Education News
Reports on education reform, school choice, and classroom policies. The Daily Signal provides conservative commentary and opinion alongside education news.
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- News
Teaching Critical Race Theory to End in Arkansas Agencies Without Governor’s Signature
Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed legislation to become law without his signature Monday that ends the use of critical race theory education for state agencies. Hutchinson effectively approved SB 627 Monday, “an act to prohibit the propagation of divisive concepts” and “to review state entity training materials.” The legislation bans state agencies from teaching “divisive concepts,”…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
How Critical Race Theory Is Taught in Public Schools
Critical race theory is making its way into institutions across America. Christopher Rufo, a visiting fellow for domestic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss how critical race theory is affecting what children learn in schools. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news outlet.) “Critical race theory is an academic…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
PragerU Provides Antidote to Left’s Poisonous Education Agenda
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,…Rob Bluey -
- News
Critical Race Theory About to See Its Day in Court
As recently as last summer, few people outside academia had heard of critical race theory, whose central claim is that racism, not liberty, is the founding value and guiding vision of American society. Then, President Donald Trump issued an executive order last September banning the teaching of this “malign ideology” to federal employees and federal contractors….John Murawski -
- Opinion
Critical Race Theory Drives Students Apart. Idaho Lawmakers Had Enough.
Officials at an Idaho middle school tried pressuring teachers to judge students by the color of their skin. But state lawmakers rejected this application of critical race theory, a deeply divisive philosophy driving many federal, state, and local policies today. Idaho lawmakers made the case that school officials should not force students to believe “any…Jonathan Butcher -
- Opinion
Nebraska’s Education Choice Opportunity
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…Jason Bedrick -
- Opinion
I’m a Recent High School Grad. Here’s How I Fought Leftism in Classroom.
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…Anna Agresti -
- Opinion
Keep Racist Critical Race Theory Ideology Out of K-12 Classrooms
How would you feel if your child came home from school and said her teacher had told her that everything that happens in the world is “racist” and that she’s part of the problem because of the color of her skin? That may sound far-fetched, but such disturbing ideas are coming to your children’s schools,…Jonathan Butcher -
- Opinion
Federal Court Issues Commonsense Win for Campus Religious Group at Wayne State
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…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- Opinion
Military Families Deserve Flexible Education Options
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,…Jude Schwalbach -
- News
This Teacher Says Left Has Turned Public Schools Into ‘Indoctrination Centers’
If you want to keep your job as a politically conservative public school teacher, you learn to keep your mouth shut, a Chicago area teacher told The Daily Signal. Morgan Foster has taught English in middle school and, later, high school in Cook County, Illinois, for about 10 years. Now in her early 30s, Foster…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Biden’s ‘Infrastructure’ Proposal Another Unaffordable Gift to Education Establishment
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…Lindsey Burke -
- Opinion
In a Rebuke to Teachers Unions, School Choice Is Going Gangbusters in the States
School districts are slowly beginning to reopen in-person instruction after being closed for nearly a year—or, in many places, for over a year. While this is a wonderful development, it will never erase what parents experienced last year: uncertainty, inconsistency, and, in some cases, ineptitude from public schools. The events of the last year have…Lindsey Burke -
- Opinion
Do Charters Drain Funds From Pennsylvania’s Traditional Public Schools? In a Word, No.
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…Amber Northern -
- Opinion
Identity Politics and Critical Race Theory Have No Place in US Military
Sen. Tom Cotton, rightly angered that the Department of Defense is moving to indoctrinate U.S. military personnel in divisive critical race theory, has introduced a bill that would forbid it. Like colleagues in the House who sent letters to Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, expressing severe disapproval of the Navy’s decision to…Dakota Wood -
- Opinion
School Districts Are Hiding Information About Gender-Transitioning Children From Their Parents. This Is Unconstitutional.
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…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- Opinion
It’s Time to Send Our Children Back to School
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…Dr. Ben Carson -
- News
‘No Room’ for Critical Race Theory in Florida Schools, Gov. Ron DeSantis Says
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vows that critical race theory won’t be part of the state’s education curriculum. “Florida’s civics curriculum will incorporate foundational concepts with the best materials, and it will expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory and other unsubstantiated theories,” DeSantis said Wednesday. Critical race theory, Heritage Foundation scholars Jonathan Butcher and…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
How This School Board Violates Basic Voting Rights, Creating Clear Conflict of Interest
While leftists like Stacey Abrams and Vanita Gupta make false claims about nonexistent “voter suppression” over state efforts to fix vulnerabilities in state election laws, the Public Interest Legal Foundation has filed a lawsuit over a real voter suppression in Maryland. The lawsuit, filed on March 16 on behalf of several parents and their children…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Top High Schools Scrap Merit-Based Admission. Will the NBA Follow?
San Francisco’s Lowell High School is one of the top public high schools in California. Beginning with its 2021 freshman class, Lowell plans to switch from a merit-based admission system to that of a lottery. How good is Lowell? It ranked 68th nationwide by U.S. News last year. About the school’s reputation for academic excellence,…Larry Elder