57 percent higher than they were pre-pandemic and only 2 percentage points lower…
May 22, 2025
Course Correction: Rebuilding The Federal Student Loan System After Biden’s Mismanagement
Key Points The Biden administration repeatedly refused to transition student borrowers back into repayment after the COVID-19 payment pause and unsuccessfully tried to cancel student debt en masse several times….
May 14, 2025
Graduation in the Time of COVID: The Weakened Relationship with Chronic Absenteeism
Key Points Chronic absenteeism soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but counterintuitively, graduation rates over the same period also rose. Our conservative estimates show the relationship between chronic absenteeism and graduation…
March 13, 2025
Trends in Net College Tuition and Financial Aid, 1990–2020
Key Points While the sticker price of college rose $13,717 in real terms between 1989–90 and 2019–20, the net tuition students pay after financial aid rose just $4,526. However, the…
March 10, 2025
Many Children Left Behind: The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress Results Indicate a Five-Alarm Fire
Key Points The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores underline a continuing decline in educational achievement in the United States. The Institute of Education Sciences’ tendency to favor…
February 24, 2025
A Conservative Vision for Higher Education Reform
Key Points The Trump administration offers an opportunity for meaningful and overdue reform of higher education following a period of halted progress during the Biden administration. Colleges should be delivering…
January 29, 2025
How State Governments Can Fight Degree Inflation
Key Points State governments contribute to degree inflation—the addition of college degree requirements to jobs that did not previously have them—through their own hiring practices, and through occupational licensing laws….
January 24, 2025
Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement Trends
Key Points Average US student assessment scores appear to tell a simple story: Performance rose through the 2000s, plateaued during the 2010s, and then declined sharply during the pandemic. But…
January 24, 2025
Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement Trends
Key Points Average US student assessment scores appear to tell a simple story: Performance rose through the 2000s, plateaued during the 2010s, and then declined sharply during the pandemic. But…
December 17, 2024
States Should Drop Accreditation Requirements for New Colleges
Key Points Most states require private degree-granting universities to gain recognition from an accrediting agency to operate. Accreditation is a significant barrier to entry in higher education. Accreditors force colleges…