This summer, the ACLU expanded to three weeklong sessions of 300 students each, with participants coming from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and, for the first time, Guam. Maddie Clements, 16, a rising junior at West Creek High School in Clarksville, Tenn. (center, with pink and purple hair), listens during Anu Joshi's immigration rights keynote.
Rose Chu, the founder of Elevate Teaching, which seeks to build a teaching profession that serves diverse classrooms, speaks about how to rebrand teaching so good teachers want to join the profession at a conference in Minneapolis on Oct. 20, 2023.
Wilmer Chavarria, the superintendent of schools in Winooski, Vt., at home in Williston, Vt., on July 30, 2025. He was recently detained for five hours by border agents after a trip to visit family in Nicaragua.
President Donald Trump hands a pen to professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau after Trump signed an executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools as Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Vice President JD Vance watch on July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Third graders Elizabeth Porter, left, and Tilia Thomsen take turns counting sit up reps during P.E. class at Vergennes Union Elementary School in Vergennes, Vt., on Nov. 18, 2024.
A kindergartner in a play-based learning class prepares for outdoor forest play time at Symonds Elementary School in Keene, N.H., on Nov. 7, 2024. Across the country, kindergartners are struggling with self-regulation.
Kindergarten students practice greeting each other in a dual-language immersion class. Teachers report that more kindergartners are coming to class unable to effectively manage their emotions.
A student works on math problems in a classroom in Compton, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2025. At least one state, Louisiana, is now investing in training all its middle school math teachers on how they can build on skills learned in elementary math.
