Harvard’s ‘States Leading States’ initiative unites nine US states to identify effective education policies: Here's what to know

When the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) launched its States Leading States (SLS) initiative earlier this year, its goal was not to dictate policy but to measure what works, and why. Last month, the programme announced its first cohort of nine partner states: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas. The initiative, led by the Centre for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at HGSE, will collaborate with local governments to assess a spectrum of education policies — from literacy programmes in Colorado to summer reading and mathematics camps in Alabama. The idea is to establish a consistent, evidence-based understanding of which state-level policies genuinely improve student learning outcomes, The Harvard Crimson reports. Scott