Author: Cory Turner
The Washington headquarters of the Department of Education on March 12. A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of Education Department employees when it replaced their personalized out-of-office notifications with partisan language. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Win McNamee/Getty Images A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of Education Department employees when it replaced their personalized out-of-office e-mail notifications with partisan language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. “When government employees enter public service, they do not sign away their First Amendment rights,” U.S. District Judge…
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was created by Congress in 2007 to cancel the federal student loan debts of borrowers who spend a decade working in public service. Josh Lawton/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Josh Lawton/Getty Images The cities of Albuquerque, N.M., Boston, Chicago and San Francisco are suing the Trump administration over changes it plans to make to the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, or PSLF. The lawsuit, which also includes the nation’s two largest teachers unions and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, comes less than a week after the U.S. Department…
A new peer-reviewed analysis shows K-12 students who got regular access to social and emotional learning had better test scores and better grades. Cory Turner 2025-10-23 20:24:15 Source link
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded more than $150 million in grants to train K-12 teachers in civics education, but what does nonpartisan civics look like in these hyper-partisan times? Cory Turner 2025-10-22 08:59:13 Source link
The Trump administration is cutting another 466 federal workers from the Department of Education, including staff who oversee funding that supports children with disabilities and low-income students. ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST: Amid the government shutdown, the Trump administration has doubled down on its efforts to shrink the U.S. Education Department. Sweeping layoffs last week essentially gutted several offices, including the one overseeing special education. And now, NPR has learned the office charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws in schools may also have taken a big hit. We’re saying may because not long ago, a judge issued a temporary restraining order,…
A student raises their hand in a classroom at Tussahaw Elementary School in 2021 in McDonough, Ga. Brynn Anderson/AP Photo hide caption toggle caption Brynn Anderson/AP Photo When it comes to reading, the nation’s third- through eighth-graders are still mired in a pandemic-era slump, according to new testing data. In math, the news is only a little more heartening: Student achievement in those grades either held steady or improved slightly, though all grades remain behind performance levels of same-grade students in 2019. The data comes from NWEA, a K-12 testing and research organization, and its Spring 2025 MAP Growth assessment,…
A person walks past the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Win McNamee/Getty Images Sweeping layoffs announced Friday by the Trump administration landed another body blow to the U.S. Department of Education, this time gutting the office responsible for overseeing special education, according to multiple sources within the department. The reduction-in-force, or RIF, affects the dozens of staff responsible for roughly $15 billion dollars in special education funding, and for making sure states provide special education services to the nation’s 7.5 million children with disabilities. “This is decimating the office responsible for…
Kat Lloyd talks to the students during a presentation inside the Tenement Museum in New York City. Keren Carrion/NPR hide caption toggle caption Keren Carrion/NPR Kat Lloyd stands in the dim light on the first-floor staircase of a dilapidated, New York City tenement building. Before her: a tour of wide-eyed teens on a field trip from their high school in Queens. Their guide, Lloyd, encourages the students to imagine the building’s 22 apartments when they were new, back in 1863, and brimming with mostly German immigrants. “I start to imagine, you know, babies crying and people yelling to each other…
The battle over next year’s federal education budget has begun. Congress and the White House have released not one, not two, but three competing funding visions for the nation’s K-12 schools in fiscal year 2026. And education researchers warn that two of those three proposals — from the White House and House Republicans — would impose steep cuts on some of the United States’ most vulnerable students and disadvantaged school communities. The three proposals on the table First up, President Trump’s proposed budget would cut U.S. Department of Education funding by 15%. It would eliminate all funding ($1.3 billion) for…
In a new court filing, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is asking a federal judge to force the U.S. Department of Education to follow the law and cancel the debts of borrowers who have met longstanding requirements for loan forgiveness. The AFT argues the department is delaying cancellation for many borrowers in a way that is “unwarranted and unlawful” and will have “real and significant consequences.” That’s because the clock is ticking. With the American Rescue Plan, Congress temporarily stopped treating loan cancellation as taxable income until Jan. 1, 2026. Soon, many borrowers will again be expected to pay…