current issues in k12 education

Distracted students and stressed teachers: What an American school day looks like post-COVID

Pandemic in rearview, schools are full of challenges – and joy. step inside these classrooms to see their reality..

After a day full of math and reading lessons, third grader Ashley Soto struggles to concentrate during a writing exercise. She’s supposed to be crafting an essay on whether schools should serve chocolate milk, but instead she wanders around the classroom. “My brain is about to explode!” she exclaims. 

Across the country, fourth grade teacher Rodney LaFleur looks for a student to answer a math question. He reaches into a jar filled with popsicle sticks, each inked with the name of one of his students. The first student’s name he draws is absent. So is the second. And the third.

Principal Jasibi Crews goes through her email: She has seven absent employees and too few substitutes to fill in. She texts a plea to a group chat – are any coaches or support staff available to fill in? Dozens of children could be without teachers today if she doesn’t come up with a plan. 

These recent moments from public schools thousands of miles apart reveal a troubling fact confronting educators, parents and students: More than three years after the COVID outbreak began, some children are thriving but many others remain severely behind . This reality means recovering from COVID could be more costly, time-consuming and difficult than they anticipated, leaving a generation of young people struggling to catch up.

This isn’t what lawmakers and education leaders had envisioned. Many were hopeful the 2022-23 school year would be the one when things would return to normal – or, at least, closer to what they were like pre-pandemic. Schools were brimming with money to test new ways to accelerate learning and hire more staff. The new hires and the educators who stuck things out were determined to help kids make progress. There was no longer a health emergency.

USA TODAY education reporters spent six months observing elementary-school students, teachers and principals at four public schools in California and Virginia and asked them to keep journals to better understand the post-COVID education crisis and recovery. Districts in California and Virginia stayed remote for longer than those in many other states. Virginia also had some of the sharpest declines in test scores in the country. 

What the reporters observed and data confirms: Kids are missing more class time than before the pandemic because parents’ attitudes about school have changed. Educators encountered students who are severely behind in reading and math yet can hardly sit still after three years of shape-shifting school days. School administrators discovered that a deluge of cash doesn’t go very far in filling jobs too few people are willing to do. Staff shortages and experiments with new curriculum – sometimes intended to cram several years of lessons into one – collided with the everyday problems of many public schools: children and families without enough food or a consistent, safe home life. 

To tell this story, USA TODAY reporters cataloged moments they witnessed while visiting schools at different hours and days. What follows is a reconstructed timeline based on reporting that began last fall and an approximation of the challenges schools and students face on any given day. 

Teachers find new ways to cope with stress 

After rotating through sets of ab saws, leg lifts and battle ropes, a sweaty but grinning Daisy Andonyadis leaves her 6 a.m. high-intensity interval training class early so she can make it to school on time. Equipped with a piece of her mom's homemade Easter bread, Andonyadis – or Ms. A, as students and colleagues call her – is ready to start the school day. 

Ms. A, 32, started doing the class more regularly this school year to deal with the stress of teaching. She almost quit when she first started at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, six years ago, overwhelmed by the pressure to do everything perfectly. “Just being able to breathe – the exercise really helps with that,” she says. 

Educators’ mental health has significantly worsened since the onset of the pandemic: Nearly 3 in 4 teachers in a survey last year reported frequent job-related stress, compared with a third of working adults overall. More than a quarter of teachers and principals said they were experiencing symptoms of depression.

Later, now showered and nibbling on her bread, Ms. A kicks off the school day as she always does: with a lesson on social and emotional skills. Kids move magnets with their names on them to emoji-like faces representing different emotions. Each classroom at Cora Kelly has one of these posters, and teachers and kids alike reposition their eponymous magnets throughout the day as their moods change. Today, lots of kids put their magnets on “tired.” 

There aren’t enough substitute teachers

Principal Jamie Allardice has many items on his day’s to-do list: preparing for state testing, planning for next school year and attending to the varying needs of school staff.

It will all have to wait.

Like Principal Crews, Allardice has trouble finding substitutes at times. So he’ll be filling in for a kindergarten teacher at Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond, California.

Most of the country’s public schools reported last year that more teachers were absent than before the pandemic, and they couldn’t always find substitutes when needed. The substitute teacher shortage predates COVID – and it’s getting worse, particularly at low-income schools . 

Allardice anticipates spending the day teaching the school’s youngest kids how to read sentences like “Is the ant on the fan?” and “Is the fat ant in the tin can?”

Everyday reminders of the pandemic’s effects 

Circles under her eyes, fourth grade teacher Wendy Gonzalez speedwalks into E.M. Downer Elementary in San Pablo, California, ahead of the first bell. The hallways are lined with student work. “My goal for this year is to actully learn,” one sheet reads, with the misspelling, “because I didn’t learn last year.” 

Another wall displays photographs Downer sixth graders took during the pandemic as an ever-present reminder of the damage inflicted by the pivot to remote learning. Above pictures of an empty tetherball court, a dog sitting on a stoop and a frog in darkness looking up to light, one student wrote, “We had to go to school at home for about 13 months.”

Ms. G, 45, who has taught for 19 years in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, including three at Downer, is in a hurry to see what condition her class is in after a substitute filled in the two days she was absent last week. She had a ministroke in March, which she blames in part on stress from teaching this year. 

In her classroom, her copy of a new Spanish textbook, "Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial,” is on her desk next to a set of Black history flashcards, a San Francisco Giants bobblehead and a can of Sunkist. On top of all the other academic targets her students must meet this year, the principal and literacy coach want her to test new lessons for teaching kids how to read and write in Spanish. 

“If I didn’t love my community I would be gone,” says Ms. G says after taking a seat. Notes of thanks and praise are tacked onto a bulletin board next to her. 

If I didn’t love my community I would be gone .

Principals have to be ‘there for everyone’

As part of her morning rounds, Principal Crews, 45, stops by a fourth grade classroom in the middle of a lesson on future careers. 

She notices a boy’s face is swollen and pulls him to the side. She feels his forehead, asks him if he’s feeling OK, if he was playing out near the poison ivy. He says he was playing there and it feels like a mosquito bit his face. She escorts him to the school nurse. 

Crews worked for more than 15 years in Virginia and California schools before becoming principal of Cora Kelly six years ago. She knows every student by name, greeting each one as they arrive at school. She’s also keenly attuned to each child’s individual needs on any given day – whether it’s for clothes or a first-aid kit.

Cora Kelly uses a framework known as a multitiered system of support, which is a fancy way of saying it works to address the core issues, in and out of the classroom, that may be affecting a child’s behavior or academic performance. That can mean home visits if a student misses a lot of school or help from a social worker if a child needs shoes or a screening. 

It’s emotionally grueling but gratifying work, Crews says, as is the job of supporting her own staff’s mental health.

“The hardest part of being an administrator has been coming back and making sure (the teachers) were OK so they could be there for the kids,” Crews says. “I wasn’t prepared for the tremendous emotional strain that that’s had on me. I had to be there for everyone, to make sure to take care of them so they could take care of the kids.”’

Rewarding good behavior

Ding. The students in Ms. A’s class are familiar with this chime. It means their teacher has given one of them a point using an app called Class Dojo that tracks their behavior. It has other functions, too, such as managing homework and communicating with parents.

Throughout the day, soft chimes signify when Ms. A has given a student a point. She rewards all kinds of things – being quiet, sitting nicely, getting an answer right, helping a classmate, simply attending. At other times, a different noise erupts when she’s deducting points. Maybe a kid wasn’t listening or following instructions. Maybe two students got into a tiff. 

Kids with lots of Dojo points can exchange them for prizes such as a gift card to Chick-fil-a. These incentive systems, Ms. A says, help reinforce the behaviors and habits – from respecting others’ physical space to coming to class on a consistent basis – that many students failed to learn because of remote schooling.

Kids’ attention spans have shrunk

Ashley and her classmates at Cora Kelly are in math class with the other third grade teacher. An assistant is out, the teacher announces, so the kids have to work independently while she consults with small groups. 

Today’s lesson is on imperial measuring units for liquids – gallons, quarts, pints, cups – and the teacher says she has a story that will help them memorize valuable information for their upcoming state math tests. The story is called The Kingdom of Gallon, she explains: The kingdom has four queens – in other words, four quarts. Each queen has a prince and a princess – two pints. Each prince or princess has two cats – two cups. 

Kids proceed to cut and paste pictures of different items – a gallon of paint, a carton of milk – onto papers with labels for the unit. Many, including Ashley, are distracted. She spins her notebook around a pencil. One of her knees bobbles from left to right. She gets up to tap a pencil on the table, to the projector to wave her hand under the camera. She yawns and plays with her shoe. 

Teachers and parents nationwide report kids’ attention spans are even shorter since the pandemic, perhaps in part because it led to unprecedented amounts of screen time among children . Educators strive to make lessons engaging but kids can’t always concentrate, especially when there’s only one adult in the classroom.  

Ashley pastes an image of a large water bottle under the wrong label – gallon when it should be quart. She quickly realizes it’s a mistake and tries to unstick the image. Ashley, who in her spare time loves drawing and making jewelry and collecting rocks, is careful to reposition the square so it doesn’t cover the face of a girl displayed on the worksheet. 

No multiplication charts allowed

Mr. LaFleur tells the class they'll review skills for a state math exam that will cover multiplying, long division and fractions. Jada Wilson groans when he says they can’t use multiplication charts on the test.

Jada, 10, has improved on fractions and expanded division this year but worries how she’ll do without the aid. She began fourth grade with the skills of a kid halfway through second grade, LaFleur said, but has made up most of that ground. 

Jada’s progress is an exception: Other students’ scores moved backward mid-year. 

“I really questioned myself and my teaching. It can’t get any worse than that feeling. But it helps to look at students like Jada who’ve grown each time,” LaFleur says. 

I really questioned myself and my teaching. It can’t get any worse than that feeling. But it helps to look at students like Jada who’ve grown each time.

Missing class instead of making up for lost time

As Mr. LaFleur’s class begins a reading lesson at Nystrom, several seats are empty. One of them belongs to Jayceon Davis. 

Jayceon’s mom, Georgina Medrano, works nights and occasionally gets home at 2 a.m. Sometimes she dozes off after waking her kids, and they don’t make it to school on time. Jayceon said he is sometimes confused doing his homework because he misses the lessons and hasn’t turned much of it in. 

For kids who are already behind this school year, every minute of learning this year was critical, but far more for students who missed more school days than before the pandemic. Chronic absenteeism – generally when kids miss more than 10% of the school year – increased in more than 70% of schools nationwide last school year, federal data shows.

Jayceon began the year with low test scores in reading and math, unbeknownst to Medrano, who says she’s frustrated no one told her about it at the beginning of the school year. “He reads to me at home, so I don’t understand how he’s behind,” she says.

Medrano says she also knew nothing about Jayceon’s missing assignments until March, when she got a text from LaFleur, who says he tried several times early in the school year to call Jayceon’s mom about the homework with no success. Then he gave up, hoping she would see notes sent through the school’s online messaging system. She, like many parents this year, didn’t have a real sense of how their kids were doing in school.

Reading, writing and riding

Ashley, like many kids in her class, has never ridden a bike without training wheels. Today in P.E. class, she and the other novices learn on a special bike designed without pedals. The purpose: to learn how to balance.

It takes a while, but before the end of class Ashley, her long curls streaming behind her, manages to glide for 10 seconds without touching her feet to the ground. She graduates to the stationary bike.  

She’s thrilled.

It may have nothing to do with phonics or probability or photosynthesis, but this learning matters, too. It’s the kind of lesson that was impossible to replicate during the pandemic, and one that students seem to enjoy most. 

Turkeys and monkeys

It’s just before recess and lunch in Ms. A’s class. She issues constant reminders to pay attention and be quiet. Yet some students lie on the ground, chit-chatting. Others make animal noises, gobbling like a turkey and grunting like a monkey. 

Ms. A moves her magnet on the classroom’s mood chart to “annoyed.”

Eventually she says to the group: “ I think we need to refresh. Everyone’s a little tired. And it’s Fri-Yay! But we are here to learn.” 

One boy sneaks out to get a pack of Gushers candy from his backpack hanging near the classroom door. With a smirk, Ms. A orders him to hand the gummies over, saying she doesn’t want him to get a sugar high. 

It’s the kind of thing she’s now able to brush off, a skill she didn’t have as a new teacher. She ignores children who are bickering, keeping her voice gentle and smooth as she delivers instructions. 

Despite all the distractions, she successfully engages most of the children in a game that quizzes them on their reading skills. 

Phonics time

Gathered at a half-moon-shaped table in the back of Lisa Cay's third grade classroom at Sleepy Hollow Elementary in Falls Church, Virginia, four students sound out rhyming words – search and perch, dead and lead – as they review phonics skills ahead of the state's reading tests. It's one of countless intensive phonics sessions these and other elementary schoolers have had this school year amid a renewed push for a more scientific approach to reading instruction partly in response to learning gaps deepened by the pandemic . 

Mrs. Cay, 58, then passes each student a copy of “The Wump World,” about creatures who live on an imaginary planet. One by one, they read aloud with the help of Mrs. Cay, who on a small white board, writes words they stumble over – “broad,” for example, and “chief.” After each passage, she reviews the problem word with them. The room is quiet with the exception of this group’s hushed voices, their peers reading independently elsewhere. 

Mrs. Cay hopes the district’s greater emphasis on phonics – and its distancing from an approach that focuses on helping kids dissect a text’s meaning without first showing them how to sound out words – helps boost Sleepy Hollow kids’ literacy. But “it’s going to take a few years” before the effects kick in, Mrs. Cay says. The local school district adopted the new phonics program last school year and started requiring it in the fall. 

New educators consider leaving

Seated at his desk at lunchtime underneath a pennant of his alma mater, University of California, Berkeley, LaFleur says it could take some students as many as five years to catch up to where they should be. He expects just a fifth of his own students to pass the state math test. LaFleur, 25, came to Nystrom in the 2020-21 school year through Teach for America, an organization that places recent college grads in high-needs classrooms.

“This is the only normal I’ve ever known,” he said.

But LaFleur recently decided he wants out. 

Teacher turnover has increased in recent years: More teachers left their jobs in at least eight states after last school year, and educator turnover was at its highest point this year than in the past five years, data shows.

LaFleur hopes he’ll get the new job for which he’s being considered. Otherwise he will return next year to Nystrom, as he wrote in his journal, to face “the same problems, move through the same cycles, and feel the same feelings.”

‘It’s been a long day’

Principal Crews planned an end-of-day assembly for all of Cora Kelly’s students about simple machines such as wheels, levers and pulleys. Given the day’s nonstop rain, which forced kids to have indoor recess, they’re in need of something fun and to channel their energy. But the traveling troupe scheduled to perform at the assembly is running late. 

Whipping out her walkie-talkie, she tells school leaders to prepare to pivot if the troupe doesn’t arrive in time before dismissal. Crews then unzips her black fanny pack – filled with Band-Aids and plastic gloves and Cora Kelly-themed play cash – and pulls out a bottle of Excedrin. Crews takes two. “It’s been a long day,” she says.

Catching up on reading time lost

During a class read along of “Esperanza Rising” for the Spanish portion of Ms. G’s class, students erupt in debate about whether Esperanza’s mother should marry for stability. Valeria Escobedo Martinez, 9, shouts “This is like a telenovela!” The scene reminds her of a TV show she watches at home with her mom, she says.

Even though Valeria says Ms. G’s classroom can be too loud, classroom discussion during reading lessons has helped her make up for reading time she and other kids lost out on during the pandemic. 

“I think I’m still leveling up,” she says. Ms. G says “she’s close” to meeting expectations for reading in English and may shed her “English learner” designation next year..

Ms. G is familiar with students who are behind on reading. She spends most school mornings teaching fourth, fifth and sixth graders how to read words using phonics, which is new to Downer this year. 

Intervention time

It’s time for Ms. A’s students to break out into small classes – enrichment for students who are advanced and intervention for those who are behind. Ashley and about half a dozen of her peers head to reading intervention class, which she spends laughing along with her peers at the teachers’ jokes, earnestly scanning her dictionary and reciting lines from a passage during a group read-aloud. At one point during the read-aloud, she notices the teacher accidentally skipped a paragraph. The teacher commends Ashley for noticing – what if, she asks, I had skipped a paragraph while taking the state reading test? 

Later, as kids independently fill out worksheets, Ashley erects her dictionary as a privacy shield. She doesn’t want others to copy her answers.

Ashley wasn’t always this confident. She needs glasses and while she proudly wears a pair of pink frames now, during the pandemic her vision problems went undiagnosed. Schools usually provide vision screenings but they were one of the services that went away with COVID closures. Her inability to see the screen and understand homework left her feeling frustrated and defiant. 

‘Never going back to normal’

Maria Bustos picks up her son Erick from Ms. G’s class. Pre-pandemic, Bustos may have spent the afternoon on Downer’s campus, helping her son’s teachers or planning a school event with fellow parents. Now, lingering pandemic restrictions don’t allow for her to be as active in the school community as she used to be.

“I feel like we're never going to go back to normal – and not just in schools but in everything and everywhere,” Bustos says. “We used to do a Halloween parade, and even celebrate kids' birthdays by bringing pizza." 

She is optimistic about being able to volunteer next year, though, given she was able to attend Erick’s music performance on campus at the end of the school year and an in-class party three days before the end of school in Ms. G’s classroom. 

I feel like we’re never going to go back to normal – and not just in schools but in everything and everywhere.

Leadership turnover creates further challenges

As the new leader of her school, Ruby Gonzalez, 61, is in the midst of two separate video calls in her office: one about the education plan for a student with disabilities and another that includes other school administrators.

She took over when Downer’s longtime principal, Chris Read, found out he had colon cancer. Read began chemotherapy in March and took a six-month leave to avoid other sickness. After Principal Gonzalez filled in, she tapped Ms. G to take over given her past experience as a vice principal. Ms. G lasted for two days before deciding she didn’t want to abandon her fourth graders. “The kids notice when I’m gone,” she says.

She still helps out often.

Two other substitute principals stepped in months before the end of the school year. One quit after a few days. The other comes a few days a week to help out. It’s unclear who will lead next year. Once Read returns from leave, he will have a new job overseeing visual and performing arts education districtwide, a role he’s long wanted.

Recent data shows that more principals last year quit their jobs than early on in the pandemic.

“This has been one of the most difficult years I think; even more than last year,” Ms. G says. “There’s multiple things: Our principal is out and Ruby’s trying to do the best she can. … And there are new things we're all trying to learn. On top of that there's more work and discipline. The kids are feeling it.”

Not enough time

It’s time for kids in Cora Kelly’s after-school tutoring to be dismissed, but Ashley doesn’t want to leave. She’s eager to master the skill of reading an analog clock. She begs her tutor, the same math teacher she had earlier in the day, to stay longer. 

“I love, love, love learning,” Ashley says.

But it turns out her school year is ending earlier than she may have liked, too, much to Principal Crews’ frustration. Ashley and her family will be traveling to her mom’s home country of El Salvador a week before the last day of school. Experts say absenteeism remains widespread in elementary schools, whose students’ attendance relies on their parents’ decisions and schedules. 

Giving in to a calculator

Jada is stationed in the school cafeteria trying to solve a multiplication problem while she and her younger sister wait for their mother to pick them up from Nystrom’s after school program. She sighs, leans her face on her fist on the cafeteria table and says, “This is too hard!” A few seconds later, she pulls out a calculator to solve the problem.

Despite her growth this year – end-of-year math tests show Jada jumped from having middle-of-second-grade skills to working at a mid-fourth-grade level – she and many classmates are behind where they should be.

Her mom, Michaela Alexander, rushes into the cafeteria to get the girls. Alexander tells Jada she isn’t too worried she’s behind on math: She understands Jada had a very different experience from a lot of kids in elementary school who learned in a classroom setting uninterrupted by a global pandemic. She has faith that the teachers at Nystrom will help her catch up. 

‘She’s better than me’

At her small white trailer in a mobile home park in San Pablo, Valeria, her mom, Maira Martinez Perez, and her grandma, who is visiting from Mexico, sit on separate benches next to each other in a tidy combined living room and kitchen. It’s the same home in which Valeria would pull out her Google Chromebook each morning, log onto school and start the day with jumping jacks to loosen up, as instructed by her teacher, when school shifted online.

Just as Downer pivoted to remote learning, Valeria’s mother lost her job cleaning at another school. Now her mother is working again, and though a kid herself, Valeria has taken on some of the care of her younger sister Itzel. Valeria is sometimes interrupted by the 5-year-old when she tries to read at home.

Itzel peeks out from the only bedroom in the home closed off by a sliding door. 

At school, “she’s better than me,” Valeria says of her sister. 

No pandemic interrupted Itzel’s schooling.

Story editing by Nirvi Shah

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Back to School for K-12 students: Issues Ahead

As students and teachers head back to the classroom this fall, they are likely to face a number of challenges that could impact the 2022-23 school year and learning outcomes.

We’ve reported on these mounting challenges during the last couple years. Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our work on the issues students, educators, and schools are facing including pandemic learning loss, absenteeism, achievement at virtual charter schools, school redistricting, and bullying.

Learning loss and absent students

Some students may be returning to school behind on their education.

For a series of 2022 reports, we surveyed teachers about students’ potential learning loss during the pandemic. They told us that many students struggled to learn during the pandemic because of its disruption.

We found that, in the 2020-21 school year, across all grades and regardless of in-person, remote, or hybrid learning models, nearly two-thirds of teachers (64%) had more students who made less academic progress than in a typical school year. And 45% of teachers reported that at least half of their students ended the year a grade level behind.

While this learning loss was widespread, some students were disproportionately impacted, including students from high poverty households, students learning English, and our youngest K-12 students. As a result, long term, the pandemic may have contributed to growing disparities between student populations.

In addition, some students may not return to school this year at all. We recently found that, during the 2020-21 school year, more than a million teachers reported having students who never showed up for class despite being registered for school.

Students who did not show up came mostly from majority non-White and urban schools and faced obstacles to learning, such as no adult assistance at home. We also found that older students may have missed school because they were caring for family members or working themselves.  

Lower student achievement in virtual charter schools

While many families were first introduced to virtual schooling during the pandemic, virtual and hybrid programs are not new.  We recently explored challenges for students in virtual charter schools—the largest sector of virtual schools and the fastest growing type of public school in the U.S. For example, students attending virtual charter schools generally showed significantly lower rates of academic proficiency compared to the rest of their public school peers.

Virtual charter schools also reported lower student participation on federally-required state testing—a key measure of academic achievement. Our podcast with K-12 education expert Jackie Nowicki explores our work on virtual charter schools.

Racial/ethnic composition of schools and bullying contribute to equity issues

In a July report , we found that while the U.S. student population has become significantly more diverse, many schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines.

Our recent analysis of 10 years of the Department of Education’s data on student race and ethnicity also shows that when schools broke away from their school districts, it generally resulted in Whiter and wealthier districts.

Specifically, new districts had half the share of students receiving free or reduced price lunches compared to the remaining districts. They also had far larger shares of White students, and far smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students than the remaining districts.  

Racial/Ethnic Composition of New and Remaining Districts One Year after District Secession

Wealth and racial composition of schools matter.

It is widely known that a history of discriminatory practices has contributed to inequities in education, which are intertwined with disparities in wealth, income, and housing. We have previously reported that students who are poor, Black, or Hispanic generally attend schools with fewer resources and lower academic outcomes (about 80% of students attending low-income schools are Black or Hispanic).

Racial and ethnic minority students may face other obstacles in school beyond resources and quality of education. Each year, millions of K-12 students experience hostile behaviors like bullying, hate speech, hate crimes, or assault.

In a report published last November, we found that, during the 2018-19 school year, about 1.3 million students (ages 12 to 18) were bullied for their race, religion, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.

The Department of Education has resolved complaints about these hostile behaviors more quickly than in the past, largely because it dismissed more complaints than in previous years, and because the number of complaints filed declined overall. Some civil rights experts said they had become reluctant to file complaints because they lost confidence in the department’s ability to address these violations in schools. 

To learn more about our findings on bullying, hate crimes, and violence in K-12 schools, check out our podcast:  

While students will face significant obstacles this fall, their teachers are confronting burnout and concerns about teacher shortages abound. Our recent discussions with current and former teachers, as well as hiring officials and others involved in all levels of teacher recruitment and retention, will help shed light on the situation and ways to address it.

Keep an eye out for these findings and a report on discipline related to school dress code violations this fall.

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The Three Rs of Pandemic Learning: Roadblocks, Resilience, and Resources

Related products, k-12 education: students' experiences with bullying, hate speech, hate crimes, and victimization in schools, product number, k-12 education: student population has significantly diversified, but many schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines, k-12 education: an estimated 1.1 million teachers nationwide had at least one student who never showed up for class in the 2020-21 school year [reissued with revisions on apr. 19, 2022].

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The blog format allows GAO to provide a little more context about its work than it can offer on its other social media platforms. Posts will tie GAO work to current events and the news; show how GAO’s work is affecting agencies or legislation; highlight reports, testimonies, and issue areas where GAO does work; and provide information about GAO itself, among other things.

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Why U.S. Schools Are Facing Their Biggest Budget Crunch in Years

Federal pandemic aid helped keep school districts afloat, but that money is coming to an end.

By Sarah Mervosh and Madeleine Ngo

After several cash-flush pandemic years, school districts across the country are facing budget shortfalls, with pressure closing in on multiple fronts.

A flow of federal dollars — $122 billion meant to help schools recover from the pandemic — is running dry in September, leaving schools with less money for tutors, summer school and other supports that have funded pandemic recovery efforts over the last three years.

At the same time, declining student enrollment — a consequence of lower birthrates and a growing school choice movement — is catching up to some districts.

The result: Districts across the country must make tough decisions about cuts that will affect millions of families as soon as the next school year. The cuts, which many districts put off during the pandemic, could interrupt the recovery of U.S. students, who by and large have not made up their pandemic losses .

“I’m concerned that too many state and district leaders had their heads in the sand about the coming fiscal cliff, and now they are being confronted with really painful decisions,” said Thomas S. Dee, a Stanford University professor who has studied student enrollment trends.

The cutbacks span districts rich and poor. In the Edmonds, Wash., school district, an upper-middle income area north of Seattle, music classes were a target of district slashes , mobilizing a local foundation to raise more than $200,000 to try to save them. In Montgomery County, Md., an upscale suburb, the district is slightly increasing class sizes to save money.

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Transforming K–12 education for the better

August 26, 2023 K–12 schools have dealt with many challenges over the past few years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic put many existing problems into much sharper focus. Even so, there are many bright spots to point to as children head back into the classroom this fall. Some districts are rolling out new mental health interventions to support their students’ needs and others are seeing accelerated rates of learning recovery after adopting new instructional materials, according to McKinsey senior partner Jimmy Sarakatsannis , partner Jake Bryant , and colleagues. Read the full report to see how these combined interventions can create better learning experiences for all, and explore the rest of our recent education insights about how schools can transform for the better.

What it would take for US schools to fully recover from COVID-19

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New advances in technology are upending education, from the recent debut of new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT to the growing accessibility of virtual-reality tools that expand the boundaries of the classroom. For educators, at the heart of it all is the hope that every learner gets an equal chance to develop the skills they need to succeed. But that promise is not without its pitfalls.

“Technology is a game-changer for education – it offers the prospect of universal access to high-quality learning experiences, and it creates fundamentally new ways of teaching,” said Dan Schwartz, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), who is also a professor of educational technology at the GSE and faculty director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning . “But there are a lot of ways we teach that aren’t great, and a big fear with AI in particular is that we just get more efficient at teaching badly. This is a moment to pay attention, to do things differently.”

For K-12 schools, this year also marks the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding program, which has provided pandemic recovery funds that many districts used to invest in educational software and systems. With these funds running out in September 2024, schools are trying to determine their best use of technology as they face the prospect of diminishing resources.

Here, Schwartz and other Stanford education scholars weigh in on some of the technology trends taking center stage in the classroom this year.

AI in the classroom

In 2023, the big story in technology and education was generative AI, following the introduction of ChatGPT and other chatbots that produce text seemingly written by a human in response to a question or prompt. Educators immediately worried that students would use the chatbot to cheat by trying to pass its writing off as their own. As schools move to adopt policies around students’ use of the tool, many are also beginning to explore potential opportunities – for example, to generate reading assignments or coach students during the writing process.

AI can also help automate tasks like grading and lesson planning, freeing teachers to do the human work that drew them into the profession in the first place, said Victor Lee, an associate professor at the GSE and faculty lead for the AI + Education initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. “I’m heartened to see some movement toward creating AI tools that make teachers’ lives better – not to replace them, but to give them the time to do the work that only teachers are able to do,” he said. “I hope to see more on that front.”

He also emphasized the need to teach students now to begin questioning and critiquing the development and use of AI. “AI is not going away,” said Lee, who is also director of CRAFT (Classroom-Ready Resources about AI for Teaching), which provides free resources to help teach AI literacy to high school students across subject areas. “We need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology.”

Immersive environments

The use of immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality is also expected to surge in the classroom, especially as new high-profile devices integrating these realities hit the marketplace in 2024.

The educational possibilities now go beyond putting on a headset and experiencing life in a distant location. With new technologies, students can create their own local interactive 360-degree scenarios, using just a cell phone or inexpensive camera and simple online tools.

“This is an area that’s really going to explode over the next couple of years,” said Kristen Pilner Blair, director of research for the Digital Learning initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, which runs a program exploring the use of virtual field trips to promote learning. “Students can learn about the effects of climate change, say, by virtually experiencing the impact on a particular environment. But they can also become creators, documenting and sharing immersive media that shows the effects where they live.”

Integrating AI into virtual simulations could also soon take the experience to another level, Schwartz said. “If your VR experience brings me to a redwood tree, you could have a window pop up that allows me to ask questions about the tree, and AI can deliver the answers.”

Gamification

Another trend expected to intensify this year is the gamification of learning activities, often featuring dynamic videos with interactive elements to engage and hold students’ attention.

“Gamification is a good motivator, because one key aspect is reward, which is very powerful,” said Schwartz. The downside? Rewards are specific to the activity at hand, which may not extend to learning more generally. “If I get rewarded for doing math in a space-age video game, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be motivated to do math anywhere else.”

Gamification sometimes tries to make “chocolate-covered broccoli,” Schwartz said, by adding art and rewards to make speeded response tasks involving single-answer, factual questions more fun. He hopes to see more creative play patterns that give students points for rethinking an approach or adapting their strategy, rather than only rewarding them for quickly producing a correct response.

Data-gathering and analysis

The growing use of technology in schools is producing massive amounts of data on students’ activities in the classroom and online. “We’re now able to capture moment-to-moment data, every keystroke a kid makes,” said Schwartz – data that can reveal areas of struggle and different learning opportunities, from solving a math problem to approaching a writing assignment.

But outside of research settings, he said, that type of granular data – now owned by tech companies – is more likely used to refine the design of the software than to provide teachers with actionable information.

The promise of personalized learning is being able to generate content aligned with students’ interests and skill levels, and making lessons more accessible for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Realizing that promise requires that educators can make sense of the data that’s being collected, said Schwartz – and while advances in AI are making it easier to identify patterns and findings, the data also needs to be in a system and form educators can access and analyze for decision-making. Developing a usable infrastructure for that data, Schwartz said, is an important next step.

With the accumulation of student data comes privacy concerns: How is the data being collected? Are there regulations or guidelines around its use in decision-making? What steps are being taken to prevent unauthorized access? In 2023 K-12 schools experienced a rise in cyberattacks, underscoring the need to implement strong systems to safeguard student data.

Technology is “requiring people to check their assumptions about education,” said Schwartz, noting that AI in particular is very efficient at replicating biases and automating the way things have been done in the past, including poor models of instruction. “But it’s also opening up new possibilities for students producing material, and for being able to identify children who are not average so we can customize toward them. It’s an opportunity to think of entirely new ways of teaching – this is the path I hope to see.”

Almost everyone is concerned about K-12 students’ academic progress

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, anna saavedra , anna saavedra behavioral scientist - usc dornsife center for economic and social research @annasaavedra19 morgan polikoff , morgan polikoff associate professor of education - usc rossier school of education @mpolikoff dan silver , and dan silver ph.d. student - usc rossier school of education @dans1lver amie rapaport amie rapaport director of research - gibson consulting.

March 23, 2021

Concern about our nation’s children is currently at the center of intense public debate. While the pandemic caused virtually all schools nationwide to close by April 2020—keeping almost all K-12 students home for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year—children’s mode of learning (fully in-person, fully remote, or a hybrid mix of the two) in 2020-21 has been highly variable .

Yet with vaccinations accelerating, COVID-19 rates falling, and money flowing, there is clear momentum behind offering in-person instruction. As schools begin to reopen, attention is turning to the deep changes necessary to reverse the learning opportunity disparities that are ingrained in U.S. education.

As educators consider possible changes, adults’ beliefs about the impacts of the pandemic on children’s academic progress—overall and for specific student subgroups—matter. These subjective opinions are important because they indicate political support, or lack thereof, for investment in education. Long-needed, fundamental, and sustained investments in and improvements to K-12 education—especially for underserved low-income and racial minority students—will need broad support. Beyond parents of elementary and secondary children and Democrats—those traditionally most supportive of investments in K-12 education—but from older and Republican voters, and from affluent as well as economically struggling voters.

To learn perspectives on children’s academic progress from adults with K-12 children in the household and from adults as a whole, we used data collected between Dec. 16, 2020, and Feb. 7, 2021, from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults through the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research’s Understanding America Study . We asked how concerned adults were that today’s generation of K-12 students may not make as much academic progress this year as they would during a typical academic year. In addition to asking about concern for K-12 students overall, we asked separately about concern for students from lower-income households, students of color, elementary students, and middle/high school students.

The results were clear and overwhelming: Almost three-fourths (71%) of US adults are concerned about K-12 students’ current academic progress. Very few economic, political, or social concerns share this level of agreement in the population, implying policies and programs designed to address the negative impacts of the pandemic on schools could have broad support.

Given low-income communities and communities of color have been especially hard hit by the pandemic, schools in these neighborhoods will need even greater levels of resource and policy attention. We find even higher levels of concern for students in these groups: 81% of adults were concerned about lower-income children, and 77% about children of color.

Not only did we find levels of concern were high across the board, but we also found more advantaged groups were often more concerned about students’ academic progress (even when statistically controlling for an adult’s age, whether they have a K-12 child living in their household, adult race/ethnicity, household income, adult education level, and partisanship).

For instance, we found higher-income and more educated adults are more concerned—both overall and specifically about low-income students and students of color—than are low-income and less-educated adults. Seventy-four percent of adults in households making less than $25,000 are concerned about low-income children—lower than the corresponding rates for adults in households making $25,000-$150,000 (81-83% concerned about low-income children), and households making more than $150,000 (88%). As another example, greater proportions of adults aged 65 and older expressed greater levels of concern for low-income students and students of color, with 86% and 85% of adults over 65 concerned for each respective subgroup, compared to 77% and 72% concerned about these two student subgroups among adults aged 18-34. This is a promising pattern from an education policy perspective, as the unfortunate reality is that power to enact meaningful political change tends to be concentrated among the wealthiest and older individuals. These results suggest that those who tend to hold power may also have a will to enact meaningful, equity-based education policy in the wake of the pandemic.

We did not find racial differences. Regardless of their own race, adult Americans are equally concerned about the impacts of the pandemic for K-12 children.

Notably, too, we found high levels of bipartisan concern. Republicans (77%) and Democrats (70%) are concerned about K-12 children’s academic progress. Over 80% of Republicans and Democrats are concerned about lower-income children (81% Republicans, 84% Democrats) and close to 80% of each political group are concerned about children of color (76% Republicans, 82% Democrats). In other words, despite Congress’s partisan voting on the American Rescue Plan, there is widespread agreement that the effects of the pandemic on children are concerning.

In contrast, in 2019, relevant national survey results reflected much larger partisan differences on public education issues. For example, while 76% of Democrats thought education should be a top federal policy priority , 58% of Republicans felt the same. Also in 2019, 67% of Democrats supported or strongly supported basing part of teachers’ salaries on whether they teach in schools with many disadvantaged students , compared to 52% of Republicans.

What does this all mean? There may never have been more widespread, bipartisan concern about K-12 children’s educational progress, especially among adults without a K-12 child in the home. Unjust as it may be, political will to mobilize change often rests with more affluent and more educated groups. It also typically requires at least some degree of bipartisan agreement. The vast majority of affluent adults, and those from both sides of the political aisle, are concerned for K-12 children—particularly those who have been underserved. As districts and schools reopen, with leaders designing and rolling out new initiatives, they will likely find widespread encouragement.

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation Grants No.2037179 and 2120194. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors are also grateful to Marshall Garland, Shira Korn Haderlein, and the UAS administration team for their contributions to this work.

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The Evolution of Learning: How Education is Transforming for Future Generations

We are experiencing a monumental shift in education, and the progress that has been made in recent years has the potential to shape how students learn for generations to come. While these changes have also come with challenges for teachers, parents, and students alike, we cannot deny that we are moving toward a bright future for the world of education.

Some recent eye-catching headlines about education included topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom, game-based learning, and a parent’s right to choose a school for their child. Let’s do a recap of these topics, how they changed education in past years, and what we can expect from them in the future.

AI in the Classroom

It should come as no surprise that the use of AI in the classroom is a controversial topic. As schools began implementing AI tools to assist teachers, many parents and even teachers expressed concern that this could depersonalize learning. And yet, it has proven to do the opposite. Here’s how:

Lessons and learning materials can be adapted to each student’s personal learning needs and pace. If a student is not quite grasping a concept, more time or information can be provided automatically to that student.

Using a set of grading guidelines, also known as a rubric, AI can grade and provide detailed feedback for assignments and tests. Teachers have full authority over final grades and feedback, but this can help reduce the time spent grading, and thus allowing for more one-to-one interactions between teachers and students.

Teachers can view classroom analytics that detail student performance and learning trends, providing helpful insights for future lesson plans and assignments.

Looking toward the future, we should expect more finetuning of these tools whether that means advancement in what’s currently available or revolutionary technology. For example, a report by the Department of Education from May 2023 explains that context is an important next step. AI relies on patterns to automate decisions, rather than situational judgment. Researchers are working to address context sensitivity and develop platforms that are responsive to individual characteristics and situations.  Other experts say that AI will be used to determine whether a typical school day and classroom lessons should be restructured as the global economy rapidly evolves.

Playing to Learn

There is an inherent human tendency to be motivated by challenges, rewards, and competition. So, it makes sense that games can effectively capture a student’s attention and fuel their motivation . In fact, research shows that games can be a powerful teaching tool that increases participation and promotes social-emotional skills.

That’s why schools like K12-powered online schools have incorporated exclusive Minecraft Education game-based lessons in their classes. Through these games, history comes to life for students who can explore historical settings like Ancient Rome or Egypt in a virtual universe where they interact with their surroundings.

Virtual or augmented reality is another increasingly popular tool for immersive learning. Through platforms such as IXR Labs, medical students can stand inside of the human heart and see how each part functions, while aerospace engineering students can gain hands-on experience designing and constructing a jet engine.

While game-based learning is not new to education (think back to games like Math Blaster or Oregon Trailer on a large PC in your school), it’s rapidly evolving and growing in popularity, and we should expect this movement to gain momentum as technology advances and offers more options for learning resources. Career prep and training is one field that is expected to benefit from game-based learning in the future, while others say that students will soon have the opportunity to be completely immersed in a fully formed universe, zooming through space from one planet to another.

Parental School Choice

In 2023, nearly half of all parents surveyed across the United States reported that they were actively seeking a new school for the 2023-24 school year. The National School Choice Week survey, which took place in May 2023, explored whether parents were satisfied with their child’s school experiences. And while nearly 45 percent of parents reported that the current school year was better than a previous year and 34.4 percent said it was relatively the same, only 54 percent of parents planned to keep their child enrolled in their current school.

As the school choice movement grew in 2023, it’s clear that the status quo simply isn’t working for many families. And this is just the beginning of a massive shift in education. A heavier focus has been placed on meeting students where they are, taking into consideration their individual characteristics, experiences, and learning styles.

This is why the online classroom has become an increasingly popular option. Online school offers flexibility and personalized elements that are not typically found in a traditional classroom. And many parents and their children are eager to explore these different avenues for learning to find the right fit.

Looking toward the future, we can expect the school choice movement to continue making headlines as parents take control of their children’s education, finding the right learning environment that can truly complement each child’s individual needs and goals.

Looking Forward

Education is changing. Schools are finding new ways to engage children and incorporate elements like games and AI that can help keep them actively participating and interested in content. While parents are seeing the possibilities in different school options to help their children reach their fullest potential. It’s an exciting time to be involved in academics, and we can expect to see progress and advancements by leaps and bounds in the coming years.

To learn more about online school and its benefits, go to K12.com .

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The Department of Education has received a record number of discrimination complaints, including from families of students with disabilities. Some families are waiting months, even years, for help.

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What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?

4. challenges in the classroom, table of contents.

• Problems students are facing
• A look inside the classroom
• How teachers are experiencing their jobs
• How teachers view the education system
• Satisfaction with specific aspects of the job
• Do teachers feel trusted to do their job well?
• Likelihood that teachers will change jobs
• Would teachers recommend teaching as a profession?
• Reasons it’s so hard to get everything done during the workday
• Staffing issues
• Balancing work and personal life
• How teachers experience their jobs
• Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Major problems at school
• Discipline practices
• Policies around cellphone use
• Verbal abuse and physical violence from students
• Addressing behavioral and mental health challenges
• Teachers’ interactions with parents
• K-12 education and political parties
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

In addition to asking public K-12 teachers about issues they see at their school, we asked how much each of the following is a problem among students in their classroom :

• Showing little to no interest in learning (47% say this is a major problem)
• Being distracted by their cellphones (33%)
• Getting up and walking around when they’re not supposed to (21%)
• Being disrespectful toward the teacher (21%)

Some challenges are more common among high school teachers, while others are more common among those who teach elementary or middle school.

• Cellphones: 72% of high school teachers say students being distracted by their cellphones in the classroom is a major problem. A third of middle school teachers and just 6% of elementary school teachers say the same.
• Little to no interest in learning: A majority of high school teachers (58%) say students showing little to no interest in learning is a major problem. This compares with half of middle school teachers and 40% of elementary school teachers. 
• Getting up and walking around: 23% of elementary school teachers and 24% of middle school teachers see students getting up and walking around when they’re not supposed to as a major problem. A smaller share of high school teachers (16%) say the same.
• Being disrespectful: 23% of elementary school teachers and 27% of middle school teachers say students being disrespectful toward them is a major problem. Just 14% of high school teachers say this.

About eight-in-ten teachers (82%) say their school or district has policies regarding students’ use of cellphones in the classroom. Of those, 56% say these policies are at least somewhat easy to enforce, 30% say they’re difficult to enforce, and 14% say they’re neither easy nor difficult to enforce.

High school teachers are the least likely to say their school or district has policies regarding students’ use of cellphones in the classroom (71% vs. 84% of elementary school teachers and 94% of middle school teachers).

Among those who say there are such policies at their school, high school teachers are the most likely to say these are very or somewhat difficult to enforce. Six-in-ten high school teachers say this, compared with 30% of middle school teachers and 12% of elementary school teachers.

Most teachers (68%) say they have experienced verbal abuse from their students, such as being yelled at or verbally threatened. About one-in-five (21%) say this happens at least a few times a month.

Physical violence is far less common, but about one-in-ten teachers (9%) say a student is physically violent toward them at least a few times a month. Four-in-ten say this has ever happened to them.

Differences by school level

Elementary school teachers (26%) are more likely than middle and high school teachers (18% and 16%) to say they experience verbal abuse from students a few times a month or more often.

And while relatively small shares across school levels say students are physically violent toward them a few times a month or more often, elementary school teachers (55%) are more likely than middle and high school teachers (33% and 23%) to say this has ever happened to them.

Differences by poverty level

Among teachers in high-poverty schools, 27% say they experience verbal abuse from students at least a few times a month. This is larger than the shares of teachers in medium- and low-poverty schools (19% and 18%) who say the same.

Experiences with physical violence don’t differ as much based on school poverty level.

Differences by gender

Teachers who are women are more likely than those who are men to say a student has been physically violent toward them. Some 43% of women teachers say this, compared with 30% of men.

There is also a gender difference in the shares of teachers who say they’ve experienced verbal abuse from students. But this difference is accounted for by the fact that women teachers are more likely than men to work in elementary schools.

Eight-in-ten teachers say they have to address students’ behavioral issues at least a few times a week, with 58% saying this happens every day .

A majority of teachers (57%) also say they help students with mental health challenges at least a few times a week, with 28% saying this happens daily.

Some teachers are more likely than others to say they have to address students’ behavior and mental health challenges on a daily basis. These include:

• Women: 62% of women teachers say they have to address behavior issues daily, compared with 43% of those who are men. And while 29% of women teachers say they have to help students with mental health challenges every day, a smaller share of men (19%) say the same.
• Elementary and middle school teachers: 68% each among elementary and middle school teachers say they have to deal with behavior issues daily, compared with 39% of high school teachers. A third of elementary and 29% of middle school teachers say they have to help students with mental health every day, compared with 19% of high school teachers.
• Teachers in high-poverty schools: 67% of teachers in schools with high levels of poverty say they have to address behavior issues on a daily basis. Smaller majorities of those in schools with medium or low levels of poverty say the same (56% and 54%). A third of teachers in high-poverty schools say they have to help students with mental health challenges every day, compared with about a quarter of those in medium- or low-poverty schools who say they have this experience (26% and 24%). 

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Trade Schools Home > Articles > Issues in Education

Major Issues in Education: 20 Hot Topics (From Grade School to College)

By Publisher | Last Updated August 1, 2023

In America, issues in education are big topics of discussion, both in the news media and among the general public. The current education system is beset by a wide range of challenges, from cuts in government funding to changes in disciplinary policies—and much more. Everyone agrees that providing high-quality education for our citizens is a worthy ideal. However, there are many diverse viewpoints about how that should be accomplished. And that leads to highly charged debates, with passionate advocates on both sides.

Understanding education issues is important for students, parents, and taxpayers. By being well-informed, you can contribute valuable input to the discussion. You can also make better decisions about what causes you will support or what plans you will make for your future.

This article provides detailed information on many of today's most relevant primary, secondary, and post-secondary education issues. It also outlines four emerging trends that have the potential to shake up the education sector. You'll learn about:

• 13 major issues in education at the K-12 level
• 7 big issues in higher education
• 5 emerging trends in education

13 Major Issues in Education at the K-12 Level

1. Government funding for education

School funding is a primary concern when discussing current issues in education. The American public education system, which includes both primary and secondary schools, is primarily funded by tax revenues. For the 2021 school year, state and local governments provided over 89 percent of the funding for public K-12 schools. After the Great Recession, most states reduced their school funding. This reduction makes sense, considering most state funding is sourced from sales and income taxes, which tend to decrease during economic downturns.

However, many states are still giving schools less cash now than they did before the Great Recession. A 2022 article from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that K-12 education is set to receive the largest-ever one-time federal investment. However, the CBPP also predicts this historic funding might fall short due to pandemic-induced education costs. The formulas that states use to fund schools have come under fire in recent years and have even been the subjects of lawsuits. For example, in 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the legislature's formula for financing schools was unconstitutional because it didn't adequately fund education.

Less funding means that smaller staff, fewer programs, and diminished resources for students are common school problems. In some cases, schools are unable to pay for essential maintenance. A 2021 report noted that close to a quarter of all U.S. public schools are in fair or poor condition and that 53 percent of schools need renovations and repairs. Plus, a 2021 survey discovered that teachers spent an average of $750 of their own money on classroom supplies.

The issue reached a tipping point in 2018, with teachers in Arizona, Colorado, and other states walking off the job to demand additional educational funding. Some of the protests resulted in modest funding increases, but many educators believe that more must be done.

2. School safety

Over the past several years, a string of high-profile mass shootings in U.S. schools have resulted in dozens of deaths and led to debates about the best ways to keep students safe. After 17 people were killed in a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018, 57 percent of teenagers said they were worried about the possibility of gun violence at their school.

Figuring out how to prevent such attacks and save students and school personnel's lives are problems faced by teachers all across America.

Former President Trump and other lawmakers suggested that allowing specially trained teachers and other school staff to carry concealed weapons would make schools safer. The idea was that adult volunteers who were already proficient with a firearm could undergo specialized training to deal with an active shooter situation until law enforcement could arrive. Proponents argued that armed staff could intervene to end the threat and save lives. Also, potential attackers might be less likely to target a school if they knew that the school's personnel were carrying weapons.

Critics argue that more guns in schools will lead to more accidents, injuries, and fear. They contend that there is scant evidence supporting the idea that armed school officials would effectively counter attacks. Some data suggests that the opposite may be true: An FBI analysis of active shooter situations between 2000 and 2013 noted that law enforcement personnel who engaged the shooter suffered casualties in 21 out of 45 incidents. And those were highly trained professionals whose primary purpose was to maintain law and order. It's highly unlikely that teachers, whose focus should be on educating children, would do any better in such situations.

According to the National Education Association (NEA), giving teachers guns is not the answer. In a March 2018 survey , 74 percent of NEA members opposed arming school personnel, and two-thirds said they would feel less safe at work if school staff were carrying guns. To counter gun violence in schools, the NEA supports measures like requiring universal background checks, preventing mentally ill people from purchasing guns, and banning assault weapons.

3. Disciplinary policies

Data from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in 2021 suggests that black students face disproportionately high rates of suspension and expulsion from school. For instance, in K-12 schools, black male students make up only 7.7 percent of enrollees but account for over 40% percent of suspensions. Many people believe some teachers apply the rules of discipline in a discriminatory way and contribute to what has been termed the "school-to-prison pipeline." That's because research has demonstrated that students who are suspended or expelled are significantly more likely to become involved with the juvenile justice system.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued guidelines for all public schools on developing disciplinary practices that reduce disparities and comply with federal civil rights laws. The guidelines urged schools to limit exclusionary disciplinary tactics such as suspension and expulsion. They also encourage the adoption of more positive interventions such as counseling and restorative justice strategies. In addition, the guidelines specified that schools could face a loss of federal funds if they carried out policies that had a disparate impact on some racial groups.

Opponents argue that banning suspensions and expulsions takes away valuable tools that teachers can use to combat student misbehavior. They maintain that as long as disciplinary policies are applied the same way to every student regardless of race, such policies are not discriminatory. One major 2014 study found that the racial disparities in school suspension rates could be explained by the students' prior behavior rather than by discriminatory tactics on the part of educators.

In 2018, the Federal Commission on School Safety (which was established in the wake of the school shootings in Parkland, Florida) was tasked with reviewing and possibly rescinding the 2014 guidelines. According to an Education Next survey taken shortly after the announced review, only 27 percent of Americans support federal policies that limit racial disparities in school discipline.

4. Technology in education

Technology in education is a powerful movement that is sweeping through schools nationwide. After all, today's students have grown up with digital technology and expect it to be part of their learning experience. But how much of a role should it play in education?

Proponents point out that educational technology offers the potential to engage students in more active learning, as evidenced in flipped classrooms . It can facilitate group collaboration and provide instant access to up-to-date resources. Teachers and instructors can integrate online surveys, interactive case studies, and relevant videos to offer content tailored to different learning styles. Indeed, students with special needs frequently rely on assistive technology to communicate and access course materials.

But there are downsides as well. For instance, technology can be a distraction. Some students tune out of lessons and spend time checking social media, playing games, or shopping online. One research study revealed that students who multitasked on laptops during class scored 11 percent lower on an exam that tested their knowledge of the lecture. Students who sat behind those multitaskers scored 17 percent lower. In the fall of 2017, University of Michigan professor Susan Dynarski cited such research as one of the main reasons she bans electronics in her classes.

More disturbingly, technology can pose a real threat to student privacy and security. The collection of sensitive student data by education technology companies can lead to serious problems. In 2017, a group called Dark Overlord hacked into school district servers in several states and obtained access to students' personal information, including counselor reports and medical records. The group used the data to threaten students and their families with physical violence.

5. Charter schools and voucher programs

School choice is definitely among the hot topics in education these days. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was a vocal supporter of various forms of parental choice, including charter schools and school vouchers.

Charter schools are funded through a combination of public and private money and operate independently of the public system. They have charters (i.e., contracts) with school districts, states, or private organizations. These charters outline the academic outcomes that the schools agree to achieve. Like mainstream public schools, charter schools cannot teach religion or charge tuition, and their students must complete standardized testing . However, charter schools are not limited to taking students in a certain geographic area. They have more autonomy to choose their teaching methods. Charter schools are also subject to less oversight and fewer regulations.

School vouchers are like coupons that allow parents to use public funds to send their child to the school of their choice, which can be private and may be either secular or religious. In many cases, vouchers are reserved for low-income students or students with disabilities.

Advocates argue that charter schools and school vouchers offer parents a greater range of educational options. Opponents say that they privatize education and siphon funding away from regular public schools that are already financially strapped. The 2018 Education Next survey found that 44 percent of the general public supports charter schools' expansion, while 35 percent oppose such a move. The same poll found that 54 percent of people support vouchers.

6. Common Core

The Common Core State Standards is a set of academic standards for math and language arts that specify what public school students are expected to learn by the end of each year from kindergarten through 12th grade. Developed in 2009, the standards were designed to promote equity among public K-12 students. All students would take standardized end-of-year tests and be held to the same internationally benchmarked standards. The idea was to institute a system that brought all schools up to the same level and allowed for comparison of student performance in different regions. Such standards would help all students with college and career readiness.

Some opponents see the standards as an unwelcome federal intrusion into state control of education. Others are critical of the way the standards were developed with little input from experienced educators. Many teachers argue that the standards result in inflexible lesson plans that allow for less creativity and fun in the learning process.

Some critics also take issue with the lack of accommodation for non-traditional learners. The Common Core prescribes standards for each grade level, but students with disabilities or language barriers often need more time to fully learn the material.

The vast majority of states adopted the Common Core State Standards when they were first introduced. Since then, more than a dozen states have either repealed the standards or revised them to align better with local needs. In many cases, the standards themselves have remained virtually the same but given a different name.

And a name can be significant. In the Education Next 2018 survey, a group of American adults was asked whether they supported common standards across states. About 61 percent replied that they did. But when another group was polled about Common Core specifically, only 45 percent said they supported it.

7. Standardized testing

During the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) years, schools—and teachers—were judged by how well students scored on such tests. Schools whose results weren't up to par faced intense scrutiny, and in some cases, state takeover or closure. Teachers' effectiveness was rated by how much improvement their students showed on standardized exams. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which took effect in 2016, removed NCLB's most punitive aspects. Still, it maintained the requirement to test students every year in Grades 3 to 8, and once in high school.

But many critics say that rampant standardized testing is one of the biggest problems in education. They argue that the pressure to produce high test scores has resulted in a teach-to-the-test approach to instruction in which other non-tested subjects (such as art, music, and physical education) have been given short shrift to devote more time to test preparation. And they contend that policymakers overemphasize the meaning of standardized test results, which don't present a clear or complete picture of overall student learning.

8. Teacher salaries

According to 2021-22 data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in most states, teacher pay has decreased over the last several years. However, in some states average salaries went up. It's also important to note that public school teachers generally enjoy pensions and other benefits that make up a large share of their compensation.

But the growth in benefits has not been enough to balance out the overall low wages. An Economic Policy Institute report found that even after factoring in benefits, public-sector teachers faced a compensation penalty of 14.2 percent in 2021 relative to other college graduates.

9. The teaching of evolution

In the U.S., public school originated to spread religious ideals, but it has since become a strictly secular institution. And the debate over how to teach public school students about the origins of life has gone on for almost a century.

Today, Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection is accepted by virtually the entire scientific community. However, it is still controversial among many Americans who maintain that living things were guided into existence. A pair of surveys from 2014 revealed that 98 percent of scientists aligned with the American Association for the Advancement of Science believed that humans evolved. But it also revealed that, overall, only 52 percent of American adults agreed.

Over the years, some states have outright banned teachers from discussing evolution in the classroom. Others have mandated that students be allowed to question the scientific soundness of evolution, or that equal time be given to consideration of the Judeo-Christian notion of divine creation (i.e., creationism).

Some people argue that the theory of intelligent design—which posits that the complexities of living things cannot be explained by natural selection and can best be explained as resulting from an intelligent cause—is a legitimate scientific theory that should be allowed in public school curricula. They say it differs from creationism because it doesn't necessarily ascribe life's design to a supernatural deity or supreme being.

Opponents contend that intelligent design is creationism in disguise. They think it should not be taught in public schools because it is religiously motivated and has no credible scientific basis. And the courts have consistently held that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design promotes religious beliefs and therefore violates the Constitution's prohibition against the government establishment of religion. Still, the debate continues.

10. Teacher tenure

Having tenure means that a teacher cannot be let go unless their school district demonstrates just cause. Many states grant tenure to public school teachers who have received satisfactory evaluations for a specified period of time (which ranges from one to five years, depending on the state). A few states do not grant tenure at all. And the issue has long been mired in controversy.

Proponents argue that tenure protects teachers from being dismissed for personal or political reasons, such as disagreeing with administrators or teaching contentious subjects such as evolution. Tenured educators can advocate for students without fear of reprisal. Supporters also say that tenure gives teachers the freedom to try innovative instruction methods to deliver more engaging educational experiences. Tenure also protects more experienced (and more expensive) teachers from being arbitrarily replaced with new graduates who earn lower salaries.

Critics contend that tenure makes it difficult to dismiss ineffectual teachers because going through the legal process of doing so is extremely costly and time-consuming. They say that tenure can encourage complacency since teachers' jobs are secure whether they exceed expectations or just do the bare minimum. Plus, while the granting of tenure often hinges on teacher evaluations, 2017 research found that, in practice, more than 99 percent of teachers receive ratings of satisfactory or better. Some administrators admit to being reluctant to give low ratings because of the time and effort required to document teachers' performance and provide support for improvement.

11. Bullying

Bullying continues to be a major issue in schools all across the U.S. According to a National Center for Education Statistics study , around 22 percent of students in Grades 6 through 12 reported having been bullied at school, or on their way to or from school, in 2019. That figure was down from 28 percent in 2009, but it is still far too high.

The same study revealed that over 22 percent of students reported being bullied once a day, and 6.3 percent reported experiencing bullying two to ten times in a day. In addition, the percentage of students who reported the bullying to an adult was over 45 percent in 2019.

But that still means that almost 60 percent of students are not reporting bullying. And that means children are suffering.

Bullied students experience a range of emotional, physical, and behavioral problems. They often feel angry, anxious, lonely, and helpless. They are frequently scared to go to school, leading them to suffer academically and develop a low sense of self-worth. They are also at greater risk of engaging in violent acts or suicidal behaviors.

Every state has anti-bullying legislation in place, and schools are expected to develop policies to address the problem. However, there are differences in how each state defines bullying and what procedures it mandates when bullying is reported. And only about one-third of states call for school districts to include provisions for support services such as counseling for students who are victims of bullying (or are bullies themselves).

12. Poverty

Student poverty is a growing problem. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that as of the 2019-2020 school year, low-income students comprised a majority (52 percent) of public school students in the U.S. That represented a significant increase from 2000-2001, when only 38 percent of students were considered low-income (meaning they qualified for free or discounted school lunches).

The numbers are truly alarming: In 39 states, at least 40 percent of public school enrollees were eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, and 22 of those states had student poverty rates of 50 percent or more.

Low-income students tend to perform worse in school than their more affluent peers. Studies have shown that family income strongly correlates to student achievement on standardized tests. That may be partly because parents with fewer financial resources generally can't afford tutoring and other enrichment experiences to boost student achievement. In addition, low-income children are much more likely to experience food instability, family turmoil, and other stressors that can negatively affect their academic success.

All of this means that teachers face instructional challenges that go beyond students' desires to learn.

13. Class size

According to NCES data , in the 2017-2018 school year, the average class size in U.S. public schools was 26.2 students at the elementary level and 23.3 students at the secondary level.

But anecdotal reports suggest that today, classrooms commonly have more than 30 students—sometimes as many as 40.

Conventional wisdom holds that smaller classes are beneficial to student learning. Teachers often argue that the size of a class greatly influences the quality of the instruction they are able to provide. Research from the National Education Policy Center in 2016 showed smaller classes improve student outcomes, particularly for early elementary, low-income, and minority students.

Many (but not all) states have regulations in place that impose limits on class sizes. However, those limits become increasingly difficult to maintain in an era of budget constraints. Reducing class sizes requires hiring more teachers and constructing new classrooms. Arguably, allowing class sizes to expand can enable districts to absorb funding cuts without making reductions to other programs such as art and physical education.

7 Big Issues in Higher Education

1. Student loan forgiveness

Here's how the American public education system works: Students attend primary and secondary school at no cost. They have the option of going on to post-secondary training (which, for most students, is not free). So with costs rising at both public and private institutions of higher learning, student loan debt is one of the most prominent issues in education today. Students who graduated from college in 2022 came out with an average debt load of $37,338. As a whole, Americans owe over $1.7 trillion in student loans.

Currently, students who have received certain federal student loans and are on income-driven repayment plans can qualify to have their remaining balance forgiven if they haven't repaid the loan in full after 20 to 25 years, depending on the plan. Additionally, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program allows qualified borrowers who go into public service careers (such as teaching, government service, social work, or law enforcement) to have their student debt canceled after ten years.

However, potential changes are in the works. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to support students and make getting a post-secondary education more affordable. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Education provided more than $17 billion in loan relief to over 700,000 borrowers. Meanwhile, a growing number of Democrats are advocating for free college as an alternative to student loans.

2. Completion rates

The large number of students who begin post-secondary studies but do not graduate continues to be an issue. According to a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report , the overall six-year college completion rate for the cohort entering college in 2015 was 62.2 percent. Around 58 percent of students completed a credential at the same institution where they started their studies, and about another 8 percent finished at a different institution.

Completion rates are increasing, but there is still concern over the significant percentage of college students who do not graduate. Almost 9 percent of students who began college in 2015 had still not completed a degree or certificate six years later. Over 22 percent of them had dropped out entirely.

Significant costs are associated with starting college but not completing it. Many students end up weighed down by debt, and those who do not complete their higher education are less able to repay loans. Plus, students miss out on formal credentials that could lead to higher earnings. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that in 2021 students who begin college but do not complete a degree have median weekly earnings of $899. By contrast, associate degree holders have median weekly wages of $963, and bachelor's degree recipients have median weekly earnings of $1,334.

Students leave college for many reasons, but chief among them is money. To mitigate that, some institutions have implemented small retention or completion grants. Such grants are for students who are close to graduating, have financial need, have used up all other sources of aid, owe a modest amount, and are at risk of dropping out due to lack of funds. One study found that around a third of the institutions who implemented such grants noted higher graduation rates among grant recipients.

3. Student mental health

Mental health challenges among students are a growing concern. A survey by the American College Health Association in the spring of 2019 found that over two-thirds of college students had experienced "overwhelming anxiety" within the previous 12 months. Almost 45 percent reported higher-than-average stress levels.

Anxiety, stress, and depression were the most common concerns among students who sought treatment. The 2021 report by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) noted the average number of appointments students needed has increased by 20 percent.

And some schools are struggling to keep up. A 2020 report found that the average student-to-clinician ratio on U.S. campuses was 1,411 to 1. So, in some cases, suffering students face long waits for treatment.

4. Sexual assault

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that more than 75 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement, so the actual number of incidents could be much higher.

And the way that colleges and universities deal with sexual assault is undergoing changes. Title IX rules makes sure that complaints of sexual assault or harassment are taken seriously and ensuring the accused person is treated fairly.

Administrators were also required to adjudicate such cases based on a preponderance of evidence, meaning that they had to believe that it was more likely than not that an accused was guilty in order to proceed with disciplinary action. The "clear and convincing" evidentiary standard, which required that administrators be reasonably certain that sexual violence or harassment occurred, was deemed unacceptable.

Critics argued that the guidelines failed to respect the due process rights of those accused of sexual misconduct. Research has found that the frequency of false sexual assault allegations is between two and 10 percent.

In 2017, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidelines. The intent was to institute new regulations on how schools should handle sexual assault allegations. The changes went into effect on August 14, 2020, defining sexual harassment more narrowly and only requiring schools to investigate formal complaints about on-campus incidents officially filed with designated authorities, such as Title IX coordinators. The updated guidelines also allow schools to use the clear and convincing standard for conviction.

Victims' rights advocates were concerned this approach would deter victims from coming forward and hinder efforts to create safe learning environments.

The Biden administration is expected to release their proposed revisions to Title IX in October 2023 which could see many of the Trump administration changes rescinded.

5. Trigger warnings

The use of trigger warnings in academia is a highly contentious issue. Trigger warnings alert students that upcoming course material contains concepts or images that may invoke psychological or physiological reactions in people who have experienced trauma. Some college instructors provide such warnings before introducing films, texts, or other content involving things like violence or sexual abuse. The idea is to give students advance notice so that they can psychologically prepare themselves.

Some believe that trigger warnings are essential because they allow vulnerable people to prepare for and navigate difficult content. Having trigger warnings allows students with post-traumatic stress to decide whether they will engage with the material or find an alternative way to acquire the necessary information.

Critics argue that trigger warnings constrain free speech and academic freedom by discouraging the discussion of topics that might trigger distressing reactions in some students. They point out that college faculty already provide detailed course syllabi and that it's impossible to anticipate and acknowledge every potential trigger.

In 2015, NPR Ed surveyed more than 800 faculty members at higher education institutions across the U.S. and found that around half had given trigger warnings before bringing up potentially disturbing course material. Most did so on their own initiative, not in response to administrative policy or student requests. Few schools either mandate or prohibit trigger warnings. One notable exception is the University of Chicago, which in 2016 informed all incoming first-year students that it did not support such warnings.

6. College accreditation

In order to participate in federal student financial aid programs, institutions of higher education must be accredited by an agency that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. By law, accreditors must consider factors such as an institution's facilities, equipment, curricula, admission practices, faculty, and support services. The idea is to enforce an acceptable standard of quality.

But while federal regulations require accreditors to assess each institution's "success with respect to student achievement," they don't specify how to measure such achievement. Accreditors are free to define that for themselves. Unfortunately, some colleges with questionable practices, low graduation rates, and high student loan default rates continue to be accredited. Critics argue that accreditors are not doing enough to ensure that students receive good value for their money.

7. College rankings

Every year, prospective college students and their families turn to rankings like the ones produced by U.S. News & World Report to compare different institutions of higher education. Many people accept such rankings as authoritative without truly understanding how they are calculated or what they measure.

It's common for ranking organizations to refine their methodologies from year to year and change how they weigh various factors—which means it's possible for colleges to rise or fall in the rankings despite making no substantive changes to their programs or institutional policies. That makes it difficult to compare rankings from one year to the next, since things are often measured differently.

For colleges, a higher ranking can lead to more visibility, more qualified applicants, and more alumni donations (in short: more money). And the unfortunate reality is that some schools outright lie about test scores, graduation rates, or financial information in their quest to outrank their competitors.

Others take advantage of creative ways to game the system. For example, U.S. News looks at the test scores of incoming students at each institution, but it only looks at students who begin in the fall semester. One school instituted a program where students with lower test scores could spend their first semester in a foreign country and return to the school in the spring, thus excluding them from the U.S. News calculations.

Rankings do make useful information about U.S. colleges and universities available to all students and their families. But consumers should be cautious about blindly accepting such rankings as true measures of educational quality.

5 Emerging Trends in Education

1. Maker learning

The maker movement is rapidly gaining traction in K-12 schools across America. Maker learning is based on the idea that you will engage students in learning by encouraging interest-driven problem solving and hands-on activities (i.e., learning by doing). In collaborative spaces, students identify problems, dream up inventions, make prototypes, and keep tinkering until they develop something that makes sense. It's a do-it-yourself educational approach that focuses on iterative trial and error and views failure as an opportunity to refine and improve.

Maker education focuses on learning rather than teaching. Students follow their interests and test their own solutions. For example, that might mean creating a video game, building a rocket, designing historical costumes, or 3D-printing an irrigation system for a garden. It can involve high-tech equipment, but it doesn't have to. Repurposing whatever materials are on hand is an important ideal of the maker philosophy.

There is little hard data available on the maker trend. However, researchers at Rutgers University are currently studying the cognitive basis for maker education and investigating its connection to meaningful learning.

2. Moving away from letter grades

Many education advocates believe that the traditional student assessment models place too much emphasis on standardization and testing. They feel that traditional grading models do not sufficiently measure many of the most prized skills in the 21st-century workforce, such as problem-solving, self-advocacy, and creativity. As a result, a growing number of schools around the U.S. are replacing A-F letter grades with new assessment systems.

Formed in 2017, the Mastery Transcript Consortium is a group of more than 150 private high schools that have pledged to get rid of grade-based transcripts in favor of digital ones that provide qualitative descriptions of student learning as well as samples of student work. Some of the most famous private institutions in America have signed on, including Dalton and Phillips Exeter.

The no-more-grades movement is taking hold in public schools as well. Many states have enacted policies to encourage public schools to use something other than grades to assess students' abilities. It's part of a larger shift toward what's commonly known as mastery-based or competency-based learning, which strives to ensure that students become proficient in defined areas of skill.

Instead of letter grades, report cards may feature phrases like "partially meets the standard" or "exceeds the standard." Some schools also include portfolios, capstone projects, or other demonstrations of student learning.

But what happens when it's time to apply to college? It seems that even colleges and universities are getting on board. At least 85 higher education institutions across New England (including Dartmouth and Harvard) have said that students with competency-based transcripts will not be disadvantaged during the admission process.

3. The rise of micro-credentials

Micro-credentials, also known as digital badges or nanodegrees, are mini qualifications that demonstrate a student's knowledge or skills in a given area. Unlike traditional college degrees that require studying a range of different subjects over a multi-year span, micro-credentials are earned through short, targeted education focused on specific skills in particular fields. They tend to be inexpensive (sometimes even free) and are typically taken online.

Some post-secondary schools are developing micro-credentialing partnerships with third-party learning providers, while other schools offer such solutions on their own. A 2020 Campus Technology article stated 70 percent of higher education institutions offer some type of alternative credentialing.

Micro-credentials can serve as evidence that students have mastered particular skills, but the rigor and market worth of such credentials can vary significantly. Still, they are an increasingly popular way of unbundling content and providing it on demand.

4. Flipped classrooms

A growing number of schools are embracing the notion of flipped learning. It's an instructional approach that reverses the traditional model of the teacher giving a lecture in front of the class, then sending students home to work through assignments that enhance their understanding of the concepts. In flipped learning, students watch lecture videos or read relevant course content on their own before class. Class time is devoted to expanding on the material through group discussions and collaborative learning projects (i.e., doing what was traditionally meant as homework). The instructor is there to guide students when questions or problems arise.

Provided that all students have access to the appropriate technology and are motivated to prepare for each class session, flipped learning can bring a wide range of benefits. For example, it allows students to control their own learning by watching lecture videos at their own pace; they can pause, jot down questions, or re-watch parts they find confusing. The model also encourages students to learn from each other and explore subjects more deeply.

Flipped learning is becoming widespread in all education levels, but it is especially prevalent at the college level. In a 2017 survey , 61 percent of college faculty had used the flipped model in some or all of their classes and another 24% of instructors were considering trying it.

5. Social-emotional learning

There is a growing consensus that schools are responsible for fostering students' social and emotional development and their cognitive skills. Social-emotional learning (SEL) focuses on helping students develop the abilities to identify their strengths, manage their emotions, set goals, show empathy, make responsible decisions, and build and maintain healthy relationships. Research has shown that such skills play a key role in reducing anti-social behavior, boosting academic achievement, and improving long-term health.

Every state has developed SEL competencies at the preschool level. The number of states with such competencies for higher grades is growing.

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• Student Aid Policy

Supreme Court Decision Weakens Education Department

After the justices struck down a 40-year precedent last week, experts warn of chaos for higher education amid doubts about the future of Title IX and gainful employment, among other policies.

By  Katherine Knott

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The Education Department’s ability to make rules is likely going to be lacking following a Supreme Court decision striking down a 40-year precedent known as the Chevron doctrine.

Over the last 16 years, presidential administrations of both parties have wielded the power of the Education Department not to just carry out congressional legislative directives but also to make their own policies—reshaping the federal government’s role in higher education. They’ve retooled the rules for accreditors, added new accountability measures for for-profit programs, overhauled the student loan system and changed how colleges respond to reports of sexual misconduct.

Not all of the policy changes survived legal challenges, but the legacy of legislating via regulation has endured. As Congress struggled to pass meaningful legislation related to higher education thanks to partisan gridlock, presidents increasingly opted to use the rule-making process to leave their mark on America’s colleges and universities.

But future administrations likely won’t be rewriting regulations in the same way after the Supreme Court on Friday ended a 40-year precedent under which federal courts deferred to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote in the majority opinion that the deference to agencies known as the Chevron doctrine “cannot be reconciled” with the federal law dictating how the executive branch writes policies. Instead, federal judges should be empowered to determine whether a regulation complies with federal law.

“In one fell swoop, the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue—no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden—involving the meaning of regulatory law,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the dissent to last week’s ruling.

The court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo significantly weakens the Education Department and other federal agencies and could grind the gears of higher ed policymaking to a halt unless Congress steps up, experts said Monday, warning of chaos and uncertainty for colleges and universities.

“Almost every aspect of running a modern campus is dictated in some way by federal regulations or guidance—whether that’s how you make staffing, compensation, training or enrollment decisions all the way down to the level of what you put on your website,” Jon Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations and national engagement at the American Council on Education, writes in an essay for Inside Higher Ed today. “It can be burdensome or contradictory and in some cases nonsensical, but mostly it was ‘the law.’ No more.”

The Biden administration’s new rules on Title IX, debt relief, gainful employment and more could all face greater judicial scrutiny in a post-Chevron environment. Case in point: On Monday a federal judge presiding over a lawsuit challenging the new Title IX rule requested that the states suing and the administration’s lawyers file briefs addressing the potential impact of the Loper Bright decision. What could happen to the batch of rules negotiated in the spring that deal with accreditation , state authorization and textbook pricing is also uncertain.

Some policy analysts, though, question the significance of the court’s decision, given that the doctrine hasn’t been applied consistently across the judiciary and that the Supreme Court hasn’t relied on it since 2016. Jason Delisle, a nonresident senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute’s Center on Education Data and Policy, said agency actions are challenged in courts all the time and judges could still side with the department.

Delisle added that those bemoaning the end of Chevron seem to be supporting the idea that “Congress can pass vague laws and agencies can do whatever they want.”

“If it really is as big of a deal as people think it is, then there’s a really easy solution, which is Congress can just specify things in law more and don’t make bold moves in your regulation,” Delisle added. “What’s so bad about that?”

In a signal of what’s to come from Republicans in Congress, Dr. Bill Cassidy, a U.S. senator from Louisiana, sought more information over the weekend about how the Education Department plans to comply with the court’s ruling.

“Given your agency’s track record, I am concerned about whether and how the department will adapt to and faithfully implement both the letter and spirit of this decision,” wrote Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate education committee. “The department has flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law.”

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Cassidy celebrated Chevron’s demise, saying in a statement that Chevron deference allowed unelected bureaucrats “to exercise power that exceeds their authority” and that the decision returns the role of legislating to Congress. The association representing for-profit colleges and universities also applauded the court’s decision.

“No agency has overreached more in exceeding congressional authority than the current U.S. Department of Education,” said Jason Altmire, chief executive officer of Career Education Colleges and Universities. “We are pleased that the Supreme Court has, once and for all, restrained the ability of the ideologically driven bureaucrats in the department to craft regulations based upon their own whims and biases, rather [than] what Congress had intended.”

Chevron Deference and Higher Ed

A 14-year project at the federal level to define what it means “to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation” is a case study in how agencies rely on Chevron deference to justify their actions.

When Congress first required some higher education programs to prepare their students for gainful employment in 1965, it didn’t define the term. Then, in 2010, the Obama administration’s Education Department rolled out a proposal to measure whether students were prepared for employment largely by looking at their debt load and earnings. Programs that failed the tests in the proposal would’ve lost access to federal financial aid, though that never happened.

The 2010 version of the so-called gainful-employment rule was struck down by the courts, but a district judge dismissed a challenge to the 2014 regulations, citing Chevron. The Trump administration later rescinded that rule, but the Biden administration resurrected the issue last year.

The latest version of the gainful-employment rule took effect Monday and applies to programs at for-profit institutions as well as nondegree programs in any sector, but the demise of Chevron could make the regulations more vulnerable to challenge.

Rebecca Natow, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at Hofstra University who researches federal higher education policymaking, said the end of Chevron will likely open the door to more lawsuits challenging administrative actions from regulations to guidance documents and the latest gainful-employment rule could be in trouble now.

“Without Chevron deference, courts can second-guess what agencies are deciding,” said Natow. “That’s problematic. The judges and federal law clerks are lawyers, not experts. They’re not living in the regulations the way the people that work in the agencies are … Just because agencies are unelected bureaucrats, it’s not a reason to take the deference away from them. They have all of that technical knowledge, all of that expertise.”

Barmak Nassirian, vice president for higher education policy at Veterans Education Success, an advocacy group, has participated in several rounds of rule making on gainful employment and other topics. He’s worried about giving judges the power to decide higher education policy—judgments that require an understanding of the technical details of regulations.

“We’re talking about taking challenges that make your eyes glaze over,” he said. “The notion that you can now take this to a judge who has never heard of gainful employment until the case has popped up—it’s hard to believe.”

Nassirian added that deference to agencies isn’t “always a happy thing,” particularly if you disagree with the party in power. But then when the politics favor your interests, he said, there are opportunities to change policies.

“That’s the nature of democracy,” he said. “This basically ends all of that.”

‘Congress Is a Mess’

For Rachel Fishman, director of higher education policy at New America, a left-leaning think tank, the fallout of the Loper Bright decision is hard to imagine in terms of the potential impact of new and future regulations. It won’t be good for students and taxpayers, she predicts, though other potential ramifications are unclear.

“It shows the importance of statute moving forward, and boy, does that worry me, because Congress is a mess,” she said. “It’s hard to envision good, thoughtful, smart bipartisan [legislation].”

The Higher Education Act of 1965, last updated in 2008, is long overdue for a refresh, and Fishman said that reauthorizing the legislation that governs federal financial aid programs and a range of other policies is going to be even more important post-Chevron.

Natow expects the end of Chevron to bring federal policymaking to a “near standstill” with a divided Congress and increasing political polarization that makes bipartisan compromise elusive.

“It’s really, really hard to get any meaningful higher education legislation through Congress, and I can’t imagine [this decision] is going to jolt Congress into, all of the sudden, wanting to have the two parties work together and pass legislation.”

Ending Chevron also means that when Congress does pass a law, the legislation will have to be more detailed and clear. But, Natow said, the more detailed the legislation gets, the harder it is to build consensus.

“Legislation has to be vague or it would never get through,” she said.

Nassirian is also skeptical of Congress’s capacity to step in and fill the void left by a potentially weaker Education Department.

“Congress, at some point, has to rely on the agency,” he said. “I just can’t grasp the notion of attempting to run the government through explicit legislative authorization. So it’s hard to do lots of details. There’s lots of things that are susceptible to change that cannot be chiseled into marble through legislative language. So there has to be some discretion, some interpretive discretion, for agencies to run the system … You really ponder how we can function as a country.”

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What 2024 Will Bring for K-12 Policy: 5 Issues to Watch

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Educators should expect debates over school choice, teacher pay measures, artificial intelligence, and standardized testing in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill in 2024.

Politicians and lawmakers used 2023 to set the course for 2024, a presidential election year when voters will most likely choose between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. For education policy, that meant more attention to conservative parents’ rights bills that often seek to limit how schools can teach about race, gender identity, and sexuality, and a push for raising teacher pay and improving student mental health.

Those topics will likely be at the forefront of education policy debates in 2024, too, especially in state houses and on local school boards. But education will likely not play a major role in the 2024 election as issues such as the economy, immigration, health care, and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine take precedence with voters.

Even so, 2024 will likely bring legislative changes that will affect schools in significant ways and the year will see some hot topics begin to cool off. Here are five issues educators will need to pay close attention to in the year ahead.

1. Private school choice to dominate legislative agendas again

The past year appeared to be a watershed for the private school choice movement. At least six states passed universal education savings account policies, which use public money to provide parents with a student’s per-pupil funds to pay for education expenses, including private school and homeschool costs.

While ESAs have been around for years, they’ve mostly been limited to students with disabilities or students in low-income families. The onset of universal ESAs opens the program up to all students regardless of their disability status or family income. Advocates say the savings accounts allow more students to have the ultimate personalized education experience, so they can learn in the environment that best works for them.

More states will likely try to pass universal ESAs or other similar policies in 2024, but the success in 2023 doesn’t mean it will be smooth sailing, education policy experts have told Education Week. Voucher programs in several states, including Georgia and Texas, failed to pass in 2023 , and public school advocates in Arkansas and Nebraska are working to collect signatures for referenda that would ask voters to reject newly passed private school choice programs in the 2024 election.

Some state officials, including Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, have warned that the cost of ESAs is growing far past initial projections. And critics of ESAs and vouchers argue the programs allow public funds to be spent on unregulated schools and don’t actually lead to improved academic performance.

2. More attention to raising teacher pay

Lawmakers in at least 26 states introduced bills to raise teacher pay in 2023, according to FutureEd , a Georgetown University think tank that tracks education policy.

Eleven of those bills have been signed into law in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. The bills often have bipartisan support and signal that teacher pay could continue to be a priority in 2024.

In some states, however, teacher pay laws come with strings attached to other issues. In Arkansas, the state’s LEARNS Act raised the minimum salary for starting teachers from $35,000 to $50,000. The law also established funds for the state’s universal ESA program. At the time of its passing, teachers told Education Week they found it difficult to support a law that expanded private school choice even if it raised their pay.

It’s unlikely that teacher pay will gain any federal momentum in 2024 with a divided U.S. House and Senate. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Reps. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., introduced bills at the start of 2023 to incentivize states to raise teacher salaries to a $60,000 minimum . Neither of those bills have made it through the House or Senate, and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House’s education committee, told Education Week that responding to teacher shortages is the responsibility of state and local governments, not congressional lawmakers.

3. Big questions and policy challenges over AI to continue

The introduction of generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT was perhaps the most consequential development for schools in 2023. A year later, many educators and lawmakers are still unsure what to do about it.

Earlier this month, lawmakers in the U.S. House introduced the “Artificial Intelligence Literacy Act,” a bipartisan bill that would make it clear schools could use existing federal grants to support AI literacy, or the understanding of the basic principles of AI.

The next year will likely mean the introduction of similar bills as well as efforts to curb AI’s impact on society. The National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, has already delayed its upcoming writing exam to give researchers time to understand how AI will impact writing instruction in schools.

4. Less attention on curriculum and policies related to gender identity, sexuality, and race

Debates over curriculum and school policies related to gender identity, sexuality, race, and racism dominated education conversations in 2023, including among the field of Republican candidates for president who faced off in a series of debates .

Many conservative-led states enacted laws, often referred to as a parents’ bill of rights, that limit or prohibit teaching about sexuality and gender identity, require parent permission for student name or pronoun changes, and limit how teachers talk about the history of race and racism. Republicans in the U.S. House also passed a federal parents bill of rights , but it has not made it through the Senate.

Educators in states with the laws have said that their implementation has led to confusion and chaos in schools . In Florida, the education agency went back and forth with the College Board over whether the Advanced Placement Psychology course violated its state law because of mentions of gender identity and sexuality. In Indiana, parents had to seek approval for their students to be called common nicknames, such as Kate or Jim, to abide by a law intended to prevent schools from keeping students’ gender identities a secret by requiring parent approval for name and pronoun changes.

2024 may see less of a focus on the parents’ rights policies, especially as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been the political face of these policies, fails to gain any serious momentum over Trump in the 2024 primary. Parents rights’ candidates also struggled to secure as many wins in 2023 school board elections as they did in 2022 .

5. Rethinking measures of student success

Over the past year, state education leaders have taken steps to redefine what it means to be a successful graduate.

At least 17 states have adopted a portrait, or profile, of a graduate, a guiding document to define what characteristics or competencies make a successful student as they leave high school. In some states, the portraits have led to a more robust restructuring of the public education system.

This year, Wyoming became the final state to adopt a law allowing for competency-based learning , in which student progress is evaluated based on mastery of a subject rather than the amount of time a student spends in class. The state will be starting a pilot project to see if it would be possible to shift its education system to a competency model.

Other states have looked to change standardized testing practices. In August, Montana received a rare federal waiver to pilot a through-year testing model and, in Missouri, the state education department has given waivers to at least 20 districts to pilot through-year testing. State officials hope the testing model, in which students are given standardized exams multiple times throughout the year, will give teachers, school leaders, and policymakers a more accurate sense of students’ skills by not relying on an end-of-year exam that requires students to demonstrate everything they know at one moment in time.

The movement away from traditional seat time and standardized testing measures of performance will likely continue in 2024 as more states look to recover from pandemic-induced learning loss.

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The Biggest Education Trends Of The Next 10 Years

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Education is changing rapidly. In today’s fast-moving world, a model where we graduate in our youth prepared for a lifelong career is simply no longer valid.

Technology is reshaping the world into one where ongoing training, upskilling and reskilling are a necessity – and education is transforming to cater to this. Artificial intelligence (AI), online learning and breakthrough technologies like virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR) already play an increasingly important role. They will all become more integrated into the way we study and learn over the next decade.

So, here’s my look-ahead to what I believe will be the dominant trends in education and educational technology (EdTech) by 2035. It may seem a long way away, but understanding them now will likely help us prepare for a future that, thanks to technology, will look very different than today.

Immersive Virtual Learning Environments

By 2035, the distinction between the physical and digital worlds will be increasingly blurred, and this is as true in education as anywhere. While I am sure many children and teenagers will still be attending brick-and-mortar school, alternatives will be well established for those who can’t, as well as for adults and lifelong learners.

VR and AR technology will be far more accessible than it is today, with lightweight and affordable devices making it easy for anyone to interact with tutors and fellow learners as if they were in the same room. Highly immersive virtual classrooms and campuses will mean we can participate in sophisticated simulations, engage in complex scientific experiments or explore ancient civilizations first-hand.

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The maturing of technologies that exist today will democratize access to education for those who aren’t fortunate enough to live in areas with good schools and colleges. However educators will face the challenge of balancing this with concerns such as increased social isolation and the impact of extended screen-time on developing minds.

AI-Driven Adaptive Learning

AI is going to change education (and everything else) in many ways, but over the next ten years, one of the most profound effects will be the rise of personalized learning. As the number of learners in both traditional classrooms (particularly in the developing world) and online environments climbs, teachers will have access to tools that accurately assess abilities and differentiate between learning styles to create hyper-personalized curriculums tailored to individuals’ requirements.

Today’s AI tutoring platforms will evolve into flexible AI mentors, able to understand psychological states and behavioral patterns to determine the best teaching strategies and even provide emotional support and encouragement. Students will have access to insights derived from biometric data to help them recognize the best time to learn and when they should rest. Adaptive gamification will challenge learners to improve themselves by dynamically engaging and assessing them throughout the education process, perhaps putting an end to the stress-inducing routine of cramming for end-of-term exams.

Personalization at this level has the potential to help us learn better and attain better educational outcomes. However, there will also be big challenges around privacy and questions over the role of human teachers as they find their role transitioning from information providers to learning facilitators. Biased data could lead to learners being inaccurately assessed, and care must be taken not to overlook the importance of human oversight and mentorship.

Neurotechnology And Accelerated Learning – Hacking The Human Brain For Better Learning

Here’s where things get very science fiction. So, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are in development today – the most famous example being Elon Musk’s Neuralink experiments . Don’t worry; we probably won’t all have to have chips implanted in our heads to benefit, though, as non-invasive forms of BCI have also been in development for some time.

The first use cases in education are likely to involve assisting students with disabilities, enabling them to control devices with thoughts. This will enhance their ability to communicate and take part in learning activities.

Within ten years, they could also be used to understand the brain’s learning processes better, potentially speeding up our ability to ingest, retain and recall information. By monitoring the electrical feedback generated by the brain, researchers believe it may be possible to optimize our ability to learn information and even develop skills such as playing a musical instrument.

Will this really be mainstream within ten years? Well, a lot depends on the outcome of research that’s going on today. And just as importantly, it will come down to how society is able to answer questions around the ethical and security implications of developing technology that can literally read our thoughts!

A Lifetime Of Learning

The concept of a “job for life” might have seemed normal to our parents’ generation, but it’s obsolete today. Students graduating ten years from now will be under no illusion that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge they will need for a lifelong career. The accelerating pace of digital transformation will make it necessary for those who want rewarding careers to adapt to new models of ongoing, continuous education. Education systems will adapt to support this, offering more courses that will involve on-the-job training and opportunities for upskilling.

It's already becoming normal for big companies like Amazon to offer degree-level apprenticeship programs, and this will become more common as employers seek to develop workforces equipped with the skills they need. Opportunities will involve online learning, modular learning and the type of immersive virtual learning discussed elsewhere in this article. Micro-learning and nano-learning will deliver education in bite-sized chunks, capable of being rolled out on a “just-in-time” basis to meet the changing needs of industries and professions. To cater to this, education providers will offer subscription services, allowing us to dip in and out of schooling in accordance with our personal needs. While there will always be a need for STEM education, with computers becoming increasingly proficient at technical tasks, more learning will be focused on human-centric “soft” skills that will increase our chances of remaining relevant in the era of AI and automation.

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What Top Education Issues Should The Presidential Candidates Address Heading Into November? Experts Weigh In

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While critical topics like inflation, immigration and the economy have been a consistent flashpoint ahead of November’s presidential election, one equally important issue has been left largely untouched by candidates seeking the highest office in the land — education.

The two presidential candidates, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, were not asked a single question during a recent debate on the plethora of issues facing America’s education system, including yawning gaps in student performance on standardized tests and LGBT ideology in the classroom. Pessimism over the current state of the U.S. education system has grown in recent years, with 42% of Americans saying they’re “very dissatisfied” in 2024, up from 30% in 2015, according to a Gallup poll. (RELATED: ‘Throwing Chairs, Biting, Hitting’: Kids Born During COVID Lockdowns Reportedly Having Serious Issues In School)

Crippling student debt and the federal government’s role in addressing it, the current administration’s bid to overhaul Title IX, the Biden Department of Justice’s (DOJ) targeting of parents who protested at school board meetings and LGBT ideology in schools are all essential issues that the presidential candidates should address, education experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“We have a real crisis in public education and education in general in America,” Tina Descovich, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, told the DCNF.

School boards have emerged as key battlegrounds in the ongoing culture war, with parents raising concerns over transgender policies, masking, Critical Race Theory and other hot-button issues.

In 2021, amid the fervor over these issues, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to the Biden administration comparing concerned parents to domestic terrorists and called for the usage of various statues, including the PATRIOT ACT, to shield school boards from supposed threats of violence.

Five days after the letter was sent, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI to “use its authority” against parents who either threaten or act violently towards public officials in a memorandum. The attorney general’s letter cited a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”

“The teachers unions do not care to have parents involved, even though their leaders have admitted that some of the greatest indicators of student success is having parental involvement, and so it’s important to have parents in the driver’s seat, and we wish to hear presidential candidates speak about that,” Descovich said.

No Jay, not one. And American parents have questions. We want an American President that protects and defends parental rights. We want an American President who will commit to never burdening our children with the fears and selfishness of adults. Time to put kids first.  https://t.co/CH8dpUC8fZ — Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty)  June 28, 2024

America’s massive student loan crisis also wasn’t mentioned during the debate. Nearly 19 million Americans haven’t forked over a single cent to toward their student loan debt.

“I think that they should discuss the federal role in higher education, and in particular, student aid and student debt, because that is a problem that needs to be dealt with,” Neal McCloskey, director of the CATO Institute’s Center for educational freedom told the DCNF. “The reason I was surprised it didn’t come up, though, is because obviously, the Biden administration has been working very hard to cancel huge amounts of student debt.”

The Biden administration has devised multiple schemes to wipe away student loan debt, which have been struck down by the Supreme Court as well as lower courts. In 2022, the administration proposed a plan to cancel student debt for nearly 40 million Americans, canceling up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for non-Pell Grant Recipients, but the Supreme Court shot down the program in a 6-3 ruling.

Shortly following the Supreme Court’s decision, the administration proposed the SAVE plan in April, which would limit student loan repayments to 5% of a borrower’s monthly income from the limit of 10%. Federal judges in Missouri and Kansas blocked parts of the administration’s plan from taking effect.

“Title IX certainly also should be discussed, because you have the federal government making a lot of rules for basically schools of different of all different levels across the board, about how they treat people and categorize people based on especially gender or sex, and how are those defined,” McCloskey told the DCNF.

The Biden administration has also sought to redefine the protections laid forth in Title IX, altering the rule to include “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.” The rule change has spurred numerous lawsuits across the land, with many plaintiffs securing significant victories in federal courts.

Several states have been victorious in their bids to block the rule change. Federal judges in Kansas, Texas, Louisiana and Kentucky all blocked the rule with supporting states on the lawsuits.

Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty referred to the rewrite as an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy.”

“There are serious issues that the next administration will need to address — namely, the Biden administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX to include gender identity,” Alex Nester, investigative fellow for Parents Defending Education told the DCNF in an email.

Schools’ transgender policies have also been a flashpoint in the wider education debate, with one case making its way to the Supreme Court, which it refused to hear. The case involved a challenge to a Maryland school district policy that kept information from parents about their child’s “gender identity.”

In April, Parents Defending Education filed a lawsuit against the Summit school district for allegedly using “affinity groups,” racially discriminating against parents. It was argued that the school district attempted to deter parents who were not members of certain ethnicities from participating in the affinity groups.

“The ongoing destruction of meritocracy in our education system is another issue that parents are rightly concerned about. It is vital for the next administration to refocus the Education Department’s attention to teaching kids rather than pushing political ideologies on them,” Nester told the DCNF.

The Biden and Trump campaigns did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact  [email protected] .

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