Debates about curriculum—the meat of what students learn day in and day out in schools—often come down to ideology.
What knowledge do students need to participate in society? Which values are important to cultivate?
These questions are at the heart of some of the biggest curriculum stories of 2024.
From issues that are political on their face—the place of religion in schools, for example—to more subtle questions of educational philosophy, such as how teachers should approach math instruction, the stories that have captured the field’s attention this year demonstrate how what children learn in school is both shaped by, and shapes, the culture in which they live.
Read on for seven trends in curriculum this year, and how they might affect teaching and learning in 2025.
1. The religion in schools debate heats up
Does religion have a place in schools? It’s a question that’s come up again and again through the history of American public education, from debates over school prayer to court cases that challenged the teaching of evolution. This year, the issue resurfaced in several state-level curriculum decisions.
The Texas state board of education voted in November to approve a new curriculum that includes Bible stories in elementary school reading lessons. It’s not required that schools take up the materials, which feature, for example, lengthy passages about the Last Supper and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. But districts do receive additional funding for using them.
And earlier this year, in July, Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters called on schools to put a Bible in every classroom. State guidance directed teachers of students in grades 5-12 to incorporate the text’s “influence on Western civilization” and “impact on American history” into lessons.
Proponents of these moves have claimed that the Bible is a canonical text in American literature and history, and that understanding references to it conveys essential background knowledge for studying English and social studies. But critics say that in practice, these curriculum materials aren’t just attempting to deepen students’ cultural literacy; they proselytize Christian faith.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that academic study of the Bible is allowed in public schools, though mandated readings for the purpose of prayer are not.
It’s likely this debate will stick around in 2025. During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools, in response to a Louisiana law that required this. A federal judge later struck down that law as unconstitutional.
2. Anti-critical-race-theory legislation slows
Over the past three years, 18 states have passed laws or instated other policies that limit how teachers approach certain “divisive concepts” in the classroom—issues such as race or gender. Some also explicitly banned the teaching of “critical race theory,” an academic framework for analyzing structural racism in law and policy.
Most of these laws borrow language from a 2020 executive order signed by then-President Trump, aimed at preventing federal agencies from conducting diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
Though most of this legislation is still on the books in most places where it was passed, only two new laws joined the group in 2024.
Political energy around this issue may be waning, Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, told Education Week in March.
“You can only signal-call so long, so it’s not that surprising that once people have done their pass and proven themselves to the true believers in their largely solid, gerrymandered, state-legislated districts, things would run out of steam in some way,” he said.
Even so, pitched battles over the ways race and gender are discussed in schools are far from over—instead, they’re changing shape.
Over the past year, “parents’ rights” groups have continued to fight for the ability to shape curriculum, more states have passed measures requiring that districts notify parents if children are using pronouns that differ from their sex assigned at birth, and attempts to ban certain books from school libraries are still growing in number.
3. The largest school district in the country adopts the “science of reading”
The beginning of the 2024-25 school year marked a major shift for New York City schools.
For the first time, all of the city’s elementary schools were using one of three curricula in attempts to align instructional practice with the “science of reading”—the body of scientific knowledge that underpins how children learn to read.
Pulling off a large-scale overhaul to materials and teaching methods is difficult for any school district, but New York’s schools present some special challenges. The system is enormous, with more than 1,000 public elementary schools, and principals have historically enjoyed great autonomy in curricular decisions.
Under the new initiative, schools can’t use other core programs, including one that has long been popular citywide—the Units of Study for Teaching Reading, a curriculum created by Teachers College, Columbia University professor Lucy Calkins. Versions of the program have been criticized for omitting or minimizing important instruction in foundational skills that research shows many children need to learn how to read, such as phonics.
City officials say that the new curricula are based in the science of reading. But the most popular of the three options—HMH’s Into Reading—is facing pushback from some parents and educators, who have criticized its reliance on excerpts rather than full books, Chalkbeat has reported.
4. Struggling teen readers are commanding more attention in literacy conversation
The national science of reading movement began with a focus on the early elementary grades. It’s in those years, usually kindergarten through 3rd grade, when students learn foundational reading skills—how to map spoken sounds to written letters.
But a growing body of evidence shows that some older students still struggle with the basic building blocks of reading, creating gaps that hinder their ability to tackle work at their grade level.
Middle and high school teachers usually don’t have training on how to address shortcomings in these foundational skills, and secondary schools aren’t often equipped to support students with profound reading gaps.
There’s a large unmet need, said Rachel Manandhar, an education specialist and literacy interventionist at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Calif., during a webinar in November from the Project for Adolescent Literacy—an educator-led group convened to address this issue.
Teachers of these students “are sounding the alarms based on their experience day in and day out in the classroom, and yearning for administrator support,” Manandhar said.
5. Debates about how best to teach math rage on
How to teach math is often framed as a binary choice in pedagogical style: Focus on memorization and repeated practice, or prioritize conceptual understanding and ask students to problem-solve.
In reality, research shows that students need a bit of both to learn math well. Fluency with math procedures like addition and multiplication, and deep conceptual understanding of the rules that underlie these procedures, develop in tandem and support each other.
But how to sequence instruction, and where to place emphasis, are open questions. Debates over the answers have driven the “math wars” for decades. These battles have waxed and waned, but have heated up again recently.
Data from the EdWeek Research Center shows that educators, too, are divided. About half of teachers, principals, and district leaders surveyed in April agreed that students learn math best through practicing procedures, rather than solving big, complex problems. The other half disagreed.
This year, one school system took a big bet on a more conceptual approach.
New York City schools started using a new curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics, which is oriented around problem-solving and student discussion. Implementing the program will cost the city $34 million over the next five years.
6. Schools reexamine transitions to college and career
Many Republican and Democratic governors—as well as the incoming presidential administration—have all touted workforce readiness as a top educational priority in recent months.
Early this year, career and technical education was mentioned in at least 37 governors’ state of the state addresses, according to an analysis of speeches in 41 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands conducted by the Education Commission of the States, a research group.
President-elect Trump’s pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, has also expressed an interest in workforce development. On the same day Trump announced her selection, McMahon tweeted about the Swiss apprenticeship model as a “pathway to successful careers.”
Education Week’s new series, The High School Handoff, digs into what states and districts are doing around work-based learning—as well as other postsecondary pathways.
7. Students and teachers are wary of discussing politics in the classroom
Every election cycle, social studies teachers pull out their tried-and-true methods for eliciting productive conversation about the candidates and the issues—and avoiding classroom shouting matches and calls from parents.
They focus on explaining the process, rather than endorsing specific politicians. Provide primary sources, and ask students to come to their own conclusions. Highlight historical precedent for events that can seem scary or confusing.
But this year felt a little bit different.
A July EdWeek Research Center survey of K-12 teachers found that most—58 percent—said they weren’t planning to talk about the election with students. About half of that number said the election was unrelated to their subject, but 22 percent worried that it could lead to parent complaints, and 19 percent said they didn’t think their students could discuss it in a “respectful manner.”
Some students, too, have said they’re less interested in discussing politics in the classroom. The day after the 2024 election, reactions were muted, with one science teacher telling Education Week that it had been “fairly quiet” in her classes.
“Sometimes it’s a little tiring because we can’t vote yet,” Jimmy Gallivan, a 16-year-old junior in Somers, N.Y., told Education Week in October. “For me at least, I want to focus on my academics, I want to make sure I’m learning a lot, I’m doing well in my classes—friends, community, joining clubs and stuff.”
At the same time, Gen Z is more likely than adults in any other generation to say that their schools didn’t adequately prepare them to be active and engaged citizens. It’s not clear what this disconnect means for the future of civics education.
