Education in Focus

A congressional panel in the House of Representatives heard testimony from witnesses about the different perspectives on graphic books in school libraries. Such debates over the appropriateness of explicit books that students can access have occurred nationwide in school board meetings. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing Thursday on “combating gr...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that changed requirements for retired public-school teachers to work while receiving pension benefits, citing the teacher shortage in the state. Data show the number of teachers has increased in recent years relative to students. While the number of teachers has increased and the number of students has decreased overall in the state, lawmakers pass...

Standardized test score results show academic achievement declines for the sixth year in a row, highlighting the impact of COVID-19-related school closures on student learning. The nonprofit behind the ACT said this week that scores fell again in all testing subjects in the 2022-23 school year. This comes as graduation rates in school districts have increased despite test scores showing academic d...

Kalamazoo Public Schools said late last month that over half of last year’s senior class from one of its high schools graduated despite not meeting the criteria to do so. The school will allow the students to keep their diplomas. Phoenix Alternative High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, allowed at least half of the class of 2023 to graduate without meeting state or district requirements, according t...

Cheating is nothing new. But the methods of how it’s done are constantly changing. There is currently a market hidden in plain sight for the subset of students looking to graduate high school without completing their online coursework.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Flint Community Public Schools said Friday that a fight between students led to a teacher being harmed. A viral video reportedly of the event shows a student throwing a chair and hitting the teacher on the head. Reports also say that the teacher was unconscious and hospitalized. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal d...

When government officials and school leaders closed classrooms because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students switched to virtual learning. Some schools, however, have continued to utilize virtual options for students, including courseware that critics say allows students to cheat. A former Atlanta-area public school teacher wrote last month in an op-ed that course assessments from ed-tech compan...

As Chalkboard has previously reported, parents and voters have been outspoken in their desire for school choice and education options since the pandemic. Hybrid homeschooling is one of the models parents are turning to, which offers some of the structure of formal programming with at-home instruction. But the intersection between new education models and funding programs to support families could...

A federal court ruling waved a caution flag on school district policies requiring teachers to hide student gender identity from parents after granting a temporary reprieve to two teachers who sued their school district over the rules. The decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California last week to grant a preliminary injunction for the teachers comes as the state sues...

One issue Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias put in the national spotlight during testimony to a U.S. Senate committee this week was that of access to controversial books. The Democratic statewide official promoted the Illinois measure he spearheaded to withhold taxpayer-funded grants to public and school libraries that he said “ban books.” Meanwhile others argue that this is not an iss...

A battle over parental rights is brewing across the country and at the forefront is the gender choice of children while enrolled in public schools. In California and New Jersey, the government has gone to court to shield parents from knowing what gender their children have chosen while at school. In other states, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, the policies on parental notification are left up...

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis-Gates, who has been outspoken against the state's school choice program, is sending her child to a private school, according to reports. Davis-Gates took office in 2022 to lead the third largest teachers union in the country. Since taking office, Davis-Gates has publicly spoken out against the Invest in Kids Act, which allows people to pay for scholarsh...

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said schools should not keep students home amid reports that the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise this fall, propped up by new variants of the virus that causes the disease. Responding to a question during a back-to-school bus tour, Cardona said schools should stay open and focus on communication and practicing health protocols that were present...

With the return of students to class, hoax calls that shut down school buildings are also back. The calls, which tell authorities that there are active shooters at schools, scare students, staff and parents and can be dangerous for both law enforcement and those at the scene. There were several hoax threats and swatting calls this week across the country, from Illinois to Georgia. Hosted by Simple...

For many students, school started weeks ago, and classes are in full swing. For others, however, the school year has yet to begin. Michigan, for example, has a law that requires schools to start after Labor Day unless they are granted a waiver by the state’s Department of Education. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of person...

A new report from a conservative watchdog organization claims school district diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring policies determine the political leanings of the teachers who end up in the classroom. The National Opportunity Project report, released Friday, said school districts that implement the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion in the hiring process weed out cand...

At the Republican primary debate last week, presidential hopefuls disparaged the state of education in the nation, with some candidates advocating for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education and the promotion of school choice options. It’s an issue that seems sure to reappear as voters signal strong concerns with the quality of traditional public education. The Center Square Voters' Voic...

A group of 20 schools in Missouri has received a waiver from the state to halt end-of-school standardized testing for students in lieu of interim assessments that direct how teachers and administrators will provide instruction. The schools are part of the Success-Ready Students Network and see the state Board of Education’s decision Tuesday to waive annual assessment requirements as a way to bette...

The Texas House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment released a statewide report on education last week along with public comments from residents who expressed competing outlooks on education opportunity, accountability methods and student outcomes. The public comments show how Texans are vocally divided on whether to implement school choice programs in the state. The divide...

Nevada lawmakers voted Wednesday not to divert federal COVID-19 relief funds toward expanding the Opportunity Scholarship program in the state after about six hours of discussion and testimony. Members of the Interim Finance Committee, comprised of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means from the last legislative session, voted down party lines to reject Gov. J...

The Biden administration announced a more unified approach Tuesday to help school districts ward off cyberattacks that threaten the exposure of private student data, disruption of daily operations and the loss of millions in taxpayer money. The Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a document for school di...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case against Michigan’s Blaine amendment, which restricts most public funds from going toward private schools. Five families sued the state in September 2021, arguing that the state’s Blaine amendment violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution because they were not allowed to use Michigan’s...

Test   scores  have continually  demonstrated  that students across the nation lost academic ground during the pandemic, so why are some districts touting higher graduation rates than before the pandemic? Do graduation rates mean students know everything they should? School districts across the nation have posted high graduation rates, despite test scores that show student achievement declines sin...

A new report from the National Retail Federation found that back-to-school shopping is expected to cost consumers an all-time high. The industry association found families purchasing for K-12 students are expected to spend an average of about $890, about $25 more than last year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal d...

Emails obtained by Chalkboard revealed how board members at a Tallahassee charter school handled complaints from parents arguing Michelangelo’s “David” and other famous works were not appropriate for students. Tallahassee Classical School made international headlines in March when principal Hope Carrasquilla told the Tallahassee Democrat that she was forced out of her position after parental objec...