Named after the hundred-eyed watchman of Greek myth, Argus watches the education landscape: spotting new opportunities, pressure-testing the ventures we're building, and tracing every read back to the real-world signals behind it.
The evidence library: the raw signals the pipeline is watching across the education ecosystem. Every idea is built from these.
Words like “failure” and “hardship” probably aren’t the first that come to mind in describing the legacy of the United States’ first president, George Washington. While Washington is generally viewed through a lens of strength in leading the colonies through the American Revolution 250 years ago, a new movie aims to deepen the nation’s understanding […]
Nearly 79% of students who used Iowa’s funding program for K-12 private schools were “already projected” to attend private schools, according to a report released Wednesday by Iowa Auditor Rob Sand. Iowa Department of Education called the report a “policy advocacy brief” that critiqued statutory provisions of the Iowa Education Savings Account (ESA) program. Iowa’s […]
With Alberto Carvalho’s resignation now official, Los Angeles Unified faces a new challenge: finding a superintendent to lead the nation’s second-largest school district through mounting budget deficits, declining enrollment and political uncertainty. Acting Superintendent Andrés Chait will continue leading the district in the interim, but board members have not yet outlined a timeline or process […]
Connecticut has long had among the most burdensome charter approval processes in the country, requiring both State Board of Education authorization and a separate legislative appropriation just to open a school. Although Connecticut’s charter school sector has produced strong academic results, per-pupil funding has not increased in years, and the pipeline for new charter schools […]
Last year, Indian River County tied for the highest scores in third grade reading across all Florida districts. It came in seventh for English language arts learning gains and tied for the top spot for growth rates for its lowest-performing students. Even more impressively, low-income third graders at Indian River schools scored better than the […]
Rural America has a healthcare crisis hiding in plain sight. Hospitals are closing. Nurses are retiring faster than they can be replaced. And the students most likely to stay and serve their communities — kids growing up in small towns across Indiana, Texas, Delaware and dozens of states in between — often graduate high school […]
The U.S. Department of Education may no longer be able to fully support students, it says in an internal report that lays bare the full extent of the Trump Administration’s first round of government cuts. The department lost about 40% of its staff from the day Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025 through March […]
A version of this essay appeared on Matthew Yglesias’ Slow Boring, a site dedicated to offering pragmatic takes on politics and public policy. Katie Arnold-Ratliff wrote a cover story for New York Magazine criticizing New York City’s gifted and talented program in public schools that lands on a headline claim I think is staggeringly wrong: either […]
States can block transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, handing the Trump administration a victory in its effort to enforce such restrictions. In a 6-3 decision, the conservative court said that West Virginia and Idaho did not break the law when they passed legislation prohibiting […]
The Supreme Court ruled today that President Donald J. Trump exceeded his authority with his long-shot attempt to end birthright citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to undocumented parents or those without permanent status. In a 6-3 ruling, the court held Trump overreached when he tried to usurp the 14th Amendment by executive order […]
After a power failure knocked out electricity in parts of Lānaʻi High and Elementary School in 2021, the state set up temporary electrical lines to get the lights back on. Five years later, the so-called temporary lines are still there. Four portable classrooms and a building housing the boys’ locker room were affected when the […]
Has your kid ever used artificial intelligence to answer homework questions that their teacher used artificial intelligence to write? It’s possible, according to a report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts that found a majority of teachers in the state are using generative AI for planning or in the classroom, but also express concern that […]
As I climbed the steps to the stage on the morning of my junior high graduation, I felt my heart racing. Just a few feet away stood a microphone and hundreds of eyes waiting for me to begin. As the commencement speaker, I had rehearsed my speech countless times, yet I had no idea this […]
The percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school dropped during the most recently available five-year lookback window of federal data, though that picture is likely clouded by COVID-era school closures. The decline was cited in the Kids Count Data Book, an annual report released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which uses federal data […]
At the Charter School Growth Fund, graduation is our favorite time of year. It is when schools shine. We are reminded of what is possible when students, teachers and school leaders have excellence as their north star. Charters are built on the premise that all kids can learn when a culture of high expectations, great […]
For high school graduates about to head off to college the news is alarming: The degree they’re about to pursue might not land them the job they want. College grads are facing a tough job market, with headlines almost daily declaring their prospects “grim” or “shrinking” or call their “hiring woes” a “job market hell.” […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Touting his state’s soaring literacy scores, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves urged Oklahoma leaders to commit to tough reading policies. This year, Oklahoma enacted similar literacy laws as Mississippi, whose fourth-grade reading scores have surpassed the national average after decades of ranking near the bottom. The state’s meteoric rise has been called the […]
School choice enjoys broad support among the American public. But opposition within the Democratic Party and the political left remains concentrated among those with the most means. Higher-income and more highly educated Democrats are far more likely to oppose school choice, while Black, Hispanic and lower-income Democrats are more supportive. The divide reflects a gap […]
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When Reneta Johnson, head of a small charter network here, asked students how they wanted to spend this summer, they said they like to make TikTok videos. That gave her an idea. The staff at Legacy Prep built a three-week summer schedule around the theme of “Lights, Camera, Action,” blending drama, music […]
New York City public school kindergartners will automatically receive $1,000 for college expenses, up from $100, under a budget deal announced Tuesday between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council. The budget also restores a handful of education programs that Mamdani did not include in his preliminary proposal and were at risk of cuts, including […]
Most families want the same thing: children who feel safe, welcome, challenged and supported at school, and teachers who have the tools to help them succeed. Education must be focused on what truly matters: our children, the families who support them and the educators committed to their success. When politics overshadows learning, we compromise the […]
In his eighth and final budget, the tax gods continued to smile upon Gov. Gavin Newsom, enabling him to cement funding for signature programs he started while salving grumbling districts that are wincing over the financial impacts of declining enrollment. If, as many predict, stock market turbulence tied to AI stock upends nearly a decade […]
As educators, we spend a lot of time talking about the things we think are important. Attendance. Graduation rates. Test scores. Yes, those things matter. But before any of them improve, students have to believe that school is a place where they belong. This year, a student told me: “I gave up on myself because […]
Educators are having Chromebook and digital-device remorse right now, with schools across the U.S. banning cellphones and parents fighting what many view as excessive classroom screen time. But educator and author Stephanie Malia Krauss says ditching devices isn’t enough. If we want to improve young people’s academic results and well-being, we must focus on how […]
Class Disrupted is an education podcast featuring author Michael Horn and Futre’s Diane Tavenner in conversation with educators, school leaders, students and other members of school communities as they investigate the challenges facing the education system in the aftermath of the pandemic — and where we should go from here. Find every episode by bookmarking […]
Kansas City Public Schools teachers will receive a 5% base salary raise after the school board approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Kansas City Federation of Teachers, the district’s teachers union. Superintendent Jennifer Collier called the raise “historic.” “This is the highest pay increase for KCPS teachers in recent memory and brings our […]
Linda McMahon became the first U.S. education secretary to be the target of impeachment proceedings Thursday. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a member of the House education committee, filed three articles of impeachment against McMahon, noting the secretary’s “willful intent to unilaterally dismantle and eliminate the Department of Education.” Bonamici announced her plans a week ago, prompting […]
In June 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Nestling House, a childcare center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was preparing to reopen after closing down in mid-March, like so many other childcare programs around the country. It would be a process, with some rooms ready before others, and the leadership team knew things would be different once the […]
As a special education advocate in Oklahoma, Lucia Frohling handles about 40 cases per year in which schools reduce class time for students with disabilities, often for behavior issues or serious medical conditions. When she negotiates with school officials, she often leans on a 2022 warning from the federal government that such “informal removals” — […]
The Los Angeles Unified Board voted unanimously to appoint Andres Chait, a longtime district administrator, as superintendent days after his predecessor resigned. “This board’s decision reflects the confidence in Mr. Chait’s leadership, his decades of service to Los Angeles Unified, and his demonstrated ability to guide the district during this period of transition,” said board […]
Marking the start of two weeks of intensive negotiations, the Legislature passed a state budget Monday with higher revenue projections than those proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, providing several billion dollars in additional spending for TK-12 and community colleges in 2026-27. Several other significant issues remain unresolved. Chief among them is the $3.9 billion in […]
Three top Senate Democrats are accusing the Trump administration and Republicans of “taking a wrecking ball” to childcare programs, highlighting the issue in a midterm year where many Democrats are running on inflation and the high cost of living. Childcare costs have skyrocketed in recent decades, outpacing inflation. There’s bipartisan consensus on the crisis: an […]
It is widely accepted in the field of early care and education that staff turnover is high, but exactly how high has proven difficult to measure. A recent analysis from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska offers new insights into the extent of the field’s attrition rates, finding that only 56% […]
The end of the fiscal year is near. For many school administrators, that means scrambling to decide whether to spend more money on artificial intelligence-driven ed tech products that promise everything from letting teachers operate on autopilot to ensuring that all students receive exactly what they need, minute-by-minute. Principals, superintendents and other school leaders are […]
Earlier this year, U.S. senators convened to grill experts on how social media, smartphones and other technologies are affecting children’s mental health and learning. That conversation has since helped fuel a new wave of legislative action, with nearly a dozen states now considering screen-time restrictions for students. It’s an important debate. But from where I […]
This story was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of The 19th. Meet Nadra and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. To understand why five California families took their fight against segregated schools to court in the 1940s, picture the buildings reserved for their children’s learning. At that time in rural Orange […]
The fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to shift control of the California Department of Education from the state superintendent of public instruction to a new education commissioner answering to future governors and the State Board of Education will become clearer within the next week. Supporters and opponents disagree not only on the merits of […]
This spring, an estimated 3.9 million high school students — one of the largest classes in American history — graduated into a world their education never fully prepared them for. They are, in many ways, the first graduating class of the artificial intelligence era, launching into adulthood at a moment when the world around them […]
Gov. Jeff Landry and legislative leaders are pushing back on claims from public school leaders that the governor’s plan to pay for teacher stipends with school operations funds would hurt public education across Louisiana. The governor announced a tweak Monday to his original proposal that would allow school districts already giving pay increases to teachers […]
Every year, parents — usually mothers — toil months in advance of the summer break to sign kids up for camps, book nannies, fly grandparents out to help or sort out a medley of arrangements and schedules. Planning can start as far as a year in advance. After signing her kids up for all their […]
Fourth grade literacy gains earned Mississippi national acclaim. But that achievement tapers off as students advance to higher grades. Lawmakers are putting millions toward changing that. Mississippi has seen the least progress across subject areas in eighth grade reading scores, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and performs near the bottom compared to […]
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. California librarians were stunned when a last-minute budget change stripped K-12 schools of a trove of research materials, potentially leaving thousands of students without resources to do reports, projects or homework assignments. Without notice to schools or librarians, the Legislature last week canceled […]
The first step to solving a reading delay is knowing it exists. Decades of research have found that all children learn to read by developing the same core skills. This applies to children with dyslexia, English language learners and those reading well beyond grade level. Per the science of reading, some kids just need more […]
More than a dozen Delaware public schools, mostly in New Castle County, are operating at less than 60% capacity, according to data from the Delaware Department of Education. Five of those are more than half empty. The phenomenon of half-empty school buildings has prompted Delaware’s House Speaker Mimi Minor Brown (D-New Castle) to question whether they […]
To improve school attendance in a state with one of the nation’s highest absenteeism rates, Oregon education officials on Tuesday presented lawmakers with a plan to repeal existing attendance laws. The high-level presentation and 20-page report presented to the Senate Interim Education Committee described a strategy to replace existing attendance laws “rooted in compliance” with […]