This week, at a featuring White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden, Secretary Cardona, the Governors of Maryland, New Jersey, and New Mexico, and the Chief State School Officers of Alabama, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia, the Biden Administration announced its Improving Student Achievement Agenda for 2024, focused on proven strategies that will accelerate academic performance for every student in school. The Administration will use all its tools — including accountability, reporting, grants, and technical assistance — to advance three evidence-based strategies: boosting student attendance, delivering high-dosage tutoring, and increasing extended/after-school and summer learning time. It seeks to partner with states and school districts to build commitments around these strategies and encourage further actions to accelerate academic progress (visit the “Raise the Bar — Strategies to Improve Student Achievement” priority page).
Notably, several philanthropic organizations declared commitments to support academic performance.
These strategies complement the Department’s continued focus on improving mental health in schools, supporting teachers and other school staff, and strengthening core instruction through the Raise the Bar: Lead the World initiative.
FEDERAL STUDENT AID
Last week, the Department announced it had received more than one million applications from students using the redesigned 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and the form is now available for students and families to access 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week (press release).
The agency soft launched the 2024-25 FAFSA form on December 30, 2023, making the form available periodically while its Federal Student Aid (FSA) team closely monitored site performance and form functionality in real time. The team initiated pauses for site maintenance and to make technical updates to provide a better applicant experience. Now, the form is continuously available, except for routine maintenance typical of any FAFSA cycle.
The significant improvements to the 2024-25 FAFSA form expand eligibility for federal student aid, helping an estimated 610,000 new students receive federal Pell Grants. Recipients will also get more aid, with nearly 1.5 million more students receiving the maximum Pell Grant award. And, the latest form provides a streamlined user experience for students and their families. Applicants only see relevant questions based on the answers they supply. Thus, while the form is expected to take around an hour on average for applicants, some applicants could answer as few as 18 questions in less than 10 minutes. Plus, the form includes the ability to securely retrieve tax information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), further reducing the time to complete.
Stakeholders interested in assisting students complete the FAFSA form are encouraged to visit FSA’s 2024-25 FAFSA Updates web page for information and resources. They may also join a webinar on February 22 to ask questions about the FAFSA form. Participation is available on a first-come, first-served basis, up to 20,000 attendees. A recording and transcript of the webinar will be available the week following the live session.
STUDENT LOAN RELIEF
Also last week, the Biden Administration announced that, in February, it will start providing forgiveness after as few as 10 years of payments for borrowers on the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan who originally took out $12,000 or less for higher education. Borrowers enrolled in SAVE who are eligible for early forgiveness will have their debts cancelled immediately starting next month — with no action on their part. To help as many borrowers as possible benefit from this action, the Department is kicking off an outreach campaign to encourage borrowers who are not currently enrolled in SAVE to sign up because they may benefit from this shortened repayment period (President Biden’s statement).
The Administration also announced that there are 6.9 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan as of early January (see state-by-state data).
The shorter time to forgiveness benefit will particularly help borrowers who attended community colleges. These students typically borrow smaller amounts. Overall, the Department estimates the SAVE plan will make 85% of future community college borrowers debt free within 10 years. The SAVE plan will also help borrowers who are more likely to struggle with their loans, as most borrowers in default originally borrowed $12,000 or less.
The agency is accelerating this benefit months ahead of the date previously laid out in the Administration’s final regulations for implementing the SAVE plan. Borrowers enrolled in SAVE who have made at least 10 years of monthly payments and originally took out $12,000 or less for undergraduate or graduate postsecondary studies are eligible for forgiveness. For every $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, a borrower may receive forgiveness after an additional year of payments. That means a borrower who originally borrowed less than $21,000 will be eligible for forgiveness faster than the 20-year timeline for undergraduate borrowers on SAVE. The benefit is based upon the original principal balance of all federal loans borrowed — not what a borrower currently owes or the amount of an individual loan.
For student borrowers, the SAVE plan remains the most affordable repayment option in most cases. Under SAVE, single borrowers who earn less than $32,800 a year or borrowers in a family of four making less than $67,500 have a $0 payment. The SAVE plan also ensures that a borrower’s balance will never grow due to unpaid interest, as long as they are making their monthly payments. The improved application allows borrowers to have their income securely accessed through the IRS, so they do not need to re-certify their income or reapply for plans like SAVE each year. Savings for borrowers will increase again when the agency implements further payment reductions for borrowers with undergraduate loans in July 2024.
Organizations that want to help get the word out about the SAVE plan are encouraged to join the Department’s joint SAVE on Student Debt campaign or utilize the resources listed in the FSA Toolkit for return to repayment.
TRAVEL LOG
On January 10, Secretary Cardona traveled to New Hampshire. In Concord, he spoke with current and former teachers, as well as union members, who have either recently received Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or are in the process. Later, he participated in a roundtable discussion with students at Dartmouth College about current events in the Middle East, as part of a newly launched college initiative dedicated to facilitating conversations that bridge personal and political divides (video excerpts).
On January 11, the Secretary joined Vice President Harris in Charlotte, North Carolina, to spotlight actions by the Biden Administration to reduce gun violence. They participated in a roundtable discussion with educators, parents, advocates, and state and local leaders at Eastway Middle School, announcing additional funding under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to help schools throughout the state and across the country increase access to mental health resources for students. They also announced over $6 million in grants from the Department for community violence intervention.
Then, on January 15, the Secretary traveled to Atlanta, where he spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church for the King Center Commemorative Service (video) and participated in two MLK Day service projects.
SCHOOL SAFETY DATA
A National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) First Look report, “Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2021-22,” examines a range of issues dealing with school crime and safety, including the frequency of school crime and violence, disciplinary actions, the presence and activities of school security staff, and school practices related to maintaining a safe school environment.
Among the key findings:
· 90% of all public schools reported increased social and emotional support for students in response to the pandemic;
· 46% of traditional public schools had a school resource officer present at school at least once a week; and
· 28% of middle schools, 15% of high schools, and 10% of elementary schools reported bullying at school at least once a week, while 37% of middle schools, 25% of high schools, and 6% of elementary schools reported cyberbullying at school or away from school at least once a week.
During the 2021-22 school year, 92% of schools had a formal plan to prepare for and respond to multi-country or worldwide pandemic disease. Schools also had plans describing the procedures to be performed in other crisis scenarios. Some of the most commonly reported plans were for active shooters (96%), natural disasters (96%), suicide threats or incidents (94%), and bomb threats (92%).
ODDS AND ENDS
· President Biden and Vice President Harris issued statements on the Justice Department’s report on the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting response.
· NCES shared new findings from the School Pulse Panel, on attendance and absenteeism, school lunch programs, and school improvement plans during the 2023-24 school year.
· In the most recent episode of Inside Voices, Secretary Cardona sat down with Hazel Bishop, a first-grade student, who showed him some of her karate moves!
· The Secretary also championed prison education programs in remarks before the American Correctional Association.
· In a new video, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon shares information on how to file an OCR complaint if you or someone you know is facing discrimination in a classroom or on a school campus.
· Last call for the Department’s 2024-25 School Ambassador Fellowship Program, open to outstanding teachers, principals, counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other school-based professionals interacting with students on a daily basis. As in previous years, applicants may choose to apply as Full-Time Fellows — take a leave of absence from their local districts and support the Department’s efforts remotely on a daily basis — or as Part-Time Fellows — continue serving in their local districts while working with the agency up to 10 hours a week. The application closes February 5 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
· The Department released the list of candidates for the 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, which honors some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors.
· The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of 67 applicants to receive nearly $1 billion under its Clean School Bus Program. These awards will help purchase more than 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts serving over seven million students across 37 states. To date, the program has awarded nearly $2 billion and funded approximately 5,000 electric and low-emission school buses nationwide.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“These three [evidence-based improving student achievement] strategies have one central goal: giving students more time and more support to succeed. We will use all the tools at our disposal to advance these three pillars, directing grants, providing technical assistance, and, yes, holding states accountable for meeting their responsibilities under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). There must be equal parts support and accountability to get the best for our children.”
— Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona (1/17/24), announcing the Biden Administration’s Improving Student Achievement Agenda for 2024
UPCOMING EVENTS
The next webinar in the Department’s Correctional Education Webinar Series, titled “Pipeline to Pell,” is scheduled for January 25 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
The next session in the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans’ Power Up seriesis scheduled for January 31 through February 2 in Charleston, South Carolina. These events aim to directly engage the Black community, grassroots organizations, national stakeholders, and federal agencies on important issues.
President Biden will deliver his third State of the Union Address on March 7.