Author: BelieveAgain

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that some considered the Brown v. Board of Education for students whose native language is not English.In its 1974 ruling in Lau v. Nichols, the court held that the failure of the San Francisco school system to effectively educate some 1,800 Chinese-speaking students denied them “a meaningful opportunity” to participate in school.Like the 1954 Brown decision striking down racial segregation in schools, Lau addressed educational inequities faced by a disadvantaged minority population. Like Brown, the justices spoke without dissent (though there were some minor differences over the case issued in…

After serving as president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools since 2012, Nina Rees stepped down last month. Charter schools thrived on Rees’ watch but also became increasingly contentious. Given that, it seemed like a good time to check in with Rees and get her frank perspective, now that she’s newly freed from the responsibility of being the official voice of the charter sector. Before taking on the role of representing the nation’s nearly 8,000 charter schools, Rees served as the first head of innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. Here’s what she had to…

What would Donald Trump do in the realm of K-12 if voters return the former president to the White House?He and his campaign haven’t outlined many specifics, but a recently published document that details conservative plans to completely remake the executive branch offers some possibilities. Among them: Title I, the $18 billion federal fund that supports low-income students, would disappear in a decade. Federal special education funds would flow to school districts as block grants with no strings attached, or even to savings accounts for parents to use on private school or other education expenses.The U.S. Department of Education would…

The ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Bill Cassidy has represented Louisiana in the upper chamber since 2015. Cassidy recently released a much-discussed report, “Preventing a Lost Generation: Facing a Critical Moment for Students’ Literacy.” As schools struggle to address learning loss, and at a time when “the nation’s report card” finds that just 33 percent of 4th graders are proficient in reading, it’s heartening to see leaders step up. Given that, I reached out to the senator to discuss his report and what he has in mind. Here’s what he had to…

Idaho Gov. Brad Little made a big announcement on Jan. 8 during his annual State of the State address: He’s proposing a $2 billion investment, the largest in state history, to renovate and modernize the state’s school buildings.The announcement was notable for several reasons. Idaho was recently the subject of a series of investigative articles by ProPublica and the Idaho Statesman that exposed dismal and even unsafe conditions in many of the state’s schools.The Gem State, the news organizations reported, spends less per student on school infrastructure than any other state.Little’s proposed investment in the state’s school buildings would be…

Programs that direct public money toward private schools of a family’s choosing or family accounts that can cover any education expenses outside the public school system are proliferating.Parents say they have sought out these programs as a way to deliver an education customized to their children’s unique needs. Politicians championing them say they represent a lifeline for students trapped in underperforming schools. Critics argue the programs deprive public schools of much-needed resources and point out that many children now benefiting from private school choice funds were already attending private schools beforehand. Several private school choice programs are facing lawsuits alleging…

More than 200 school districts have now sued the major social media companies over the youth mental health crisis. What started as a single lawsuit filed by the Seattle public schools one year ago has morphed into an all-out offensive against the social media platforms that adolescents spend multiple hours a day on.It is still the early stages of this legal saga, but experts say it could prove to be highly consequential for K-12 education—win, lose, or settle.“Most of these [lawsuits] are as much about legal success as they are about shaping issues and winning in the court of public…

In “Straight Talk with Rick and Jal,” Harvard University’s Jal Mehta and I examine the reforms and enthusiasms that permeate education. In a field full of buzzwords and jargon, our goal is simple: Tell the truth, in plain English, about what’s being proposed and what it might mean for students, teachers, and parents. We may be wrong and we will frequently disagree, but we’ll try to be candid and ensure that you don’t need a Ph.D. in eduspeak to understand us. Today’s topic is the value of scholars writing for the public.—RickJal: I am a dreadfully slow writer. Articles, books,…

A slew of federal and state funding initiatives that helped schools weather the logistical and financial chaos of the pandemic are set to expire in the coming months or have recently done so—even as district leaders and advocates argue the need for those funds hasn’t gone away.The highest-profile funding program set to dwindle is the last and largest round of $190 billion in emergency aid Congress sent to districts in three rounds between March 2020 and March 2021. Districts will have to commit all their remaining funds from ESSER to specific expenses by Sept. 30 or forfeit the remainder.But ESSER…

Over a sharp dissent by two justices, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a challenge to the admissions plan for a highly selective K-12 magnet school in a case that many conservative legal advocates had hoped would be the next step after the justices last year outlawed race-based admissions in higher education.The court declined to hear the case involving Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va. A group advocating for Asian American students had sought review of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that upheld the…