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January 6, 2025

Congress Can Block Student Loan Cancellation—Forever

Over the holiday season, the Biden administration withdrew two pending regulations to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of student loans. Officials evidently judged that the administration would not have time to…

December 18, 2024

Employers Should Drop Hiring Preferences for “Elite 34” Colleges

How do you know if someone went to Harvard? They’ll tell you. If a recent Wall Street Journal story is any indication, though, that classic joke may soon be outdated. According to the…

December 11, 2024

US Students Best Other Nations—in Achievement Gap Growth

US scores on the 2023 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are another sign not only that American students are losing ground in math and science, but that the…

December 9, 2024

TIMSS Shows the Bottom Is Falling Out for US Test Scores

Last week’s release of 2023 scores from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)—an international assessment measuring fourth and eighth graders in math and science—offers a fresh look at…

November 21, 2024

A Consensus on Common-Sense Education Reform

Is common ground possible in an age of extreme polarization? Perhaps! “Toward a Potential Grand Bargain for the Nation” is a new report by a group of experts from think…

November 19, 2024

We Aren’t Testing Students on the Computer Skills They Actually Need

The results of the 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) were just released. ICILS is given to a sample of eighth-grade students and is supposed to measure their ability…

November 12, 2024

The National Assessment of Educational Progress Recompete: Is It Real Change or Lipstick on a Pig?

Key Points The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has a congressional mandate to assess American students’ academic performance over time. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic processes to select NAEP’s contractors have…

November 12, 2024

Government Contracting for “America’s Report Card” Is Broken

If you tried to apply for federal student aid this 2024–2025 school year, you would have been met with a glitch-filled online form created using 40-year-old code, released three months…

November 8, 2024

It’s Time for Conservatives to Reclaim Our Place in Ed Reform

As the results of the election came into focus Tuesday night, Chuck Todd made a keen observation on NBC: Republicans’ biggest gains among Hispanic voters came in Florida and Texas, states that…

October 23, 2024

The College Enrollment Plunge Is the Biden Administration’s Disaster

The number of first-year students on America’s college campuses dropped five percent this fall, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s new enrollment estimates. The drop—which reverses last year’s four…