ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Travis Pillow
My background story
What I did before joining Step Up For Students
What do I do on my day off?
How to reach out?
03/12/24 | Travis Pillow
What teachers unions can learn from NBA players
Over the past two decades, taxpayers across the country have increased their investment in public education. One surprising group hasn’t seen much benefit from this spending growth: Public-school teachers. A...
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03/12/24 | Travis Pillow
Wyoming lawmakers vote to give public education funding to families
Wyoming could soon become the 16th state* placing public education funding in the hands of parents. The Wyoming Legislature passed HB 116, which now awaits Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature. The...
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03/11/24 | Travis Pillow
What parents want, and how to make sure they can get it
A new report by EdChoice uses parent surveys to identify what parents want from their schools. The whole thing is worth reading, but I wanted to highlight two key points...
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03/09/24 | Travis Pillow
Alabama joins the ranks of states giving public education funding directly to famlies
With the stroke of Gov. Kay Ivey’s pen, Alabama is now the 15th state to put public education funding in the hands of families. The Yellowhammer State joins 13 states...
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03/08/24 | Travis Pillow
The good news about Florida’s charter school growth
Florida’s charter schools grew by more than 15,000 students this school year. And new research suggests their steady growth might help students in district schools. In recent years, charter schools...
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02/27/24 | Travis Pillow
Florida parents and educators may be building the education value networks of the future
Despite calls for reform and waves of attempted transformation, key features of American schools have been remarkably stable for more than a century. Students spend six or so hours...
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02/14/24 | Travis Pillow
Don’t double down on one-size-fits-all measurement
A surefire way to get heads nodding at an education policy conference is to call for dismantling the Carnegie unit. The question, and a legitimate fear, is whether efforts to...
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01/09/24 | Travis Pillow
Gov. DeSantis, Florida legislative leaders highlight historic education choice expansion
Florida lawmakers are convening in Tallahassee for their 60-day regular legislative session. In his annual State of the State address, Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed last year’s HB 1 as the...
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01/07/24 | Travis Pillow
Get Smart Fast, vol. 24: The power of positive language
Progress or pessimism: Self-fulfilling prophecies? An analysis of publications in England leading up to the Industrial Revolution and a follow-up analysis looking at Spain yeild a striking insight: A surge...
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01/05/24 | Travis Pillow
Keeping parents in the dark about student achievement comes with a cost
International test results released last month put a spotlight on the global decline in student achievement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and school closures. But the results from the Program...
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12/17/23 | Travis Pillow
Get smart fast, vol. 23: Different measures
A new study from the University of Southern California looks at the gaps between what parents believe and what experts know about students’ academic progress since the Covid-19 pandemic. [W]hen...
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12/11/23 | Travis Pillow
Two ‘double-F’ charter schools spared automatic closure in baseline grading year
Florida released a new batch of A-F grades to schools, but without some of the usual negative consequences. The 2022-23 school year was the first under a new state assessment...
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12/10/23 | Travis Pillow
Get Smart Fast, vol. 22: Global malaise
U.S. students’ test scores slumped on international reading, math and science assessments, with historically dismal results in math. But American students’ declines on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)...
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12/08/23 | Travis Pillow
Another new educational choice program sees surge of demand
It’s becoming a familiar story. A new education choice program open to all families comes on line in a state where many families previously had limited options. It’s immediately awash...
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12/07/23 | Travis Pillow
Look below the surface of public-school competition
Studies have repeatedly found that competition from charter and private schools drives small but meaningful improvements in public schools’ performance. But most of those studies look at individual states or...
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12/04/23 | Travis Pillow
Shielding schools from competition comes with a cost
When educational options expand, there’s usually a big set of beneficiaries that don’t get much attention: Students who remain in district schools. It’s one of the most consistent findings in...
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12/03/23 | Travis Pillow
Get Smart Fast, vol. 21
Key Finding: More competition does not appear to improve results if schools are insulated from the impact of losing students, according to a new study that examined the introduction of...
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11/26/23 | Travis Pillow
Get Smart Fast, vol. 20
Key Finding #1: A Georgia preschool program improved students’ kindergarten readiness, but the academic benefits appeared to fade, and sometimes even reverse, by late elementary school. Why it matters: This...
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