BY: FREEDOM IN EDUCATION
Every week our newsroom monitors the news for the top stories in education from a variety of sources ranging from the mainstream media to blogs and other analysis, and compile them for you. Here’s the latest in education:
How Should High School Change? These Districts May Have the Answer
Education Week
In some pockets of the nation, real and significant change to the high school experience is underway or on the verge of implementation. States such as Colorado, Delaware, and Indiana are actively working on policies to overhaul curriculum to align with in-demand industries and building local industry partnerships to develop internship pipelines. Among the plans and policies that aim to reimagine the high school experience, most lean into a few key features deemed essential to driving impactful change: namely, experiential learning and a broad array of curriculum options that expose students to subjects with direct ties to career pathways.
U.S. Education Secretary to Launch Back-to-School Bus Tour That Includes Swing States
The 74 Million
Education is playing a big role in the 2024 election. The Biden-Harris administration has launched a back to school bus tour to highlight their work in the public education field. They plan to promote some of their key initiatives. Which include regular school, attendance, student debt relief, increasing mental health support, and expanding full-service community schools. The administration plans to continue investing in education. They have already invested over $300 billion.
Homeschooling continues to increase across the US post-pandemic: report
Christian Post
Recent reports have indicated that since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns have ended, homeschooling has increased throughout the United States. The smallest increase, 2% was seen in Georgia but large increases were also seen, the biggest being a 29% jump in Delaware. Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy Homeschool Research Lab conducted the report and 21 states were examined out of the 30 states that track homeschooling data, as based on the 2023-2024 academic year. The reasons for increases in homeschooling vary, including but not limited to, concerns over educational content in classrooms and parental desires for control over learning materials for their children.
Education a potential flashpoint in Vance-Walz vice presidential debate
The Hill
The Vice-Presidential Debate includes a contested issue that both parties prescribe very different solutions to and that issue is education. A former public school teacher, Tim Walz and the front of the ticket, Kamala Harris, are heavily supported by teachers unions in the upcoming presidential election. This includes support for widespread and affordable public school education. J.D. Vance, in contrast, has come under attack from teachers unions for declaring to abolish the Department of Education at the national level and instead provide funding directly to individual states so that they can choose what is best. Republicans have declared that the Department of Education is rife with bureaucratic waste and left-wing biases, arguing that individual states could better decide what is right for their citizens, including school choice vouchers and increased access to homeschooling options.
A District’s Experiment: What Happens When Schools Do Less Testing?
Education Week
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has launched a pilot program allowing up to 10 community schools to opt out of non-mandated standardized tests, like i-Ready, in favor of developing their own assessments, such as academic portfolios and public presentations. Approved in a narrow 4-3 vote, the initiative, “Supporting Meaningful Teaching and Learning,” aims to give teachers more flexibility to engage students in deeper learning while still requiring state-mandated tests like the Smarter Balanced Assessment. Supporters believe the change will foster creativity and meaningful projects, while critics argue it could reduce reliable data for tracking academic progress.
