On Thursday, the national nonprofit Learning Heroes, in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education and TNTP, released new findings from their Family Engagement Impact Study. The study explores how some schools are beating the odds on chronic absenteeism—a challenge that continues to affect roughly 1 in 4 students nationwide who miss 10% or more of the school year. [Education Week, subscription model]

Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke alongside Harvard’s Dr. Karen Mapp at an event in Chicago about what this research means for education leaders across the country:

The research focuses on schools in Illinois, the most demographically representative state in the U.S., and the findings suggest that family engagement is a critical lever schools can use to address absenteeism and improve student outcomes. Regardless of poverty levels, schools with what researchers describe as “strong family engagement” not only outperformed expectations on test scores, but also reported meaningfully lower rates of chronic absenteeism.

The report identifies four distinguishing characteristics among high-performing “Bright Spot” schools: 

At a time when states and districts are searching for solutions to persistent absenteeism, the findings reinforce a simple but often overlooked point: schools that treat families as true partners—not passive recipients of information—see measurable differences in student attendance and achievement.

Today, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released drafts of new regulations focused on implementing Workforce Pell, which will now go to public comment. The draft regulations also include new regulations to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) requirements prohibiting students from receiving Pell grants if they’ve received grant/scholarship aid from non-federal sources that exceeds their cost of attendance. 

As a reminder, this draft reflects the regulations negotiated by the AHEAD committee in January 2026. Some of the most interesting provisions to watch as public comments open are:

The regulations will be officially published as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on Monday, March 9 for a 30-day comment period that will close on April 8. Once public comments close, ED will review the comments and make any final changes it deems necessary based on the public comments it receives. ED will then publish the regulations as a final rule in the Federal Register (which will include a justification of why ED did, or did not, make changes based on the public comments it received).

In parallel, ED continues to push forward its separate package of new regulations crafted to implement OBBBA’s statutory requirements sunsetting the Grad PLUS program, setting new loan caps for “graduate” and “professional” programs, reforming student loan repayment plans and more. The comment period for those regulations closed on Monday, March 2 and garnered over 80,000 comments from the public.

As these two packages of regulations inch closer to finalization, ED will increasingly turn its attention to its next rulemaking effort focused on reforming the U.S. accreditation system which is set to convene in April 2026.

On March 4, the Indiana State Board of Education unanimously approved a new accountability framework, reintroducing A–F school grades with new criteria. Indiana hasn't issued A–F school grades since 2018—first paused during a testing transition, then further disrupted by COVID-19 waivers that suspended accountability systems across the country.

Mandated by state law, and built on Indiana's Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) framework, the model goes beyond restoring a familiar grading scale. The letter grading framework expands what schools are held accountable for, measuring skills, readiness, and progress from kindergarten through graduation.

Indiana is part of a broader national reset. The pandemic disrupted accountability systems in nearly every state, and states are still making deliberate choices about what to measure and what signals matter most. 

10 states, including Indiana, currently include a 9th-grade on-track metric in their accountability systems. University of Chicago Consortium research found that finishing freshman year on track is a stronger predictor of graduation than prior test scores or demographics. Students on track at the end of 9th grade are more than three times as likely to graduate on time.

Worth noting: Illinois, which pioneered this indicator through Chicago Public Schools research, is currently proposing to remove it from its accountability calculation (retaining it in reporting only), with a state board vote expected in April 2026.

Join the Center for High School Success (CHSS) for a site visit at George Washington High School in Indianapolis on March 26, 8 a.m. - 2 p.m ET.

George Washington is an Indianapolis Public Schools Demonstration School that raised its 9th Grade On-Track rate from 55% to 83% since partnering with CHSS in 2020. Educators and policymakers can observe the 9th Grade Success Approach in action.

Hosted by ISTE+ASCD and Whiteboard Advisors, the Solutions Summit is a one-day, exclusive event that convenes leaders from across the education ecosystem. This year’s Summit will be held on Sunday, June 28, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will feature a mix of interactive panels and small-group activities focused on real-world decision-making, product impact, and the future of learning.

This week, the EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education hosted a panel to discuss what new research on personalized student supports means for students and systems. EdRedesign's Rob Watson, Tauheedah Jackson, and Jamie Gracie were joined by Communities In Schools (CIS) President and CEO Rey Saldaña at the Bloomberg Center for Cities.

The study examined the impact of dedicated “navigators”: adults who connect students in high-poverty schools to tailored academic, health, housing, and social supports.

Watson pointed to what he called a "phenomenon of anonymity”: the idea that children move through schools and systems without any adult who truly sees them. The research suggests the answer to that isn't just more programs; it's a person whose job is to know and support each child with exactly what they need.

Interested in learning more about the research? Let us know.

A new Gallup report finds that financial strain is a significant challenge for many U.S. K–12 teachers. About 21% say they are struggling to get by on their household income, while 52% say they are just getting by and only 28% report living comfortably.

According to a new analysis of ED data by The Advocacy Institute, nearly 8.2 million learners ages 3-21 qualified for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2024. This represents an enrollment increase of more than 300,000 learners compared to the previous year, and continues a multi-year trend of rising enrollment in special education services. [Disability Scoop]

Why it matters: Special education is one of the biggest budgetary challenges school districts face. When IDEA was first enacted, Congress committed to fund 40% of the average per-pupil cost for special education; 50 years later, federal funding covers less than 12%, passing off the remaining costs to states and school districts. As demand for special education services surges, school districts are forced to find ways to pay for required services, which typically means utilizing funding that would not have ordinarily been used for special education. [Disability Scoop, Spectrum Local News 1]

Go deeper: The W/A Research Team tracks trends in special education funding and enrollment. To learn more about our research subscription, reach out to us.

Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,575 career opportunities from 314 organizations across the education industry. A few roles that caught our eye over the past week: