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.
New York City is expected to release its school policy for artificial intelligence on Wednesday, with a ban on student-facing AI tools for 2-K through eighth grade, according to four people briefed on the plans and Education Department documents obtained by Chalkbeat. Under the new rules, the youngest children in the nation’s largest school system […]
When a middle schooler sits down in math class, she might be thinking about the argument she had on the way to school, the stress at home she can’t escape or whether she’s going to eat today. She is probably not thinking about algebra. Adults design policies for her future — the classes she takes, […]
The findings come as career and technical education has gained traction and are “concerning” amid broader postsecondary shifts, a Rand report said.
Falling enrollment and the need for consistent and stable student resources have led the district to explore options to "rightsize."
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 […]
The preliminary proposal comes as the Missouri school district has seen enrollment decline sharply by 58.5% in a 34-year period.
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 […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Confidential student records are sitting in a vacated building nearly eight weeks after a charter school permanently closed its doors, officials from the state and the school said, though both sides disagree on who is at fault. Proud To Partner Leadership Academy, known as PTPLA, ceased operations on July 1 after the […]
Too often, public debate rewards simple answers to complicated problems. The most visible ideas can easily be mistaken for the most effective ones, but appearance isn’t the same as progress. Youth mental health is no exception. As parents and former elected officials, we know there is no silver bullet to solve the mental health challenges […]
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 […]
Head Start, the federal program providing free early education for low-income children, has benefited from strong bipartisan support since its 1965 inception, withstanding funding cuts and political turbulence across 11 presidencies. But more recent threats from the second Trump administration have thrust Head Start into the spotlight. Last year, its programs faced disruptions and threats […]
Five years ago, diesel costs averaged $2.68 a gallon. This spring, that more than doubled to over $5.50. That’s not just a headline; it’s a real problem for anyone operating on a tight budget. But for school districts, the issue is even more severe. The cost of fuel for just one school bus runs into […]
Five years ago, diesel costs averaged $2.68 a gallon. This spring, that more than doubled to over $5.50. That’s not just a headline; it’s a real problem for anyone operating on a tight budget. But for school districts, the issue is even more severe. The cost of fuel for just one school bus runs into […]
Michigan’s initiative to offer free pre-kindergarten for all is paying off, state educators said Wednesday, as the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, also known as MiLEAP, touted nearly 53,000 applications on file since June. Emily Laidlaw, MiLEAP’s deputy director, said during a virtual news conference that the figure had grown by 700 applications […]
We’re once again in a cycle of headlines that feels acutely focused on celebrity and weight and eating disorders. And unfortunately there will likely be more tomorrow and the next day and on and on. It can be overwhelming, especially if you’re still feeling the effects of the extreme thinness culture that dominated the 1980s […]
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 […]
Public school librarians in Ohio are raising alarms about book bans and funding cuts. School librarians have been navigating challenges in their work as long as they’ve been among the stacks in their local districts. Proposed legislation to filter the reading choices students can make has brought concern, and budget reductions make some worry about […]
When Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City, he vowed to gather community feedback on how the public schools are working. His chancellor, Kamar Samuels, has assembled working groups “tasked with creating customized proposals to accelerate the work of building a stronger school system, rooted in academically rigorous, safe and integrated schools.” So I […]
The U.S. Department of Education is expected to award $41.3 million in grant funding through the Alaska Native Education Program to 26 Alaska grantees after some delay, according to an announcement from Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The grant funding was expected on July 1, but has been delayed more than a month. Grantees […]
The Trump administration is pushing a total overhaul of Head Start that could fundamentally reshape the 60-year-old program that has provided childcare and key support for America’s lowest-income families. A new proposed rule released last week put more than 1,400 regulatory provisions that govern how Head Start is implemented on the chopping block. Across the […]
For the third year in a row, Gov. Tate Reeves opted out of a state-federal partnership that would have given summer grocery benefits to roughly 320,000 Mississippi children who rely on free meals during the school year. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia are enrolled in the program, called SUN Bucks, which doles out […]
As school administrators map out curricula, schedules and priorities for the next school year, they should be thinking holistically about what kids actually need. Because honestly, young people are not doing well, and education systems aren’t doing enough about it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes what young people are experiencing right now […]
In 2012, after child advocates spent years trying to reduce punitive suspensions in schools, Massachusetts passed sweeping education reforms under Chapter 222, kickstarting a longstanding policy shift away from exclusionary discipline methods. The law came as the nation moved away from the Zero-Tolerance policies of the 1990s and toward efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. […]
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In school lunchrooms around Lake Tahoe, students line up for a red, hairy fruit called a rambutan. On pozole day, they shout, “We want more!” And when the salad bar runs dry, they ask the staff to refill it — over and over. […]
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 […]
Students in all Illinois public schools will soon have to abide by rules barring them from using cellphones or other personal electronic communication devices during school hours unless they have been given specific permission to use them. Although many districts already have similar policies in place, Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday that will require all districts […]
The same day The New York Times published its investigation of labor rights leader César Chávez’s alleged actions of sexual abuse, Bakersfield College professor Oliver Rosales was scheduled to teach his class, History of Chicanos in the Southwest. His planned lecture happened to be on the farmworker movement. But on that day in March, he […]
Learning to read and write cursive was once a rite of passage for practically every American schoolchild. Until the early 20th century, children in the U.S. were generally taught to write in cursive or script, rather than the print writing typically taught to young children today. Some people at the time thought a person’s character could be […]
Ask a teen what they want to be when they grow up, and there’s a fair chance being an influencer is on their list. Digital media and the people who star in it have been cultural mainstays for teens’ entire lives, so creating social media, video or podcast content seems a natural, albeit nontraditional, career path. And […]
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 […]
This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here. When students return to school this fall in the Salamanca City Central School District in Western New York, a new kind of teacher will be ready to greet them. The small, rural […]
Mary Derfel, assistant director of early literacy at North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Early Learning, recently heard Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen describe the dream that shaped his childhood. “As a kid,” Derfel recalled Hansen saying, “I knew I wanted to go to the moon. What I learned is that I can’t get […]
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday vowed to pass legislation punishing public schools that do not remove graphic books from their shelves by knocking them down a notch in the state’s annual school performance ratings, which the state uses to seize control of underperforming districts. Flanked by easels displaying printed covers of books he found […]
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is seeking reelection this November, received a key endorsement on his education policies from the state’s largest union this week. Monday’s announcement marks the third time the Illinois Education Association, which represents more than 135,000 teachers, professors, and support staff statewide, has endorsed Pritzker for governor. The Illinois Federation of Teachers […]
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 […]
Courtney Buuck thought there was some kind of mistake. When she learned that she received a $40,000 bonus payment on top of her base teacher’s salary last fall, she was in shock. Like other staff at United Schools of Indianapolis’ three charter schools, she was eligible for a bonus based on her year-end evaluation score. […]
Weeks before the first day of school, teachers across Mississippi say state leaders have made it more difficult for them to access money for classroom supplies. Educators have to complete training before they’re able to spend the money the state gives them for classroom supplies, but teachers say the live training has been hard to […]
During the school year, Mānoa Heritage Center hosts students of all ages learning about native plants, Hawaiian culture and history. But on a recent summer morning, teachers donned name tags, explored the gardens and diligently took notes as they became students for the day. On Thursday, 20 educators gathered for a professional development workshop, spending […]
On a warm Tuesday in late July, a blue van marked with a Transylvania County Schools logo pulled into a gravel driveway and let out a light honk. Seconds later, the door of a house swung open. Two children bounded down the steps and into the arms of the van’s passengers — school nutrition employees […]
A new partnership in Detroit will provide middle schoolers through adult learners with access to resources designed to help residents enter and complete college, with hubs expected to open on the city’s east and west sides this fall. Graduate 313, a partnership between the Jamie and Denise Jacob Family Foundation and Detroit College Access Network, […]
Walk into any college library and you will likely see students wearing headphones and listening to music. The idea that music can improve learning has been around for decades. The “Mozart Effect,” is the pop psychology myth, first hypothesized in a 1993 paper, that listening to classical music can help people retain and process new […]
Walk into any college library and you will likely see students wearing headphones and listening to music. The idea that music can improve learning has been around for decades. The “Mozart Effect,” is the pop psychology myth, first hypothesized in a 1993 paper, that listening to classical music can help people retain and process new […]
Upbeat on-hold music blared from Jerrica Mickens’ cellphone for nearly 50 minutes as she searched on her laptop for affordable housing for a parent in Detroit. Mickens was on a three-way call with a mother and a legal aide hotline the morning of April 21 in her Central High School office. As the two waited […]
Screen time limits for Los Angeles Unified School District’s youngest students begin in August. “My hope and expectation is that most families will see a dramatic reduction in screen time during the school day, but also in the evenings, as mandated by school,” said Nick Melvoin, who represents the Westside’s Board District 4. While LAUSD […]
On June 26, Children’s Aid was preparing to continue summer sexual health and youth development programming in schools, foster care settings and community organizations across New York City. By the end of the day, the federal funding behind that work was gone. The Trump administration terminated Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants nationwide with immediate effect, […]
A heavy, authoritative thud echoed through the Hawai‘i House chamber as Speaker Rilynn Kawaikoʻolilihilihiokalikolehua Perez brought down the gavel. Student delegates settled into their seats, shuffling papers and readying for another round of debate: ʻAha ʻŌpio was back in session. The big topic of the day was vaping, with a proposal on the floor to […]