A high-quality K-12 educational system is a critical component of ensuring every student has the opportunity to thrive in adulthood. It needs to impart basic skills and knowledge, like reading, writing, and math, and empower students to secure a good job upon graduating. That’s why graduating high school is the first step of the rightly-celebrated “success sequence.”
Unfortunately, our current K-12 public education system is failing too many students and parents. Despite spending an average of more than $16,00 per student annually, many students are behind in reading, writing, and math proficiencies. The students suffering the most are those most in need: children from low-income households.
Government subsidized college and university has enabled public universities to explode their price tags, while softening their grading standards, leaving students with mountains of debt and unprepared for the workforce.
America needs a career-first education system that helps all children reach their potential in adulthood, including by preparing children for the workforce or succeeding in postsecondary education. At the same time, it should set aside its broken degree-first model.
The United States should give parents the power to choose high-quality learning environments for their children. Post-secondary education should focus on ensuring students get skills valued by employers. Colleges should focus on degrees that will prepare students for in-demand careers and help them build a better future. Families also need to understand the return on investment to assess the potential value of going to college.
Encouraging employers to offer child care microschools for their employees’ children could address policymakers’ longstanding goals of expanding access to high-quality child care while meeting parents’ increasing demands for new schooling options for their children.
New research questions whether accreditors are up to the task of ensuring that students and taxpayers see a return on their investment
Two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have only spent about 20 percent
While policymakers and public health leaders faced many challenging decisions, it has become clear that prolonged public school closures were an avoidable
The Department of Education (ED) will give borrowers who were in delinquency or default prior to the payment pause a “fresh start” and allow them “to reenter repayment in good standing”
Taxpayers subsidize thousands of postsecondary programs with negative returns on investment for students. It’s time to change that.
Look up the financial value of tens of thousands of associate degrees.
Returning readers will recognize much of the methodology from FREOPP’s previous work but because there are differences in the nature of these credentials, as well as the associated data sources, there are some differences in methodology.
