2025 Eddies Awards: Best Defense

Building with leaf mural on it, a blue wash over it, and text reading "Best Defense"

The Eddies—annual, advocate-nominated and voted awards—feature strategic advocacy that is driving impactful policy change. Best Defense highlights campaigns that strategically defended important policy at significant risk and overcame significant odds using innovative tactics; sometimes, the most significant wins are actually holding the line. Nominees in this category provide models for how to deploy sharp strategies to […]

Read More…

2025 Eddies Awards: Best Collaboration

The text "Best Collaboration" is centered over the image. Image background shows an artistic mural with the Atlanta skyline in the background.

The Eddies—annual, advocate-nominated and voted awards—feature strategic advocacy that is driving impactful policy change. This Eddies category features unique coalitions of leaders and organizations who worked together to achieve a significant impact for students and families. Working in coalition can be incredibly powerful—and incredibly challenging. This category honors the hard work of coalitions that organized artfully to […]

Read More…

2025 Eddies Awards: Game Changer Campaign of the Year

The Eddies—annual, advocate-nominated and voted awards—feature strategic advocacy that is driving impactful policy change. This Eddies category recognizes local, state, or national advocacy campaigns that tackled a big problem and achieved a new, game-changing policy. Sometimes a policy window opens quickly, and advocates move fast; sometimes, the window opens after years of sustained advocacy efforts. Either way, nominees in […]

Read More…

What Comes Next: The Future of Charter Schools – What Advocates Need to Know About the Upcoming Supreme Court Case

On April 30, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, a case stemming from Oklahoma’s approval—and later rejection—of a religious charter school. The outcome could have nationwide implications for charter authorizing, including student protections, public funding, and potential moratoriums. Timed just around the expected decision date, join us […]

Read More…

Alabama’s New Funding Formula: A Conversation with Advocacy Leaders

Alabama leaders made big moves in the 2025 legislative session, passing major legislation to modernize its education finance system and direct resources where they are needed most. The RAISE Act–the first significant update to the state’s formula in 30 years–creates a new hybrid funding formula to target student needs, and includes weights for special education, […]

Read More…

Mastering the Charter School Program

The shifting federal landscape on charter schools can make it hard to successfully navigate federal funding opportunities. Join this session to learn more about the Charter School Program (CSP), which provides funding for the startup of new charter schools and the replication and expansion of existing high-quality charter schools serving students from pre-K to 12. Starlee Coleman (National […]

Read More…

Building Better Schools: Insights from Innovative Public Schools

Audience: PIE Network Leaders Recent research from NewSchools documents how schools in its portfolio are able to outperform traditional models to achieve exceptional academic and social-emotional outcomes. Join this conversation led by Mia Howard (NewSchools) with pioneering school founders Kristle Hodges Johnson (University High School, TN), Declan O’Connor (Discovery Polytech Early College Prep HS, MA), […]

Read More…

2024 Eddies Awards: Best Defense

The Eddies—annual, advocate-nominated and voted awards—feature strategic advocacy that is driving impactful policy change. Best Defense highlights campaigns that strategically defended important policy at significant risk and overcame significant odds using innovative tactics; sometimes, the most significant wins are actually holding the line. Nominees in this category provide models for how to deploy sharp strategies to […]

Read More…

2024 Eddies Awards: Best Collaboration

The Eddies—annual, advocate-nominated and voted awards—feature strategic advocacy that is driving impactful policy change. This Eddies category Features coalitions of leaders and organizations who worked together to achieve a significant impact for students and families. Working in coalition can be incredibly powerful—and incredibly challenging. This category honors the hard work of coalitions that organized artfully to respond […]

Read More…