Weekend To-Do List
4/13 - 4/14
1. Biden Unveils New Student-Loan Forgiveness Plan
READ: President Biden outlined his latest attempt to provide relief to struggling borrowers, announcing his new student-loan forgiveness plan early this week. The Biden administration says the plan would reduce payments for 25 million borrowers and erase them for another four million. While the Supreme Court already shut down his first plan, Biden’s lawyers believe this attempt may have what it takes to go the distance:
The new plan would forgive some or all loan debt for nearly 30 million borrowers under the Higher Education Act, the federal law that regulates student loan and grant programs. By targeting specific groups of borrowers — instead of offering broad loan forgiveness — the administration believes it can act within the narrower confines of that law.
Read more from Erica L. Green in The New York Times here.
2. Hi, My Name Is ?
READ: Eric Wearne took to the pages of Education Next with a plea to establish a name for the emerging breadth of new educational models, from micro-schools to learning pods and everything in between. Wearne says an umbrella term isn’t just a nice-to-have:
It may provide a unifying identity and focus to schools in this growing sector that helps them retain their original mission: to serve a purpose-driven community of interest. And that might increasingly matter as state legislators and local regulators become more aware of these schools. The value of an overarching name is that it can unify the families and schools in this sector—and unity will be important if government regulators come looking for them. Unity will also allow these schools to learn from each other.
Read more here.
3. Parenting Is the Most Expensive Job
READ/LISTEN: The average family pays 25% more for groceries now than they did before the pandemic, and many caregivers report similar cost increases across the board. While more and more parents and families report increased levels of stress as a result of financial pressure, advocates say they still aren’t surprised that Congress has left the latest attempt to expand the child tax credit stalled in the Senate:
Keri Rodrigues says the needs of families in the U.S. often get a lot of lip service, but parents get left out of important conversations.
She said families have been roped into what she calls "divisive political wars and culture wars" that's distracted from serious economic pressures that families face. Rodrigues says there has been widespread support for the expanded child tax credit and she and others fought to try to not let it lapse.
Read more from Ashley Lopez at NPR here and listen to our Lost Debate episode with Alisha L. Gordon, quoted in the article, here. And if you want to hear more about Keri’s perspective on the pressures families face, listen to the trailer for the National Parents Union Podcast, co-hosted by Keri and the newest show in The Branch’s network.
4. Ed Dept. Holds Week of Action to Make Up for Months of Inaction
READ/LISTEN: Linda Jacobson spoke with school leaders across the country ahead of the U.S. Department of Education’s FAFSA ‘Week of Action.’ The week is part of the Department’s scramble to respond to its bungled rollout of the new FAFSA form last December, which has resulted in a 40% decrease in completed forms. Rachelle Feldman, vice provost of enrollment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the delays will have catastrophic consequences:
“I really worry that we will lose the lowest-income, high-talent students, that they’ll choose not to enroll in college,” she told Democratic Rep. Alma Adams of North Carolina. “That will be bad for the entire economic and social mobility of our state.”
Read more here. I also interviewed Linda about her work at The 74 on this week’s Lost Debate. We talked about the growth of ESAs, the emergence of micro-schools, and how we think innovation could impact the future of education. Listen here.
5. Former Lifers Look to Education To Build a Life
READ: Charlotte West at The Washington Post introduced readers to Yusef Qualls-El, a Michigan resident who was sentenced to life behind bars when he was 17 and released 28 years later after the state updated its juvenile life without parole guidelines. Qualls-El is one of the thousands of former “lifers” who were excluded from most educational opportunities while in prison and now find themselves struggling to find sufficient employment as a result:
After he was resentenced in 2022, Qualls-El was still told no when he wanted to enroll in college. He didn’t have enough time left on his sentence to finish a degree. “I’ve spent 27-plus years plus in prison, hoping to get some sort of education, but wasn’t allowed, because of how much time I had left,” Qualls-El said on a call from prison at the end of 2022, about six months before he was released. “Now I have too little time.”
Read more here.
6. Denver Public Schools Superintendent Reiterates Commitment to Migrant Students
READ: Denver Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero took to the pages of Chalkbeat to share his commitment to welcoming migrant students to his district. Denver has welcomed over 3,500 new-to-country students to its public schools over the past nine months, and Marrero shared his pride in how the district has responded to the influx:
I’ve seen fear and sadness in these students’ eyes transform into sparkle and joy. I’ve watched thousands of teachers and school employees level up supports and services — hosting winter clothing drives and information sessions about the American school system. In the process, our leaders have grown, and our district has been enriched.
Read more here.
7. No. 2’s Number One Fans
READ: Julie Wernau made a point to sharpen readers’ understanding of the latest must-have accessory in the classroom with her latest in The Wall Street Journal. That’s right, pencils are in again:
With smartphones common, pencils are the novelty. Teachers can’t hold on to them. Parents can’t get rid of them. Elementary school students can’t get enough of them.
“They’re a status symbol,” said Nora Rodriguez, an eighth-grader in Peachtree City, Ga. She has grown out of the mini-pencil fad—Because, why? she said with an older-kid attitude. Yet she still has favorites and keeps them in a pencil pouch with her eyelash curler, lip gloss, mirror and brush.
Read more here.