Melissa Tooley

Director, Educator Quality @NewAmericaEd. Sunshine seeker, adventurous eater, mom of 2 spunky gals. Committed to improving student outcomes. She/her. Tweets=🙋

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@rickhess99 Fed education $ are intact for now, but Rs have said they want to cut them. ITM, the Trump administration has gutted staff at ED so no one can ensure schools use fed $ as law requires, and there's no recourse for students denied their rights to a free and appropriate education.

[Jackie Singh @HackingButLegal]

Never forget this is exactly who and what they mean when they say they hate DEI

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@SenateDems please do the principled thing tonight and vote against the sham budget res the Rs are trying to peddle. Given their refusal to do their job of actually allocating funding to specific programs, any govt shutdown is their doing. Voting yes only anoints Trump as king!

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@christopherrufo Do you not know what "disproportionate" means? It doesn't mean "too many." It means "more than their fair share." Equity=promoting fairness, and Americans believe in fairness. Nice try though.

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@SenatorTimScott also made it clear that it's not @usedgov that educates kids, but local school districts. So why does the Trump admin say the Dept of Ed forces schools to teach certain content?

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

At #McMahonhearing, @SenatorTimScott shared how schools shaped his life, and how it's critical for schools to help more kids growing up poor in rural areas succeed as he did.

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

The Dept provides extra $ to poor, rural kids to close gaps in ed outcomes. So why does the Trump admin want to close @usedgov.

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@CrimsonKimbleeS @OffensiveJestr @christopherrufo Not even! Most states just set the academic benchmarks students are expected to meet in each grade, and each local school district chooses the curriculum & textbooks they'll use to meet those (although 19 states do curate lists of approved textbooks for districts to select from)

[Ali Rogin @AliRogin]

This is a big deal: Federally-funded community health centers, which serve 1 in 5 rural patients in America, are starting to shut down because they still can’t access their grant funding https://t.co/Hydn0Lxfpm

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@WesleyWhistle 😳

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@EdTrust shares why @usedgov's existence is critical to ensuring that students have access to affordable, quality education opportunities that lead to #StudentSuccess!
https://t.co/w1XTEb5xGv

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@DrKimako shares how @ISBEnews’ Educator Prep Profiles increased transparency about #teacherprep program COMPLETION for racially diverse candidates, not just recruitment. Learn how IL developed its Profiles in this @NewAmericaEd report: https://t.co/Cwx62BrWt6

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

Excited to be at @usedgov w/ state & national ed leaders discussing how to support a thriving, diverse, and talented workforce of #teachers and other #educators in our #publicschools.
#RaisetheBar #TeacherConvening

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

You know you're an #edpolicy nerd when you're super excited to learn about a new @IESResearch center! (Talking about a friend, of course 😁) Congrats @CEDR_US on launching this important new approach to better understanding and addressing #teachershortages
https://t.co/P6Br8XSAJD

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

Yes, yes, yes!
This is why I struggle when people advocate for educators to have FULL agency over their own professional learning...humans aren't good at knowing what we don't know when we don't know it, or know how to learn it!😅

I wrote about it here: https://t.co/EAxtY0zeEa

[Daniel Willingham @DTWillingham]

People with more content knowledge are less likely to claim to have knowledge they actually lack. https://t.co/BhBHSaNato

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@DTWillingham Yes, yes, yes!
This is why I struggle when people advocate for educators to have full agency over their own professional learning...humans aren't good at knowing what we don't know when we don't know it, or know how to learn it!😅

I wrote about it here: https://t.co/EAxtY0zMtI

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

💡In this new @educationweek article, my 2 quotes relay my competing optimism and pessimism about leveraging micro-credentials for #teachers. Great #edpolicy requires great design AND implementation, which take a lot to get right. @NewAmericaEd
https://t.co/qCzpIxQX9m

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

@NewAmericaEd States keep revisiting these policies to try to address shortages of #teachers so we hope to procure funding to update this data set moving forward!

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

In the meantime, check out @NewAmericaEd's other resources explaining the benefits and challenges of leveraging micro-credentials for #educators!
https://t.co/GAAejLtF8W

[Melissa Tooley @mdjtooley]

📥I need YOUR vote! 📥...
to get to @SXSWEDU 2025!
My session with @HarmonyEdu will share how #K12 schools can stem the #teachershortage by smartly leveraging #microcredentialing that offer more $$, skills, and job satisfaction for #teachers...vote below! https://t.co/AWbo6TzQuz