The toll of the pandemic years is becoming clearer every day: devastating learning loss among the nation’s K-12 students. Parents are angry, voting for change and telling pollsters they want more control over their children’s schools. But on education, as on so many issues, there is no political consensus – no agreement about what needs to be done and no effective left-right coalition in place to drive reform.
A new collection of essays by leading education thinkers, Unlocking the Future: Toward a New Reform Agenda for K-12 Education, suggests some potential planks for a new approach. The authors are researchers, advocates and practitioners from across the political spectrum. But they agree as one on the need for change – bold, dramatic, far-reaching change to produce schools that work for the nation’s children.
