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Education, Training and Youth

Supporting quality education, training and social cohesion.

The EU supports Member States in their efforts to provide the best education and training for their citizens. It also promotes multilingualism in Europe, helping with the teaching and learning of languages, encouraging mobility of students, trainees, teachers and young people, and facilitating exchanges of information and experience.

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Transforming education, shaping the future

Amidst one of the worst education crises, we mark today the International Day of Education, joining global calls for changing course and building back better, realising the fundamental right to education for all. Education is the foundation of equality and the path out of poverty to a promising future. It is the best investment in our present and future. And the most rewarding one.

Words are followed by action . The EU has chosen to put education at the heart of the post-pandemic recovery, almost doubling its global spending for education to over 6 billion for the period 2021-2027. For a more sustainable, inclusive and peaceful future in the aftermath of the greatest educational disruption in modern history.

With EUR 700 million for the period 2021-2027, the EU remains a top donor for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Team Europe pledges account for half of GPE’s funding to help transform education systems for more than one billion girls and boys in up to 90 countries and territories, with a particular focus on teachers and on promoting girls’ education.

The pandemic is aggravating inequalities and the digital divide, negatively affecting gender parity. With far less access to the internet and to mobile technology than boys, girls have been majorly disadvantaged to access remote learning. Investing in quality education means investing in equality . And promoting girls' education, leveraging the potential of digital innovations. This is why educating and empowering girls is a key aspect of the EU Gender Action Plan III. It puts women and girls’ rights at the centre of the global recovery for a gender-equal world.

Global challenges require global action . The EU is a committed and active player on the international scene, working closely with partners to change course and build back better for achieving inclusive and equitable quality education for all (SDG 4).

To this end, at the UNESCO Global Education meeting in November 2021, the EU joined a global call to safeguard equitable financing for education. And continues to play an active role in stepping up reform efforts together with country partners, particularly by joining the Leadership Group of the global education coordination mechanism led by UNESCO.

In the major humanitarian crisis Afghanistan is facing, the EU has announced projects worth EUR 268.3 million to step up vital support, including on education. A EUR 50 million programme implemented by UNICEF will provide incentives to Afghan public school teachers, in particular female teachers. In addition, School Meals Support to Girls and Boys programme is to be implemented by the World Food Programme in collaboration with UNICEF. It is a EUR 11 million EU funded project to ensure the provision of food at school and at home for boys and girls in primary school. For girls at secondary level, the EU also supports cash transfers for their households conditional on girls' school attendance.

Education is also a vital component in fostering resilient democracies. To this end, the EU cooperates closely with the Council of Europe to ensure quality education to uphold and promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Read more .  

• Education: EU increases its commitment to Global Partnership for Education with a pledge of €700 million for 2021-2027
• Delegation of the European Union to UNESCO
• Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe
• Factsheet – EU support to the Afghan people: addressing basic needs
• Afghanistan | International Partnerships (europa.eu)
• Afghanistan and the EU - European External Action Service (europa.eu)
• Delegation of the European Union to Afghanistan - European External Action Service (europa.eu)

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The EU DEAR Programme funds projects that engage people in Europe in worldwide issues of social, economic and environmental development and cooperation. It supports civil society organisations and local authorities to promote global justice, human rights, sustainable development and democratic participation. It empowers people, especially young people, to take action.

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Equal Educational Opportunities for All: New EU Project PIONEERED Kicks Off Activities

The research project PIONEERED strives to promote educational equality in Europe by providing research-informed policy recommendations and identifying pioneering policies and practices to enhance access to, uptake and completion of education. The project will officially kick off its activities with a first virtual meeting on 24 March 2021.

A good education provides access to the labour market, offers the chance of political participation and improves overall well-being, health and life expectancy. However, educational inequalities – i. e. disadvantages in access to and uptake of education – remain deeply ingrained into European education systems. The new research project PIONEERED strives to promote educational equality in Europe by providing research-informed policy recommendations and identifying pioneering policies and practices to enhance access to, uptake and completion of education. Over the next four years, PIONEERED will receive 3.5 Mio € in funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Equal education systems play a significant role in making societies more inclusive and accessible to all. A profound reduction in educational inequalities would raise the educational levels of individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups and society as a whole. Therefore, taking steps to increase educational equality is crucial for improving individual life chances and the overall socio-economic and political sustainability of Europe. However, factors such as social background, gender, disability, or immigration history still continue to influence achievement at different education stages. To address these educational disparities, PIONEERED will focus on formal and informal educational settings (e. g. learning processes within families, clubs, communities). The project’s innovative approach combines analyses at different levels: from policies to institutions and individual students, teachers and parents. Particular focus will be placed on the specific (dis-) advantages at intersecting axes of inequality (e. g. male migrant working-class students), as educational inequalities are particularly pronounced at such intersections. Additionally, research will be focused on scrutinising student trajectories to formulate innovative and (empirically) efficient tools to tackle educational inequalities. EDUCATION IS THE MAJOR DETERMINANT OF LIFE CHANCES “One of the project’s unique attributes is that we will be studying all education stages from early childhood education and care to tertiary education. Educational inequalities develop through complex dynamics between contextual and individual factors throughout someone’s life. Indeed, individual differences in the uptake of education are hardly explained by a learner’s talent and effort only, but are structured by characteristics, such as gender, social and ethnic background, and their interplay,” explains project coordinator Andreas Hadjar, professor in Sociology of Education at the University of Luxembourg. “Our findings can help to shape the future of educational systems and societies in Europe – to make them more inclusive, more innovative and reflective.” PIONEERED will thus contribute to a general reversal of inequality trends in post-industrial European societies, where education is a major determinant of life chances. TACKLING EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY THROUGH PIONEERING POLICY MEASURES Aiming to provide policy and practice recommendations to counteract educational disparities at different stages of education successfully, the multi-method project will: • Develop an innovative methodological framework by reviewing the current state of research • Analyse how national (or regional) policies address inequalities and vulnerable groups • Examine data to identify intersectional inequalities throughout educational careers • Conduct practical research in (in-) formal educational settings Thirteen multidisciplinary partners from nine European countries will form the project consortium, involving research facilities across the entire spectrum of educational equality in Europe – from the more inequality-prone countries of Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Switzerland to the less inequality-prone countries of Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Ireland and Spain.

sociology, equality, education, disparity, ethnicity, class, gender, educational equality, student, teacher, policy, measures, school

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Last update: 26 March 2021

Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/429520-equal-educational-opportunities-for-all-new-eu-project-pioneered-kicks-off-activities

European Union, 2024

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PIONEERED Sustainable Website Available Now! Online Results Platform hosted by Uni Lux

With the EU-funded research project PIONEERED, we are striving to promote educational equality in Europe. By determining research-based policy measures and identifying pioneering policies and practices, we will aim to mitigate inequalities in formal and informal education settings. Most importantly, the PIONEERED project will take into account the diversity of inequalities, countries, educational stages and involved actors and the need for customised solutions.

Watch our animated video to learn more about the PIONEERED project!

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Aiming to provide policy and practice recommendations to counteract educational disparities at different stages of education successfully, the multi-method project will:

Partner countries

“Our findings can help to shape the future of educational systems and societies in Europe – to make them more inclusive, more innovative and reflective.” Professor Andreas Hadjar, coordinator of the PIONEERED project; professor in Sociology of Education at the University of Luxembourg

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Empowering Standardisation through Education in Europe

Innovating how standardisation is taught in European Higher Education

EDU4Standards.eu is a brand-new research project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme. Our eclectic consortium brings together the key players in education on standardisation in Europe. Led by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the consortium brings together universities, higher education institutes, standardisation bodies and associations, and SMEs.

Our Objectives

EDU4Standards just started in January 2024. Over the next three years we aim to address key strategic objectives.

Develop and pilot an innovative teaching concept for standardisation (ITCoS)

Creating and pilot compelling approaches and materials for use in EU Higher Education.

Raise the profile of standardisation through Academic Standardisation Days and events

Deliver a roadshow of events on standardisation at EU Higher Education Institutes.

Increase higher education courses on standardisation

Broaden the base of institutions, teachers and courses which include standardisation.

Build a community of standardisation teachers and learners

Consolidate and grow a community of educators and students for the future.

Set up an EU Student Standardisation Association

Build on existing groups, projects and synergies to establish a single association.

Creating real impact

By 2027, our aim is to increase education in standardisation across Europe

Teachers equipped with standardisation knowledge

Students & professionals educated and ready to contribute to standardisation

EU Student Standardisation Association

Higher education institutes offering courses on standardisation

EU Standardisation Education Roadmap to chart a course for the future

15 Academic standards Days

Who we engage with.

Our goal is to meet and synergise with key groups across Europe through events and our 5 pilots.

• Higher education institutes & universities
• Teachers and standards educators
• Students and student associations
• Standards Development Organisations
• Policy makers
• Industry and SMEs
• Research organisations & EU projects
• Citizens and citizen groups

Project Description

Welcome to the website of the Democrat project on Education for Democracy funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of European Union. To reinforce the resilience and sustainability of democracy, Democrat aims, through a participatory approach, to elaborate curricula for Education for Democracy based on a framework of responsible democratic competences, to test them in open, local, innovative learning projects and to develop a toolbox to support the development of transformative EfD practices in the EU and beyond.

Methodology

Democrat is implementing Living Labs and Local Pilot Projects. Each of them will have a sub-page that you can reach by the beginning of 2024 from here.

EU-society faces four major challenges: the Anthropocene crisis, digitalisation, the pandemic and the Ukraine war and its consequences…

Executive Summary

Democrat aims to strengthen liberal democracy in the European Union (EU) by supporting its embedding and sustainability…

Democrat builds robust evidence base for redesigning curricula in support of democracy…

Enhancing Digital Literacy in Disadvantaged Schools

Advancing Democratic Education: Key Takeaways from the 2-Day Transnational DEMOCRAT Workshop in Dublin

Current developments on DigComp (2024-2025)

The JRC expects to publish an updated version of DigComp in late 2025.

The latest update is called the ' DigComp learning outcomes project' . Its aim is to develop learning outcome statements which:

• are indicative (optional) and adaptable
• link competence with proficiency at a granular level
• are clearly worded and balanced
• are structured in format for flexible and efficient use
• incorporate recent and emerging trends and priorities
• are user-friendly and useful for a variety of purposes and in various contexts (for example, supported by contextualised examples of their use)
• act effectively as a potential bridge between supply, offer and demand of digital skills and competences

What is a learning outcome?

For the DigComp learning outcomes project, they are:

… statements regarding what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process, which are defined in terms of knowledge, skills and which are defined in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes. 

This definition is based on the Council Recommendation on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for lifelong learning (2017), and the Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Life- long Learning (2018).

According to the Cedefop European handbook on learning outcomes (2022, page 58), they can be distinguished between:  

• an intended learning outcome: What a learner is expected to know after completion of a learning process
• an achieved learning outcome: What a student is able to demonstrate after completion of a learning process 

The DigComp learning outcomes project focuses on intended learning outcomes.

Why learning outcomes?

The development of learning outcomes for DigComp builds on extensive work at EU level, in particular by Cedefop and in relation to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) . 

Learning outcomes are now used in all countries in Europe and beyond, which is indicative of strong political consensus on their usefulness ( Cedefop, 2024 ).

Learning outcomes shape teaching and learning practices, guide curriculum development, implementation and revision, and form a key reference point for the recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning. They also play a central role in defining qualifications frameworks and levels, and they inform qualifications standards and assessment. Learning outcomes can also be used to support skills intelligence analysis.

How are DigComp learning outcomes being developed?

We develop learning outcomes from existing examples, literature review and expert input.

• dimension 4 of DigComp 2.2 and the DigCompSAT self-assessment form the foundation
• fifty existing examples of DigComp learning outcomes and related initiatives, received via a JRC call for submissions (December 2023-March 2024), analysed and synthesised with the foundation content
• a scoping literature review (including grey literature) is used to identify potential gaps in relation to emerging trends and priorities
• an expert review process has been established to guide the development, with meetings in June and September 2024
• broad stakeholder consultation takes place during the first half of 2025

Will there be changes to the existing DigComp framework?

The DigComp learning outcomes project is an extension to the existing DigComp framework. The 'core' part of the framework (definition of digital competence, competence areas, 21 competences and proficiency levels) will remain stable.

To find out more about the JRC's work on similar topics, explore the related JRC portfolios:

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Project 2025’s Plan to Eliminate Public Schools Has Already Started

P roject 2025, the policy agenda for Former President Trump’s potential first year back in the White House published by the far right conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has been making waves recently. Some of the many destructive proposals within the agenda include the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education —along with federal education funding and any civil rights protections—and the diversion of public money to private school voucher programs instead.

Make no mistake: The goal is to end public education. But dismantling our public schools isn’t just the plan if Trump is reelected—it is already happening.

We are on the brink of a new wave of public school closures , another step in the decades-long project to divest and dismantle the institution of public school. Disguised as “school choice,” federal, state, local, and private actors have prioritized paying for  private and charter schools, hoarding educational resources for the haves and depleting resources for the have-nots.

The policies that Project 2025 plans to prioritize—government payments to families sending their children to private school and creation of new charter schools that are run like businesses—have expanded in the last few years, starving public school districts that serve all students of already insufficient resources. In the 2023-24 school year, at least 70 school districts, including in San Antonio, Texas , Jackson, Mississippi , and Wichita, Kansas , announced permanent closures of public schools, impacting millions of students. These districts are resorting to the harmful, discriminatory, and ineffective so-called ‘solution’ of closing schools in Black and Latine communities, stripping those communities of their local public schools.

Read More: Everything Biden and Trump Have Said About the Controversial Project 2025

Here’s how it works: Concerned about shrinking enrollments and budget crises, district leaders conclude that they must close schools, often without any evidence or analysis that it would save money—and, indeed, it hasn’t been shown to save money unless coupled with mass layoffs. They hire consultants who come up with “utilization” rates and then recommend closing schools with the lowest rates to “rightsize” the district—their euphemism for their misguided belief that school facility usage should be guided by arbitrary numbers instead of meeting communities where they are.

The problem is that “utilization”—a school’s enrollment over its supposed capacity—is stacked against schools that have experienced historic underfunding and disinvestment in facilities repairs, curricula, extracurricular opportunities, and staff. These same schools disproportionately serve Black and Latine students, English Learner students, students with disabilities, and students living in poverty.

Closing schools is demonstrably harmful—and has real-life impact. Research on the mass urban school closures from 2012 to 2014 overwhelmingly found that academic outcomes suffered , particularly for low-performing students. A May 2024 study from Brown University linked the experience of a school closure to “decreases in post-secondary education attainment, employment, and earnings at ages 25–27.” Additionally, closures force families to travel farther to get to schools that are not in their communities, making it harder to form relationships with staff, join extracurriculars, or get involved in parent organizations.

These communities are also often the first to lose access to the benefits of neighborhood public schools, which act as essential gathering places for social services and community resources like adult education, polling locations, a place to hold community meetings, and access to democratic community control through school board elections.

There are more equitable and educationally sound approaches than the lazy, unjust, self-sabotaging—and all too common—approach of spending money on consultants to tell districts what they have already decided to do: close the schools they value least, relying on metrics that target symptoms of their systemic neglect, and playing into the conservative agenda to make public schools obsolete.

Districts have better options to address budget woes. They can start a community-driven process to reshape the budget, wherein multiple stakeholders—rather than a selected few—play an active role in setting district budget priorities. Districts can also employ community-led assessments of how they use buildings, allowing school communities, particularly those historically marginalized, to request the resources, support, and spaces they need.

At the very least, districts should integrate equity requirements into school closure proposals, for instance, by incorporating community-based equity audits into decision-making. States can also follow California’s lead by requiring and robustly enforcing equity safeguards for any decisions to close schools.

Young people and their communities deserve better than districts repeatedly making the same mistakes. District leaders must stop listening to expensive consultants and closing much-loved and needed schools, and instead, must listen to the communities they serve and focus on solutions that put students first. Local, state and federal governments must fully and equitably fund public schools—schools obligated to take and educate everyone—and stop diverting money to a system of charter and private schools where students and families are forced to compete for a limited pool of high quality resources for a select few.

Project 2025 is not an inevitability—it is a call to action for anyone who cares about public education in this country. Our public school system requires more resources to create better school environments for everyone. We need investment in our public schools—not closures.

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Project 2025 would end early education program for low-income Americans

Kamala harris.

Statement: Project 2025 would “end Head Start.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, warned that  Project 2025 , a conservative policy agenda, could spell the end for Head Start, a federally funded program that supports early education and other services for low-income Americans.

During a July 18 campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Harris  said , "Their Project 2025 agenda would even end Head Start to take away preschool from hundreds of thousands of our children."

Before and after President Joe Biden’s  announcement  July 21 that he would forgo a second term, Democrats have been targeting the conservative policy agenda, saying it promotes proposals that would be unpopular with American voters.

Some Biden-Harris warnings about Project 2025 have  gone too far  in describing what the policy blueprint calls for, including exaggerating claims about its impact on Social Security and abortion policy. Other claims are accurate; much of the plan calls for extensive executive branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues, such as LGBTQ issues and diversity, equity and inclusion. Project 2025 lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president. 

Harris’ claim about ending Head Start, which the Department of Health and Human Services administers, is accurate. On Page 482, the Project 2025 document read, "Eliminate the Head Start program."

What is Head Start?

Two related programs, Head Start and Early Head Start, collectively  provide  free early childhood education, health and nutrition services for infants, toddlers and preschoolers from low-income families. The programs are federally funded but run by local nonprofit organizations and focus on pregnant women and children up to 5 years old.

Head Start  was established  in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society initiative. During the 2022-23 school year, the program  enrolled  about 788,000 children and 13,000 pregnant women. For fiscal 2024, Congress  appropriated  $12.27 billion for the Office of Head Start. About two-thirds of program participants are Black or Latino. 

In 2023, Biden  signed an executive order  calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to reduce Head Start eligibility barriers and to increase pay and benefits for the program’s teachers and staff. 

Lawmakers from both parties have  regularly supported  Head Start since its creation. During his presidency, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka brought attention to early childhood education and  convened a panel  in Mississippi in 2018 that included a local Head Start official.

Head Start tends to be popular with a wide cross section of voters. A July 2023  poll  by the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of the First Five Years Fund, a child care advocacy group, found widespread support for Head Start across party lines. When asked whether funding for Head Start and Early Head Start should increase, 71% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats said yes.

What is Project 2025?

Project 2025 is a presidential transition project led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations. The foundation released a  900-page guide  in 2023 advocating a range of policies to be instituted after a potential Republican win in November.

In his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has sought to disassociate himself from Project 2025, writing on  Truth Social  that he "knows nothing" about the project and has "no idea" who leads it. However, CNN reported that  at least 140  former Trump administration advisers contributed to the project.

Max Eden, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., drew a distinction between congressional Republicans’ views of Head Start and those of outside conservative groups.

"There's quite a bit of daylight" between conservative think tanks "and the Republican Party proper, much less President Trump," Eden said. "The call to end Head Start is pretty common within the conservative wonk sphere. Heritage has been saying this for many, many years."

What does Project 2025 say about Head Start?

The Project 2025 document proposes that Head Start be eliminated because it is "fraught with scandal and abuse."

"Given its unaddressed crisis of rampant abuse and lack of positive outcomes, this program should be eliminated along with the entire (office that runs it). At the very least, the program’s COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements should be rescinded," the document says on Page 482. (The Department of Health and Human Services eliminated the  universal masking  and  vaccine  requirements for Head Start programs in January 2023 and June 2023, respectively.) 

The Project 2025 document cited a  Heritage Foundation report  from 2022 that details 1,000 incidents in which children were abused, left unsupervised or released to an unauthorized person while enrolled in Head Start programs. 

It also referred to Heritage Foundation  research  that said Head Start programs do not have lasting positive effects on students’ academic achievement.

How big an impact would ending Head Start have?

Greg J. Duncan, a professor in the University of California, Irvine’s School of Education, told PolitiFact that eliminating Head Start would be a consequential development for low-income families, including the one-third of participants who were dual-language learners, most of them in families that speak primarily Spanish at home.

"By providing no-cost child care services, Head Start helps to support parental employment efforts," Duncan said. "Pre-K programs are a rapidly growing alternative to Head Start, but most pre-K programs have to ration slots owing to high demand. Reducing Head Start slots would undoubtedly increase further the demand for pre-K programs" and cost more for families out of pocket.

Head Start’s effectiveness in improving educational readiness is  more of an open question . 

In 2005, a  report  by agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, found that a year of Head Start improved cognitive skills, but only modestly. A 2010  report  by the same groups showed that by the end of first grade, the effects phased out. And the next  report  in the series, released in 2012, found no effect by the end of elementary school.

Eden pointed to a  2019 study  that "found no statistically significant impacts on earnings and mixed evidence of impacts on other adult outcomes."

Duncan acknowledged that "longer-run benefits of the program on children's developmental trajectories are still being debated."

Duncan added that Head Start has had other positive effects, however, such as increasing parents' involvement with their children, including reading to them and participating in math activities. 

PolitiFact's ruling

Harris said Project 2025 would "end Head Start."

She is correct about what Project 2025 would do with Head Start. The conservative policy blueprint says on Page 482 that it would "Eliminate the Head Start program."

We rate the statement True.

Our sources

• White House,  Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Political Event , July 18, 2024
• Office of Head Start,  Head Start Services , accessed July 22, 2024
• Office of Head Start,  Head Start History , accessed July 22, 2024
• Office of Head Start,  Services Snapshot 2022-2023 , accessed July 22, 2024 
• Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center,  Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024) Head Start Funding Increase , accessed July 22, 2024
• White House,  Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers , April 18, 2024
• National Head Start Association,  Presidential History of Head Start , accessed July 22, 2024
• WLOX,  Ivanka Trump visits Gulfport for childhood education discussion , Oct. 25, 2018
• First Five Years Fund,  ​​The First Five Things To Know About: A New Poll Showing Voter Support For Child Care Funding , July 16, 2023
• Project 2025,  Mandate for Leadership , 2023  
• Former President Donald Trump,  Truth Social post , July 11, 2024
• CNN,  Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved , July 11, 2024
• Federal Register,  Mitigating the Spread of COVID-19 in Head Start Programs , Jan. 6, 2023
• Federal Register,  Removal of the Vaccine Requirements for Head Start Programs , June 26, 2023
• Heritage Foundation,  Over 1,000 Safety Violations Mar Head Start. Children Deserve Better , Nov. 10, 2022
• Heritage Foundation,  Head Start’s Contagion of Fraud and Abuse , Feb. 28, 2020
• The Brookings Institution,  Does Head Start work? The debate over the Head Start Impact Study, explained , June 14, 2019
• Department of Health and Human Services,  Head Start Impact Study First Year Findings , June 2005
• Department of Health and Human Services,  Head Start Impact Study Final Report , January 2010
• Department of Health and Human Services,  Third Grade Follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study: Final Report , December 21, 2012
• The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University,  Elusive Longer-Run Impacts of Head Start: Replications Within and Across Cohorts , May 2019
• PolitiFact,  ​​Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race, endorses Kamala Harris. Read his letter here , June 21, 2024
• PolitiFact,  Project 2025: Are Biden campaign warnings about plan for Trump election win correct? , July 12, 2024
• Email interview with Max Eden, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, July 23, 2024
• Email interview with Greg J. Duncan, professor in the University of California-Irvine’s School of Education, July 22, 2024

• National Politics

Here's how Florida's education system is serving as Republican's new blueprint

More of former President Donald Trump’s education platform was unveiled during the Republican National Convention last week, and many are drawing parallels to how Gov. Ron DeSantis has shaped Florida’s public school system in recent years.

DeSantis and the Florida Legislature passed several controversial laws that defunded diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, banned instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation and demanded that state universities consider the Classic Learning Test (CLT) , largely used by Christian and charter schools, as an SAT/ACT alternative, among other initiatives to ban books and certify new, controversial Black history standards.

In May, U.S. News & World Report sent a ripple of shock across the United States when it crowned the Sunshine State as No. 1 in the nation for education . The ranking, however, seemed largely based on Florida's scores in higher education.

New Florida education laws: DeSantis signed a number of new school laws. Here's what you should know before August

“In higher education, Florida – which is No. 9 in the overall Best States rankings – posted the second-highest rates of timely graduation among students at public institutions pursuing two- and four-year degrees, respectively,” the publication stated. “Students attending its public, four-year institutions also faced the lowest average amount in the country for in-state tuition and fees.”

Pre-K through high school, students excelled in college readiness, ranking No. 5. The state was ranked No. 12 for preschool enrollment, ranked No. 19 for high school graduation rate, and No. 21 and No. 32 for eighth-grade reading and math scores, respectively.

Republicans now hope to adopt some of Florida’s ideas on education to win over voters in November. Namely, the party wants to implement universal school choice, help boost parental rights in classrooms and promote what they call “patriotic” standards for civics education.

Here’s what that looks like in Florida.

Parental Rights in Education law, aka the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, limits discussion on sexual orientation, gender identity

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law was one of the first to come under fire from critics, who soon began referring to it as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

It prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms. The bill originally only targeted kindergarten through third grade and limited similar discussions in higher grades to what is “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

The bill was expanded last year to include grades K-12, but a settlement curbed some ideas critics disagreed with. According to NPR , the settlement clarifies how sexual orientation and gender identities can be talked about in public schools. The vague language of the original law left many fearing they would be unable to talk about their identities without facing possible repercussions.

The settlement now makes clear that students and teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender identity, so long as it isn’t included as part of instruction.

‘Stop Woke Act’ prohibits teaching CRT in K-12 schools

Florida's "Stop WOKE Act" targets critical race theory (CRT) in schools and workplaces by codifying the Florida Department of Education's prohibition on teaching CRT in K-12 schools, barring schools and universities from hiring "woke" CRT consultants and preventing corporations from forcing employees to take mandatory CRT training.

In March, a three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision to block part of the law, preventing it from being implemented in workplaces. The law is currently being enforced in schools.

Critical race theory is a loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the idea that race is a social construct used to oppress and exploit people of color, according to  Britannica .

It teaches that law in the U.S. maintains systems that create inequalities between white people and people of color. People who subscribe to the idea work toward restructuring these institutions to eliminate all race-based hierarchies.

Defunding DEI programs

In May 2023, DeSantis signed legislation that banned state funding for DEI programs at Florida’s public universities. The law bars Florida state universities from spending state or federal funds to promote, support or maintain any programs that “advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.”

How gender and race are taught on Florida campuses is restricted under the law. It requires university officials to review any lessons “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political and economic inequities.”

DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. Studies by McKinsey & Company, a business focused on accelerating sustainable and inclusive growth, show that there are “clear correlations” between diversity and business performance.

Adopting the Classic Learning Test as SAT/ACT alternative

DeSantis signed a bill into law in May 2023 that authorized Florida school districts to administer the Classic Learning Test (CLT), a new and controversial standardized test, alongside the SAT and ACT. Now, the  Florida Department of Education will consider adding the CLT as an acceptable exam for university admissions.

The CLT is a new “classical and Christian” alternative to the SAT and ACT standardized tests that were created in 2015 by Maryland educator Jeremy Tate, who believes American education has become “utilitarian” and that “high-stakes” testing is partially to blame.

More than  200 colleges and universities accept CLT scores , but that list mostly consists of private universities.

The College Board, which administers the SAT, has said that it recognizes the role that the CLT and other assessments can play in a diverse educational landscape but rebuked a concordance relationship study published by the Classic Learning Initiatives in April.

There are four CLT exams that students can take, each focusing on different grade levels. The CLT is the college entrance exam for grades 11 and 12, CLT 10 is a college preparatory exam for grades 9 and 10, CLT 8 is a high school readiness program for grades 7 and 8 and CLT 3-6 is a diagnostic and summative exam for grades 3-6.

The CLT offers both online and paper assessments that evaluate English, grammar and math skills. According to the website, the CLT differs from other tests by emphasizing “foundational critical thinking skills.”

Expanding School choice programs

DeSantis signed one of the largest private school voucher expansions in the U.S. in March 2023, following a trend from other conservative states after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the law, all Florida students are eligible for taxpayer-financed vouchers to attend private schools. The total awarded amount is up to $8,500 depending on the area the student lives in.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported at the time that the Florida House estimated the cost of the expansion as $209.6 million to public schools, while a Senate analysis had tagged it at $646 million. However, the Florida Policy Institute, a progressive research organization, estimated that it would cost Florida taxpayers closer to $4 billion.

Teachers unions and other groups criticized the bill, saying it will rob public schools of already scarce funding and allow private schools to discriminate against students, including those with disabilities. Some parents, however, applaud the new laws, including parents who already send their kids to private schools.

Contributors : John Kennedy and Nirvi Shah , USA TODAY NETWORK

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Jul 31, 2024

Governor Newsom provides $94 million for infill housing projects, signs executive order to streamline development

What you need to know: Governor Newsom today awarded $94 million to 15 California counties to support the development of more than 1,661 new homes through infill development projects. The Governor also issued a new executive order to accelerate and streamline infill development projects to transform undeveloped and underutilized properties statewide into livable and affordable housing for Californians.

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom today announced awards totaling nearly $94 million to create infill development that will produce 1,661 new homes in 15 counties throughout California. Governor Newsom also issued an executive order to support efforts to transform undeveloped and underutilized infill sites and buildings into housing. The order will help communities build thriving downtown cores, and new housing near transportation hubs and job centers — creating more housing options for Californians while further aligning the state’s housing and climate goals.

Empty lots and vacant buildings in cities throughout our state could be transformed into much-needed housing; Californians literally cannot afford for us to ignore these opportunities.

Today I’m providing tens of millions of dollars to California communities to begin building these new homes on infill properties. And I’m directing agencies to begin an all-hands-on-deck effort to help create homes on properties that have been sitting empty and unused for far too long.  We’re cutting the unnecessary red tape and costs standing in the way of building new affordable homes for Californians.

Governor Gavin Newsom

State support for infill housing projects

The Governor’s order helps advance California’s goal to create 2.5 million new homes by 2030. In an effort to make housing more accessible and affordable for all, California continues to build more housing, of all types, all across the state. 

Governor Newsom’s order directs a number of state agencies, including the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), among others, to work together to address key roadblocks in the development of infill housing. These agencies will work to comprehensively address the need to develop more housing by:

• Lowering costs and increasing flexibility by exploring updates to the state building standards codes and permitting processes to accelerate housing approvals and development.
• Creating more resources for local governments to build housing through infill development, by developing mechanisms to provide local governments and developers with a range of additional resources, including state and federal infrastructure dollars and other financing. 
• Building more tools and opportunities by publishing resources and guidance, including through the states’ existing Site Check website, to assist developers and other stakeholders in identifying opportunities to transform vacant sites into housing for Californians. 
• Aligning state housing and climate goals by creating tools to assess the environmental benefits of thriving urban cores and transportation centers, and working to better align housing and transportation investments across the state.  

Investing in infill development in communities of all sizes 

Governor Newsom today also announced that California has awarded $94 million in infill infrastructure grants to 25 projects that will support the development of 1,661 new homes in 15 California counties. The grants awarded today through the state’s Infill Infrastructure Grant Program will support capital improvement projects in the following California counties with populations of less than 250,000 people: Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Kings, Imperial, Madera, San Benito, Shasta, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba.

Creating affordable housing for all Californians 

Since taking office, Governor Newsom has invested $40 billion in affordable housing production and enacted dozens of CEQA reforms into law. In addition, Governor Newsom championed the creation of the Housing Accountability Unit at the California Department of Housing and Community Development to make sure cities and counties fulfill their legal responsibilities to plan and permit their fair share of housing. This focus on accountability has in part led to a 15-year high in housing starts in California.

Click here to read the full executive order.

Executive Orders , Housing and Homelessness , Recent News

Recent news

Over 20 communities become first to earn new clean california designation.

Aug 3, 2024

News What you need to know: After three years of the state’s highly successful Clean California initiative — which has created 18,000 jobs and hauled away more than 2.6 million cubic yards of litter across the state — California is launching a new designation program...

Governor Newsom quickly finalizes agreement to speed up prosecutions in Alameda County

Aug 2, 2024

News What you need to know: State officials swiftly finalized a memorandum of understanding with the California Department of Justice, enabling California National Guard attorneys to prosecute cases originating in Alameda County. The agreement  — which took just two...

Governor Newsom announces appointments 7.30.24 (2)

Jul 30, 2024

News SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:Patrick Brennan, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Health Workforce Education and Training Council. Brennan has been Director of Policy and Programs at the UCLA School of...

The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031

The future of good jobs, projections through 2031, full report.

• Press Release

Even against a backdrop of economic uncertainty—driven by high inflation and interest rates, generative AI, international conflicts, changing demographics, and a shifting policy environment—the future of good jobs in the US looks promising. Economic opportunity will increasingly favor workers with higher levels of education and training.

The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031 forecasts the number of good jobs in 2031 for workers ages 25–64 by 22 occupational groups and three educational pathways (bachelor’s degree, middle skills, and high school). The report finds that while there will be good jobs on every educational pathway in 2031, only 15 percent will be available to workers on the high school pathway, compared to 66 percent on the bachelor’s degree pathway and 19 percent on the middle-skills pathway.

Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce projections using Carnevale et al., After Everything , 2023; US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (CPS), March Supplement, 1992–2020; and US Bureau of Economic Analysis, SARPP Regional Price Parities by State, 2020.

Note: Values may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. The minimum earnings threshold for good jobs is adjusted for the difference in cost of living by state and for inflation to 2020 dollars using R-CPI-U-RS.

Good Jobs and Promising Occupations

– what is a good job.

CEW defines a good job as one that pays, nationally, a minimum of $43,000 to workers ages 25–44 and a minimum of $55,000 to workers ages 45–64, with a median of $82,000 for all good jobs.

– What is a Promising Occupation?

To help workers make decisions that maximize their likelihood of securing a good job, this report introduces the concept of promising occupations for workers on each educational pathway. To be considered promising, an occupational group must meet two criteria:

• More than half of jobs in the occupational group are projected to be good for workers on a given educational pathway in 2031.
• The occupational group will employ a higher share of workers on a specific educational pathway than will the overall economy in 2031 (more than 52 percent for workers on the bachelor’s degree pathway, 22 percent on the middle-skills pathway, and 26 percent on the high school pathway).

Good Jobs and Promising Occupations on Each Educational Pathway

• Bachelor's Degree Pathway
• Middle-Skills Pathway
• High School Pathway

Occupational Cluster

Managerial and professional office

Education, training, and library

Community services and the arts

Healthcare professional and technical

Healthcare support

Food and personal services

Sales and office support

Blue-collar

Both upskilling within occupations and growth of occupations that require comparatively high levels of education will increasingly shift opportunity to workers with bachelor’s degrees or higher. As a result, the bachelor’s degree pathway will offer the largest number of good jobs (58.2 million) and promising occupational groups (10) in 2031.

Federal investments in infrastructure, along with slower labor force growth, fewer college graduates, and expanding generative AI capabilities, have the potential to support a more robust middle-skills labor market than in previous decades. By 2031, middle-skills workers will have 16.4 million good jobs and five promising occupational groups available to them.

Ten of the 22 occupational groups will see net declines in good jobs on the high school pathway, even as many of these same occupations will see growth in the numbers of good jobs on the bachelor’s degree and middle-skills pathways. Consequently, by 2031, the high school pathway will only have 13.2 million good jobs available to workers and just one promising occupational group (installation, maintenance, and repair).

The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031 forecasts that the bachelor’s degree pathway will be the dominant route to good jobs in the future despite continued skepticism about the value of a college degree.

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Former student at Shrewsbury school is back, this time leading construction of an addition

SHREWSBURY — When Kenneth Chatto graduated eighth grade from the Shrewsbury Borough School in 1979, he could not have foreseen that he would oversee the building of a large addition to the school 44 years later.

Now, he is the on-site project superintendent for Ben Harvey Construction of Ocean Township, where he is spearheading the school's renovations.

“I loved playing soccer for this school,” he said as he talked nostalgically about The Black Knights, his childhood recreational soccer team.

On Wednesday, he stood on a concrete pad that will be part of a 21,300-square-foot addition, which will contain a cafeteria, three preschool classrooms and multipurpose rooms. The new addition is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2025.

Chatto’s crew is also working on renovations inside the school, which dates back to the 1950s. Upgrades to the 300 and 400 wing are expected to be complete by the time classes resume in September. Work on the school library and 500 wing are set to be finished next summer.

In October 2022, Shrewsbury voters approved a $22.5 million referendum to pay for the upgrades to the 480-student school, which serves preschoolers through eighth graders. The New Jersey Department of Education will cover $4.7 million of the cost, or about 21%. The project raised school taxes about $44 on the Shrewsbury home assessed at the municipal average of $580,785, according to school officials.

The new renovations are intended to accommodate the existing students and will eventually expand to fit the growing waitlist of incoming preschool students, Superintendent Brent A. MacConnell said as he wore a hard hat at the construction site.

"I have a waiting list every single year," he said. "My goal is that we'll be able to meet the needs of all of our 3- and 4-year-olds in town here with these additional classroom spaces."

The new addition will make room for about 15 new students, along with a teacher and an aid for each classroom, the superintendent said.

Chatto said that about 27 parking spots were also allocated to the front of the school to prepare for the uptick in attendance. 

As of now, the preparations are on track and the construction is expected to be accomplished on time.

Parents who move to Shrewsbury "are looking for a small, neighborhood, community-based school," said MacConnell. "We have a lot of community and parent involvement here. It's a real focal point, and I think a point of pride for our community."

Safety is another focus of the construction project.

According to the Shrewsbury Borough school website, the updates will include ballistic film glass windows, doors with instant locking mechanisms and upgraded main office entrances.

The project will also fund new ceilings and HVAC upgrades.

The new addition will enable the school to have a separate gymnasium from cafeteria in the future. For years, school officials encountered scheduling conflicts because of the multipurpose space.

"It's been very difficult to schedule lunch around all of our gym classes," MacConnell said.

While looking over the foundations for the new cafeteria and pre-K classrooms, Chatto reflected on some of his own memories involving the Shrewsbury Borough School. 

"I came here in the fourth grade," he said as construction workers placed cinder blocks for walls nearby. "My wife was from Fair Haven… and we had three boys. All three boys went to school here."

Chatto recalled showing his crew the wall inside the school that showcases photographs of former students. He told them: "See if you can find who I am" and "half the time (the crew) can’t."

"I love coming here," he said. "Coming back to here has been nice."

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