NextSteps: Step Up For Students

Arguably no state in America has redefined public education more than Florida. So how fitting that the latest lawmaker to rise to one of the key policy making slots is a former homeschooler. State Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mt. Dora, said being homeschooled gives her unique insights into parental choice and personalized learning that will inform […]

Sen. Tim Scott has seen how hard it can be for military families to find educational opportunities for their children as they move from one base to another. His older brother was a command sergeant major in the U.S. Army. His younger brother is a colonel in the Air Force. Their experiences trying to find schools […]

Florida State Sen. Darryl Rouson went to Catholic schools from first grade through college. He wants low-income families from his district to have the same opportunity. He’s sent his own children to public schools, so he wants Florida’s public school system to be as strong as possible. During a podcast interview with Denisha Merriweather, a […]

Two of Virginia Walden Ford’s children went to public schools and thrived. They had access to mentoring programs and classes that nurtured their talents. But it was the experience of her youngest child, William, that led her to become a school choice advocate. In middle school, he started to show signs of academic struggles. At […]

Over the summer, a group of Catholic schools in Harlem and the Bronx posted some attention-grabbing results. Their students took the same tests as children in New York’s charter and traditional public schools. State data showed that, on average, all types of schools improved. But the Partnership Schools improved faster. For the second-straight year, the […]

Congressman Luke Messer has been telling his fellow Republicans they can’t just be against the federal government’s role in education policy. They also need to fight for something. That’s one reason Messer, R-Indiana, helped launch the Congressional School Choice Caucus. And he recently joined Denisha Merriweather, a Florida tax credit scholarship alum, for a podcast interview, […]

Many of the people pushing for more private school choice options around the country have two goals. They want to make scholarships available to a broad range of students, including those in the middle class who don’t have access to the same choices as wealthy families. At the same time, they want to make sure […]

Over the past few weeks, the NAACP has faced constant pushback from education reformers and school choice advocates for its proposed stance against charter schools. Some of that pushback has come from Gerard Robinson, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who recently wrote a series of blog posts unpacking the proposal However, on […]

Last week, at the Republican National Convention, it was clear that school choice gives conservatives a positive way to talk about education policy. But for people who typically want to keep the federal government out of education altogether, what does a national agenda look like? On the latest edition of our podcast, Lindsey Burke, an […]

A virtual classroom might include an aspiring tennis pro traveling in Europe, a child in the hospital battling cancer, and a student who left a traditional classroom to escape bullies. Two decades ago, it would be inconceivable that these disparate students would be learning together, with guidance from the same teachers. And it would be just […]