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  • National Overview
  • Select Your State
  • About The Index

PARENT POWER!

  • National Overview
  • Select Your State
  • About The Index
Menu
  • National Overview
  • Select Your State
  • About The Index

PARENT POWER!

  • National Overview
  • Select Your State
  • About The Index
Menu
  • National Overview
  • Select Your State
  • About The Index

Arkansas

U.S.
Rank

#24
Overall PPI Score:
69.3%
PPI Grade Key:
← Back to Arkansas state overview
A
B
C
D
F
  • Opportunity
  • Innovation
  • Policy Environment

Charter Schools

Score:

72%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#28

Over time the state has become more friendly to helping charters succeed. State leaders aggressively seek applicants for cities like Little Rock, understanding that charters are a path to help students who are not being well-served.

Fast Facts:

Law passed: 1995

Most recently amended: 2019

Number of charter schools: 83

Number of charter students: 32,252

Cap on the number of schools allowed:? Yes, only 24 new “open-enrollment” charter schools are allowed each year

Virtual charters allowed? Yes, but only if they serve students from more than one district and can only be authorized by the state board.

Charter Law Analysis:

AUTHORIZERS: The state department of education is the statewide authorizer and final authorizing body for all charters. Conversion charters schools must be authorized by both the local district and the state department. Open-enrollment charter schools are only authorized by the state department of education, but can be reviewed by the local district and/or the state board. There is no appeals process, but applicants can ask the state board to review decisions by authorizers.

GROWTH: The state department of education, the state board of education, or a combination of the two may grant no more than 24 open-enrollment charter schools. However, the cap can increase if the number of approved charters is within two of the existing cap of available charters, the cap automatically increases by five slots. In 2019, the state also expanded the potential for adult education charters to operate. 

OPERATIONS: There is no blanket waiver from operational rules. Charters must negotiate with the state for all waivers.

EQUITY: Charter schools are to receive the same funding as traditional district schools, but are not eligible for local revenue from property taxes, which makes up more than a third of district school budgets. Additionally, conversion charters and open enrollment charters are funded differently; conversions are funded by the local district while open enrollment charters are funded by the state board and their budgets determined annually. There is no per-pupil facilities funding for any charter.  School districts are required to report unused or underutilized facilities to the state and allow nearby charter schools the rights to buy or lease those facilities at market value.

Learn More:

Arkansas Charter School Law

Arkansas Public School Resource Center

Choice Programs (Scholarships, Vouchers, Tax Credits, etc.)

Score:

62%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#30

In April 2021, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law the state’s second education choice program, the Philanthropic Investment in Arkansas Kids tax-credit scholarship program and a small voucher program enacted in 2015 grew more than twofold in two years, from 178 students in 2018, to 427 students in 2020.

Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 2015- 2021

Number of programs: 2

Statewide Participation: 427

Types of programs: Voucher, Tax Credit Scholarship

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Tax Credit Scholarship
Philanthropic Investment in Arkansas Kids Program 

Senate Bill 630 was signed in April 2021, creating a new tax-credit scholarship program that has a cap of $2 million and is limited to 250 students per year. To be eligible, families must have an annual income less than or equal to 200% federal poverty level, and students must have previously attended a public school in Arkansas. The program will launch January 1, 2022.

Voucher
Succeed Scholarship Program

Launched in 2016, Arkansas’ Succeed Scholarship Program is the state’s first private school choice program. It provides scholarships to students with special needs that have an individualized education program (IEP) or individualized service plan (ISP), and also students in foster care. In April 2021, HB1446 expanded the program to include children of members in the U.S military. For student eligibility, there are no income limits and no enrollment cap for special needs students. For students in foster care, the cap is 20. The maximum voucher amount is $6,899.

Learn More:

EdChoice on Arkansas

Federation for Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Teacher Quality

Score:

71%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#31

Effectiveness is not a factor in teacher compensation, though the state does meet or exceed teacher prep goals.

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 77%
General Teacher Preparation 65%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 95%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 90%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 72%
Alternate Routes 95%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 62%
Hiring 60%
Retaining Effective Teachers 65%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 69%

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 75%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Charter Schools

Score:

72%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#28

Over time the state has become more friendly to helping charters succeed. State leaders aggressively seek applicants for cities like Little Rock, understanding that charters are a path to help students who are not being well-served.

Fast Facts:

Law passed: 1995

Most recently amended: 2019

Number of charter schools: 83

Number of charter students: 32,252

Cap on the number of schools allowed:? Yes, only 24 new “open-enrollment” charter schools are allowed each year

Virtual charters allowed? Yes, but only if they serve students from more than one district and can only be authorized by the state board.

Charter Law Analysis:

AUTHORIZERS: The state department of education is the statewide authorizer and final authorizing body for all charters. Conversion charters schools must be authorized by both the local district and the state department. Open-enrollment charter schools are only authorized by the state department of education, but can be reviewed by the local district and/or the state board. There is no appeals process, but applicants can ask the state board to review decisions by authorizers.

GROWTH: The state department of education, the state board of education, or a combination of the two may grant no more than 24 open-enrollment charter schools. However, the cap can increase if the number of approved charters is within two of the existing cap of available charters, the cap automatically increases by five slots. In 2019, the state also expanded the potential for adult education charters to operate. 

OPERATIONS: There is no blanket waiver from operational rules. Charters must negotiate with the state for all waivers.

EQUITY: Charter schools are to receive the same funding as traditional district schools, but are not eligible for local revenue from property taxes, which makes up more than a third of district school budgets. Additionally, conversion charters and open enrollment charters are funded differently; conversions are funded by the local district while open enrollment charters are funded by the state board and their budgets determined annually. There is no per-pupil facilities funding for any charter.  School districts are required to report unused or underutilized facilities to the state and allow nearby charter schools the rights to buy or lease those facilities at market value.

Learn More:

Arkansas Charter School Law

Arkansas Public School Resource Center

Choice Programs (Scholarships, Vouchers, Tax Credits, etc.)

Score:

62%

Grade:

D

Rank:

#30

In April 2021, Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law the state’s second education choice program, the Philanthropic Investment in Arkansas Kids tax-credit scholarship program and a small voucher program enacted in 2015 grew more than twofold in two years, from 178 students in 2018, to 427 students in 2020.

Fast Facts:

Law enacted: 2015- 2021

Number of programs: 2

Statewide Participation: 427

Types of programs: Voucher, Tax Credit Scholarship

Choice Laws & Analysis:

Tax Credit Scholarship
Philanthropic Investment in Arkansas Kids Program 

Senate Bill 630 was signed in April 2021, creating a new tax-credit scholarship program that has a cap of $2 million and is limited to 250 students per year. To be eligible, families must have an annual income less than or equal to 200% federal poverty level, and students must have previously attended a public school in Arkansas. The program will launch January 1, 2022.

Voucher
Succeed Scholarship Program

Launched in 2016, Arkansas’ Succeed Scholarship Program is the state’s first private school choice program. It provides scholarships to students with special needs that have an individualized education program (IEP) or individualized service plan (ISP), and also students in foster care. In April 2021, HB1446 expanded the program to include children of members in the U.S military. For student eligibility, there are no income limits and no enrollment cap for special needs students. For students in foster care, the cap is 20. The maximum voucher amount is $6,899.

Learn More:

EdChoice on Arkansas

Federation for Children Choice Program Information

2019 ALEC Report Card on American Education

Teacher Quality

Score:

71%

Grade:

C

Rank:

#31

Effectiveness is not a factor in teacher compensation, though the state does meet or exceed teacher prep goals.

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT: 77%
General Teacher Preparation 65%
Elementary Teacher Preparation 95%
Secondary Teacher Preparation 90%
Special Education Teacher Preparation 72%
Alternate Routes 95%  

STAFFING AND SUPPORT: 62%
Hiring 60%
Retaining Effective Teachers 65%

TEACHER EVALUATION: 69%

TEACHER COMPENSATION: 75%

Learn More:

National Council for Teacher Quality State Teacher Policy Database

Digital & Personalized Learning

Digital Learning:

Score:

82%

Grade:

B

Rank:

#11

In 2013, legislators implemented an act to provide digital learning opportunities in public schools, which expanded digital learning opportunities to all public school students, and removed any pre existing barriers.

The Arkansas Department of Education developed The Digital Learning Spectrum to help schools provide online learning, more information on this found here.

Virtual Arkansas is a K-12 statewide virtual school that opened in 2013, serving 250 districts and over 40,000 students. Virtual Arkansas does not grant diplomas, but serves as a program to supplement public school student’s education.

The state also provides digital learning support to educators. Connect 2 Digital is a platform that delivers blended professional development courses in various subjects including blended learning, math, state testing, digital summer training, and computer science. Team Digitalis a group of experts that “provides ongoing support to school districts during the planning, implementation, and evaluation of digital courses, professional development sessions, and blended or online learning environments at district, regional, and state levels.”

Arkansas’ Wynne Public Schools District is a part of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, giving digital learning opportunities to over 2,600 students in the state. The League of Innovative Schools is a network of school leaders in 114 districts in 34 states that aim to enhance and scale digital learning opportunities for students across the nation.

Bandwidth: “100% of students in Arkansas can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds.”

Personalized Learning:

While Arkansas has moderate personalized learning activity, there is not a full state effort. The Schools of Innovation program promotes personalized learning by giving schools the flexibility to experiment with new models of teaching and learning. In the 2019-2020 school year, there were 3 approved Schools of Innovation.

Additionally, the Opportunity Culture Pilot expanded to a statewide initiative that uses new roles such as Multi- Classroom Leadership to enhance personalized learning teaching skills and individualize instruction. Opportunity Culture is expanding to four other school districts in 2020-2021 school year.

Learn More:

Digital Learning Opportunities in Public Schools

The Digital Learning Spectrum

Virtual Arkansas

Connect 2 Digital

Team Digital

League of Innovative Schools

Schools of Innovation

Opportunity Culture Pilot

COVID-19 Response

The state of Arkansas reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for all schools to continue instruction through alternative methods of instruction (AMI) learning early in the pandemic. The state issued “Alternative Methods of Instruction” guidelines March 20 and worked to empower districts and school leaders to create plans for continued instruction.

“ADE is working closely with Arkansas educators, including members of local school boards, administrators, and teachers, to ensure that school districts have adequate support to continue AMI delivery through the remainder of the school year,” state Education Secretary Johnny Key said.

The state’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education partnered with Arkansas PBS television to deliver grade-level instructional content instead of regular daytime programming. This partnership with Arkansas PBS television especially helped provide education opportunities for families with limited or no internet bandwidth at home. In order to address this technology resource gap, Governor Hutchinson announced a $10 million plan to provide devices and internet access at no cost for students.

Arkansas continues their plan to reopen schools on time for in-person instruction later than their traditional start date in August.

Fast Facts

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

29%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

19%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat'l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

29%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

26%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat'l average)

Graduation Rate:

88%

Average SAT Score:

1191/1600

Average ACT Score:

18.8/36

Public School Enrollment:

489,565

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

6.9%

Average Student Funding:

$10,345.00
Digital & Personalized Learning
Digital Learning:

Score:

82%

Grade:

B

Rank:

#11

In 2013, legislators implemented an act to provide digital learning opportunities in public schools, which expanded digital learning opportunities to all public school students, and removed any pre existing barriers.

The Arkansas Department of Education developed The Digital Learning Spectrum to help schools provide online learning, more information on this found here.

Virtual Arkansas is a K-12 statewide virtual school that opened in 2013, serving 250 districts and over 40,000 students. Virtual Arkansas does not grant diplomas, but serves as a program to supplement public school student’s education.

The state also provides digital learning support to educators. Connect 2 Digital is a platform that delivers blended professional development courses in various subjects including blended learning, math, state testing, digital summer training, and computer science. Team Digitalis a group of experts that “provides ongoing support to school districts during the planning, implementation, and evaluation of digital courses, professional development sessions, and blended or online learning environments at district, regional, and state levels.”

Arkansas’ Wynne Public Schools District is a part of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, giving digital learning opportunities to over 2,600 students in the state. The League of Innovative Schools is a network of school leaders in 114 districts in 34 states that aim to enhance and scale digital learning opportunities for students across the nation.

Bandwidth: “100% of students in Arkansas can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds.”

Personalized Learning:

While Arkansas has moderate personalized learning activity, there is not a full state effort. The Schools of Innovation program promotes personalized learning by giving schools the flexibility to experiment with new models of teaching and learning. In the 2019-2020 school year, there were 3 approved Schools of Innovation.

Additionally, the Opportunity Culture Pilot expanded to a statewide initiative that uses new roles such as Multi- Classroom Leadership to enhance personalized learning teaching skills and individualize instruction. Opportunity Culture is expanding to four other school districts in 2020-2021 school year.

Learn More:

Digital Learning Opportunities in Public Schools

The Digital Learning Spectrum

Virtual Arkansas

Connect 2 Digital

Team Digital

League of Innovative Schools

Schools of Innovation

Opportunity Culture Pilot

COVID-19 Response

The state of Arkansas reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for all schools to continue instruction through alternative methods of instruction (AMI) learning early in the pandemic. The state issued “Alternative Methods of Instruction” guidelines March 20 and worked to empower districts and school leaders to create plans for continued instruction.

“ADE is working closely with Arkansas educators, including members of local school boards, administrators, and teachers, to ensure that school districts have adequate support to continue AMI delivery through the remainder of the school year,” state Education Secretary Johnny Key said.

The state’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education partnered with Arkansas PBS television to deliver grade-level instructional content instead of regular daytime programming. This partnership with Arkansas PBS television especially helped provide education opportunities for families with limited or no internet bandwidth at home. In order to address this technology resource gap, Governor Hutchinson announced a $10 million plan to provide devices and internet access at no cost for students.

Arkansas continues their plan to reopen schools on time for in-person instruction later than their traditional start date in August.

Fast Facts

4th Grade Math Proficiency:

29%

8th Grade Math Proficiency:

19%

12th Grade Math Proficiency:

24% (nat’l average)

4th Grade Reading Proficiency:

29%

8th Grade Reading Proficiency:

26%

12th Grade Reading Proficiency:

37% (nat’l average)

Graduation Rate:

88%

Average SAT Score:

1191/1600

Average ACT Score:

18.8/36

Public School Enrollment:

489,565

Percent Enrolled in Charter Schools:

6.9%

Average Student Funding:

$10,345.00

Leadership

Your governor:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R)

First term begins in 2023 (two-term limit)

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders made it very clear where she stood with regard to parent power when she said, “I will champion good schools and good teachers, but also offer more choices to parents of kids in failing schools,” she continued. “Every child must have the opportunity of a quality education–and no child should ever be trapped in a life of poverty and despair.”   Hopefully a future Parent Power Champion will drive home record reform in Arkansas.

State Legislature:

Both the House and Senate have slowly but surely made strides on enacting or expanding new programs to give families the access to education they need.  While progress is good, there is much left to be done, including lifting the cap on charters, removing regulations on charter schools, and expanding both private school choice programs so more students can access opportunity.  As Senator Jonathan Dismang said in shepherding the small new choice program,  “Experiences matter; situations matter; opportunities matter.”

Constitutional Issues

The Arkansas constitution does not contain a Blaine Amendment, but it does contain a Compelled Support Clause, and “while receiving little judicial attention, does not forbid religiously neutral school choice programs, provided funds allotted for the public schools are not used.” (Institute for Justice)

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Arkansas School Choice and State Constitution

Transparency

Arkansas keeps themselves accountable by making school data transparent. School report cards are accessible and easy to find with one click from the Arkansas DOE homepage. School report cards are user-friendly, providing parents with clear, relevant and comprehensive data. Data includes student performance, achievement, demographics, college readiness, graduation rate, teacher quality and more. There is a compare school/district function which is helpful to parents as well.

Another plus is that Educational Options are highlighted on the main page with an easy link to see all choice programs available, including charter schools, home school, schools of innovation, and school choice.

School board elections are not held during the general election cycle, which means there is usually a lower voter turnout rate, giving parents less power to have their voices heard. 

Leadership
Your governor:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R)

First term begins in 2023 (two-term limit)

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders made it very clear where she stood with regard to parent power when she said, “I will champion good schools and good teachers, but also offer more choices to parents of kids in failing schools,” she continued. “Every child must have the opportunity of a quality education–and no child should ever be trapped in a life of poverty and despair.”   Hopefully a future Parent Power Champion will drive home record reform in Arkansas.

State Legislature:

Both the House and Senate have slowly but surely made strides on enacting or expanding new programs to give families the access to education they need.  While progress is good, there is much left to be done, including lifting the cap on charters, removing regulations on charter schools, and expanding both private school choice programs so more students can access opportunity.  As Senator Jonathan Dismang said in shepherding the small new choice program,  “Experiences matter; situations matter; opportunities matter.”

Constitutional Issues

The Arkansas constitution does not contain a Blaine Amendment, but it does contain a Compelled Support Clause, and “while receiving little judicial attention, does not forbid religiously neutral school choice programs, provided funds allotted for the public schools are not used.” (Institute for Justice)

Learn More:

Institute for Justice: Arkansas School Choice and State Constitution

Transparency

Arkansas keeps themselves accountable by making school data transparent. School report cards are accessible and easy to find with one click from the Arkansas DOE homepage. School report cards are user-friendly, providing parents with clear, relevant and comprehensive data. Data includes student performance, achievement, demographics, college readiness, graduation rate, teacher quality and more. There is a compare school/district function which is helpful to parents as well.

Another plus is that Educational Options are highlighted on the main page with an easy link to see all choice programs available, including charter schools, home school, schools of innovation, and school choice.

School board elections are not held during the general election cycle, which means there is usually a lower voter turnout rate, giving parents less power to have their voices heard. 

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Charter Schools

Charter schools are public schools, open by choice, free from most rules and regulations that hamper traditional public schools and held accountable for results.

Since 1991, when charter schools were first established in Minnesota, the principle has remained the same — increased operational autonomy in exchange for increased accountability for outcomes. This freedom to innovate allows academically excellent charter schools to flourish.

As of 2020, there were more than 7,300 charter schools across the country with more than 3.3 million students, with demand higher everywhere they are located. Forty-six states, including Washington, D.C. have charter school laws. West Virginia enacted the most recent law in 2019. All charter laws are not created equal, however, and in fact, many are so flawed that they allow for only minimal opportunity for parents. PPI draws from CER’s newest Charter School Law Rankings and Scorecard, produced in the summer of 2020. For the US as a whole, the glass is more empty than full when it comes to meaningful charter choices.

Since 1996, CER has researched, analyzed, and ranked charter school laws, taking the content of each law into consideration as well as how it impacts charter schools on the ground. This Parent Power Index looks at four main areas of each state’s law:

If it allows for multiple authorizers, and if applicants have the ability to appeal a denial; whether it allows for growth, particularly with no caps on number of schools or enrollment; if schools and teachers have freedom to innovate; and if there is equitable funding of schools, including for facilities and transportation.

Charter schools are the most analyzed public school reform in decades. Since 1996, CER has studied their impact, their environment, and their practice and made recommendations for how to improve each law. The Parent Power Index charter score is based on whether the law allows for freedom and flexibility that can ensure parents, teachers and the general public are able to build vibrant, successful charter schools without undue interference from flawed state regulators, with equitable funding and parents in the driver’s seat. More about how this works can be found in CER publications, most notably Charting a New Course and The Future of School.

In addition, past rankings document how states have grown or confined charter schools and what best practices should be followed. Finally CER has provided a model charter school law for policymakers that is the standard bearer for advocates who believe that parents, not systems, should drive education.

Choice Programs

Educational choice is best defined as the availability of a multitude of public programs that provide parents with the ability to include private and religious entities – schools, tutoring, and other organizations – in their choices. Those programs are enacted at the state level, allowing in a wide variety of ways that the funds allocated for education in a state either follow the student to the institution the parent chooses or, as in the case of tax credits, public funds are redistributed to support the choices parents make, rather than automatically going to government based school districts.

These options are often referred to as scholarship programs, vouchers, tax credits, education accounts and more.

The existence of a higher degree of educational choice in a community or state, particularly for lower income students, has been found to be a significant factor in improving education and ensuring all students have access to the best school that meets their individual needs. Where once private options were only available to the more advantaged, most choice programs today ensure that those without resources have the power to shape their student’s education and invest in their future.

PPI 2020 assesses the extent to which every state gives families better and more abundant educational options through various mechanisms. Choice programs are analyzed and evaluated on their potential to reach all children across a state and for the degree to which they can actually support the full choice of parents, as opposed to only providing a modest amount of financial support. Programs where a significant population of parents can obtain scholarships or vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice score higher than those that have limitations based on geography, income, and student eligibility constraints.

To determine scores, PPI relies on well-established organizations which study, advance and support such programs. The scores were developed with this lens, and on information and ratings from EdChoice’s School Choice in America Dashboard, American Legislative Exchange Council’s Report Card on American Education: 23rd Edition, and American Federation for Children’s School Choice Interactive Map.

Teacher Quality

Teacher Quality is an equally important facet of ensuring greater educational opportunity. There is a direct correlation between quality teachers and student achievement, and teachers have the power to foster highly effective learning environments and leave a lasting impact on the future of their students. State teacher policies are critical in ensuring that students have the opportunity to receive the best education possible. Without schools full of well-prepared teachers who are held accountable either directly to the parent or to taxpayers for student achievement, opportunity can be meaningless. Most states vary widely in the criteria used to train, hire, retain, evaluate, reward and advance teachers, and local rules also influence that criteria greatly, as do teachers unions. PPI looked again to the expert analysis of the National Council of Teacher Quality, and from several aspects of their work PPI extrapolated final teacher quality scores. (NCTQ does not grade each state.)

Relying solely on the rich data collected from the National Council on Teacher Quality, states are measured by across a wide range of policy categories: Training and Recruitment, Staffing and Support, Evaluation, and Compensation. The score is by no means comprehensive about teacher quality across every community and state, but it is based on the extent to which states rigorously expect, manage and measure different aspects of teacher training, hiring, evaluation and compensation. States score higher when they have strong, data-driven, performance-based accountability systems that ensure teachers are rewarded, retained, and advanced based on their effectiveness. Likewise, states that establish rigorous teacher preparation programs and offer alternative licensing programs earn higher scores.

For more information about the Teacher Quality landscape, please see the National Council on Teacher Quality’s detailed analysis in their State Teacher Policy Database.

Innovation

States are measured on their increasing commitment to and practice of innovative approaches to education that include digital learning models and pathways, full or in part, encouraging personalized learning through focus on competency and mastery – even on a pilot level – or by allowing flexibility in schools and school districts that want to do it. Personalized learning models value mastery of material over traditional subject matter time tests, and competency over end of course grades. While these practices are best decided locally, closest to the student, states can motivate, incentivize, fund, discourage or encourage.

To determine scores, the PPI drew heavily from ExcelinEd’s 2019 State Progress Toward Next Generation Learning, Aurora Institute’s 2020 Future-Focused State Policy Actions to Transform K-12 Education, and KnowledgeWorks’ 2019 State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning.

COVID-19 Response

When COVID-19 reached our shores in early 2020, states were forced to close their schools for in-person instruction. Whether and how to continue teaching and set expectations for continued learning outside of the classroom was a big debate. Many states and schools quickly pivoted to delivering education remotely, either through technology enabled tools or with low-tech paper packets and phone calls, or a combination of both. The response from schools and school districts varied widely, with some being willing to adapt and some actually discouraging both teaching and learning. CER tracked those responses (and continues to do so, given the fluidity of the situation). States that were encouraging, set expectations, and demanded that schools figure out whatever they could to keep moving students forward, tended to have more schools and districts that responded well and worked to deliver education regardless of challenges. Many states that had digital or virtual learning programs in place were able to make a more seamless shift. Innovative leaders at local and state levels rose to the occasion. But many states and localities dragged their feet and, in some cases, outright discouraged schooling to keep going, including forbidding teachers in some areas to be required to do any face to face teaching via technology.

States were evaluated based on reviewing their official notices and declarations, and by reviewing a broad array of surveys and data many groups have been maintaining. This score also factors in states’ prior commitments to expanding broadband and internet access and how they worked to provide devices to keep students learning and engaged.

What was, and is, a challenging and unprecedented time for schools, teachers, and parents was also an opportunity to look at states’ and schools’ abilities to adapt, be flexible, and innovate.

For more on Education Innovation, check out the CER ACTION Series:

  • Virtual Events & Videos
  • Key Data
  • Resources
  • Publications

Leadership

Improving education opportunity and innovation requires leaders who boldly and courageously push forward to create or expand successful programs that allow a wide variety of educational choice and individualized programs to thrive. Governors and state legislators are the most important entities in each state to pave the way, or deter, expanded parent power. Some leaders pay lip service to issues, while others wake up with a fire in their belly to ensure that they are doing what they can every day to push through conventional wisdom and demand 21st century schooling opportunities for all students.

Whether or not your governor is the bold, fire-in-the-belly kind, or a passive applauder of others’ efforts, is evaluated to help you push or prod or applaud. PPI looks at their positions AND actions on charter schools, choice programs, innovation, and commitment to increasing educational opportunities for all students at every level and summarizes it for you here. You have the power to elect leaders who prioritize parents and students!

Constitutional Issues

The ability for states to enact educational change can be significantly limited depending on certain provisions in state constitutions.

The most common clause that limits educational opportunity in most states are “Blaine Amendments” – named after 19th century Congressman James Blaine nearly 150 years ago. Historically, these provisions in 37 state constitutions were either interpreted to restrict educational choice programs that include private schools or have been a deterrent for many programs being considered, let alone enacted.

This issue received a great deal of press leading up to and following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30, 2020 decision in the case of Espinoza vs Montana Department of Revenue, a case that dealt with Montana’s Blaine Amendment. That landmark decision found that the U.S. Constitution “forbids states from excluding religious schools as options for families participating in educational choice programs, including through Blaine Amendments.”

As a result, most states have a new path to enact programs that provide options for families, including religious schools. Their individual versions of Blaine Amendments can either be nullified with attorney generals’ opinions, with legislation or with both. Additional restrictions on expanded opportunity are often dedicated by what is called a Compelled Support Clause where dated constitutional language restricts public funding to government entities.

We look at each state’s particular constitutional issues, utilizing a number of sources, CER attorney analysis and the Institute for Justice’s research as our guide. Additional information about Espinoza and Blaine Amendments can be found here.

In addition, if states have other constitutional barriers to more opportunity, they are evaluated in this area.

Transparency

Transparency is a key element of providing great opportunities for students. Every parent needs and deserves full transparency of school-level data to allow them to make informed decisions and drive changes in how their students are educated. School report cards empower parents in their decision making by giving them access to meaningful and quality education data about a particular school or district. Report cards often provide information on student performance, student growth, attendance, graduation rates, demographics, teacher quality, school environment, assessments, and more. States that have greater transparency and accountability provide the public with data that is current, readily available, and easy to understand.

States are measured based on the transparency and accessibility of data for the average person looking to learn about their child’s school. States have more gas in the tank when school report cards are easily accessible from their state DOE homepage; report cards are comprehensive, user-friendly, and easy to understand; and information about educational options are readily available. Additionally, states score higher when they hold School Board Elections during the General Election cycle, as opposed to off-times of the year when turnout is low, because this tends to afford parents more power in their decision-making.