This document records testimony from a hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor that was held to examine the policies and priorities of the Office of Federal Student Aid. Member statements were provided by: (1) Honorable Frederica S., Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment; and (2) Honorable Gregory F.…

In this article, I position federal policy as a shaper of familial life capable of capacitating new forms of relationality. I review three key child and family provisions in the "Build Back Better" social policy package proposed by the Biden administration: the expanded child tax credit, universal pre-K, and the expansion of federal…

The objective of this review was to evaluate the results of Federal Student Aid's (FSA) process for suspending involuntary collection and refunding payments involuntarily collected on defaulted Department-held loans in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The information presented in this report was obtained and analyzed through interviews,…

Comprehensive child care and early learning policy benefits everybody. From the benefits to the American economy and businesses, to the ways it improves healthy child development and educational outcomes, to the prospects for greater gender, racial, and economic equity, everyone in the United States has something to gain from a significant…

This paper draws on critical race theory to explore the reproduction and enactment of Islamophobia in education policy. It will focus on an unprecedented policy intervention in which the federal Australian government withdrew funding from the largest Islamic private schools in the country. Australia represents a useful context to explore…

We investigate equilibrium impacts of federal policies such as free-college proposals, taking into account that human capital production is cumulative and that state governments have resource constraints. In the model, a state government cares about household welfare and aggregate educational attainment. Realizing that household choices vary with…

It is the nation's collective responsibility--including the federal government's--to ensure that all young people have equal access to a high-quality, world-class education. This goal has never been more important than in today's fast-growing knowledge economy that is coupled with increasing rates of poverty as more and more families are left…

In Fall 2022, the U.S. Education Department unveiled a drastic overhaul of federal student loan policies. The new rules serve as a key vehicle to advance the Biden administration's higher education agenda. However, some of the final regulations look quite different from the policy proposals initially outlined in President Joe Biden's campaign…

Economically discriminatory zoning policies--which say that people are not welcome in a community unless they can afford a single-family home, sometimes on a large plot of land--run counter to American ideals and yet are pervasive in America. In most U.S. cities, zoning laws prohibit the construction of duplexes, triplexes, quads, and larger…

In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, some advocates and philanthropists are shifting their focus and energy from the federal level to the state and local level in the hopes of maintaining the momentum of gains made by the Obama administration. Since the nation's founding, states and the school districts they created have been in the…

Transforming K-12 education systems to meet the new economic, civic, and cultural demands of global society requires a modern teacher workforce. Specifically, it requires a teacher workforce with the knowledge, skills, and systems of support to be successful in student-centered, competency-based, and diverse learning environments. This brief: (1)…

Emergency room (ER) visits for 12- to 17-year-olds suspected of attempting suicide increased 31 percent during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This trend was especially pronounced for girls, whose ER visits after suspected attempts were 50.6 percent higher in the winter of 2021 than during the…

This brief provides analysis of federal policy changes needed toward a long-range vision to transform education and ensure our nation's education systems prepare all students with the skills necessary to achieve success, contribute to their communities and advance society. Our policy priorities are intentionally constructed to support…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Fair & Effective Education Policy." Contents include: (1) What Students…

All states value their distinct approaches to policy and to life and the U.S. Constitution embeds the idea of state rights and responsibilities as a core principle in the federal system. California arguably takes this further than most. This paper provides a new way to think about how national policies might complicate or augment the next state…