Author: Jonaki Mehta

For more than 50 years, the Education Department has revealed a host of realities about how students are being treated in every public school across America: which kids are being bullied, which ones are being harassed and which students can access the internet, among other things. The agency’s Civil Rights Data Collection is intended to do just that — help keep schools accountable. The latest information, collected about the 2023-24 school year, was supposed to be published last December, according to the Education Department’s own deadline. But it hasn’t been. The agency hasn’t responded to multiple requests from NPR asking…

The Education Department plans to shift oversight of special education to another agency, alarming many disability rights advocates. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images Catch up on what you missed with our Education newsletter, sent weekly. In a call with disability rights advocates Thursday, officials from the U.S. Department of Education tried to ease concerns about plans to move the agency’s special education offices to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The effort seemed to fail. “Today’s briefing left more questions than answers for parents and educators,” says Chad Rummel, who leads the Council…

Education Secretary Linda McMahon is at the center of the Trump administration’s work to dismantle the agency she runs, the U.S. Department of Education. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Two of the U.S. Department of Education’s biggest responsibilities will shift to other federal agencies: safeguarding student civil rights and administering programs for students with disabilities. The Trump administration said Tuesday it will move much of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OSERS manages programs that support students with…

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia offers guided tactile tours aimed at blind and low vision visitors in a gallery called Signers’ Hall. Museum educator Sydney Wharton traces visitor Tim Kelly’s Jr. hands over the statue of Benjamin Franklin as she leads him and his father, Tim Kelly Sr., through the gallery. Rachel Wisniewski for NPR hide caption toggle caption Rachel Wisniewski for NPR Press the “Listen” button below to hear the story text, read by reporter Jonaki Mehta. PHILADELPHIA — About a dozen visitors pause at the entrance to a gallery filled with statues of 42 men who had…

Ninth grader Soraya Martin, left, has dyslexia, but using her cellphone and other technologies allow her to excel at school. Her mother, Heather Martin, says students with disabilities aren’t always being considered when it comes to school screen bans. Jonaki Mehta/NPR hide caption toggle caption Jonaki Mehta/NPR CONCORD, Calif. — Ninth grader Soraya Martin is a bubbly, social teenager who recently found a new passion. “I’m a very creative writer, I love to write stories for fun,” she says. Stories come naturally to Soraya, but reading and writing don’t. That’s because she has dyslexia. “Academically, school has always been a…

Mary Acebu, a special education teacher at Riverview Middle School in Bay Point, Calif., works with a student during a math lesson. She says using AI to help with the paperwork part of her job allows her to spend more time interacting with her students in a meaningful way. Talia Herman for NPR hide caption toggle caption Talia Herman for NPR Editor’s note: NPR uses only the first names of minors in this story because it discusses their learning disabilities and placement in special education. BAY POINT, Calif. — The sun would just be rising when teacher Mary Acebu began…

Education Secretary Linda McMahon shared plans Tuesday to hire more lawyers to work on civil rights after about half of the staff, including many lawyers, at the Office for Civil Rights were fired last year. Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images In a fiery hearing Tuesday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended her work dismantling the very department she leads, with Senate Democrats saying the results have made life harder for parents and students. McMahon’s first appearance on Capitol Hill in nearly a year was intended to unpack the White House proposal…

Harold Rogers and Miranda Lacy met at West Virginia State University—they both still consider this campus home. They went on to graduate school at West Virginia University, where they say they’ve faced huge challenges as blind students. Kristian Thacker for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kristian Thacker for NPR Press the “Listen” button below to hear the story text, read by reporter Jonaki Mehta. Miranda Lacy and Harold Rogers became fast friends during their undergraduate years. They both shared their dreams with one another: Rogers wanted to use his education to become a psychotherapist, Lacy a social worker. So, they…

Any child born on U.S. soil has a right to citizenship. It was established by the 14th Amendment in 1868, and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme court 128 years ago. On Wednesday, the high court is set to hear oral arguments in a case that could narrow or even end birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara. The Trump administration has argued the “privilege” has been too freely applied to children of non-citizens. “Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into our country under birthright citizenship, and it wasn’t meant for that reason,” President Trump said last year. If this constitutionally…

The Supreme Court will weigh a provision that guarantees automatic citizenship to all babies born in the U.S. Here’s a look at how their decision could impact different parts of the education world. Jonaki Mehta 2026-03-29 12:06:22 Source link