Author: Cory Turner

With school choice programs ascendant not just in Iowa but across the U.S., Cedar Rapids offers a preview of who wins and who loses when education meets the free market. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I’m Juana Summers.SCOTT DETROW, HOST: And I’m Scott Detrow. As in many Republican-controlled states, Iowa’s leaders have gone all in on school choice, pushing to create and expand alternatives to public schools. This has created a big problem for the Cedar Rapids public school district, which has been losing students and dollars to the competition, and now it is…

The average salary for a public school teacher in the U.S. rose to $74,495 in the last school year, up 3.5% from the year before. But adjusted for inflation, today’s teachers are estimated to be earning less, not more, than they were in 2017. That’s according to a new review of school-related data from the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers union with 3 million members. The annual release includes the latest data — collected directly from state departments of education – on teacher and support staff salaries, student enrollment and even how much money schools are getting…

Principal Condra Allred visits a third grade class at Cleveland Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in April. Soon, Allred expects to hear for certain if her school will close. Cliff Jette for NPR hide caption toggle caption Cliff Jette for NPR On an unseasonably warm February morning, Principal Condra Allred walked the hallways of Cleveland Elementary School’s 76-year-old building wearing a pink fanny pack slung over one shoulder like a bandolier. Inside the pack, a walkie-talkie squawked with the voices of staff who needed back-up on the playground, or a bathroom break, or help soothing a troubled student. Allred…

The Energy Department is slated to move into the Education Department’s current headquarters later this year. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images In the latest effort by the Trump administration to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, it announced on Thursday that all staff will be leaving the department’s longtime, Washington, D.C., headquarters in the Lyndon B. Johnson building, which the administration estimates “is roughly 70% vacant.” “Thanks to the hard work of so many, we have made unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon in…

The Trump administration announced a plan to move significant management of and responsibility for the nation’s federal student loan portfolio from the U.S. Education Department to the U.S. Treasury Department. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP The Trump administration announced Thursday a three-phase transition that will move significant management of and responsibility for the nation’s federal student loan portfolio from the U.S. Education Department to the U.S. Treasury Department. The administration says the Treasury Department is better equipped to, among other things, help millions of borrowers who are in default return to repayment on their loans, though the…

Just over a year ago, the U.S. Department of Education abandoned key oversight of the companies that run the federal student loan program, according to a new report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO investigators found that, in February 2025, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) stopped reviewing the accuracy of loan servicers’ records. FSA also stopped reviewing recordings of calls with borrowers to make sure they’re being given accurate information. Without this oversight, the report warns, borrowers could feel the consequences. “If servicers’ records are inaccurate, borrowers could, for instance, be placed in the wrong…

Roughly a million borrowers defaulted on their federal student loans late last year, with millions delinquent on their payments and sliding toward the same fate. That’s according to federal data and the latest Household Debt and Credit Report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which dropped on Tuesday. The report includes student loan data as of the end of 2025. Student loan delinquencies have continued to worsen, said New York Fed researchers on a call with reporters, and they expect the number of borrowers in default to continue to grow. The report offers further confirmation of a crisis…

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Building, which houses the U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, D.C. Bill Clark/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Bill Clark/Getty Images A new report from a government watchdog suggests the Trump administration’s efforts to fire staff at the U.S. Department of Education cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. The report, from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), focuses on the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which investigates complaints of discrimination in schools based on students’ sex, race, national origin, disability and more. In March, the administration attempted to fire more than half of…

The risks of using generative artificial intelligence to educate children and teens currently overshadow the benefits, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education. The sweeping study includes focus groups and interviews with K-12 students, parents, educators and tech experts in 50 countries, as well as a literature review of hundreds of research articles. It found that using AI in education can “undermine children’s foundational development” and that “the damages it has already caused are daunting,” though “fixable.” Because generative AI is still young — ChatGPT was released just over three years ago — the…

2025 was a tumultuous year for federal student loan borrowers. NPR breaks down the most important changes borrowers should understand as they head into 2026. SCOTT DETROW, HOST: Student loan borrowers have spent much of 2025 trying to keep up with massive changes to the federal student loan system. That includes changes to repayment plans and borrowing limits. NPR’s Cory Turner has this update on where we’ve been and where we’re headed.CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Even student loan experts found the past year a little dizzying.PERSIS YU: Let’s see. Where to start (laughter)?TURNER: Persis Yu, with the liberal advocacy group Protect…