The English Learner Initiative seeks to build a public education system equipped to effectively serve students identified as English learners, also known as multilingual learners. Too often, these students are viewed from a deficit perspective, which frames their educational needs as problems to be solved rather than recognizing their home language as an asset that should be leveraged in every classroom.

Our team believes that the future of the United States hinges on a public education system that cultivates the academic development and opportunities of multilingual students. We conduct research, develop policy recommendations, and disseminate new ideas to policymakers and broader audiences to improve educational access, quality, and outcomes for these children.

With growing national interest in reforming American political institutions, the Electoral Reform Research Group—a collaboration between New America, the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute, and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law—is organizing emerging research into how changes in electoral rules impact political participation, processes, partisanship, power, and policy outcomes.

The New Practice Lab is a team of designers, researchers, policy experts, and technologists building tighter links between policymakers and the families they serve—in an effort to improve policy design and public service delivery.

We focus on improving economic outcomes for American families with young children, working in the policy areas that dramatically impact their lives: paid family and medical leave, early childhood care and education, and tax policy.

Our work starts with listening to families to help government leaders across the country better understand the realities they face and move from pain points to real fixes that build trust in institutions.

Part policy research group, part technology product developers, part pro bono consultancy, we help government partners across the country improve and build the systems, technologies, and policies required to support young children and their families.

New America’s PreK-12 Educators Initiative leads research, policy analysis, and direct field-building initiatives to guide education leaders across the country in finding solutions that simultaneously address educator workforce quantity and quality issues—from recruitment and preparation, to ongoing professional learning and meaningful career advancement.

We seek to strengthen educator workforce policies and practices to help ensure that all students have access to highly skilled educators who reflect the communities they serve and who can engage all students in rigorous instruction.

All children need and deserve well-resourced schools, but not all children are in school districts that have the funding required to help them succeed. While this can be due to inadequate or unfair state or federal funding, often, budget disparities arise from differences in school districts’ local revenue, which tend to reflect the wealth inequality of segregated neighborhoods.

The Education Funding Equity Initiative analyzes and communicates the impact of such school funding policies, pointing the way toward better approaches. We conduct quantitative, qualitative, and geospatial analysis; craft policy recommendations; and offer counsel to policymakers and advocates working on school funding issues.