Education Policy & School Reform News

The issue of critical race theory is raising a more fundamental question about our nation: education. Education is about more than teaching children to read and write. It is about transmitting values, transmitting a worldview, that will define how our youth think and how they will live. Per the Department of Education, in 2020, 56.4…

In a heartbreaking move for conservative court watchers, on Monday the Supreme Court denied a petition to review the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board—an appeal from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over a biological girl’s access to the boy’s bathroom in one Virginia school district. In so doing, it…

Americans can’t say they weren’t warned.   During his Senate committee confirmation hearing in February, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona affirmed his support for transgender athletes during a line of direct and intensive questioning by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.  Cardona stated, “I think that it’s critically important to have education systems and educators respect the rights of all students, including students who are…

When I began teaching my political philosophy class at Shawnee State University in the spring of 2018, I had no idea that day’s discussion would bring me to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, but it did. On that day, a biologically male student raised his hand, and I responded with a simple…

A parent of two living in Texas, Rebekah Randall was furious when her son’s teacher implied that the only place her child could learn the answers to cultural questions involving racial identity was at school. They made the “implication that my children would never receive this education in our home,” Randall told me in an…

Here is one demonstrable fact about the difference between Catholic and public schools: Students who study at Catholic schools do better in reading and math. We know this because students who attended Catholic elementary schools in 2019 tested better in mathematics and reading than students who attended public schools. The latest issue of the Digest…

If you’re a conservative parent, you likely know that our schools are littered with leftist propaganda meant to penetrate the minds of our impressionable kids. Although it’s sometimes done subconsciously by teachers, too often it’s part of the left’s agenda to turn students against traditional American values. We’re seeing the consequences throughout our culture. Fortunately,…

At first glance, Nebraska’s K-12 education system seems to be doing fairly well. On the fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading components of the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, Nebraska students scored slightly above average overall. But a closer look shows a more worrisome picture. The Urban Institute reanalyzed the NAEP data while controlling…

In her Advanced Placement government and politics class, a high school student named Anna was assigned to read a New York Times commentary that called the U.S. Constitution “imbecilic.” Many of her peers agreed with this conclusion based on the author’s argument that the Constitution is too difficult to amend. So, Anna approached her teacher…

Campus groups, students, and professors who aren’t interested in kowtowing to groupthink on issues concerning their own faith and constitutionally guaranteed rights have had a run of good luck lately in federal courts. Just a few days ago, in a lengthy opinion, Judge Robert Cleland of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of…

Americans deeply value the sacrifices that U.S. service members and their families make. They include overseas deployments, nationwide moves, mental health strain, or even the death of a spouse or parent. While many military families make major sacrifices, they draw the line when it comes to their children’s education. According to a Military Times survey,…

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced another colossal spending package—an “infrastructure” proposal that would spend $100 billion to help “upgrade or replace crumbling school buildings.” The plan also includes an additional $100 billion to expand broadband, $48 billion for workforce training, and $12 billion for community college infrastructure. With more than half of school districts…

In early February, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf delivered his 2020-21 budget address and revealed what many of us already knew: He doesn’t have much love for charter schools. He characterized them as “fronts for private management companies” whose only innovations involve “finding new ways to take money out of the pockets of property-tax payers.” Foes…

American law has long recognized the importance of parental rights. A parent’s right to oversee the care, education, and control of his or her child  is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1923, in Meyer v. Nebraska, and as recently as 2000, in Troxel v. Granville. To raise…

We recently passed the one-year anniversary of “15 days to slow the spread.” We must acknowledge the substantial difficulties that continuous lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic have had on Americans, particularly on our children and adolescents. The negative consequences of full-time distance learning, decreased social interaction, and the cancellation of group sports are exponential as…