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Fifty years ago this March, the Kerner Commission issued a seminal report on racial division and disparities in the United States. On February 28, the findings regarding education from the 50-year update to the commission report were released and discussed at a Washington, D.C. At the event, some of the nation's leading policymakers, journalists, researchers, civil rights activists, and educators discussed the state of public education in the United States, and what policy levers are needed to eradicate racial inequities that have persisted in historically marginalized communities and that can improve educational opportunities for all students.

Fifty years ago this March, the Kerner Commission issued a seminal report on racial division and disparities in the United States. On February 27, LPI, the Eisenhower Foundation, and the Economic Policy Institute co-hosted a full-day forum in Washington, D.C., to release and discuss the findings from the 50-year update to the commission report. At the forum some of our nation's leading policymakers, journalists, researchers, civil rights activists, and educators discussed the status of civil rights today.

On Tuesday, January 23, 2018, in Sacramento, CA, the Learning Policy Institute released the report, Building an Early Learning System that Works: Next Steps for California, and facilitated a timely discussion between state policymakers and local ECE stakeholders expoloring the challenges California's complex ECE system and made recommendations for policymakers to improve the system.

Speaking on a panel at a recent LPI forum on teacher turnover, Newark school science teacher Antonio Iglesias described turnover at his school as being “like Defense of the Dark Arts in Harry Potter…every year it's a new teacher.” At the event, district and state policymakers, students, and researchers echoed his sentiments and described the ways in which teacher turnover affects students, schools, communities, and states, and what must be done to solve it.

Watch a recording of this forum, at which new data on the extent, nature, and cost of teacher turnover was presented and recommendations offered for addressing the issue, including evidence-based policies at the federal, state, and local levels to create a strong pipeline into the profession and provide ongoing support to increase retention.

At this July 18 briefing, panelists shared findings from the report Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in the Context of New Accountability. Speakers discussed opportunities states and districts have under the Every Student Succeeds Act to broaden their definitions of student success to include students’ social and emotional learning (SEL).

This event included a presentation of findings from an LPI review of research on professional development to advance student learning. It also featured a discussion by practitioners and policymakers on how federal, state, and local policy and resources can help support the implementation of high-quality professional learning opportunities for teachers.