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June 12, 2025
The Senate’s Higher Education Reforms Are Strong (But Could Be Stronger)
…outcomes. The Senate will need to approve the full package, and lawmakers must reconcile its differences with another higher education reform plan recently passed the House. There are more steps before these…
May 12, 2025
To Improve Student Outcomes, Focus On Classroom Practice, Not Policy
…by my recent Marquette Today piece, the event—hosted in collaboration with the College of Education—brought together educators, researchers, and policymakers to discuss how improving classroom practice is the linchpin of meaningful…
April 17, 2025
Turn Public Service Loan Forgiveness into a State Block Grant
As Congress negotiates a bill to overhaul the federal budget, lawmakers looking to save money should note $30 billion in potential savings hiding in plain sight. The Public Service Loan…
March 25, 2025
Reimagining Federal Education R&D: IES, Workforce Skills, and State Leadership
…countries that participate in the study (over 30 in PIAAC). This produces a diffuse survey covering far too many aspects of skills than are needed by US policy makers. An…
January 6, 2025
Congress Can Block Student Loan Cancellation—Forever
…extend the 2017 tax cuts, increase funding for immigration enforcement, and pursue other priorities. Lawmakers will need to find budget offsets to pay for all this. Most of the savings…
November 25, 2024
Don’t Write Off Workforce Pell Grants
…by an average of $4,000. High-quality programs such as FastForward shouldn’t lose out on federal funding simply because other workforce education courses demonstrate worse outcomes. Policymakers should adopt a posture…
November 20, 2024
End Federal Loans for Graduate School
…willing to step in and help these students pay for their educations. Indeed, a thriving private market for graduate student loans existed before Congress removed limits on federal lending. But if policymakers…
November 12, 2024
The National Assessment of Educational Progress Recompete: Is It Real Change or Lipstick on a Pig?
…but policymakers must do more to encourage competition and ensure transparency for the new likely $1 billion NAEP contract. Read the PDF. The American government runs on contracts between government…
September 16, 2024
A Pyrrhic Victory Against Student Loan Default
…Policymakers instead need to fix the issue at the source, by ensuring that the student loans extended to borrowers are within their expected capacity to repay. That means keeping college…
September 11, 2024
After Decades of Competitive Admissions, Getting into College Has Finally Become Easier
…admissions rates mean colleges must compete more fiercely to attract students, and for many that means slashing tuition. Policymakers should heed this lesson: a more competitive market in higher education…