Topic
K-12 Education
59 publications · showing the latest 48
Video · Jul 14, 2026
Tips for Kids to Enjoy Summer Reading
Video · May 1, 2026
Texas students win when policy, data, and incentives create real support in schools
Video · Feb 12, 2026
Texas Parents – Here's what you need to know about the new Education Freedom Accounts enrollment
Oct 6, 2025
Statement for the Record by the Bush Institute’s Robin Berkley, the Ann Kimball Johnson director of education to the acting Texas Comptroller regarding Education Savings Accounts
Jul 23, 2025
Bush Institute's Anne Wicks testifies on literacy before the Subcommittee on Education and the American Family Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)
Anne Wicks, the Don Evans Family Managing Director of Opportunity and Democracy at the Bush Institute, testified on literacy before the Subcommittee on Education and the American Family Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on July 23, 2025.
Mar 1, 2024
Mrs. Laura Bush visits J.N. Ervin Elementary School in Dallas
Mrs. Bush joined more than 1,200 community volunteers in encouraging early literacy on United Way Reading Day.
Feb 15, 2024
Education recovery: Closing the achievement gap
Dec 18, 2023
The best way to teach reading is proven — What Mississippi, Colorado get right
Texas, and other states, can be poised to make an incredible impact on their young people if they can effectively implement the science of reading.
Dec 14, 2023
What Texas’ tumultuous history with literacy means for its children’s future
This is the first piece in a two-part series that tracks Texas’ attempts to adopt the science of reading over 25 years. The lessons learned in this series are relevant to the many states who have adopted – or are attempting to adopt – the science of reading in schools.
Dec 13, 2023
What every parent should know about what works in reading instruction
Nov 16, 2023
A pluralistic approach to book restriction debates
Sep 13, 2023
Increase Access to Technical Training for K–12 Students
Sep 13, 2023
Require K–12, Higher Ed, and the Workforce to Share Data
Video · Jun 22, 2023
Two-Minute Take: It's not too late to help our kids learn
Apr 10, 2023
Dallas Morning News: Are Texas students prepared for life after high school?
Anne Wicks, Ann Kimball Johnson Director, Education and Opportunity, George W. Bush Institute, explains how economic success depends on home-grown workers.
Report · Mar 21, 2023
The State of Readiness
Are Texas students prepared for life after high school?
Mar 10, 2023
Are Texas students prepared for life after high school?: New report
This is a preview of our upcoming report, “The State of Readiness: Are Texas Students Prepared for Life After High School?” Texas 2036 and the George W. Bush Institute use data to explore student career readiness and its impacts on Texas’ future prosperity.
Video · Jan 27, 2023
Two-Minute Take: Education after COVID-19
Anne Wicks, the Ann Kimball Johnson Director, Education and Opportunity at the Bush Institute discuss how students must benefit from the federal relief funds now to recover from the pandemic induced disrupted learning.
Video · Jan 18, 2023
Two-Minute Take on education accountability
Anne Wicks, Ann Kimball Johnson Director of Education and Opportunity at the Bush Institute, discusses the importance of student testing and provides recommendations for state and local leaders to enhance education accountability in our nation’s schools.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 17, 2023
Education Accountability: Support valid, comparable state assessments for K-12 students
High-quality assessments help us determine which students are on track and, importantly, which ones are falling behind and need additional support. This is true in a normal school year, and it’s even more critical now because of the pandemic’s massive disruption of schooling for our Nation’s young people.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 17, 2023
Education after COVID-19: Students must benefit from federal relief funds now
It is clear that young people bore the brunt of the pandemic’s impact. Disrupted learning, sometimes stretching for two years, forced many students off track and behind academically. We now face an unprecedented need to make smart investments with federal relief funds in efforts that accelerate student learning. District leaders should move quickly and thoughtfully to effectively spend the $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant money to help students.
Dec 8, 2022
How Mid-Sized Cities Can Prepare Students for Jobs of the Future
Ecosystems of local support, effective governance and innovation are key
Dec 1, 2022
Will Students in West Texas and East Texas Be Ready for Their Futures?
The hurdles mid-sized cities in the Lone Star State are facing to prepare students for the next generation of jobs
Oct 24, 2022
National Report Shows Unprecedented Learning Loss as a Result of Pandemic Disruption
Record breaking learning loss for our children due to COVID-19 virtual education
Book · Sep 23, 2022
A Testing Primer: A Researcher Translates for the Rest of Us
Mark Dynarski, an education advisor to the George W. Bush Institute and founder and president of Pemberton Research, walks through key topics and consideration points in testing.
Sep 1, 2022
Decades of educational growth took hit during COVID
The pandemic’s disruption of schooling caused real harm to student learning and will have far-reaching consequences for our children.
Aug 19, 2022
Texas School Ratings Spotlight Poverty Gaps
More than 50% of the lowest scoring schools serve mostly students living in poverty— they received a “Not Rated” label this time. This rating was to acknowledge the continued impact of COVID during the past school year.
Jan 25, 2022
Two-Minute Take: Drop In College Enrollment
Since the start of the pandemic, college enrollment has been down by nearly a million students and by nearly 3 million over the last decade. Learn what three things we need to keep an eye on as data continues to emerge.
Video · Dec 5, 2021
Conversations with a Librarian: Medrano Junior High School
We recently visited one of the 2020 Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries awardees and learned how the grant has helped the children at the school.
Nov 3, 2021
Adults Need a Seriousness of Purpose that Supersedes Politics and the Pull of the Status Quo
Lessons learned from Dallas, Austin, and Houston inform these recommendations for leaders in any city focused on improving outcomes for young people.
Oct 27, 2021
Prioritizing to Improve Student Outcomes
District leaders in Dallas, Houston, and Austin are implementing new ideas to improve student outcomes. What can we learn from these districts' innovations?
Oct 21, 2021
How Houston Lost "It," Dallas Found "It," and Austin Searched for "It"
The trajectories of student progress in three of Texas' largest school districts are pointed in different directions. What has caused this, and how can school districts' governance stay focused on the students?
Oct 13, 2021
Student Q&A: Gissel Peña
A four-week series produced in partnership with The74 examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read first-hand accounts from the students.
Oct 13, 2021
Student Q&A: Ángel García Donjuán
A four-week series produced in partnership with The74 examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read first-hand accounts from the students.
Oct 13, 2021
Student Q&A: Kiara Kabbara
A four-week series produced in partnership with The74 examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read first-hand accounts from the students.
Oct 13, 2021
Will the Texas Miracle Include All Texans?
There are more than 7 million Texans under 18 today who need the skills to enjoy a successful career, find purpose in their work, and contribute to the state's economy. The ability of Texas' PreK-16 schools and institutions to prepare young people for their next step will have enormous influence on the state's collective success.
Oct 11, 2021
Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries and First Book Webinar
At the end of September, First Book joined the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries grant awardees to discuss how best to use grant funds.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 14, 2021
State Data Systems: Worth the Legislative Investment to Connect Workforce and Education
The pandemic has exacerbated existing education gaps for many young people of color and students who are growing up in poverty. Connecting disparate data systems into a well-governed and transparent way in each state will help guide researchers and policymakers in the years ahead.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 14, 2021
Reimagining School: Rethink the School Day and Year to Better Serve Students and Families
With everything the pandemic is showing us in terms of new school models, it’s an opportune time to rethink and reimagine what could be.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 14, 2021
Assessments: Measuring Student Learning Can Lead to More Equitable Schools
The current pandemic has blown apart the public education system as we knew it — simultaneously exacerbating vulnerabilities for many children and forcing rapid innovation to meet this instructional moment. The adults in this system must now focus on two things in response: The first is safety for kids and educators. The second is accelerating academic progress for all kids, regardless of race, ethnicity, or disability.
Policy Recommendations · Jan 14, 2021
Schools and COVID-19: Working Through and Beyond Education’s Greatest Challenge
Federal and state governments – as well as philanthropists and foundations – are being called upon to invest millions of dollars in our public-school system to help schools and districts navigate the impact of the pandemic on student success.
Sep 30, 2020
The STAAR is Born, Thanks to Teachers
An overview of the process used to build the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam.
Sep 30, 2020
Preparing for 2030 Requires Knowing Whether Students are Ready
Mike Miles, founder and CEO of Third Future Schools, a charter school network in Colorado and Texas, explains the role of testing in preparing students for the year 2030.
Sep 30, 2020
Validity, Reliability, and Feasibility are Key to Developing Quality Tests
Jeffrey Nellhaus, former deputy commissioner of education in Massachusetts, discusses how validity, reliability, and feasibility are central to good testing programs.
Sep 30, 2020
How Teachers Help Texas Create Its State Exams
Cindy Riney, teacher in the Montgomery Independent School District north of Houston, has served on panels that review test questions for the STAAR exams. She discusses how test questions are reviewed, refined, or rejected in Texas — and teachers' role in the process.
Sep 30, 2020
Disruptions Present Opportunities to Do Something New in School Testing
Larry Berger, CEO of Amplify, spoke about the purposes of different assessments, the way textbooks are selected, and how we could use the COVID-19 crisis to think anew about testing students.
Sep 23, 2020
Demystifying Tests for Parents
Bibb Hubbard and Cindi Williams of Learning Heroes discuss the role that quality assessments play in helping parents understand their children’s academic progress.
Sep 23, 2020
High-Quality, Fair Tests Can Help Students with Disabilities
Sheryl Lazarus, director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota, discusses how students with disabilities and English learners need appropriate accommodations for standardized testing.