Cardona’s Financial Aid Office Overhaul | First State Bans Tuition Sharing With OPMs | Top 5 Articles of the Week | States Reimagine High School

School is out for the summer. Now, it’s time for conference season.

This week, the W/A team is at the Education Writers Association conference in Las Vegas (stay tuned for a recap in next week’s Notes edition).?

Then we’re off to ISTELive 24, which will be in Denver this year.

We’re excited to share that – on the Sunday prior – we’re teaming up with ISTE to co-host the second Solutions Summit, an invite-only gathering of senior executives and product leaders doing the hard work of building solutions in partnership with states, districts, and educators.?

This is not a sales and marketing event.?

It’s about fostering candid conversations about what works, what doesn’t,? and the role that edtech can play in addressing some of the field’s most vexing challenges. It’s about forging connections between developers of emerging technology and platforms with the potential to evaluate their efficacy — and take them to scale.??

My co-founder, Anna Edwards, and ISTE CEO Richard Culatta are co-hosting the Summit. Bonus: W/A research head and K-12 funding guru David DeSchryver will facilitate a timely conversation about the looming “ESSER cliff” with Dr. Sydnee Dickson, Utah Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Colorado Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova.

Interested in attending? Drop us a line.

After ISTE, the “must attend'' events of the summer are JFF Horizons 2024 and the ECS National Forum on Education Policy? – both of which will take place this July in Washington, D.C. Then it's onto SHEEO’s Higher Education Policy Conference in August.

Perhaps most importantly, I’m excited to share that our colleague Queenstar Akrong is on the steering committee for the 3rd Annual Black Education Forum which will take place August 9 at the historic Old Whaling Church on Martha’s Vineyard.

This year’s theme is: "Education, Justice, and Democracy.”? Last year’s event included a who’s-who of speakers including NYC Chancellor David Banks, Pulitzer Prize Winner Nikole Sheri Hannah-Jones; Dr. David J. Johns, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC); and the irrepressible Henry Hipps.

You can RSVP for the event here. Sponsorship opportunities are available and more info can be found here.?

We hope to see you on the road!

In this week’s edition of Notes:

• Top 5 Articles of the Week
• First State Passes Legislation to Ban Tuition Sharing With OPMs
• Cardona Announces Overhaul of Federal Student Aid Office?
• High School Reform Gets Real

Cardona Announces Overhaul of Federal Student Aid Office

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced a major overhaul of the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office on Thursday, aiming to modernize its operations after the troubled rollout of Better FAFSA last December delayed submissions for students and drew sharp criticism. [Inside Higher Ed] Catch up quick: Federal policymakers promised students and families that the Better FAFSA would be a simplified, redesigned, and streamlined federal form that would take families just 15 minutes to complete.

By the numbers: Only 1.7 million FAFSAs have been completed, according to the National College Attainment Network’s (NCAN) FAFSA Tracker. That number reflects just 41.5% of the high school class of 2024, a -15.5% change compared to this time last year.

What’s happening: Cardona laid out several steps to revamp the FSA, including leadership changes, a comprehensive review of FSA’s organization, management, staffing, and vendor contracts, and bolstering the IT team ahead of the next FAFSA cycle. Boston Consulting Group has been hired to provide recommendations for improving FSA’s operations. [NBC News]

• Denise Carter will serve as interim principal deputy COO while the search for a new COO is conducted. Current COO Rich Cordray will step down at the end of June.

What they’re saying: “We’ve been devoting resources to FAFSA since we got in. We recognized early on that it needed to be delayed and we continue to find ways to move it along. But the idea we took resources away from this to do that is false,” Cardona said in a keynote at the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar in Las Vegas.

Top 5 “What We’re Reading” Articles of the Week

Want to receive our daily summary of education industry and policy news? Sign up for What We’re Reading.

1. It May Be Time to Retire the Carnegie Unit. Are There Better Measures of Learning? [Education Week, subscription model]
2. Colleges Reinstating The ACT/SAT Should Add A Program Like This Too [Forbes, subscription model]
3. Quality early education can be expensive or hard to find. Home visits bring it to more families [The Associated Press]
4. What’s More Important to Students and Employers: Skills or Credentials? [Education Week, subscription model]
5. For Stronger Readers in Third Grade, Start Building Knowledge in Preschool [The 74]

First State Passes Law to Ban Tuition Sharing with OPMs

Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz (D) signed into law HF 4024, making the state the first to codify a ban on tuition sharing between its public state colleges and universities and Online Program Management Companies (OPMs) when a contract involves recruitment and marketing services. The state law will supersede the federal safe harbor for incentive compensation.

• What’s in the legislation? The Minnesota law has a very specific definition of what an OPM is and therefore what types of entities can no longer participate in tuition sharing and fall under other requirements of the new law. In particular, the definition notes the law applies to for-profit entities that “provide bundled products and services to develop, deliver, or provide managed programs when the services provided include recruitment and marketing.”
• Will other states follow suit? To date, only a handful of bills have been introduced, including in California in 2019 and New Jersey in 2022 – both of which failed to pass.

Go deeper: Noah Sudow and Alex Davis zoom in on the fine print of the legislation, here.

High School Redesign is Gaining Momentum

Headlines are riddled with stories about college debt and affordability. And with NAEP scores pointing to historic lows, early grade outcomes continue to dominate headlines.

But high school redesign is getting more attention from state policymakers, and rightfully so. High school is, perhaps, the most critical link between our educational – and economic – aspirations for young people. It is the linchpin when it comes to translating K-12 learning into equity outcomes.

We continue to see momentum in states and districts working to redesign the high school experience. Those efforts are often grounded in engaging students beyond the four walls of the classroom – and creating tangible opportunities for postsecondary – and workforce – success.

• 17+ states and many districts have developed Portraits of a Graduate or Profiles of a Learner to capture skills and experiences beyond academic outcomes. [Education Week, subscription model]
• XQ Institute is leading the movement to redesign the nation's high schools. Their documentary, “The First Class,” shares the inspiring story of students and teachers at Memphis’ Crosstown High and their experiences with interdisciplinary, project-based learning.
• Indiana: IDOE recently proposed streamlining down to two new graduation paths, which both emphasize opportunities for students to personalize their high school experiences
• Virginia: As the Commonwealth seeks to improve its accountability framework, VDOE has conducted listening sessions to garner public input on performance indicators including new measures for high school, like including work-based learning.

BLS Releases the Latest Foreign-born Workforce Data

On May 21, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their annual Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers Summary.

According to former U.S. Labor Secretary and W/A Sr. Advisor Seth Harris, the latest BLS foreign-born workers report “reminds us that successfully and rapidly integrating these workers into U.S. workplaces remains a significant challenge.” From his perspective, “it’s a matter of fairness, but it’s also critical to growing the economy in an era of tight labor markets.”

• Why it matters: In 2023, foreign-born individuals made up 18.6% of the U.S. civilian labor force, an increase from 18.1% in 2022. This group continues to play a significant role in the U.S. labor market.
• By the numbers: Foreign-born workers were more likely than native-born workers to be employed in service occupations (21.8% vs. 15.0%); natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (13.8% vs. 7.8%); and production, transportation, and material moving occupations (15.2% vs. 11.8%). They were less likely to be in management, professional, and related occupations (36.1% vs. 45.4%) or in sales and office occupations (13.0% vs. 20.1%).
• Hispanic makeup: Hispanics made up nearly half (47.6%) of the foreign-born labor force in 2023, while Asians accounted for one-quarter (25.1%). In comparison, Hispanics and Asians represented much smaller percentages of the native-born labor force at 12.5% and 2.5%, respectively.

EnGen founder Dr. Katie Brown also reports that “employers who invest in English upskilling are seeing real returns in terms of employee retention, safety, productivity, advancement.” That sentiment is reflected in this FastCo piece from former Hilton Chief Learning Officer, Kimo Kippen.

Go deeper: More from Seth, Katie, and Carlos Ignacio Zavala, here.

Quick Takes

• The Maryland Department of Education received a $6.85 million grant from philanthropy Ibis Group to deploy high-quality professional development grounded in the science of reading in hopes of improving literacy outcomes under the leadership of recently appointed State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright. The funding will provide free access to a science of reading micro-credential developed by SUNY New Paltz and the AIM Institute for Learning and Research to 27,500 educators, paraprofessionals, and administrators throughout the state of Maryland. [The Baltimore Sun]
• A new report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (GUCEW) found that credentials offered by middle-skills providers U.S. (e.g., community colleges) are often not aligned to current and projected job needs within their local labor market, and 25% of all middle-skills credentials nationwide have no direct occupational match. The report, colloquially known as “The Great Misalignment,” also found that disparities are felt more in rural areas where there are fewer middle-skills providers and by Hispanic/Latine and Indigenous (American Indian/Alaska Native) adults. [Inside Higher Ed]
• The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received more than 19,000 complaints against K-12 and higher education institutions in 2023 – nearly triple the number of complaints the office received in 2009. The majority of complaints were related to sex discrimination (42%), disability discrimination (35%), and race and national origin discrimination (18%). The annual report also highlighted an uptick in antisemitism and anti-Arab discrimination cases post the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

People on the Move

• Whiteboard Advisors recently welcomed Mark Calvin to our communications team as a senior associate, focusing on higher education and college access. Welcome, Mark!
• Apprenticeships for America (AFA) announced Harry Leech as its new Director of Strategy and Program Development. Leech previously served as Head of Skills at HM Treasury, the U.K. government’s economic and finance ministry, among other education policy-related roles in the U.K. government. Congratulations!
• Adam Harris is joining New America as a senior fellow, effective July 1. Previously, Harris was a staff writer covering education at The Atlantic and is author of “The State Must Provide: Why America's Colleges Have Always Been Unequal―and How to Set Them Right.”
• Will Zemp departed the University of North Carolina’s Project Kitty Hawk. EVP Andrew Kelly will take over as interim CEO. [Business North Carolina]
• The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is hiring a Director of Board Relations, which will support the State Board of Education. Apply here.

Upcoming Events and Convenings

• The Alliance for Learning Innovation: Education R&D: Innovating Solutions for Today's Challenges and Tomorrow's Opportunities, June 13 from 9-11 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C.
• Course Hero: Education Summit 2024: Teaching for Tomorrow, Today – Shaping the Future of Pedagogy and Ourselves, June 20-21 from 9-12 p.m. PT, Virtual

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• What We’re Reading: PK-12 and Higher Education: Our team’s daily roundup of the latest and most interesting early childhood, K-12 and higher education news, reports, and research.
• What We’re Reading: New Skills, Talent and Development: A special, weekly edition of What We’re Reading that is focused on new skills and hiring, and profiles innovations in hiring tech, corporate learning and talent development.
• Boundless Potential: Boundless Potential is focused on the interests – and aspirations – of colleagues who are nationally-focused but western-minded. Boundless Potential, published weekly, includes a taste of what we’re reading each week, curated to include Colorado-focused news and activities.

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