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Latest Policy Updates & Research
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Weekly Update — 05/15/26
This originally appeared in Aligned’s weekly newsletter. Want future updates in your inbox? Sign up today. Also note that this will be our last weekly update; in June we will switch to monthly updates. New report shows academic recovery is still…
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Why CEP Is More Than a School Meals Debate in Kansas
A simple bill with a complicated question underneath Kansas HB 2402 looks simple on paper. It requires eligible school boards to consider whether to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision, commonly called CEP, if more than 50% of students in one or more schools qualify for free meals via direct certification. The…
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Weekly Update — 05/08/26
This originally appeared in Aligned’s weekly newsletter. Want future updates in your inbox? Sign up today. Phone-free schools are not a shortcut to better learning Last week, we noted one emerging second-order effect on school cell phone bans: when phones are…
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2026 Kansas Legislative Session Review
The 2026 Kansas Legislative Session advanced several important education policies focused on student outcomes, workforce readiness, transparency, and long-term success. This year, Kansas lawmakers took action to strengthen classroom learning environments, improve accountability, expand education and workforce pathways, support early…
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A new episode of the Insight Podcast is out now! 🎙️
In this episode, “A New Chapter for Kansas Education: A conversation with Dr. Jake Steel,” Dr. Watson asks Dr. Steel about his early days growing up and attending Garden City USD 457 schools.
Listen as we explore Dr. Steel’s higher education path that led him to the classroom as a math teacher, the work he’s done around KSDE’s alignment initiatives and what’s inspiring him to keep Kansas education moving forward.
Listen now on:
Spotify: buff.ly/HeDxLE4
YouTube: buff.ly/Ny0r0qi
Apple: buff.ly/FcwFFsV
"Kansas legislators are doing something deserving of recognition…"
Check out our recent op-ed: Getting school funding right in Kansas matters for students, schools, educators, and the rest of us.
Getting school funding right in Kansas matters for students, schools, educators and the rest of us
www.yahoo.com
Kansas legislators are doing something deserving of recognition. They are working carefully to improve the state’s K–12 funding formula. Specifically, they are focusing on how we support students …
Worth the read or listen. Links below!The science of reading has momentum.
But whether these efforts succeed depends on what teachers actually know—and how policy shows up in classrooms.
Our new report takes a closer look: fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/teachers-desk-science-reading-progress-report
🎧 And we break it down on the podcast:
fordhaminstitute.org/national/resources/science-reading-reality-check-not-there-yet-episode-1015-…
