Rachel Langan
Senior Education Policy Analyst
Rachel Langan is the Senior Education Policy Analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation.
Rachel, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, graduated from West Chester University with a degree in Elementary Education and obtained her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh.
Before joining the Commonwealth Foundation, Rachel spent a decade working as the school librarian at two of the top-rated school districts in Chester County and has most recently worked on public school policy through grassroots organizations, both at the state and the local level.
Raised in the Pittsburgh area, she now lives and works outside of Philadelphia. Rachel is mom to five kids plus two dogs and enjoys renovating her 100-year-old home with her husband. When she has free time, you can find her curled up on the couch with a good book.
Education
“Progress” Masks Failures
Originally published by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Celebrating Philadelphia schools’ post-pandemic progress misses the larger story. Yes, students have made gains—and hardworking…
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School Choice Doesn’t Benefit the Rich—It Levels the Playing Field
Originally published by Lancaster/LNP Online. School choice benefits only the wealthy—or so the critics claim. These same naysayers employ this same myth to undermine the commonwealth’s…
Media Hit
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Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families In the Commonwealth | 2nd Edition
Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that provide over 100,000 students from low- to middle-income families access…
Report
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Southern States Shatter the Myth of “Underfunded” Public Schools
Originally published by Broad + Liberty. Pennsylvania has a lot to learn about public education. And states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana offer this important lesson:…
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The Myth of Increased Education Spending
Testimony of Rachel LanganSenior Education Policy AnalystThe Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy AlternativesHearing on Improving Reading Outcomes in PennsylvaniaBefore the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy CommitteeThe Honorable David Argall, ChairJanuary…
Testimony
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Special Needs Students Need School Choice
Originally published by The Philadelphia Citizen. Shannon Mitchell will never forget the first words from her nonverbal eight-year-old daughter, Brianna. “Hi, mama,” Briana said after getting…
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Rethinking School District Reserve Funds as Students Return to Class
Pennsylvania must focus on funding students. Overview After years of property tax hikes and significant increases in state funding, Pennsylvania school districts ended the 2023–24 school year with more than…
Backgrounder
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Pennsylvania Students Can’t Succeed if They Aren’t Safe
Originally published by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to federal and state law, the Keystone State owes parents of students attending dangerous schools the chance to transfer…
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Persistently Dangerous Pennsylvania Public Schools
Calculating danger based only on arrests ignores student safety. Overview New analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation shows that Pennsylvania violates state and federal law by failing to identify persistently dangerous…
Backgrounder
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School Choice Returns to Harrisburg
Originally published by Pottstown-Mercury. School choice is, once again, the talk of the town in Harrisburg. Hundreds of students, parents, educators, lawmakers, and activists crowded the Capitol steps, rallying support for meaningful…
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EITC and Economically Disadvantaged Schools
Summary The Economically Disadvantaged School (EDS) component of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) scholarship program provides supplementary scholarships for Pennsylvania students, who are economically disadvantaged and attend private schools…
Fact Sheet
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Josh Shapiro Keeps Betraying Poor Pennsylvania Children
Originally published by The Wall Street Journal. Immanuel Christian School is in dire straits, but not for lack of students who want to go there. Demand is high for the…
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Shadow School Choice: When Public Schools Turn Students Away
Summary The School District of Philadelphia outsources special education to private schools when the district is unable to meet the student’s special education needs. The U.S. Department of Education guarantees…
Fact Sheet
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Don’t Punish Cyber Charters for Being Fiscally Responsible
Originally published on RealClearPennsylvania. Pennsylvania cyber charter schools are under attack for—of all things—not wastefully spending taxpayer money. The Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General recently …
Media Hit
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No Choice
Originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer. In a recent Inquirer article, Donna Cooper, executive director of Children First, stated that “the overwhelming majority of parents choose public schools.”…
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Allentown students need more than strategic plans, they need choices
Originally published at The Morning Call The future for Allentown students is so bright they better wear shades. At least, that was the overarching theme of a recent public…
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Philadelphia public schools have an antisemitism problem — where does Shapiro stand?
Originally published at The Mercury An unsettling report dropped over the holiday break. The civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education found that Jewish…
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Rachel Langan Guests on Lincoln Radio Journal to discuss EITC’s
You can hear this interview and more at www.lincolninstitute.org Topics on this pageEarned income tax creditLincoln Radio JournalPublic policy…
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A Tale of Two Philadelphia Schools
Originally published at Delaware Valley Journal A seven-minute walk separates Kensington High School and Liguori Academy, two high schools serving the East Kensington neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia. Kensington and…
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Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the Commonwealth
Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that give thousands of low- to middle- income students access to…
Executive Summary
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the CommonwealthEducation
Special Needs Students Thrive in Cyber Charters
Originally published at Delaware Valley Journal Kris Hansen and her son Lucien are square pegs in a world full of round holes. If not for a cyber charter school,…
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