Education and Workforce Development

Public schools will have more success if they pay attention not only to students' lives in the classroom, but also to the multiple elements of their development: social, emotional, physical, cognitive, civic, and moral. Working alone, schools or families may not be able to provide students with the support needed for academic success, but community schools are an approach to public schools that provide diverse activities and programs for students, families, and community members in order to focus on nurturing all the aspects of students' well-being.

Today, the Progressive States Network is releasing a new report: The Anti-Immigrant Movement that Failed: Positive Integration Policies by States Still Far Outweigh Punitive Policies Aimed at New Immigrants.   The Executive Summary is available online, as well as the full report in PDF and HTML format.

The benefits of a post-secondary degree are plentiful.  For example, an employee with a four year college degree earns 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.  Paying for college, however, has become increasingly difficult for most American students and families.  The cost of higher education across the country is rapidly increasing, at almost double the rate of inflation, outstripping increases in financial aid and outpacing many families’ ability to pay.  The combination of these factors result in too many students being unable to earn or complete their degrees due to financial constraints.

By one estimate, the federal government spent over $367 billion in 2005 alone on subsidizing Americans' retirement savings and tax breaks to build up other assets like buying a home.  Unfortunately, those subsidies go overwhelmingly to those Americans who already have high-incomes; almost none of it goes to the poorest Americans who need the most help building the financial assets that can lead to long-term economic opportunities and security.

Right-wing interests have been mounting a political assault on university professors they do not like, led by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), which is promoting so-called "Intellectual Diversity" (ID) Legislation in various states across the country. The concept was pioneered by right-wing activist David Horowitz (see this profile site for more on Horowitz).