Dear Colleagues:
The first results from a nationwide federal survey reviewing learning during the pandemic were released this week. The results <[link removed]> showed that as of January 2021, 47 percent of fourth graders and 46 percent of eighth graders were receiving full-time in-person instruction. Overall, 43% of students remain fully remote, 17% are attending schools operating under a hybrid model, and 38% have returned to full time in-person instruction.


Edweek’s Stephen Sawchuck and Sarah D. Sparks note that in states where students receive fewer than two hours of synchronous learning, the lack of instructional time could be due to states “no longer prioritizing the quality of their remote learning option, or [because they] do not have the staff to maintain it.”
The Mountain State Moves on School Choice. West Virginia is on track to become the sixth state to make education savings accounts available to students--and almost every child in the state would be eligible. This week, Jonathan Butcher interviewed <[link removed]> Amanda Kieffer at the Cardinal Institute to explain the new proposal, which legislators just sent to the governor's desk. Amanda told Jonathan, "Education is the bedrock of a prosperous community and a fulfilled life. It helps students to pursue happiness and reach their potential. Every child should have those opportunities." You can read about these new "Hope Scholarships" on The Daily Signal <[link removed]>.

Heritage researchers helped introduce <[link removed]> Mountain State families to education savings accounts in 2016 <[link removed]> and 2017 <[link removed]>, continuing to aid in the effort <[link removed]> as the Cardinal Institute helped families who were looking for more options for their students.

What We’re Working on

“Why should families who support all district schools with their taxes be forced to send their children to geographically assigned schools that perform poorly or cannot meet their children’s learning needs?” ask Lindsey Burke and I in the Washington Times <[link removed]> this week.

As we write, “states and localities could remedy this broken system by eliminating attendance zone boundaries <[link removed]>. That would effectively create open enrollment, allowing families to enroll their children in any public school within their school district. In the case of oversubscription at a particular school, a lottery would determine admission.”

You can read more about our recent work on housing redlining and what it means for education in our recently released report Housing Redlining and Its Lingering Effects on Education
Opportunity <[link removed]>.

In The Daily Signal <[link removed]>, I also wrote about how school choice options could help combat the learning loss induced by the pandemic. “The successes of vibrant education marketplaces have gained the attention of many other states. This year, 29 states have already introduced proposals to expand education options for children through tax-credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and private school scholarships,” I write.

Seven Steps to Combatting “Critical Theory” in the Classroom. To help state and local education officials who are frustrated with the discrimination created by Critical Theory in K-12 classrooms, Jonathan Butcher and Lindsey Burke released an Issue Brief <[link removed]> this week outlining seven ways to promote quality learning content while preserving teachers' and students' expressive rights. They write, "As institutions that have an obligation to uphold the public’s trust, and as taxpayer-funded entities, schools and the school boards that oversee them should make curricula transparent, provide families with options that fit their needs, and teach civics content that creates a civil society in which everyone, regardless of background or skin color, can pursue the American
Dream."

Jonathan's commentary explaining that a new policy effort to expand federal activity in civics and history instruction may splinter America's national identity ran on the Tribune Wire <[link removed]> last weekend. The new Educating for American Democracy initiative features lesson plans that use ideas from Critical Theory such as "deconstruction <[link removed]>" and tells teens to "claim power" while looking for "systems of oppression." These ideas are hardly bipartisan and are intolerant of
other perspectives. You can read his commentary here <[link removed]>.
Warmly,



Jude Schwalbach
Research Associate and Project Coordinator
Center for Education Policy
Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation

-