Author: Cory Turner

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…

New data reveals a growing problem; millions of federal student loan borrowers are at serious risk of default. A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: New data shows a growing problem with federal student loans. Millions of borrowers are at risk, at serious risk, of defaulting. NPR’s Cory Turner explains.CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Every three months, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York releases its quarterly report on household debt and credit. And the latest for the second quarter of 2025 tells a worrying story about federal student loan borrowers.JOELLE SCALLY: More than 10% of balances were past due. That means that they’ve missed at…

As a new academic year starts, American schools are not immune from the politics of this moment. We discuss K-12 education in the U.S., and what the Trump administration wants to change about it. Cory Turner 2025-09-05 21:10:34 Source link

The entrance of the U.S. Department of Education headquarters building in Washington, D.C. J. David Ake/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption J. David Ake/Getty Images In April, the U.S. Department of Education used a landmark law intended, in part, to end racial discrimination to investigate Chicago Public Schools over a “Black Students Success Plan,” after a complaint that the program discriminated against students of other races. In July, the department ruled five Virginia school districts had violated another civil rights law, intended to protect women and girls from sex discrimination and harassment, by allowing transgender students to use school facilities…