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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top story — New statewide data from the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative offers a clearer picture of where the educator pipeline is most at risk, with mid-career teachers emerging as the highest retention concern. Kansas — Lawmakers preview action on a proposed cell phone…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top Story – Missouri Funding Task Force: The Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force held its first full meeting of 2026, surfacing major design choices around funding targets and student counts — and the tension between building a durable formula and managing…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – Federal update: Congress advances FY 2026 education and early childhood funding while states await key ESSA waiver decisions that could reshape accountability and implementation. Kansas Update – Committee activity heats up: Lawmakers dig into Blueprint for…
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Weekly Update
This Week’s Highlights: Top News – State of the states; we break down what Missouri and Kansas governors signaled on education and workforce policy. Missouri Update – Early momentum builds around accountability, open enrollment, child care, and literacy, alongside a closer look…
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Cell Phone Bans in Schools
Cell phones and other personal devices have become a constant presence in schools, raising concerns about disruptions to student learning. As a result, lawmakers in Kansas, Missouri, and other states across the country are taking a closer look at policies…
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Update – December 2025
This Month’s highlights: Top News – Aligned released its 2026 policy priorities, outlining opportunities to strengthen literacy, school finance, data systems, and early learning. Kansas Preview – We review the State Board of Education’s newly adopted legislative priorities and take a first look at the slow pre-filing…
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K–3 Literacy Policy Brief: Kansas and Missouri (2025)
Early reading shapes every part of a student’s academic future, yet Kansas and Missouri continue to see stagnant or declining literacy outcomes. Nearly six in ten third graders in both states are not reading on grade level, underscoring the need…
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Update – October 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – New national polling from the PIE Network reveals a major gap between parents’ perceptions of student achievement and actual performance data. Missouri Update – School Funding Modernization Task Force workgroups are developing early proposals for updating the state’s formula. A new…
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Update – September 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News – The U.S. Department of Education announced over $1.1 billion in redirected funding, with investments for HBCUs, TCUs, charter schools, and civics programs.Missouri Update – Working groups of the School Funding Modernization Task Force began meeting, including one that now features Aligned’s own Torree…
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Update – August 2025
This month’s highlights: Top Story — Testing & accountability at a crossroads: what the research says, why it matters now, and how systems should evolve. Missouri Update — Funding Formula Modernization Task Force hears Bellwether’s best-practice options; plus Missouri’s SRSA pilot launches, moving…
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Investing Early: Missouri Districts Putting Pre-K Policy into Practice
Investing Early: Missouri Districts Putting Pre-K Policy into Practice shows what early childhood policy looks like when it’s implemented well — and what it unlocks for kids, families, and communities. The report highlights how Missouri’s pre-K investments (including foundation formula access,…
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Update – July 2025
This month’s highlights: Top News — Congress passes the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ushering in major tax changes for child care, K–12 education, and workforce training. Missouri Update — The School Funding Modernization Task Force examines local property wealth disparities and begins working group…
Resources Hub
Access nonpartisan research and news about the policies shaping education in Kansas and Missouri.