K-12 Education

Governors are leading efforts across the country to ensure that students in their states graduate prepared to succeed in postsecondary, the workforce, and life. The NGA K-12 Education Team supports Governors in these efforts by regularly bringing together Governors’ education policy advisors to connect with and learn from each other and national and state experts in the field; providing ongoing responsive and proactive technical assistance; and through the development of resources and reports that spotlight promising practices and actionable strategies on timely topics, including addressing students’ academic recovery and well-being and strengthening educator recruitment and retention.

Latest

The National Governors Association and Education Commission of the States Host K-12 Education Summit 

The National Governors Association and Education Commission of the States Host K-12 Education Summit 

Governors’ education policy advisors convened in Phoenix, Arizona to share gubernatorial strategies in top K-12 education priority areas. Advisors learned from each other and national experts during group panels and ...
State Levers for Recovery: Alabama, ESSER Impact Showcase

State Levers for Recovery: Alabama, ESSER Impact Showcase

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) hosted the ESSER Impact Showcase in partnership with the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The showcase featured ...
State Snapshots For Strengthening The Educator Workforce

State Snapshots For Strengthening The Educator Workforce

A series of conversations with nationally recognized experts in the education field on strategies and promising practices for strengthening educator recruitment and retention, including for advancing school leadership policies and ...
State Partnerships for Advancing School Leadership

State Partnerships for Advancing School Leadership

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) hosted a webinar, State Partnerships Advancing School Leadership, in partnership with NGA, Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and National ...

State Strategies For Addressing K-12 Student Needs

A series of conversations with subject matter experts, state education leaders, and practitioners to explore gubernatorial strategies for addressing students’ academic needs and well-being, hosted by the NGA’s Center for Best Practices K-12 Education Team.


State Snapshots For Strengthening The Educator Workforce

A series of conversations with nationally recognized experts in the education field on strategies and promising practices for strengthening educator recruitment and retention, including for advancing school leadership policies and priorities at the gubernatorial and state level, hosted by the NGA’s Center for Best Practices K-12 Education Team. For additional information, research, and resources on principals and school leaders, please visit the Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center.


Meet The Team

  • Catherine Van Ness, Senior Policy Analyst
  • Jillian Meinhardt, Policy Analyst
  • Ekaan Ahmad, Policy Coordinator

K-12 Topics

Health and Safety

Missouri Governor Mike Parson and Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan, co-chairs of the National Governors Association (NGA) Community Renewal Task Force, issued the following statement after meeting with U.S. Secretary ...
NGA’s Community Renewal Co-Chairs and U.S. Education Secretary Discuss Reopening America’s Schools

NGA’s Community Renewal Co-Chairs and U.S. Education Secretary Discuss Reopening America’s Schools

Summary of Established State Thresholds (View/Download) Introduction As the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring high-quality K-12 education while also minimizing the risk that students, teachers, and staff ...
COVID-19 K-12 SCHOOL OPENING AND CLOSING POLICIES

COVID-19 K-12 SCHOOL OPENING AND CLOSING POLICIES

The need for child care for both young and school age children, who are learning from home during the day while adults work, has thus expanded to more families and ...
Child Care for School-Aged Children

Child Care for School-Aged Children


Student and Staff Well-Being

This webinar discusses strategies for cross-agency collaboration, including children’s cabinets, in support of student well-being and whole child policy. Panelists offer lessons learned and best practices from states across the ...
Strategies for Cross-Agency Collaboration to Support Student Well-Being

Strategies for Cross-Agency Collaboration to Support Student Well-Being

NGA worked with a bipartisan group of six Governors’ offices to address the well-being of students and school staff during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Governors Association (NGA) ...
Improving Student, Family and School Staff Well-Being

Improving Student, Family and School Staff Well-Being

This webinar discusses strategies to address the comprehensive needs of students and families through community schools and wraparound supports. Panelists explain the evidence in this field, discuss how community schools ...
Strategies for Addressing the Comprehensive Needs of Students and Families Through Community Schools and Wraparound Supports

Strategies for Addressing the Comprehensive Needs of Students and Families Through Community Schools and Wraparound Supports


Academic Recovery / Summer Learning and Enrichment

Governors discussed the impact of interrupted instruction on K-12 students and highlighted plans for additional academic supports, including afterschool and summer learning, during their State of the State addresses. By ...
State of the States: Academic Supports

State of the States: Academic Supports

Conversations with education leaders in Colorado and Ohio co-hosted by the National Governors Association and Chiefs for Change. This two-part webinar series co-hosted by Chiefs for Change and the National ...
Elevating Opportunities for Innovation: Education Leadership in Colorado and Ohio

Elevating Opportunities for Innovation: Education Leadership in Colorado and Ohio

This webinar highlights lessons learned for afterschool and summer learning programs during the pandemic and Summer 2021. Panelists offer recommendations regarding accelerating learning, re-engaging students, and effective use of federal ...
Lessons Learned from Afterschool and Summer Learning and Enrichment in 2021

Lessons Learned from Afterschool and Summer Learning and Enrichment in 2021


Digital Literacy

Outgoing NGA Chairman Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson opened the NGA Summer Meeting with an overview of his 2021-2022 Chairman’s Initiative to expand K-12 computer science education. After announcing the initiative last ...
K-12 Computer Science Education – NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

K-12 Computer Science Education – NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

The National Governors Association's 2022 Annual Summer Meeting was held was July 13-15, 2022, in Portland, Maine. Governors met to collaborate on bipartisan solutions to leading policy issues including computer ...
NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

Portland, Maine – In the opening session of the National Governors Association (NGA) Summer Meeting, NGA Chairman Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson unveiled a Compact to Advance K-12 Computer Science Education ...
Arkansas Governor Hutchinson Garners Bipartisan Support for Advancing Computer Science Education Nationally

Arkansas Governor Hutchinson Garners Bipartisan Support for Advancing Computer Science Education Nationally


Educator Workforce

In this episode, Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University, Founding President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute and President of the California State Board ...
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond On Preparing And Developing Effective Principals & School Leaders

Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond On Preparing And Developing Effective Principals & School Leaders

Governors’ advisors met in Greensboro, North Carolina to discuss current challenges and state solutions in K-12 education policy. By Seth Gerson & Catherine Van Ness The National Governors Association (NGA) ...
Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute 2022

Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute 2022

Today, National Governors Association Chair New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Vice Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox released the following statement regarding the administration’s efforts to address teacher shortages and ...
Governors Welcome Action to Address Teacher Shortages

Governors Welcome Action to Address Teacher Shortages


Education Finance

This webinar explores opportunities, challenges, and strategies for governors as they create and move forward state education budgets during and beyond COVID-19. Topics of the conversation include how governors can ...
Strategies for Advancing Equity Through State Education Budgets During & Beyond COVID

Strategies for Advancing Equity Through State Education Budgets During & Beyond COVID

On February 14, 2018, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices Education division and WestEd held a webinar focused on early care and education (ECE) finance. The webinar highlighted ...
Financing an Equitable and High-Quality System: Investing in Early Learning

Financing an Equitable and High-Quality System: Investing in Early Learning

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted a webinar that provided state examples and strategies to address funding formulas, leverage public taxpayer investments and increase effective ...
Financing an Equitable and High-Quality K-12 Education System

Financing an Equitable and High-Quality K-12 Education System


K-12, Postsecondary, Workforce Connections

Summary This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs ...
Education Topic Papers a Governor’s Dual Enrollment Framework for Success

Education Topic Papers a Governor’s Dual Enrollment Framework for Success

    $3.5 million in grants to National Governors Association, Education Commission of the States will incubate new pathways to opportunity for 32 million Americans left out of economic growth ...
Strada Education Network Invests in Development of State Policies for Adult Learners, Disconnected Youth

Strada Education Network Invests in Development of State Policies for Adult Learners, Disconnected Youth

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) held a learning lab exploring strategies states can use to expand and scale work-based learning opportunities for youth and young ...
Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning: Knowledge Exchange Learning Lab

Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning: Knowledge Exchange Learning Lab


NGA K-12 Education Library

State Education Trends for 2023

State Education Trends for 2023

The top trends across the early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education continuum from Governors’ 2023 state addresses. In 2022, 36 states and three territories held gubernatorial elections resulting in ten ...
Academic and Career Success – 2023 NGA Winter Meeting Task Force Meeting

Academic and Career Success – 2023 NGA Winter Meeting Task Force Meeting

At the 2023 NGA Winter Meeting, Idaho Governor Brad Little and Colorado Governor Jared Polis co-hosted a discussion on how Governors are working to meet the needs of students today ...
Governors Engage with Federal Officials

Governors Engage with Federal Officials

The NGA Winter Meeting offers an opportunity for Governors to meet with Federal Partners and share the real-world impact of federal policies. States are famously “the laboratories of democracy,” and ...
Broadband

Broadband

Access to fast, reliable broadband is critical to households, businesses, and communities in the modern economy. The ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency has underscored the necessity of broadband access for ...
Strategies for Addressing the Comprehensive Needs of Students and Families Through Community Schools and Wraparound Supports

Strategies for Addressing the Comprehensive Needs of Students and Families Through Community Schools and Wraparound Supports

This webinar discusses strategies to address the comprehensive needs of students and families through community schools and wraparound supports. Panelists explain the evidence in this field, discuss how community schools ...
Strategies for Parent, Family, Student and Community Engagement with K-12 Schools

Strategies for Parent, Family, Student and Community Engagement with K-12 Schools

This webinar discusses strategies to improve parent, family, student and community engagement with K-12 schools. Panelists explain the research in this field, offer recommendations for state policy leaders and highlight ...
Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute 2022

Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute 2022

Governors’ advisors met in Greensboro, North Carolina to discuss current challenges and state solutions in K-12 education policy. By Seth Gerson & Catherine Van Ness The National Governors Association (NGA) ...
Governors Welcome Action to Address Teacher Shortages

Governors Welcome Action to Address Teacher Shortages

Today, National Governors Association Chair New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Vice Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox released the following statement regarding the administration’s efforts to address teacher shortages and ...
K-12 Computer Science Education – NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

K-12 Computer Science Education – NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

Outgoing NGA Chairman Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson opened the NGA Summer Meeting with an overview of his 2021-2022 Chairman’s Initiative to expand K-12 computer science education. After announcing the initiative last ...
NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

NGA 2022 Summer Meeting

The National Governors Association's 2022 Annual Summer Meeting was held was July 13-15, 2022, in Portland, Maine. Governors met to collaborate on bipartisan solutions to leading policy issues including computer ...