Education

Project 2025 Would Eliminate Head Start, Severely Restricting Access to Child Care in Rural America

If enacted, the elimination of Head Start would undermine economic growth and exacerbate inequalities among families with young children.

Project 2025 Would Increase Costs, Block Debt Cancellation for Student Loan Borrowers

The radical Project 2025 policy agenda for student loan repayment would multiply costs for borrowers, increase defaults, and end existing programs that allow borrowers to earn cancellation.

Making State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements in Higher Education Work for Students

Distance education agreements should align with the needs of students, states, and institutions—in that order.

Opinion: Baby boomers are retiring. Helping fill those work vacancies is government’s job

Veronica Goodman explains what a reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) would look like and why it’s needed right now in an op-ed published in MarketWatch.

Recommendations for Reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

As WIOA turns 10, policymakers should reauthorize it to remake and prepare the U.S. federal workforce development system for the next decade.

In Pursuit of Justice: Fulfilling the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education

If we hope to produce an active and diverse citizenry committed to advancing democratic principles, our students must be able to learn with and from peers of different races, ethnicities, languages, faiths, and economic status.

Investing in School Libraries and Librarians To Improve Literacy Outcomes

Libraries and librarians not only spark a love of learning; they are crucial to reversing low reading assessment scores across the country.

Fact Sheet: Using Federal Preschool Grant To Build State Early Learning Systems

The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five program is a valuable tool for increasing families’ seamless access to early care and education programs.

K-12 Work-Based Learning Opportunities: A 50-State Scan of 2023 Legislative Action

Policymakers must work alongside educators and industry leaders to develop high-quality, equitable work-based learning models that bring these opportunities to more students.

2024 Summit on Education: Reset. Reframe. Reform.

Summit on Education: Reset. Reframe. Reform.

Governors Are Calling for Investments in Early Care and Education

Echoing 2023, governors from both political parties prioritized child care and pre-kindergarten in their 2024 State of the State addresses.

6 Key Findings To Inform New Federal Policies To Relieve Student Loan Debt

Longitudinal survey data show that student loan borrowers of all degree levels experience various forms of financial hardship, which new student loan debt relief policies should work to alleviate.

States Are Taking Action To Address the Child Care Crisis

Federal COVID-19 relief funding for child care stabilization grants ended in September 2023, but a number of states have stepped up this year to address the child care needs of working families.

CAP Comments on the EPA’s Proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the agency’s proposed improvements to the Lead and Copper Rule.

Executive Summary: How Federal Investments in Safe Drinking Water Infrastructure Are Improving Public Health

This fact sheet summarizes a recent Center for American Progress report highlighting the use of federal investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to replace dangerous lead service lines and advance public health among vulnerable communities.

How Federal Investments in Safe Drinking Water Infrastructure Are Improving Public Health

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin offer lessons for how states can remove lead service lines and protect community health by maximizing the unprecedented opportunity provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Fact Sheet: Scaling Up High-Dosage Tutoring Is Crucial to Students’ Success

This fact sheet outlines the state of learning loss in the United States and the necessity of implementing high-dosage tutoring programs to accelerate learning and ensure student success.

Scaling Up High-Dosage Tutoring Is Crucial to Students’ Academic Success

Policymakers must take action to support states and districts in implementing high-dosage tutoring to ensure opportunities for student success.

Fact Sheet: 3 Trends in K-12 Assessments Across the Country

Reforms of state assessment systems could measure student learning more accurately and effectively, providing educators the information they need to close achievement gaps.

Building a Comprehensive State Child Care Agenda

Join CAP's Early Childhood Policy team to learn how the recently released data dashboard and state policymaker toolkit can be used to increase investments in child care and early learning programs.

Transforming Accreditation by Centering Students

Negotiators coming together to revise the regulations that govern college accreditation should take a student-centered approach.

Opinion: Policymakers must strengthen — not dismantle — the college accreditation system

Madison Weiss writes in Higher Ed Dive about the need to strengthen the accreditation process for higher education institutions.

CAP Comment Urges the U.S. Secretary of Education To Protect Student Interests Amid Potential Online Program Manager Concerns

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education highlighting concerns about the online program manager industry.

CAP Comment Urges NACIQI To Increase Transparency and Accountability in the Accreditation Space

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter emphasizing the need for the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity’s continued review of and recommendations on accreditation agencies.

Data Dashboard: An Overview of Child Care and Early Learning in the United States

The Center for American Progress has developed a data dashboard that allows users to explore national- and state-level data trends on a range of child care and early learning topics, including access to affordable care, the child care workforce, Head Start, and exclusionary discipline policies.

Related Resources on Child Care and Early Learning

This webpage offers a list of resources that can help make the case for investments in child care and early learning at the state level.

How To Expand Access to Affordable, High-Quality Child Care and Preschool

This webpage provides a menu of state policy recommendations and examples of state policies to expand access to affordable, high-quality child care and preschool opportunities.

Messaging and Communications To Promote Early Childhood Education

This webpage offers guidance on messaging and communications to promote child care and early childhood education in states.

Early Childhood Education in U.S. States

This toolkit provides information and resources to help state policymakers advocate for increased investments in their state child care and early learning systems.

Comment to Middle States Commission on Higher Education Regarding Third-Party Providers Policy and Procedures

This public comment, submitted by the Center for American Progress, asks the Middle States Council on Higher Education to clarify its proposed policy for reviewing its member institutions' arrangements with third-party providers.

House Republican Budget Threatens Public Education and Opportunity for Young People

House Republican leadership’s proposed funding bill would vastly cut support for economically disadvantaged students and eliminate important programs in the K-12 education, youth workforce development, and higher education spheres.

5 Ways Government Can Reimagine K-12 School Design in the Wake of COVID-19

State and federal governments must empower schools to redesign teaching and learning for the generations to come.

Hawkins Centers of Excellence at Minority-Serving Institutions Are Boosting Teacher Diversity

Congress must maintain funding for a long-overlooked program that is helping to recruit and support more teachers of color.

The Child Care Sector Is Still Struggling To Hire Workers

Amid a tight labor market and lack of sustainable funding, the child care sector’s shortage of good jobs persists, exacerbating its challenge to attract and retain workers.

What’s Next for Student Loan Borrowers?

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower in June 2023, the Biden-Harris administration is working hard to deliver relief to student loan borrowers.