Events

On Thursday, January 26 the Learning Policy Institute and the California School Boards Association hosted a legislative briefing on the teacher shortage and its implications for California schools and students. The program included a research presentation on findings from a recent LPI-CSBA survey, comments by local stakeholders, and recommendations for state-level policies to build a strong and sustainable teacher workforce.

The Alliance for Excellent Education and the Learning Policy Institute held a webinar on using the Every Student Succeeds Act and its accompanying regulations to advance equity and educational opportunity. Designed for state policymakers and education stakeholders, the webinar focused on how states can effectively design multiple-measure accountability systems to assess overall school performance and progress—including gaps in student performance—and drive evidence-based interventions and continuous improvement across all schools and for all students.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contains a number of new provisions that can be used to advance equity and excellence throughout our nation’s schools for students of color, students from low-income families, English learners, students with disabilities, and those who are homeless or in foster care. The Learning Policy Institute will convene a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss these provisions and share information from a new report that outlines the equity implications of ESSA and offers recommendations on how states, districts, and schools can leverage key provisions in the new law to improve educational opportunities, especially for our most vulnerable students.

On October 26, 2016, the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) joined with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to host a webinar on Building a Strong, Sustainable Teacher Workforce. Developed for state policymakers and their staff, the webinar focused on evidence-based policies and practices to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, especially in hard-to-staff subjects, schools, and regions. The recorded webinar is available for viewing.

Across the nation, teacher shortages are causing districts to scramble to find qualified teachers in math, science, special education, bilingual education, and other fields—with the most severe shortages in the highest-need schools. On September 15, the Learning Policy Institute convened leaders from government, education, business, and parent and community organizations for a timely discussion of this critical issue.

The First Five Years Fund and the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) held an #ECEMatters Twitter Chat discussing national polling on early education and what states/communities are doing to ensure quality early education for all students.

Policymakers and researchers gathered in Washington, DC, to attend the forum The Road to High-Quality Early Learning: Lessons From the States to discuss how four states—Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia—devised a set of strategies for delivering high-quality early childhood education programs at scale.

Learning Policy Institute staff presented during several sessions at AERA's 2016 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, April 8 to 12, 2016.

The Learning Policy Institute released its California policy brief, The Building Blocks of High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs, at a convening co-hosted by Early Edge California and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) in Sacramento.

This conference, co-sponsored by the Learning Policy Institute, Policy Analysis for California Education, and the Education Policy Center at AIR, featured new evidence on the scale of California’s teacher shortage, with a particular focus on already critical shortages of teachers in specific fields and regions. Policymakers, researchers, and educators participated in panel discussions on teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention.