President-elect Donald Trump plans to assist the nation’s population without a college degree by creating the online “American Academy” which would make higher education available to all U.S. citizens for free.
Read MoreCategory: Education
Commentary: Indoctri-Nation
An essential mission for many educators throughout the country is the indoctrination of their students. The newest arrival on the propaganda front is Israel. In August, one of the topics of a United Teachers of Los Angeles meeting was “How to be a teacher & an organizer. . . and NOT get fired.”
Read MoreAnalysis: A Survey of Trump’s Possible Education Secretary Candidates and His Commitment to Dismantling the Department of Education
President-elect Donald Trump said several times during his campaign that he would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, but it’s a pledge that may be more rhetoric than reality.
Read MoreCommentary: Tim Walz’s Progressive Education Policies Could Doom Harris
Donald Trump currently holds a razor-thin 0.6 percent lead over Kamala Harris in the RealClearPolitics Polling Average for Pennsylvania. With this key swing state potentially deciding the outcome of the Electoral College, Democrats can only wonder how different the polls might look if Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro – once considered a frontrunner for Harris’ VP pick – were on the ticket instead of Tim Walz.
Read MoreEducation Secretary Censors Mom on X for Showing He Supports ‘Pornography in School’: Lawsuit
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona censored a Rhode Island mother who responded to his criticism of efforts to remove sexually graphic books from public school libraries by posting images from those books on his X account, a First Amendment lawsuit claims.
Read MoreReport: College Enrollments on the Decline as Americans Reject Higher Education
The rate of freshman enrollment at colleges across the country, from private to public, has dropped to the lowest levels since before the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Daily Caller, freshman enrollment at public universities decreased by 8.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, while private enrollment dropped by 6.5% in the same span of time. This comes despite the fact that freshman enrollment rose slightly in 2023 compared to 2022, with a mere 0.8% increase.
Read MoreTim Walz Welcomed Chinese Communist Party Officials into His Nebraska Classroom
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, welcomed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials into his Nebraska classroom while working as a teacher in the 1990s, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.
In February 1996, a delegation of three “educators” from southeast China visited Walz’s Alliance High School social studies class “to study the education system,” according to an unearthed Alliance Times-Herald article. However, the delegation included CCP officials who at the time worked for an institute serving a Chinese influence and intelligence agency, according to a DCNF review of Chinese government records.
Read MoreCommentary: Extending Tax-Credit Scholarships
According to a just-released Education Opportunity in America report by 50CAN, only 39% of public school parents are satisfied with their child’s education.
Other polling results are also discouraging. Released in August, EdChoice’s annual Schooling in America Survey revealed that 64% of parents think K–12 education in America is on the wrong track. Not only is this an eight-point increase from last year, but it is also the highest level of pessimism among parents since the question was first asked in 2014.
Read MoreVoters Overwhelmingly Say Schools Should Not Keep Student Gender Transitions Hidden
The overwhelming majority of Americans do not believe schools should hide a student’s gender change at school from parents, according to a recent poll of over 2,200 likely voters.
The issue of parental notification regarding a student’s gender transition has been hotly contested in recent years, especially in California, where the state has sided against school districts that have passed policies to let parents know students are using different names or pronouns.
Read MoreLawsuit Seeks to Stop Implementation of Bible Lessons in Oklahoma Schools
A group of parents, teachers and religious leaders filed a lawsuit Thursday with the Oklahoma Supreme Court challenging a new state requirement to teach the Bible in public schools.
Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters announced the mandate for children in grades five through 12 be taught lessons on the Bible “as an instructional support into the curriculum” in June, and was quickly met with pushback from schools refusing to implement the rule. The suit alleges the mandate, which allocates $3 million to the Bibles, violates the state Constitution’s prohibition on spending public funds on religious items and is contrary to religious freedom.
Read MorePoll: Americans Broadly Support Federal School Choice Program
A new national poll shows a majority of Americans support school choice measures that would allow families to use taxpayer funds to attend a private school.
The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights found that over two-thirds of the more than 2,200 likely voters polled support giving families choices using public funds.
Read MoreScholars Refuse to Provide Details on $30 Million Effort to ‘Braid’ Indigenous Knowledge into Science
Two top scholars leading a $30 million federally funded effort to “braid” indigenous knowledge into science are ignoring requests for comment to explain exactly what that looks like in practice.
Read MoreMoms for Liberty Defeats School District That Birthed It, Speaking Rules Deemed Unconstitutional
The Florida school district that birthed Moms for Liberty as a repudiation of its COVID-19 mandates on their children is parenting the conservative group all wrong, so to speak, according to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Its Tuesday ruling smacked down Brevard Public Schools and four current and former school board members for unconstitutional restrictions on public comments at their meetings in a lawsuit by Moms for Liberty’s founding Brevard County chapter and its members, putting public schools on notice across the court’s jurisdiction of the Sunshine State, Alabama and Georgia.
Read MoreSchool Choice Helps Close Performance Gap for Low-Income Students, Study Finds
Cities with robust charter school programs have drastically lowered the performance gap between low-income students and their peers, a study published in October found.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) found that student performance rose in every city with a majority of low-income students when 33% or more are enrolled in charter schools, according to the report. Non-white students make up a large percentage of those benefiting from school choice policies.
Read MoreMigrants Are Overwhelming School Districts in Pennsylvania, Saddling Taxpayers with Hefty Price Tag
A massive influx in non-English speaking students in Pennsylvania is overwhelming school districts across the state, and the logistical strain on administrators could be leaving other students behind.
The number of English Language Learners (ELL) in school districts in Pennsylvania has surged nearly 40% since 2021, forcing public schools to shell out more cash to try and meet the needs of these students, according to documents obtained via records requests and open-source information reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The surge for many schools began in the 2021-2022 academic school year, coinciding with the onset of the Biden-Harris administration and the subsequent border crisis.
Read MoreKansas Professor Leaves School over Backlash to Video Calling to Shoot Men Who Won’t Vote for Harris
AUniversity of Kansas (KU) professor is no longer employed at the school as of Friday, after a video of him claiming men that do not vote for Vice President Kamala Harris because of her gender should be “lined up” and “shot,” went viral, according to local reports.
Read MoreSupreme Court Declines to Take Case Alleging Weaponization of DOJ Against Parents Who Spoke Out Against Schools
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected to take on a case that accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of targeting parents who voiced concerns over school curricula, mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
Read MoreCDC: Record Number of Kindergartners Had Vaccine Exemptions in 2023-24 School Year
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday revealed that the 2023-2024 academic school year held the record for the most kindergartners declining at least one vaccination.
The CDC said a total of 3.3% of kindergartners nationwide, equaling 127,000 kindergartners, were granted exemptions on at least one vaccine, which beats the previous record of 3% in the 2022-2023 school year.
Read MoreCommentary: Classical v. Unclassical Curricula
Chad Aldeman, a Virginia-based researcher who focuses on education-related issues, recently detailed the educational experience of his daughter, who completed sixth grade in June. He writes that her teachers didn’t use textbooks, assign homework, or expect kids to study at home for tests, didn’t teach kids to sound out words, and didn’t drill times tables. He also mentions that there were no spelling tests, students didn’t practice handwriting of any kind, cursive or otherwise, and didn’t learn the 50 states and their capitals, let alone world geography.
Aldeman is very concerned by this shift, arguing that her educational experience has “reduced instructional time devoted to science and social studies and emphasized isolated skills such as critical thinking or reading comprehension over teaching students a coherent body of knowledge and facts.”
Read MoreMinnesota Teacher Fired over Vax Mandate Warns: Gov. Tim Walz Is a ‘Petty Tyrant’ and ‘Not a Man of Reason’
A college instructor who taught for nearly 30 years was fired due to the strict COVID protocols in Minnesota — just weeks before they were rescinded.
Russ Stewart was an instructor at Lake Superior College in Duluth where he taught ethics, logic and philosophy. The school is part of the Minnesota State System of Colleges and Universities and, as such, Stewart was a state employee.
Read MoreUniversities Secretly Take Billions in Foreign ‘Ghost Dollars’: Report
American colleges and universities are accepting billions of dollars in foreign money without reporting it, according to a new report.
The National Association of Scholars released the report, which says that taking money from foreign governments and organizations without reporting it has become commonplace among American universities.
Read MoreArizona State University Scholars Ruben Espinosa and Curtis Austin Condemn ‘White Ownership’ of English Playwright and Poet William Shakespeare
Two faculty members condemned “white ownership” of William Shakespeare and the state’s manipulation of black history during an “Appropriation Series” at Arizona State University last week.
The scholars are pushing for changes in curriculum and leadership that reflect more “diverse” voices. During the panel, they spoke to eleven ASU students in the audience and other faculty members via Zoom.
Read MoreNew Research Shows Students from Schools That Closed During COVID Are Not Returning
New research shows that school enrollment has declined in over 5,000 public schools in the U.S., suggesting families are rejecting traditional schools because of the pandemic.
The Fordham Institute’s new study, conducted by researcher Sofoklis Goulas from the Brookings Institution, released Wednesday, found that families were over twice as likely to leave low-performing public schools.
Read MoreCommentary: Contaminating Children’s Minds and Ruining Their Future
In parts one and two of this series, we’ve examined how Democrats and their poisoned ideology have declared war on America’s children. If anyone has any doubt as to the intention of the Progressive left to poison the minds of children and ruin their future, look no further than America’s teachers’ unions, especially Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers.
Historically working in tandem with the Democrat Party, teachers’ unions are intense advocates for curriculum that does not include basic knowledge to get ahead in life. Rather than actual education, its agenda includes social justice propaganda, racial division, climate change dogma, and promotion of sexual deviancy.
Read MoreInvestment Giants Leveraged Texas Universities’ Endowment Funds to Back Anti-Oil Agenda, Report Finds
Several asset managers leveraged two major Texas university systems’ endowment funds to advance anti-fossil fuel shareholder proposals in 2022 and 2023, according to a report from the conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF).
BlackRock-owned Aperio Group, Cantillon, former Vice President Al Gore-chaired Generation Investment Management, GQG Partners and JP Morgan Asset Management collectively manage approximately $4 billion for The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) as of July, which handles the university systems’ endowments.
Read MoreIvy League School Suspends Conservative Professor Amy Wax for a Year on ‘Zero Evidence’ of Discrimination
Six years after the University of Pennsylvania sanctioned a tenured law professor for allegedly lying about the academic performance of black students but never itself providing the supposedly correct figures, the Ivy League school seems to be daring another one to quit or sue.
Read MoreCommentary: The Coming Election’s Effect on Education
At the recent Donald Trump-Kamala Harris debate, the subject of education was nonexistent. Despite its hot button nature, the moderators did not broach the subject, and some parents are angry.
Michele Exner, a senior advisor at Parents Defending Education, commented that despite student literacy having “hit a crisis point,” those who were already struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic are being failed now. Yet, the moderators did not ask one single question about education. “They completely ignored one of the top issues parents are worried about.”
Read MoreDemocrats Want ‘Climate Literacy’ in Schools as Actual Literacy Slips
The Democratic Party is pushing to increase “literacy” on climate change-related material in America’s schools while students are performing poorly with respect to actual literacy.
The party’s education platform mentions the importance of “climate literacy” for American K-12 students several times, emphasizing the purported need for students to be able to understand and interpret information relating to climate change. Meanwhile, the average reading score for both fourth and eighth grade students in 2022 had fallen by three points relative to 2019, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Read MoreFlorida Prepaid College Tuition Program Providing Refunds to Parents
Florida’s prepaid college tuition plan is generating enough revenue to provide refunds to parents in part because of strong earnings on the plan’s investments and low tuition statewide.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week part of those savings is how the state has held down tuition and other costs at the state’s colleges and universities. The plan factors in future tuition costs and when those costs don’t reach predictions, families can receive a refund.
Read MoreGroup That Pushed SCOTUS to End Affirmative Action ‘Gravely Concerned’ Elite Colleges Aren’t Complying with Ruling
The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sent letters Tuesday to Yale, Princeton and Duke questioning the universities’ compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and threatening litigation.
The letters said SFFA is “gravely concerned that these schools are not complying” with the June 2023 landmark Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, in which the Court ruled race-based admission practices to be unconstitutional. Suspicions were raised by many over the admissions policies of the elite universities after the student demographics for the class of 2028 revealed little change compared to the previous year when the schools followed affirmative action policies.
Read MoreSix Juveniles Arrested Since Sunday over Online Terroristic Threats Made to Alabama Schools
A total of six juveniles have been arrested and charged with making terroristic threats that sent shockwaves through the River Region over the weekend after multiple social media posts making violent threats to surrounding schools flooded social media.
Read MoreMore Than a Dozen States Pledge to Address Chronic Absenteeism Crisis in Public Schools
Fourteen states have joined an effort to cut chronic student absenteeism by 50% over the next five years.
Read MoreNew England Christian Schools Ask Appeals Courts for Justice Against State Discrimination
Christian schools in New England are fighting for their right to participate in state-run programs without compromising their beliefs, including that sex trumps gender identity, sexuality is reserved for heterosexual marriage and Christianity is the only path to salvation.
Public interest law firms announced appeals of lower court decisions in favor of Maine and Vermont in the 1st and 2nd U.S. Circuit courts of appeal on behalf of Crosspoint Church, which runs Bangor Christian School, and Mid Vermont Christian School and a family whose children attend there.
Read MoreElite Universities Ranked Lowest for Free Speech, Report Finds
Some of the most prominent elite universities in the nation have been ranked lowest for freedom of speech, according to a report released Thursday.
Harvard, Columbia, New York University (NYU), the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and Barnard College make up the bottom five in a free speech ranking of 251 universities, according to a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and College Pulse. The report cited several incidents of “suppression of free expression” at the schools, including disruption of events and sanctions on students and staff for expressing their views as the reasoning behind the schools’ low rankings.
Read More33 Percent of K-12 Students Behind Grade Level
A recent study shows that roughly one-third of American K-12 students in the 2023-2024 academic school year are behind their grade level in a variety of subjects.
As Axios reports, the data was compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through their “School Pulse Panel,” a survey of almost 4,000 grade schools that are considered nationally representative. The data from June of 2024, taken from the responses of 1,651 schools, shows that there has been virtually no change from the 2021-2022 school year, when 33% of students were learning at a level that was below their actual grade.
Read MoreProfessor Paid $2.4 Million to Settle First Amendment Retaliation Suit Goes After HR Chief’s New Contract
A month after Matthew Garrett secured a $2.4 million settlement from the Kern Community College District over termination proceedings for the “dishonesty” of disagreeing with colleagues on diversity issues and “unprofessional conduct” of questioning the data used to create a “racial climate task force,” the former Bakersfield College tenured history professor isn’t done yet.
He has started a campaign to pressure the KCCD Board of Trustees to rescind a contract extension and pay boost for the human resources official who oversaw his proceedings, citing newly obtained sworn testimony of the colleague who he says sicced students on Garrett with racially charged complaints that were “ultimately found to be baseless” – and used class time to do it.
Read More26 States Have Blocked Title IX, Nearly 700 Schools Won’t Comply
In addition to the 26 states protecting blocking the Title IX revisions put in place under the Biden-Harris administration, hundreds of colleges across 48 states will do the same.
Read MoreThe U.S. ‘Hates Women,’ Faces Future of Cannibalism, ‘Forced Breeding Camps,’ Arizona State University Professors Posit
Two professors discussed dismantling capitalism and electing a female president to restore reproductive rights, and warned of a dystopian future with “cannibalism” and “forced breeding camps,” at an event held Wednesday at Arizona State University.
“Jenny Irish’s HATCH: A Speculative Future for Reproductive Rights” was held both in person and via Zoom.
Read MoreTwo-Time Failed Presidential Candidate Chris Christie to Teach Ivy League Course ‘How to Run a Political Campaign’
Former Republican New Jersey Governor and failed presidential candidate Chris Christie will teach a course at Yale University on how to run for office, according the description.
Christie, who was governor from 2010 to 2018 and dropped out of the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections, will teach “How to Run a Political Campaign” during the fall 2024 semester, according to the catalog. The course offers one credit for students, is taught once a week and is offered as an elective.
Read MoreCommentary: In with Teacher Apprenticeships, Out with Colleges of Education
Two persistent problems beset American schools.
First, teachers must leave the classroom and become administrators or counselors to earn above the standard teacher salary.
Read MoreCell Phone Bans, Restrictions Are on the Rise in School Districts as Mental Health Concerns Arise
Mental health has been widely discussed in the public sphere over the past few years, specifically how technology may play a role in it particularly for young people.
Recently, districts in different states have been implementing restrictions and bans on cell phones in schools in order to tackle the mental health crisis rising among teenagers and young adults.
Read MoreTim Walz Signed a Law Creating ‘Ethnic Studies’ Requirements Extending to Elementary School Students
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz signed a law in May 2023 as Minnesota governor that will require schools to offer “ethnic studies” courses that may include lessons on “resistance” and discussions on “social identities.”
The law requires elementary and middle schools to teach ethnic studies classes by the 2027 to 2028 school year, while high schools must offer a course on the topic starting in the 2026 to 2027 school year, though some districts have already begun implementing ethnic studies programs. The program is described as an “interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity” and says it will emphasize “perspectives of people of color” and analyze “the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces.”
Read MoreCommentary: Cell Phone Bans in Schools Is a Growing Trend
Navigating the complexities of smartphone use in K-12 education is a collective effort that requires ongoing adaptation as technology evolves. We expect the Tennessee General Assembly to draft legislation on this issue in the next session. There is an increasing push to safeguard young individuals from spending too much time in front of screens.
States and public school districts are advocating cellphone bans in schools, driven by concerns about distractions and their adverse effects on student well-being. This growing trend should not just be about restrictions but about creating a more focused and conducive learning environment. Teacher buy-in is critical to this process.
Read MoreUniversity of Kentucky to Shut Down DEI Office
In the latest blow for the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement, the University of Kentucky has announced that it will be shuttering its DEI offices.
As reported by Breitbart, the University of Kentucky follows multiple other schools in Texas, Florida, and Alabama who have already taken the step of shutting down official DEI practices on-campus, where school administrators would facilitate the discrimination of student applicants and faculty hires on the basis of race and gender.
Read MoreAsian Enrollment Explodes at Elite University Following Race-Based Admissions Ruling
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) freshman class for this year has a significantly larger share of Asian American students than in previous years following a recent Supreme Court ruling, according to a first-year class profile released Wednesday.
The share of Asian-American students enrolled at MIT increased from 41 percent in the 2024-2027 classes to 47 percent for the class of 2028. The enrollment data is the first since the Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions in June 2023 due to lawsuits brought up by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
Read MoreProfessors Sue to Overturn Florida’s New Post-Tenure Review Law
Three Florida professors have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2023 state law subjecting public university faculty to mandatory post-tenure review every five years.
The scholars argue the law “imperils academic freedom” and enables the Florida legislature to “usurp the exclusive powers and duties” of the state university system’s Board of Governors granted to it by Florida’s constitution.
Read MoreCommentary: Irresponsible School Districts Force Teachers to Create Amazon Wish Lists
For several weeks, social media has been flooded by teachers’ posts with Amazon wish lists, soliciting others to stock their classrooms with basic supplies. Creating these lists has been commonplace in recent years as teachers look outside their schools and districts to fill their supply needs.
Some of the most popular requested items are dry erase markers, Kleenex, Lysol wipes, erasers, tape, pens, colored copy paper, file folders, and pencil sharpeners. Others request educational items such as a microscope, map, or globe, which seem essential for student learning.
Read MoreRed State Schools Reluctant to Follow Mandate Requiring Bibles Be Taught in Classrooms
Oklahoma school districts have not changed their curriculum despite a mandate requiring the Bible to be taught during the 2024-2025 school year, according to the New York Times.
Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters mandated in June that all schools are required to teach the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, in the upcoming school year. The school districts in Oklahoma have been slow implementing the mandate, as some teachers stated that there has been no direction, the NYT reported.
Read MoreCommentary: Vo-Tech Education is Taking Off, and It’s Not Your Dad’s Shop Class Anymore
Jon Graft is on a mission to reignite the passion for learning by pushing a long-denigrated classroom practice: vocational education.
The superintendent of the Butler Tech District of high schools in Ohio is a leader in the growing movement to revive public education, marred by low test scores and high absenteeism, through a hands-on approach to learning that prepares students for careers in today’s tech-driven economy. Traditionally a means of funneling disadvantaged kids into outdated shop classes and dead-end jobs, vocational education is being reimagined by Graft and others in sophisticated career and technical education (CTE) programs nationwide, offering high school students of all academic abilities training in healthcare, computer science, engineering, skilled trades, and even the arts.
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