Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Matt Barnum @mattbarnum.bsky.social · 16d

This is my last week at the Wall Street Journal.

I'll be returning to Chalkbeat to launch a new section focused on the big ideas and debates in American education. More on this soon!

You can sign up to keep following my work here:
www.chalkbeat.org/newsletters/...

Chalkbeat

A free newsletter from Chalkbeat with the most important education news across America — sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every week.

www.chalkbeat.org

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Lois Miller @loismiller.bsky.social · 20d

Haven't been on Bluesky in awhile, but popping in to say I wrote a policy piece based on my transfer paper for @brookings.edu Chalkboard! Many thanks to @econsarahreber.bsky.social, @katharinemeyer.bsky.social, & Michael Hansen for the opportunity and the editing.

www.brookings.edu/articles/com...

Community college students don’t always benefit from transferring to a 4-year college | Brookings

Lois Miller examines community college transfer, finding it boosts degree completion but can reduce earnings afterward.

www.brookings.edu

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Annenberg Institute @annenberginstitute.bsky.social · 27d

📢 #EdWorkingPapers: Do RCTs in higher ed risk contamination?

From a large in-person college course intervention, @catherinematah.bsky.social, @katharinemeyer.bsky.social & @linzpage.bsky.social show when individual-level randomization is preferred

📄 Full paper here: edworkingpapers.com/ai24-1083

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Rachel M. Perera @rachelmarisa.bsky.social · Sep 3

Join us for an online @brookings.edu event Mon 9/15 @ 4PM, ET to discuss the state of the Trump administration's K-12 education agenda with education & legal scholars & civil rights attorneys.

Submit questions in advance via email or the registration form!

www.brookings.edu/events/what-...

What the Trump administration legally can and can’t do to implement its agenda in public schools | Brookings

Join Brookings for an online discussion on litigation challenging the Trump administration’s executive actions related to K-12 education.

www.brookings.edu

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Brookings Institution @brookings.edu · Jul 15

"At a time when schools are in dire need of more resources and support, the Court has added only more challenges to their plate," says @rachelmarisa.bsky.social.

Experts on education law and policy share their reactions to some of the Supreme Court’s decisions this term.

Legal experts weigh in on the implications of the 2025 Supreme Court term for K-12 education | Brookings

Brookings scholars focusing on education policy explore the legal implications of the Supreme Court's 2025 term.

www.brookings.edu

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

CJ Libassi @clibassi.bsky.social · Jun 30

New at @pseocoalition.bsky.social, @julia-turner.bsky.social & I have a new report on grad school debt & earnings over the medium term. For some key professional fields (🩺⚖️🦷💊🐾), we show the varied patterns both within & across areas of study, looking at the first decade of earnings after graduation

Scatter plot comparing median program debt (x-axis, $50k-$300k) vs 10-year cumulative earnings (y-axis, $0.5M-$2M) for professional programs. Medicine MD programs (pink squares) cluster in upper right with high debt ($150k-$250k) and high earnings ($1.4M-$1.8M). Law programs (blue circles) cluster in the bottom left corner with lower debt and lower earnings, though some elite programs show medicine-level earnings and somewhat higher debt than other law schools. Veterinary Medicine (green diamonds), Dentistry (plus signs) and Pharmacy (X marks) are distributed across middle ranges of earnings, but across wide ranges of the distribution of debt, with almost all pharmacy programs having lower debt than almost all dentistry programs. Physical therapy and veterinary programs have law-like earnings (between half a million and a million over 10 years), and while PT has law-like debt as well, veterinary debt is generally much higher and closer to medical school.

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Jun 30

A+ emoji game

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · Jun 13

Lawfare is hiring!

We are looking for a new full-time senior editor. Responsibilities of the role include contributing analysis of key issues in national security law and policy and more. The ideal candidate will have a professional background in journalism, law, policy, or academia.

Come Work With Lawfare, As a Senior Editor!

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

www.lawfaremedia.org

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Jun 5

Especially excited about our drop-down visualization of the campus-based programs (work study & FSEOG) at the state level, so you can see exactly how much cutting a program would impact different colleges in your state. Here's Louisiana as an example:

Graph of federal work study and FSEOG allocations to Louisiana, by sector, for the 2024-25 school year

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Jun 5

Pell grant cuts threaten state college access goals

In my latest, I explain how the multipronged cuts to federal financial aid would shift costs to states, who in turn will likely have to shift costs to students to take on more debt or forego college

www.brookings.edu/articles/pel...

Pell grant cuts threaten state college access goals

Katharine Meyer explains how federal aid cuts to Pell and work-study programs shift costs to states and threaten college access.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Jun 4

And here's a Chalkboard post she wrote for @brookings.edu on her research and broader board considerations. She's a rockstar!

Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Jun 4

Terrific new WP from @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social examining the composition of higher education governing boards (pretty timely topic...).

Isabel McMullen @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social · Jun 4

Governing boards are at the center of every higher ed story these days. What do we know about board governance? What does board composition look like nationwide, and how is it shaped by partisan appointments? My new working paper introduces new data to these questions:
edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1212

Portraying Governance: Demographic Misalignment in University Board Representation

Higher education governing boards are important bodies with far-reaching powers over the institutions they oversee. Yet little is known about individual board members, how the composition of boards va...

edworkingpapers.com

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Isabel McMullen @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social · Jun 4

Governing boards are at the center of every higher ed story these days. What do we know about board governance? What does board composition look like nationwide, and how is it shaped by partisan appointments? My new working paper introduces new data to these questions:
edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1212

Portraying Governance: Demographic Misalignment in University Board Representation

Higher education governing boards are important bodies with far-reaching powers over the institutions they oversee. Yet little is known about individual board members, how the composition of boards va...

edworkingpapers.com

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · May 14

One of the best explainers on higher education reconciliation proposals I've seen so far (and there are a lot of good ones out there!)

Postsecondary Education & Economics Research Center @peerresearch.bsky.social · May 14

OUT TODAY: @claremccann.bsky.social, @jdmatsudaira.bsky.social, and @tiacaldwell.bsky.social wrote about the House reconciliation package for #highered. Read the full piece here: www.american.edu/spa/peer/hou.... Follow @peerresearch.bsky.social for continued analysis of the bill! 1/

House Republicans’ Proposed Overhaul of Student Aid Would Reshape Federal Higher Education Policy

Earlier this month, House Republicans introduced a bill that, if enacted, would dramatically transform the federal government’s role in helping Americans pay for college. This piece provides an overvi...

www.american.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · May 8

Amazing - congratulations!! #wahoowa

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · Apr 23

Our EEPA paper on the media's role in shaping our understanding of student loans, race, and racism is here! Email me if you don't have access & want a copy.

One of my fav papers for a few reasons but, most of all, it's my first paper with my husband 😍

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...

Screenshot of the top of the article published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Title is Race below the fold: The absence of race in the news media's coverage of student loans. Written by me, Lauren Shook, Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza, and Christopher Bennett. Abstract reads: The media discourse on student loans plays a significant role in the way that policy actors conceptualize challenges and potential solutions related to student debt. This study examines language that explicitly indicates race and racism in student loan articles published in eight major newspapers from 2006 to 2021. We found that 18% of articles use any of this language, though use has accelerated since 2018. This increase appears driven by terms that denote groups of people instead of structural problems, with 8% of articles mentioning “Black” in a racialized context but less than 1% mentioning “racism.” These findings emphasize the importance of treating the media as a policy actor capable of shaping the salience of racialization in discussions about student loans.

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Jill Barshay @jillbarshay.bsky.social · Apr 21

NAGB just voted (reluctantly) to kill several NAEP exams over the next 10 yrs. Cuts: 1) No Long-Term Trend NAEP at all until 2033. 2) No 4th grade science in 2028 and no 12th grade science in 2032. 3) Writing scrapped altogether. 4) No 12th grade history in 2030 (1/3)

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Reposted by Katharine Meyer

Isabel McMullen @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social · Apr 8

With all of the targeting of higher ed, it's critical that we have a good understanding of who governs our institutions - I wrote this piece for Brookings to summarize what we know. I also show some new data on the politics and representativeness of public boards.

www.brookings.edu/articles/und...

The political stakes of who sits on university boards

Isabel McMullen shares research on the demographics of public higher education boards and how representative they are of students and faculty.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 8

🚨New from @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social-"The political stakes of who sits on university boards."

Isabel does brilliant work documenting who sits on public college and university governing boards - and how those boards reflect (or don't!) student and faculty bodies

www.brookings.edu/articles/und...

The political stakes of who sits on university boards

Isabel McMullen shares research on the demographics of public higher education boards and how representative they are of students and faculty.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

I was a bit skeptical whether the series could have much "splash" given the onslaught of education news. But there's a clear line between the pandemic and the political turmoil we find ourselves in, and understanding that history is crucial to moving forward. Grateful to all of our contributors!

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

Finally, @brookings.edu scholars reflect on how the pandemic reshaped education, including exacerbated teaching shortages, a student loan system in disarray, and a decline in public trust in education

www.brookings.edu/articles/bro...

Brown Center scholars reflect on how the pandemic reshaped US education

Five years after the pandemic emergency declaration, experts reflect on its lasting impact on education policy, practice, and trust.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

In "What comes next now that pandemic aid for education has ended?" Marguerite Roza explains the "ESSER hangover" and @isabelmcmullen.bsky.social & I review how federal aid supported higher education, and how federal policy turmoil threatens the sector's stability.

www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...

What comes next now that pandemic aid for education has ended?

Education experts examine how pandemic-era federal aid was allocated, its impact on schools and students, and future funding risks.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

In "5 years after COVID-19 hit: Test data converge on math gains, stalled reading recovery," Megan Kuhfeld and Karyn Lewis report on whether and where students' math and reading scores have improved, highlighting significant and widening learning gaps.

www.brookings.edu/articles/5-y...

5 years after COVID-19 hit: Test data converge on math gains, stalled reading recovery

Megan Kuhfeld and Karyn Lewis analyze post-COVID-19 learning loss, showing uneven recovery across subjects and grades.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

Dr. Cardona's interview caps off our series on "COVID-19 and education: Five years later" www.brookings.edu/tags/covid-1...

COVID-19 and education: Five years later

In this series, Brown Center experts and external contributors reflect on the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing impact on education policy, politics, and practice.

www.brookings.edu

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Katharine Meyer @katharinemeyer.bsky.social · Apr 3

🚨Earlier this month, Jon Valant and I sat down with former Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona.

Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Cardona reflects on leading through the national emergency and shares his thoughts on the future of ED

www.brookings.edu/articles/a-c...

A conversation with former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about COVID-19 and schools

www.brookings.edu

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