At the 5th Annual New Orleans Book Festival, Board Chair Douglas Harris joined Carol Graham, Gary Hoover, and Tulane President Mike Fitts to discuss key findings from the first State of the Nation report.
Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6wr...
With support from The Murphy Institute.
Also, the HS graduation rate is rising, pulling more low-performing students into the pool of potential (but not every likely) college-goers. This would be an even bigger factor looking back further in time when most of the HS grad rate occurred but COVID also increased grad rates.
How Do Charter Schools Serve Students with Disabilities? Lessons from Michigan reachcentered.org/publications...
This is such interesting and impt work--and especially so in light of today's voucher push and the fact that, per @douglasharris9.bsky.social, the average private school in the US is a low-tuition school serving 30 kids. It'd be pretty cheap to create new, low-quality, segregative private schools.
📢 New from the #EdWorkingPapers Policy and Practice Series:
A summary of “The Effects of Universal School Vouchers on Private School Tuition and Enrollment: A National Analysis” by @douglasharris9.bsky.social & Gabriel Olivier!
📄 edworkingpapers.com/policy-pract...
#AnnenbergEdExchange
A few months ago, I started to hear from history teachers that the curriculum materials they’d used for years were being pulled from the market, or they were not being allowed to use them because of political pressures. My investigation of this trend published today: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
Thanks so much. And @annenberginstitute.bsky.social created a great summary, too.
I'm truly honored by this. APPAM is a terrific organization and I'm indebted to many of its outstanding members who are having their own impact on policy analysis and management. Thanks so much to everyone.
Chart from "The Anxious Generation." How do we reverse this? We get young people to stop spending 5-9 hours a day on social media and video games, and we get them back to real life.
Nice article, Matt. This was exactly what we (espec Huriya Jabbar) found in New Orleans with charters. Many competitive responses were superficial (at least non-academic).
It's WSJ's loss having you leave but will be glad to have you (hopefully) report more on research again @chalkbeat.org
Really valuable work by @douglasharris9.bsky.social and Gabriel Oliver on how #schoolvouchers are transforming the private school landscape (even as #publiced advocates are largely focused on how they affect public school systems). www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/u...
Many thanks, Larry. This is one of a series we're doing on vouchers, nationally.
JOB ALERT. Looking for an Assoc Dir for Comms, Fin, and Ops at Tulane to help lead all of my major initiatives: ERA-NOLA, REACH Center, AEFP Live Handbook, and State of the Nation Project. Exciting possibilities. Leadership exp a must. Remote work possible. Apply: lnkd.in/gzyUk3fz
One of our favorite bars/restaurants in #NewOrleans is closing in part because of Trump's tariffs--that's right from the owner's mouth.
I'm not going to say which place to avoid having wrath brought down on them before they close.
This is what aimless #tariffs do to the #economy
Someone I'm close to lives in Latin America w/ his wife & kids. They were planning to move to the U.S. for all our opportunities. Now they are too afraid to come.
Some would say preference skilled workers. OK, 1 is an engineer, 1 a small business owner.
This is what we've wrought.
August 1, 2025 AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Committee on Economic Statistics and Committee on Government Relations Statement from the American Economic Association on the Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner Leaders of the American Economic Association express their grave concern over the dismissal of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier today. The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions. Undermining the independence or credibility of these agencies threatens the integrity of the information that markets, institutions, and the public rely on every day. Measuring the vast and dynamic U.S. economy in real time is inherently challenging. It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as more complete and higher-quality data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor-not failure or bias. The BLS has long had a well-deserved reputation for professional excellence and nonpartisan integrity. Safeguarding this tradition is vital for the continued health of the U.S. economy and public trust in our institutions. We call upon elected officials to respect and preserve the independence of the nation's statistical infrastructure. Lawrence Katz President, American Economic Association Katharine Abraham President-Elect, American Economic Association Karen Dynan Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Economic Statistics Kenneth Troske Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Government Relations
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
First ever repost of Michael R. Strain.
Hard to overstate how important this issue is for the future of democracy.
#BLS
Many thanks Sean and EFP. Unfortunately, with declining enrollments, more closures are coming. Some useful lessons in the paper about how to make the best of these difficult situations. Related commentary here: www.edweek.org/leadership/o...
The average young person today is on course to spend 25 years of their life on their phone. (Plus more on other screens.) Most of them don't want to live this way, but feel trapped.
How about we delay giving smartphones and tablets till at least 14?
Embarrassing indeed. It's great to see Goldin working with the players on this; and seeing through the subterfuge & accounting games.
Each of these projects has been a team effort. Too many people to even tag. (I think 250+ people have been directly involved.) If you're one of them, thank you. It's been a real pleasure working with you. This also gives me hope that we can use data & research to help dig out of our various messes.
State of the Nation Project (launched in Feb.). We built a progress report for the country across a wide variety of dimensions--from the economy and education to mental and physical health. Incredible bipartisan, cross-disciplinary board repr 8 leading national think tanks. See: stateofnation.org
AEFP Live Handbook (launched in March). Objective, rigorous, comprehensive, useful, & timely research abt #EducationPolicy for policymakers, journalists & researchers. 8,000+ users & 50+ chapters already w/ key conclusions abt #ECE, #Schools, & #HigherEd. Stellar editorial board. livehandbook.org
REACH: Our IES center grant on #SchoolChoice nationwide is ending but this is just the start for REACH. With additional research funding, we're turning our attention to the rapid expansion of universal #vouchers & #ESAs. First report on that next month. See more REACH work here: reachcentered.org
ERA-New Orleans: This is the 20th anniv of #HurricaneKatrina. Hard to believe. We've released 50+ reports about the resulting school reforms. A new report last month provides an integrated summary of them all. See the anniversary report here: educationresearchalliancenola.org
It's been such an action-packed year for me already that I'm doing my "year end" in July. I'm especially excited about some of my new initiatives that you probably haven't heard about. (Yes, I keep adding things without subtracting much. It's an issue.) Here are some updates:
Many thanks, Dan. Right back atcha.
Glad to re-engage. I haven't been even on Twitter for much of the past year. Did I miss anything? Anything exciting going on in the world? Sigh...
