Stories

More than 2 million children left the public school system between 2020 and 2022 — and enrollment continues to fall. Multiple media outlets have referred to it as the “mass exodus,” and it points to a significant shift in American education.   These children aren’t just leaving school. They’re joining a growing movement of students, families, […]

Learning can happen anywhere. Nearly everyone knows this to be true.  And yet, the vast majority of schooling — from kindergarten through twelfth grade — still takes place in a one-size-fits-all approach. Why is that?  This is a question collaborators at The Big Idea are asking — and they’re inviting others to join them.   A […]

“It is impossible to fully understand the status and future of microschools and related small-school approaches without appreciating the influence of the Covid era,” writes Andy Smarick, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.  Case in point: Sophia Ortega and her boys.  Before the pandemic forced school closures and at-home learning, Ortega, a single mom […]

For Franklin Comer, his first job was more than your ordinary professional milestone. It gave him a chance to show that he’s a changed man.   At the age of 56, after serving 33 years in prison for aggravated robbery and murder, Comer started working his first job at Nehemiah Manufacturing in Cincinnati.  “Throughout the whole […]

For third grader Raina Chamblee, school didn’t always produce smiles like the one you see in the photo above. A diagnosis of ADHD led to behavioral issues like drowsiness. Her peers teased her, and teachers weren’t taking the time to connect more deeply with Raina’s challenges.  Once, a teacher lashed out at her directly, reports The […]

Upwardly Global’s mission for more than two decades has been to eliminate employment barriers for skilled immigrant and refugee professionals and to bring their skills into the U.S. economy. They have done this work through a blended service delivery model, combining their proven job readiness training with industry-specific career pathways coaching and work with employers to help […]

Ideological divides about how to address policing, poverty, and racial injustice can seem unbridgeable.  But ACT NOW, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing persistent social inequalities, has shown people can come together. Currently in 15 U.S. cities, ACT NOW convenes citizens, local leaders, law enforcement, faith organizations, and others who want to unite to improve their […]

Is America becoming a society of censorship? The 2022 Winter Olympics are over — along with the speech codes Beijing enforced — but athletes still have to muzzle their voices. Both The New York Times and Fox Business have explored how, even at home, athletes, brands, and sports franchises are keeping quiet about human rights abuses in order to […]

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is a nonprofit organization which for the last decade has been protecting the constitutional freedoms of parents, teachers, small business owners, and a host of other private citizens by influencing public policy and through litigation. Along the way, the Milwaukee-based organization has racked up an impressive 75 percent win record in courtrooms. Deputy Counsel Luke Berg recently sat […]

If there’s any one thing that defines the third decade of the 21st century, it’s that change is all around us. On every level, we are examining the past and replacing things deemed to no longer work with better approaches. Sometimes this is negative but when it comes to replacing outdated state regulations that keep entrepreneurs from […]