Articles by Kelly Petty

With the November general election a few months away and several primary and special elections ahead, the Presidential Commission on Election Administration released a report in January outlining several recommendations to shore up voting lines, increase voter participation and registration, and improve the voter experience. The commission specifically called for states to encourage the use of schools as polling places. Yet, some state election boards and school administrations have pushed back...

When election season rolls around, Americans are inundated with TV ads, brochures, and phone calls from controversial groups looking to affect a candidate’s campaign or shift the momentum of a piece of legislation. Many of these groups can file for 527 tax-exempt status, which is designated for political organizations defined by the IRS as "a party, committee, association, fund, or other organization (whether or not incorporated) organized and operated primarily for the purpose of directly or i...

There is one group in Washington that believes it is in the best position to bridge the partisan divide hampering many of the decisions in Congress. No Labels is composed of lawmakers and policy leaders of both major political parties. “A majority of Americans are so upset with all the gridlock that has stopped every sort of action that moves the country forward,” said Nancy Jacobson, a co-founder of No Labels. The organization was created after the Affordable Care Act passed without any Repub...

Researchers have explained the reason why young adults have struggled to adjust to new economic realities. The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce released a study that explores the gap between young people moving into the workforce earlier and older people leaving for retirement. This new path is what researchers call “failure to launch.” For the longest, young people were told that a good education led to years of employment which led to a happy retirement. In today’s economy, t...

Credit: povertyinsights.org When it comes to financial aid students have few choices to fund their college education. Beyond scholarships, students have a choice between loans or grants offered by federal, state or private entities. The Pell grant offers federally-funded assistance for students who come from lower income families. Brookings Institution Fellow Beth Akers says that need-based assistance like Pell is being undermined by its more competitive cousin, merit-based aid: “There are cl...

credit: Labpluto 123/Wikimedia Commons As the Obama administration ramps up efforts to transform the nation’s education system, they seek the public’s help in guiding the vision. The U.S. Department of Education announced last Friday that it is currently accepting public comment on its Strategic Plan for 2014-2018, a comprehensive outline for turning around America’s public schools: “Ensuring America once again leads the world in post-secondary completion by 2020 is the North Star guiding all ...

Credit: Flickr Poverty is increasingly becoming a deterrent to academic achievement. Research indicates that 46.2 million Americans, or about 15 percent of the population, lived in poverty in 2011. Nationally, 22 percent of children live in poverty. The Educational Testing Service (ETS), providers of the GRE and TOEFL tests, released a report cautioning that both federal and state government entities must shore up inequality gaps in order to save America’s most disadvantaged students from fall...

If high tuition and student debt weren't enough of a barrier to enter college, scoring well on national entrance exams may become a new problem for those looking to pursue higher education. According to recently released data for the ACT, college entrance exams show that students still struggle to reach academic benchmarks. The national composite score for ACT test-takers decreased slightly from 21.1 to 20.9. Though the percentage of students exceeding ACT benchmarks improved, the numbers over...

credit: USMC/ Lance Cpl. Derrick K. Irions While President Obama spent the better part of last week campaigning for college affordability, the Department of Defense released changes to its military tuition assistance memorandum which, among many things, would end “unfair, deceptive, and abusive recruiting practices” at colleges and universities. On August 14, the DoD placed in the Federal Register its proposed draft to the memorandum of understanding for voluntary education programs, an agreem...