Clare McCann

Policymakers need to address serious shortcomings identified in a new study

In a rare sign of both civility and smart thinking on Capitol Hill, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced a bill before the holidays that would take first steps to make lawmakers consider policy in a way they rarely do: with evidence. Ryan’s and Murray’s Evidence-Based Policy-Making Commission Act of 2014 […]

Title III, the law that governs federal funding and programs for dual language learners, provides relatively small amounts of money to states. As we explained in part one of our three-part blog series on the financing of dual language learners (DLLs), the formula provides 80 percent of federal dollars on the basis of each state’s share […]

States are facing considerable challenges in meeting all children’s educational needs, especially given growing numbers of low-income and dual language learners (DLLs) in schools. For the most part, states and school districts bear the responsibility for serving DLLs. But the federal government, although it pitches in only about $723 million, has taken on a growing […]

The dirty underbelly of child care sometimes has the worst possible outcome: the injury or death of a child. A report by the Washington Post earlier this year found that 60 children had died in child care programs, with several more since, according to an op-ed published last week by the executive director of Child […]

Last week, President Obama took the stage at Northwestern University and announced a mission to improve the workforce with universal pre-K, saying, “By the end of this decade, let’s enroll 6 million children in high-quality preschool.” The line was buried in a speech rich with rhetoric on a whole range of policy areas, but the […]

Back in 2007, Congress passed a law establishing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), allowing people who work in qualifying public service jobs to receive student loan forgiveness–tax-free–after the equivalent of 10 years of payments. And with a new version of income-based repayment (IBR) implemented by the Department of Education for borrowers with loans […]

Political commentators may have spoken too soon about the “do-nothing Congress.” There’s been a veritable torrent of education-related legislative activity this summer, and lawmakers wrapped up that work today with an easy ‘yes’ vote in the House on the carefully negotiated Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) reauthorization bill. The Senate passed a version […]