Education in Focus

During a congressional hearing on civics education Wednesday morning, Democrats stated that K-12 students do not receive instruction on critical race theory. Republicans disagreed and asked witnesses pointed questions to show the framework is in schools. The hearing highlighted the partisan divide on the kinds of instruction students should receive regarding the nation's founding and whether schools should approach teaching with equity or equality. The tension between the parties was evident from the very beginning of the hearing, titled "Back to Basics: America's Founding, Civics, and Self-Government in K-12 Curricula," when committee chair Rep. Aaron Bean, a Republican from Florida, lambasted critical race theory and said American students are behind other countries. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_b125d56e-b282-11ef-9467-1bdb8d9ac15b.html

A spate of New York School districts have become the latest to join more than 500 school districts across the United States suing the biggest social media companies for what they allege are adverse effects on students’ mental health. According to court filings, the Potsdam School District in New York joined the series of suits last week. More than 30 states are also suing the social media company. “American children are suffering an unprecedented mental health crisis, fueled by Defendants’ addictive and dangerous social media products,” the master complaint for school districts reads. “In the past decade, Americans’ engagement with social media grew exponentially, nowhere more drastically than among our country’s youth.” Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Jewish parents and teachers claiming that an ethnic studies course taught in Los Angeles Unified School District classrooms was antisemitic because of its position on the state of Israel. Judge Fernando M. Olguin dismissed the case Saturday. He said the organization Concerned Jewish Parents and Teachers of Los Angeles did not have sufficient standing against the Unified Teachers of Los Angeles, the school district, a teacher who was sued and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which created the curriculum.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_2fece2f6-b0f9-11ef-b409-33d8f8fe73f3.html

A lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lawsuit against the Austin-based Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center may spell trouble for its regulars and relief for those living and going to school nearby this holiday season. Paxton asked the court Tuesday to prevent Sunrise, the self-proclaimed “highest-volume provider of homeless services in Travis County,” from operating within 1,000 feet of a school or playground. The homeless assistance outreach, which is a ministry out of a church, is currently within 200 feet of Joslin Elementary School, according to the court document. Paxton alleges that its operation has created a public nuisance for students and surrounding residents and violates Texas law.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_9e21da90-acfa-11ef-82ea-ff0b7ff17da0.html

President-elect Donald Trump announced that former wrestling CEO and administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon will be his secretary of Education. On Truth Social Tuesday evening, Trump posted a statement announcing McMahon would lead the agency and alluded to his campaign promise to dissolve the Department of Education. "We will send education back to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort," Trump said in the statement. Trump has used the phrase to describe the effects of eliminating the Department of Education in the nation's capital and putting states back in charge of education systems.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/funding-spending/article_c269a86a-a746-11ef-b92d-9b9987391f30.html

States and private organizations argued this month that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals should overturn a district court decision allowing the Biden administration to implement its expanded Title IX rules ahead of oral arguments next month. The Department of Education previously argued that the appellate court should side with a district court’s ruling to allow the rule to go into effect while litigation continues. The argument is the latest legal salvo by states against the federal government over the changes to include gender identity under the law prohibiting sex discrimination at the nation’s educational institutions. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_f8d05146-a90e-11ef-bb94-d3477518bd32.html

The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump has said it will “deliver” on the former president's promises regarding sweeping changes to the nation’s educational system and federal agencies. On the campaign trail, Trump said he would disassemble the Department of Education and give states control of local schools as well as promoting school choice and removing improving outcomes for students. “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail,” said Karoline Leavitt, a  spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull stories:https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_12ccc5d0-a5da-11ef-889a-e7f3471935f5.htmlhttps://www.chalkboardnews.com/opinion/article_91eec870-a2bc-11ef-b593-c3b4795d7793.html

According to a prominent free speech advocacy group, the United States experienced more than 10,000 book bans, the highest in the last three years, as the nation waits for possible changes to federal enforcement from another Trump administration. According to a new report from PEN America, the organization has found a steady increase in what it labels book bans occurring in the U.S. each year. Organizations like Moms for Liberty oppose pornographic and explicit content in school libraries and say students can still access the titles at other libraries and bookstores. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_a1c2d07e-a2b8-11ef-b87a-4fb7e117e7b9.html

The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights announced Wednesday that it had come to a resolution with the Oklahoma school district where nonbinary student Nex Benedict attended before their death in February. Owasso Public School District has entered into a resolution agreement with the enforcement branch of the federal education agency that requires it to take specific actions related to the implementation of Title IX, such as meeting with Benedict’s mother and explaining how to file a Title IX complaint. The letter found the school district “generally failed to fulfill its Title IX obligations during the 2021–2022, 2022–2023, and 2023– 2024 school years” by investigating sexual harassment outside the Title IX process and procedures. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_e84cf118-a2af-11ef-ba14-bb6e6db248af.html

With the victory of Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump for president of the United States, his campaign positions on education will become focal points for parents, educators and school leaders in the coming months and years. On the campaign trail, Trump said he would abolish the U.S. Department of Education and promote school choice policies. However, scholars and actions from the previous Trump administration suggest a more complicated picture for those outcomes may be likely.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_4840d14a-9c4b-11ef-9817-9bcb950c16c7.html

Liam Morrison, whose Massachusetts middle school told him to remove a shirt that said “there are only two genders,” has asked the Supreme Court to take up his case, alleging the school is violating his First Amendment rights by preventing him from wearing it. The case typifies the divide between outspoken conservative families and school leaders who say they must protect and promote acceptance for all students, as Middleborough Public Schools Superintendent Carolyn Lyons said last year. The tension was also made evident in a recent report called “The Costs of Conflict,” which intended to quantify the costs of culturally divisive conflicts over topics like transgender policies and content moderation. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_67189110-a11a-11ef-bc6e-6f172b035eed.html

A member of the North Carolina State Board of Education is alarmed by a new academic performance report on the state’s remote learning academies. According to the report, two schools received an F, while 12 were rated with a D and 19 with Cs. Only one earned an A and one a B. By comparison, traditional schools had much higher percentages of schools rate A, B or C.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/outcomes/article_a04f5f6f-a80a-5156-ab81-07b03dd8e205.html

With the rising popularity of generative artificial intelligence, which allows users to enter prompts or questions and receive text or answers, students can cheat in ways they couldn’t just a few years ago, and now they can do it even better with programs like StealthGPT. As Chalkboard has reported, cheating services have also risen in popularity. These services offer the technology to students in a gray market where cheating services are explicitly offered to students while technically prohibited in an app’s terms of service or policies. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_502cc48e-977a-11ef-867e-5f844d1b74e6.html

After charges were announced against administrators and test proctors allegedly involved in a fraudulent teacher certification scheme, state agencies said they would follow law enforcement's lead to ensure teachers are properly licensed. The Texas Education Agency and the Arizona Department of Education have said that they will cooperate with law enforcement and state boards of education to take action if necessary after the Harris County District Attorney’s office said up to 400 teachers were fraudulently certified. As Chalkboard previously reported, the lucrative scheme allegedly involved several administrators and a basketball coach from Houston Independent School District. The administrators allegedly took teacher certification tests for teachers while bribed test proctors looked the other way.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx

A new report from Reason Foundation ranks every state’s open enrollment laws, which allow students to transfer from their assigned public school to other public schools with open seats. Reason Foundation, a libertarian public policy group, found that Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia had the best laws for students hoping to transfer to a different school. The report also examined other key areas, including inter-district transfers and which states charged students tuition.  Jude Schwalbach, the study's chief author and senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, told Chalkboard that open enrollment is part of school choice. Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxxFull story: https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/school-choice/article_3f7e1b66-97b0-11ef-9c14-57803c6b6f6e.html