Advocacy
Education news, analysis, and opinion about efforts by individuals or groups to influence education or school policy
Social Studies
'Divisive' or 'Necessary'? Comments on Grant Priorities Show Divide on Teaching About Race
Thousands of comments on a history education grant proposal appear to have been submitted through a group that opposes "woke" education.
Equity & Diversity
Group Seeks Federal Probes Into Schools That Pledge to Address Systemic Racism
Parents Defending Education, a group critical of anti-racism and "woke" education, says such district efforts may violate federal law.
States
Opinion
How Jeb Bush’s ExcelinEd Is Tackling the Next 5 Years
Rick Hess talks with ExcelinEd CEO Patricia Levesque about the organization's goals to improve education after the pandemic and beyond.
School & District Management
Are America's Schools Ready for Tough Talk on Racism?
After an unarmed black man died in the custody of Minneapolis police, black education leaders spoke out about the broader racism they saw in schools. The public wasn’t always ready to listen.
Families & the Community
Video
A Father Takes on a Charter Network for His Transgender Daughter
When a school’s policies clashed with the needs of the daughter he wanted to enroll, an Arizona dad fought to overturn them.
Families & the Community
Video
Fighting for School Buses in One of the Nation’s Most Dangerous Cities
Concerned for her daughters' safety, an East St. Louis, Ill., mother battled for expanded bus service. State lawmakers listened.
Families & the Community
Video
American Indian Parents Hold Schools to Account on Culture, Curriculum
In Minnesota, the parents of American Indian students work to assure a high level of cultural sensitivity and accuracy in what’s being taught.
Families & the Community
Video
They Wanted Their Kids to Experience the Outdoors at School. So They Started a Charter
A pair of mothers started a charter school which the mission of “exploration of the natural world in and outside the classroom.”
Law & Courts
Parent Who Criticized His Son's Math Program Is Sued By Curriculum Company
In a surprising move, MVP Math is suing a Wake County, N.C., parent who has pushed the district to stop using the curriculum.
Law & Courts
What Are Students' Constitutional Rights?
The First Amendment looks different in schools. (So do the 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th.)
Teaching Profession
Photos
Thousands of Teachers March on Maryland’s Capital
Thousands of educators and advocates, clad in red, gathered in Annapolis, Md., to raise concerns about equity, teacher pay and funding.
Teaching Profession
Video
‘We Shouldn’t Just Stay in Our Classrooms. We’re Teachers’
Mandy Manning has not been shy about advocating for her immigrant and refugee students. When she was awarded the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, she presented President Donald Trump with letters from her students talking about what coming to the U.S. meant to them, but also how his negative rhetoric about immigrants empowers their classmates to say hateful things such as, “go back to your country.” Along with several state teachers of the year, she recently organized a Teach-In in El Paso, Texas, to protest undocumented families from being separated and detained. In an interview with correspondent Kavitha Cardoza, Manning talks about some of the early experiences she had teaching in Armenia and Japan and how feeling like an outsider informs her teaching. She also addresses how students are feeling more empowered (and why that’s not always a good thing) and why she continues to fight this fight.
Equity & Diversity
Video
Nation’s Top Teachers Speak Out Against Child Detention
In recent years, the number of undocumented children entering the United States to seek asylum has skyrocketed. As part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration crackdown, children have been housed in what were meant to be temporary facilities. But many have wound up staying in detention centers for several months. Some of the nation’s top teachers are speaking out against child detention and raising concerns about the long-term effects of this practice on their mental health and learning.
Families & the Community
Opinion
Congratulations to Educators in Office!
Learning Forward celebrates the electoral victories of more than 40 educators.