Education Policy & School Reform News

All across America, preparations are underway for high school graduation. It’s a glorious time, representing both a milestone and a gateway to adulthood. But missing from this year’s ceremonies are more than one million kids who dropped out and will not be attending graduation day. The future those high school dropouts face is chilling. They…

This week, a dispute over playground surfaces in Missouri made its way to the Supreme Court. At question was the constitutionality of a provision in Missouri’s state constitution known as a Blaine Amendment. The court heard oral arguments on Wednesday for Trinity Lutheran v. Comer, a case involving a Lutheran preschool and its application to…

The evidence in favor of the positive benefits of school choice grew considerably stronger this month with the release of a new methodologically rigorous evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is a school voucher program in Washington, D.C., set up by Congress, which provides students with scholarships to attend private schools…

President Donald Trump has clear justification for his recommendation to eliminate a $1.2 billion after-school program administered by the Department of Education. Rigorous scientific evidence shows that the program, called 21st Century Community Learning Centers, harms children. Advocates of evidence-based policy should applaud the president’s fiscally responsible decision, part of his fiscal year 2018 budget…

In the span of 24 hours, the Senate successfully overturned two sets of regulations finalized by President Barack Obama’s Department of Education late last year. Using the oversight authority granted to it by the Congressional Review Act, the Senate passed resolutions of disapproval for accountability regulations under the Every Student Succeeds Act and regulations for teacher…

In Fairfax, 10 parents have just three minutes each to give their views to the county school board each meeting. Earning one of these coveted slots is like buying concert tickets: You get up early on the Monday before the meeting and click frantically, hoping to be among the first 10 when the school board opens its sign-up line. Since…

In honor of International Women’s Day, the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington this week coordinated “A Day Without a Woman.” Women were asked to not engage in paid or unpaid work, avoid spending any money (except at small, women- or minority-owned businesses), and wear red in solidarity. Undoubtedly, some college women chose to partake in…

While college administrators and professors accept disgraceful behavior, we as taxpayers, donors, and parents should not foot the bill. Let’s look at some of that behavior. A University of Washington Tacoma Writing Center press release told students that expecting Americans to use proper grammar perpetuates racism. The University of Nebraska Omaha will host a workshop…

Editor's note: Today your letters include thoughtful responses to a commentary by school choice activist Virginia Walden Ford and to a Daily Signal supporter's appeal about making a difference on important issues. Want to write us? You'll see how below. —Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: I agree with Virginia Walden Ford’s commentary article. The NAACP has…

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, “The president’s decision to ask Betsy DeVos to run the Department of Education should offend every single American man, woman, and child who has benefitted from the public education system in this country.” Expressing similar sentiments, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond said, “I expect…

A Washington Post article argues that a recently implemented federal school meals policy, the Community Eligibility Provision, is largely responsible for increased participation of low-income children in the school breakfast program. In reality, the Community Eligibility Provision turns welfare on its head by making it possible for children from middle-class and wealthy families to receive…

In 1964, students at the University of California, Berkeley joined together to fight for their right to free speech. Last night, a group of over 1,500 protestors showed up on that same campus to shut down a speaker with whom they disagreed, and about 150 of them started a riot. Clearly, the culture of tolerance…

Students at dozens of academic institutions across the country have called for their university endowments to divest equities in the fossil fuel industries. When University of Denver trustees voted this week against fossil fuel divestment, many students walked out of their classes to bring awareness to this cause as the meeting took place. Fossil fuel…

According to her opponents during Wednesday’s Senate confirmation hearing, Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of education, is guilty of wanting to privatize the public schools. To be sure, the nominee’s critics are entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. Here are the facts: DeVos believes that all children are…

On Tuesday night, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a confirmation hearing for Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos. Devos, a longtime proponent of school choice, also fielded questions about her positions on higher education and preschool. The hearing turned into a vibrant debate among the senators about the merits of education choice,…

In 1636, the first college in our nation was founded for Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae (for Truth, for Christ, and for the Church). Since then, Harvard has had a profound—and sometimes profoundly bad—impact on the American system of higher learning. With the start of a new academic semester and 381 years of history, now is…