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
Report: Four-Day School Week Leads to Improved Academic Performance
As Labor Day abruptly marked the end of summer, arguments for a four-day workweek roiled across the Internet as a conduit to improved health and a greater quality of life. But the question of students enjoying a shorter school week has remained largely off the table because of concerns that an extended weekend would hurt…Natalie Johnson -
- Opinion
This Case Could Open Up School Choice Options for 37 States
On Sept. 2, the Douglas County School District Board of Education filed a request for extension to the Supreme Court of the United States asking for review of the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling on its scholarship program earlier this summer. In June, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down the educational choice program on the state’s…Brittany Corona -
- News
In Washington State, Thousands of Kids Aren’t Returning to School
As charter school teachers in Seattle are showing up to work despite a court’s ruling their schools unconstitutional, public school teachers in the city are on strike, leaving 53,000 students at home for the first few days of the 2015-16 school year. “There’s a big irony here right now in Seattle,” said Liv Finne, director…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
5 Worrisome Back to School Numbers
It’s back to school time again, but before you start helping your kids out with their math homework, let’s look at some numbers that may be easier to digest—but difficult to believe: 53,000: Number of students in Seattle who did not go back to school on Wednesday as public school teachers voted to strike. This…Mary Clare Amselem -
- News
1,300 Students at Risk After State Court Invalidates Charter School Law
A ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court overturning a 2012 voter-approved charter school law could leave about 1,300 students without a school next year. The ruling came Friday, just before Labor Day weekend. For now, the students are attending classes, but the fate of the schools is unclear. The Washington State Charter School Association has said it will find a…Mary Tillotson -
- Opinion
The Idiocy of the ACLU’s Lawsuit Against a New School Choice Option
Another school year is underway, and more parents than ever are using school choice to ensure the best education for their children. Or should I say trying to use it? Some groups, after all, are trying to thwart them. Who, you ask? Just ask parents in Nevada. The Silver State is one of five nationwide…Ed Feulner -
- Opinion
Over 1 in 10 With Student Loans Don’t Even Know They Have Them
A postsecondary credential is almost universally viewed as important. As student debt levels continue to rise, however, Americans are losing confidence in the quality and affordability of their higher education. A clear majority of Americans think that the quality of higher education in the United States has stagnated or declined, and almost three-quarters think that…Matthew M. Chingos -
- News
San Francisco Elementary School Creates ‘Gender-Neutral’ Bathrooms
A San Francisco elementary school has created gender-neutral bathrooms for its students in kindergarten and first grade, the “Today” show reported Friday. Miraloma Elementary School decided to transform two single-stall facilities that had been divided by gender in the classroom into two gender-neutral facilities. Now, any student can use either bathroom. School officials defended the…Kate Scanlon -
- News
Protests at Missouri School Over Transgender Student Using Girls’ Bathroom
Protests erupted at a Missouri high school on Monday after a transgender student requested permission to use the girls’ restroom. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Lila Perry, a transgender senior at Hillsboro High School, asked for permission from the school to use bathrooms and locker rooms designated for female students. “I wasn’t hurting anyone….Kate Scanlon -
- Opinion
ACLU Files Lawsuit to Block School Choice for Nevada Children
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just filed a lawsuit intended to block students from participating in Nevada’s groundbreaking near-universal education savings account (ESA) option. The ESA option was signed into law this spring by Gov. Brian Sandoval, R-Nev., and began accepting applications a few weeks ago. More than 2,200 parents have already applied…Lindsey Burke -
- News
Does This School’s Transgender Bathroom Policy Violate Student Privacy?
A Missouri school district is under fire for allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms designated for the opposite sex. Alliance Defending Freedom has sent a letter to the Hillsboro R-3 School District asking the board of education to change its recent decision. “Protecting students from inappropriate exposure to the opposite sex is not only perfectly legal, it’s a school…Kate Scanlon -
- News
How One Catholic School Found Faith in the Floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina
NEW ORLEANS—When Hurricane Katrina left Mount Carmel Academy under 10 feet of water, many thought the school would be gone forever. Located in the Lakeview neighborhood, among the hardest hit areas in New Orleans, the all-girls Catholic high school was trapped between two breaks in the levees that were supposed to protect the city. The…Kelsey Bolar -
- News
Here’s How Hurricane Katrina Changed Schools in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS—For all its devastation, Hurricane Katrina swept into this city an opportunity to embark on one of the greatest education experiments in America. In the aftermath of the 2005 storm, instead of rebuilding a public school system where roughly two in every three schools were deemed “failing,” the city transformed almost all of its…Kelsey Bolar -
- News
New Hampshire Summit Seeks to Bring Innovation to Education
LONDONDERRY, N.H.—Parents, educators, and voters expressed concern over the role of the federal government in education during a summit today in New Hampshire. Attendees, panelists, and speakers said that parents, communities, and states need to have a larger role in solving what event organizers called the “education crisis” facing the nation. The 2015 Education Summit…Kate Scanlon -
- Opinion
Hope for Education in America: “Disruptive Innovation” and Education Savings Accounts
How exactly does a new and innovative product, perhaps dismissed at first as marginal or impracticable, become a major player in a market? It doesn’t tend to happen the same way that established products gain market share. So-called sustaining innovations occur within a market’s established competitors and make existing products more effective (and sometimes more…Molly Field -
- News
Father Forced to Quit His Job Says School Voucher ‘Got Me My Son Back’
For years, Kirk and Tanya White thought New Orleans public schools didn't work for their two sons. They got their eldest son, Geno, into a private school under a city education initiative, but his father says it turned out the new school also was failing by Louisiana's own standards. Then Geno hit a low point when he was…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
How to Parent: A Department of Education Guide
A few years ago, the Obama administration caught backlash after the Department of Education released suggested lesson plans to schools in conjunction with a national back-to-school address that the president was delivering on Sept. 8, 2009. But federally directed lesson plans are so 2009. On Friday the Department of Education released a “checklist” designed to “help…Lindsey Burke -
- News
A Big Week in Education: Congress Considers No Child Left Behind Rewrites
Eight years after the program technically expired, Congress is finally debating an update of the contentious No Child Left Behind Act, which poured an avalanche of federal programs and testing standards on public schools across the U.S. The House’s update of No Child Left Behind, called the Student Success Act, will be the topic of…Natalie Johnson -
- Opinion
Students Will No Longer Face Jail Time for Missing School in Texas
Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes the number of children charged with Class C misdemeanors for skipping school. Texas was one of only two states to consider truancy a crime, and in 2013 the Lone Star State prosecuted over 115,000 kids for missing school. The result: 17-year-old students were locked up with adult…Jason Snead -
- News
University of Wisconsin Launches Program to Find Missing Soldiers
More than 73,000 Americans who served in World War II “remain unaccounted for,” according to the Department of Defense. As we approach the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of the war this September, their families still wait for answers about what happened to their loved ones. Recently, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has decided to help locate…Kate Scanlon