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:
Texas Bill Requiring Teachers to Out Transgender Students Moves Forward
NBC News
A bill proposed in the Texas legislature would require teachers to inform parents if their child expresses a desire to change their gender identity at school. Supporters of the bill argue it ensures parental involvement in children’s lives, opponents, including LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, warn it could endanger transgender students by forcing them to come out before they are ready. The bill aligns with a broader legislative trend focusing on LGBTQ+ issues in education.
Powerful Unions Demand End Of Student Debt, ‘Immigration Reform’ Under Harris Presidency
The Daily Caller
Labor unions are calling on the presidential ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to pursue left-leaning education reforms as an official part of the Democratic Party platform. American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and the National Education Association (NEA) groups outlined their plans to pursue student debt cancellation and to focus classroom instruction on gender identity issues, such as transgenderism. Speakers at the conference showed their true partisan colors, targeting Republican leaders for their opposition to teacher’s unions and public education.
Teachers Want Sustainable Workplaces. State Policies Make it Harder
EducationWeek
Throughout the country, many states don’t allow for teachers to easily gain leadership rules, or even observe their colleagues. A more flexible staffing approach would allow for teachers to communicate as a team. It would even allow for many teachers to lead multi age groups, where they would be able to manage the classroom technology and have better communication with parents. This would not be giving the teacher more work, rather giving them something that they truly care about and could see massive progress in.
The Decadeslong Travesty That Made Millions of Americans Mistrust Their Kids’ Schools
MSN
Columbia University’s Teacher College Reading and Writing Project is closing. One in four elementary schools used their curriculum, which was developed by Lucy Calkins. This method of instruction did not use phonics instruction and is attributed to low reading proficiency. The method “rests on the fuzzy fantasy that drenching young children in a literacy-rich environment is what gets most kids reading.” This transferred the responsibility of teaching children to read to parents. It has been reported that half of all children will not learn to read fluidly without phonics instruction.
Vouchers Ease Start-Up Stress for Churches Seeing Demand for More Christian Schools
Associated Press
The fight for school choice and voucher programs increases across a myriad of states and is starting to include private Christian schools. With an increase of families seeking alternatives to public school, where they’re unsatisfied with the radicalized gender ideology and other contentious issues, more Churches are opening school campuses to accommodate the rise in students. School vouchers help to ease this transition and allow families to afford a private religious education.
