Education Policy & School Reform News

This section covers K12 policy, school board elections, curriculum transparency, parental rights, school choice, charter and voucher programs, and state and federal rules that shape classrooms. The Daily Signal includes news reports, analysis, commentary, and opinion pieces to explain how these decisions affect students, families, and educators.
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    • Opinion

    2020 Proves What Happens on Campus Does Not Stay on Campus

    The Las Vegas marketing slogan “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” meant to convey the hope that whatever you did during your stopover in “Sin City” would remain secret to friends and family. Equally, many assumed that the racialized theories that developed in the academy in the 20th century would stay within the cloistered…
    Mike Gonzalez
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    • Opinion

    8 Education Choice Wins in 2020

    This year, the coronavirus pandemic presented new hurdles for 55.1 million students and their families after 124,000 public and private schools closed nationwide. Despite these unprecedented challenges, policymakers and families responded quickly with innovative solutions, which helped to advance education choice in 2020. Here are eight examples of education choice wins from this year: 1….
    Jude Schwalbach
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    • Opinion

    Human Rights Campaign Wants Christian Schools to Abandon Beliefs or Lose Accreditation

    The Human Rights Campaign—a large, influential LGBTQ advocacy group— recently released a policy brief with recommendations for a Biden administration, and the suggestions are alarming. The organization’s “Blueprint for Positive Change 2020” describes itself as “a comprehensive list of 85 individual policy recommendations aimed at improving the lives of LGBTQ people.” But the Human Rights…
    Nicole Russell
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    • News

    Ohio County Closes Schools, Leaves Casino Open

    The blackjack tables remain open in Toledo, Ohio, but some middle schools and all high schools are required to close. An order issued by Ohio’s Lucas County Regional Board of Health on Nov. 25 mandated that “education for Grades 7-12 (or 9 to 12 depending on school configuration) will be virtual from December 4th until…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    Education or Indoctrination? ‘Anti-Racist’ Teaching Sweeps K-12 Schools Targeting ‘Whiteness’

    The notices to parents began arriving fast and furious in the weeks after the death of George Floyd in late May. In dramatic, urgent language, K-12 schools across the country—both public and private—professed solidarity with Black Lives Matter and vowed to dismantle white supremacy, as they scrambled to introduce anti-racist courses and remake themselves into…
    John Murawski
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    • Opinion

    The Tragedy of Black Education Is New

    Several years ago, Project Baltimore began an investigation of Baltimore’s school system. What it found was an utter disgrace. In 19 of Baltimore’s 39 high schools, out of 3,804 students, only 14 of them, or less than 1%, were proficient in math. In 13 of Baltimore’s high schools, not a single student scored proficient in…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • News

    Online Learning Tanked Grades, Learning in VA’s Largest School System, Study Finds

    Virtual learning due to the coronavirus pandemic is tanking academic achievement in the largest school system in Virginia, a study from Fairfax County Public Schools published this week found. “Results indicate a widening gap between students who were previously performing satisfactorily and those performing unsatisfactorily,” the report said. “Students who performed well previously primarily performed slightly…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • Opinion

    What American Schools Should Teach About Race, Racism, and Slavery

    Regarding race and much else, America’s students are not taught history. In fact, they are not taught; they are indoctrinated. With anti-Americanism. The purpose of all teaching about race in American schools is to engender contempt for America. They are, therefore, “taught” the lies of The New York Times’ 1619 Project—that the United States was…
    Dennis Prager
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    • Opinion

    Should Blacks Support Destruction of Charter Schools?

    The academic achievement gap between black and white students has proven resistant to most educational policy changes. Some say that educational expenditures explain the gap, but is that true? Look at educational per pupil expenditures: Baltimore city ranks fifth in the U.S. for per pupil spending at $15,793. The Detroit Public Schools Community District spends…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • Opinion

    Discipline Suffers as San Diego Schools Adopt ‘Anti-Racism’ Grading System

    Equality is out and “equity” is in. The San Diego Unified School District has approved a change to its grading system that coincides with broader ideas of restorative justice and “anti-racism.” It will do this by no longer letting late assignments and bad behavior in the classroom affect grades. Students also won’t be penalized for…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • Opinion

    What Happens When a High School Offers a Conservative Video

    As far as HuffPost and the rest of the American left are concerned, no non-left-wing idea should be allowed to enter an American school. Not even for five minutes. This past month, Maumee High School, a high school near Toledo, Ohio, offered its students a way to receive some extracurricular credit. In the words of…
    Dennis Prager
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    • News

    Harvard’s President Creates Committee to Weigh Removal of ‘Historical Figures’ From Campus

    Harvard University announced the creation of a committee Monday “to articulate general principles” for removing the names of “historical figures” from campus, according to a statement from the school president. Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow said the committee should evaluate “the individual’s failings and flaws but also the individual’s positive contributions to the University and…
    Mary Rose Corkery
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    • Opinion

    The Despicable Teachings on College Campuses

    The ugliness that we have recently witnessed—including rioting, billions of dollars of property destruction, assaults, murders, and grossly stupid claims about our nation—has its origins on college campuses. Two websites, College Reform and College Fix, report on the despicable teachings on college campuses across the nation. Let us look at some of it. In response…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • Opinion

    What’s the Impact on Families and Kids If Schools Stay Closed?

    School districts are “losing contact with thousands of students, from Philadelphia to Houston to Los Angeles,” according to news reports. What is going on here?  Jonathan Butcher, senior policy analyst for the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, joins The “Daily Signal News” podcast to discuss the impact on families and children when…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • Opinion

    Civil Society Can Usher in a New Era of Education

    Learning hasn’t been easy for Ayana Osborne’s family, who became homeless in December 2019. Mandatory school closures due to COVID-19 meant that her three children enrolled in D.C. public schools spent the spring semester trying to attend their virtual education on the two public computers in a hotel lobby. As D.C. schools began the fall semester…
    Jude Schwalbach
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    • Opinion

    Liberal Totalitarianism Is Dominating College Campuses

    American liberals once prided themselves on their fidelity to the First Amendment. Indeed, they had an expansive understanding of it. They defended unpopular speech and even the most provocative examples of “freedom of expression.” One could question their hesitation to set limits in these areas, but there was something admirable about their principled defense of…
    Daniel J. Mahoney
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    • Opinion

    How School Choice Is About Marriage and Family, Not Just ‘the 3 Rs’

    Nearly two decades ago, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, ushering in a period of education “reform” laser-focused on reading and math achievement. That effort shined a bright light on academic achievement gaps, disaggregating student outcomes by race and income, and providing reams of data detailing all the…
    Lindsey Burke
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    • Opinion

    Plan for Higher Education Would Fuel ‘Degree Inflation,’ Further Federal Takeover

    When addressing the very real issues of rising student loan debt and unaffordable tuition prices, former Vice President Joe Biden’s policy solutions embrace the false promise of “free college.”   The Biden campaign recently released “The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School,” which details many proposals the plan’s authors suggest are the cure for fixing…
    Mary Clare Amselem
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    • Opinion

    How ‘Systemic Liberalism’ Failed Public Education in America

    Liberalism and its big government underpinnings have become systemic in American culture and institutions, with a profound impact on the nation. In large part, an increasingly biased media, Hollywood, Big Tech, and academia have driven the left’s rise in prominence. Freedom of thought, tolerance, and inclusion, once foundational principles of liberalism, have been replaced by…
    Robert Basmadjian
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    • News

    Public Schools Across Country Promote Black Lives Matter, Organize Protests

    Public schools across the country have endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraged teachers, students, and parents to do the same, with some schools organizing their own BLM protests, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found. The Black Lives Matter movement has been linked to 91% of riots across the United States between May 24 and…
    Peter Hasson
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