New States Leading States (SLS) Initiative Launches to Share Proven Strategies for State Policy Innovation
A $10 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation will support this effort to spread the adoption of evidence-based state policies.
(Cambridge, MA) The Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University is launching a new initiative, States Leading States (SLS), to identify and spread effective state and local education policies across the country. Starting in Spring 2026, SLS will release an annual report on promising state and local policies—such as early literacy reforms, state-organized tutoring programs, or postsecondary programs for older students—aimed at driving state-level policy change across the country.
The continuing decline in NAEP reading scores announced today highlights both the need and the potential impact of the new initiative. As of November 2024, 40 states had passed early literacy reforms, each placing a different emphasis on curriculum, professional development, coaching and student retention. In order to make progress, we need to learn as soon as possible which of those different approaches are working—and which are not—so that we can encourage the adoption of effective reforms. Until now, there has been no systematic, ongoing effort to learn from state policy innovation in education.
“Whether it is early literacy, high quality instructional materials, or high school redesign, states are where education reform is happening,” said CEPR Faculty Director Thomas Kane. “The U.S. educational system depends on innovative, evidence-based leadership from governors, state legislators, state boards of education and state education agencies. We will assemble a cohort of leaders committed to following the evidence.”
The SLS initiative’s goal is to ensure that effective state policy ideas spread, and that states and districts begin to address overlooked implementation issues.
To this end, in addition to measuring impacts on student outcomes—such as achievement scores, absences, and college going— each report will include results from surveys and focus groups of teachers, principals, and students to shed light on implementation challenges.
States partnering with the SLS initiative will also receive help from CEPR’s Strategic Data Project, which finds and trains leaders to organize data systems for measuring impact and identifying implementation challenges. States may elect to nominate their own data analysts for screening or hire an SDP-selected analyst. Fellows will organize state data collection and share their analyses at the end of the fellowship to enable others in the SDP network to repeat the analyses.
"This work comes at a critical juncture as states are still grappling with the long-term impacts of the pandemic,” notes CEPR Executive Director Christina Grant. “We hope that this SLS initiative will lay a strong foundation for the next phase of transformative education work across the country.” Funded by a generous $10 million grant from the Walton Foundation, this work will pave the way for effective implementation of enduring state policy change.
Additional information about the 2026 topic and partners will be announced on CEPR’s website throughout spring 2025. States interested in partnering with CEPR on this project can reach out to Christina Grant, CEPR’s Executive Director, at christina_grant@gse.harvard.edu.
About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University:
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at https://cepr.harvard.edu.
CEPR Contact:
Sam Stockwell, Director of Communications
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342