LPI In the News

CalMatters by Judy Lin | Gavin Newsom campaigned on the goal of universal preschool to become the new governor of California, and his proposed budget includes $750 million to expand kindergarten facilities. LPI researchers Hanna Melnick and Beth Meloy offer insights into what early education facilities should look like. 

EdSource by Louis Freedberg | Part of Jerry Brown's legacy as governor of California is the Local Control Funding Formula, the landmark school finance reform law passed in 2013. Edsource reviews the path to LCFF and cites LPI research by Sean Tanner and Rucker Johnson on its impact on student outcomes.

The Hill by Linda Darling-Hammond and Christopher Edley | The Trump administration's school safety commission released a report December 18, 2018, that recommends rescinding the Obama administration's guidance on school discipline, which has helped states substantially improve school safety. Previous to the release, Linda Darling-Hammond and Chris Edley warned that rescinding the guidance will make schools less safe, and that solid research on children’s safety should trump politics.

NBC Chicago by Chris Coffey and Ron Campbell | The solution to keeping your school’s best and brightest teachers from fleeing the classroom: better working conditions, more administrative support and higher salaries. That’s according to education policy experts who are urging the nation’s school districts to invest in teachers now in order to reverse troubling turnover rates.

Insider by Kelly McLaughlin | Educators are seeing record-high turnover in their schools in recent years. An LPI study found that turnover rates are higher for teachers in schools serving large concentrations of students of color. The study also suggests that the reasons teachers leave include lack of administrative support, low salaries, accountability pressures, working conditions, and lack of advancement.

WTMJ by Phil Pruitt and Chance Seales | America's demographics are rapidly changing, but the racial and ethnic representation of teachers is not keeping pace. Why does this matter? Research from the Learning Policy Institute explains that teachers of color boost the performance of students of color, helping to close the achievement gap.

EdSource by Diana Lambert | California has earmarked nearly $200 million over the last four years to address the state’s persistent teacher shortage, but it is not enough, according to new studies that are part of “Getting Down to Facts II." There has been a small uptick in enrollment in teacher preparation programs and in the number of licenses awarded to new teachers, but not enough to resolve the problem, according to LPI President Linda Darling-Hammond.

Getting Down to Facts II, produced by leading education policy researchers across the country, reveals that California has made improvements due to recent reforms, but that major system-wide funding challenges and significant gaps in student achievement remain. The report summarizes 36 studies and 19 research briefs on the effects of education reforms adopted over the past decade.

The Guardian by Sarah Betancourt | Teacher shortages are worsening across the U.S. for the majority of states, according to an exclusive survey by the Guardian. And, due to shortages, some states are turning to emergency or short-term licensure to put more teachers in the classroom—a policy that puts less effective teachers in the classroom.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Marlon Walker | Walker writes about the strategies that Metro Atlanta districts have been using to combat teacher shortages, incuding some, like loan forgiveness and competitive salaries, that are highlighted in LPI's report, Taking the Long View: State Efforts to Solve Teacher Shortages by Strengthening the Profession.