But unlike most 10-year-olds, a year ago this child left her family and her home, walking for days with little to eat. To protect her from the violence against women that is pervasive in rural Guatemala, and with the hope that she could have a better life, her mother sent her to the United States. Abiding by our immigration policy at the time, the young girl crossed the border and presented herself to immigration authorities to request asylum here. Yet now, due to policy changes, she is considered to be undocumented, part of a group that is being targeted politically. 

As a bilingual social worker, I have spent the past six years working closely with immigrants in southeast Tennessee. I鈥檝e heard many variations of this story. I鈥檓 not using names in this story to protect the immigrants I know. So many children and families have endured trauma in their country of origin and come here abiding by our rules; they work hard and contribute by supporting our schools, boosting local economies, and paying taxes to fund our government. 

And yet, common misconceptions persist and drive our immigration policy. Misconceptions like being undocumented means that an immigrant broke the law when they arrived, or that somehow simultaneously new arrivals are coming here to live off the government while also stealing American jobs. As someone who works daily with immigrants, I can assure you that those I know give much more to our country and to our communities than they could ever take. Their contributions are enormous 鈥� cultural, educational, economic and more.

For instance, a father immigrated from Venezuela through legal pathways years ago. When his children began attending school, he was shocked to see school staff members volunteering their free time to maintain and improve the campus. In the father鈥檚 home country, this was something parents did. He organized a parent committee to take the burden off of teachers, a contribution that has increased family engagement and improved teacher morale. And yet this father鈥� who has given so much to his community 鈥� is now considered undocumented due to policy reversals and is at risk of being targeted by immigration enforcement. 

Anti-immigrant politicians often portray immigrants as criminals who drain public resources and weaken American communities. And yet, the experiences of families I encounter tell a different story. The truth is that many undocumented immigrants have not violated the law, that immigrants contribute more to our economy than they receive in public benefits, and that they strengthen the communities they join through service, hard work and civic engagement. 

As an undocumented immigrant, the 10-year-old girl is not eligible for any public assistance: not food stamps, nor Medicaid, and she does not qualify for any type of subsidized housing. If she wants to attend college some day, to fulfill her dream of becoming a police officer and keeping others safe, she would not be eligible for any type of government grants or student loans. The only government support she receives is a free, public school education, a benefit she takes full advantage of every morning when she wakes herself up, makes her breakfast, dresses and eagerly waits for the school bus to arrive. 

However, even this benefit has been threatened. In both the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions, Tennessee lawmakers sponsored bills that would deny undocumented students the right to a free public education. This legislation, a direct challenge to the United States Supreme Court鈥檚 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe, could make it harder, or impossible, for many immigrant students to go to public school. Although the young girl followed our immigration policy and continues to attend her check-ins and court dates, she remains among those who many lawmakers believe are undeserving of the basic right to education. 

When attempting to deny a free public education to undocumented students, Tennessee state legislators have pointed to the high cost of educating undocumented children. While the economic burden of immigrants is often cited by those opposing immigration, a 30-year published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, found that immigrants pay more in taxes than they consume in public services. Over the course of the study, there was a net positive contribution of more than $14.5 trillion. These are tax dollars that help reduce our national deficit. 

Immigrants also contribute by sustaining our population growth amid declining birth rates. Recent Congressional revealed that the Social Security program is now projected to be depleted in 2032, a year earlier than the estimate given in 2025, due in part to declining immigration. 

Many immigrants have not broken any laws, yet remain undocumented and legally vulnerable. They are portrayed as a drain on society, yet they help sustain programs like Social Security through their tax contributions, even though many will never receive those benefits. 

As we watch our neighbors being detained and deported, we see that we are not losing the “worst of the worst,” but people who embody some of the best American ideals: hard work, selfless contribution, and a desire to build a better future for their families and communities. 

To put these results in perspective, four years ago, the third grade ELA proficiency rate was 40% 鈥� nearly 30 points below its pre-pandemic highs. Moreover, according to a Universal Reading Screener, our kindergarten to second grade students were demonstrating mastery at levels far below prior cohorts. 

As executive director of the charter school, I recognized that the problem was not a lack of effort. When our staff observed classrooms, we saw teachers and leaders working incredibly hard. However, we also saw many ineffective practices, especially in our youngest grades: centers where students colored without purpose or attention, letter sounds introduced without sufficient practice, and Youtube videos replacing the joy of books read-aloud. It was no surprise so many third and fourth grade students struggled to read fluently, write complete sentences or access complex texts. 

Over the next four years, we changed almost everything about our K-5 literacy program. Today, our Title I school ranks in the state鈥檚 top 3% for 3rd Grade ELA achievement, outscoring every district in the state of Tennessee, including districts with far less diversity and far greater resources. While these results are extraordinary, the work we did was anything but. In fact, I am confident it can be replicated by any school or district. 

Here are six practices that moved the needle most. 

The Science of Reading is the tip of the iceberg. Starting in 2022, Tennessee began to implement training and curricula rooted in the Science of Reading, which we embraced and incorporated. Along the way, we learned that this evidence-based approach rests upon a broader foundation of cognitive and social science. This research has not reached most American teachers and school districts. Over the past two years 鈥� thanks to organizations like , , and 鈥� we explored the science of learning. 

Based on what we learned, we overhauled our approach to coaching and development. Today, every teacher at Nashville Classical is trained on basic concepts like the importance of securing and harnessing attention, the difference between working and long-term memory, the importance of background knowledge and the need to support encoding and retrieval. If you walk into a third grade classroom today, you might see students with a knowledge organizer on ancient Rome, quietly self-quizzing themselves on terms like patricians and plebeians. These simple daily practices are supported by science, but implementing them is not rocket science. Very few schools or districts have shared these practices with their teachers, which is a tragedy because anyone can learn them and every teacher deserves to know them. 

Don鈥檛 teach skills 鈥� build knowledge. features a listening comprehension strand, which we use to build background knowledge. In younger grades, we reinforce key terms, timelines and vocabulary through daily oral drills, content-focused songs and frequent opportunities to repeat ideas through 鈥渢urn and talks.鈥� As students move into tested grades, they practice reading short passages and answering multiple choice questions. But we avoid teaching test tricks like 鈥渃rossing out wrong answers鈥� or lessons on 鈥渉ow to find the main idea.鈥� Instead, our teachers ask themselves 鈥淲hat background knowledge or vocabulary might prevent students from understanding this passage?鈥� and 鈥淗ow can I build their knowledge to increase their comprehension?.鈥� By eliminating time spent trying to teach abstract 鈥渃ritical thinking,鈥� we have more time to build knowledge and vocabulary, which are the actual building blocks of comprehension.

Fluency 鈥� in all its forms 鈥� unlocks growth. Our benchmark assessment system measures fluency across grade levels, including for letter sounds, word reading, oral reading and silent reading. Our team took time to deeply understand the importance of each of these domains and unpacked what a fluent reader could think and do at each stage of their development, from kindergarten to middle school. Unfortunately, , prioritizing sound or word reading fluency at the expense of fluent reading in context. Our team worked to align vision of reading excellence across grades, which meant teachers were working toward a shared picture of what proficient young readers and successful adults readers can do down to the tiniest details of exactly how many words per minute a third grader should be able to read silently and what sorts of affixes, word roots, and phrases made passages appropriate for each grade. This level of granular detail meant teachers could identify students at risk early and clearly, intervening to provide the right support to the right students. 

Writing is thinking. We invested significant time in teaching students to write, starting in kindergarten. Our approach is rooted in with a focus on three areas. First, students write about complex topics directly connected to the knowledge and content they are reading about. So, our kindergarteners learn to speak in complete sentences while explaining what happens in nursery rhymes, our first graders learn to write sentences about Aesop鈥檚 Fables, and our second graders learn to write their first paragraphs about Greek myths. Next, our teaching focuses on sentence-level activities. By third grade, students have learned to expand, distill and express their ideas in complex and complete sentences. Finally, we teach students to revise. Teachers frequently display student work on document cameras, analyze it and then prompt students to apply concepts to their own work. 

Books belong in classrooms. Across the country, and many curricula emphasize short passages or excerpts. We believe books belong in classrooms and have selected curricula 鈥� Core Knowledge, Fishtank and Reading Reconsidered 鈥� built on this belief. Great books expose children to beautiful stories that have or will stand the test of time. When a classroom of second graders reaches the end of Charlotte鈥檚 Web, there is not a dry eye in sight and they are joining a cultural conversation that stretches across grades and generations. We鈥檝e found that the experience of reading great literature has grown our children鈥檚 attention and shaped their identity in the best way possible. There is a tradition of literacy and reading at our school, which we hope students carry with them long after they graduate. 

Play the long game. We are fortunate to have an incredible team of teachers and leaders who work with our elementary students. They deserve all of the credit for these achievements and many of them stayed at our schools through a period of significant change, where we implemented new curricula, changed schedules and raised expectations. We made many mistakes along the way, but always tried to balance the pain of changing too fast with the cost of changing too slowly. While we knew that we would not see gains happen overnight, we always believed positive habits would compound each day. For our curriculum and coaching to make a difference, we needed to stop implementation of any number of distracting, shiny objects: digital tutors, complex intervention programs, AI-everything, etc. We learned that investments in the practice and delivery of instruction may not pay off the fastest, but they take you the farthest. 

Today, I鈥檓 not just the leader of our school:  I鈥檓 a parent. And something else happened around the same time our third graders took their state test 鈥� my son, a kindergartener, learned to read. This summer, while I spent a late night hunched over a laptop to analyze results, he was upstairs reading Dog Man under his covers. 

Every kid deserves the type of teaching my son got in kindergarten and will get in the years to come. The only way to make that happen is for more schools to implement the ordinary practices that create extraordinary classrooms and outcomes. 

The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, Inc, led by former Democratic Congressman Peter Deutsch, the Statewide Charter School Board in March, saying that Oklahoma鈥檚 law requiring charter schools to be nonsectarian qualifies as religious discrimination. 

“Many parents, both Jewish and non-Jewish, want the kind of rigorous, faith-based education Ben Gamla would provide,鈥� said Daniel Chen, an attorney with Becket, a nonprofit law firm focusing on religious liberty. 

The earliest the virtual school could open would be the fall of 2027. 

Ben Gamla is the second religious charter school that has tried to open in Oklahoma, where Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and former state Superintendent Ryan Walters encouraged the first online Catholic charter school. Last year, a lawsuit over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in a 4-4 tie deadlocked over the question of whether charter schools are private and can, therefore, explicitly teach religion. That leaves the question unanswered, say supporters of religious charter schools. Similar efforts in other states, including Tennessee and California, mean there are many routes for returning the issue to the high court.

In the Ben Gamla case, U.S. District Judge David Russell, for the Western District of Oklahoma, will consider two issues. In addition to asking the court to allow the school to open while the case proceeds, Ben Gamla鈥檚 organizers also want the court to block Oklahoma families, now 鈥渋ntervenors鈥� in the case, from accessing information about the school, like proposed admission and student conduct policies.

鈥淚ntervenors are going on a fishing expedition, seeking sensitive information about schoolchildren, donors and the like,” Chen said.

But attorneys representing the families, , say any planning documents should be publicly available.

鈥淭o what extent will those policies discriminate against students or employees based on religion or sexual orientation or gender identity?鈥� asked Alex Luchenitser, vice president and associate legal director for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. 鈥淗ow religiously coercive will school operations be?鈥� 

In June, Russell granted requests from two groups of parents to intervene in the case. They argue that the school would force taxpayers to subsidize religion. Because the charter school board is not opposed to the Ben Gamla school in theory and even welcomed the lawsuit, that leaves the parents, including those whose children attend charter schools, as 鈥渢he only litigants seeking to defend the constitutionality鈥� of the state law, he wrote.

The judge is expected to rule in a few weeks, but Luchenitser said he could issue a decision on the documents sooner.

Luchenitser is also Americans United鈥檚 lead attorney on a federal case in Tennessee in which , a proposed 鈥淐hrist-centered鈥� charter school in Knoxville, is suing the Knox County Schools because the district wouldn鈥檛 allow the organizers to submit a charter application. 

U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr., for the Eastern District of Tennessee, has set a trial date in that case for the week of Jan. 12. As in Oklahoma, the judge allowed a group of community members to intervene in the case when the school board said it wouldn鈥檛 take a position on Wilberforce鈥檚 legal argument. The organization says that while the state supports families who want a religious education for their children through its education savings account program, it shows 鈥渉ostility鈥� toward religious charter schools.

鈥楴ot freestanding鈥�

In Colorado, a over a Christian 鈥渃ontract鈥� school, similar to a charter, was another potential test case for faith-based public schools, But the 30-student Riverstone Academy shut down permanently at the end of last school year after health and safety violations as its facility. The state legislature also , making the school ineligible for funding. 

In a fourth case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this year that a homeschool program in California that operates under the umbrella of the Blue Ridge Academy charter school is still a public school, and, therefore, can鈥檛 practice religion. Parents and grandparents sued the state when officials said using public funds to purchase religious curriculum materials would violate state law. 

Liberty Justice Center, the conservative law firm representing the families, has until Aug. 20 to to the Supreme Court. 

But while supporters of religious charter schools plan their legal strategy for getting the issue back before the conservative justices, some advocates are sharpening arguments saying that charters are, without question, public schools.

According to a from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, these schools of choice 鈥渁re not freestanding private institutions.鈥� They exist only because of state action and operate with public resources.

Kevin Welner, an education and law professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, called the paper a 鈥渧aliant effort,鈥� but one unlikely to sway the court the next time they hear a case over religious charter schools. 

The only reason the St. Isidore case ended in a tie is because Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself. While she didn鈥檛 give a reason, Barrett is close friends with a law professor who advised the school鈥檚 founders. That won鈥檛 happen a second time, and given that Barrett typically sides with those wanting on religious expression. Welner said he鈥檚 convinced that the Alliance 鈥渨ill lose that argument.鈥�

Along with Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education and Preston Green of the University of Connecticut, in a policy paper that if the court ultimately rules that charter schools are private entities, such schools will not only be able to practice religion, but potentially ignore other 鈥渂asic laws governing public schools,鈥� like open meetings requirements and conflict-of-interest rules.

To prevent that possibility, the three recommend that states should have districts govern charters instead of independent nonprofit boards. This change, they said, would make charters 鈥渦nambiguously governmental entities鈥� that are 鈥渇ully subject to constitutional requirements and civil rights laws.鈥�

Watching Florida

Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the Alliance, rejected the idea, saying their proposal 鈥渨ould open the door to more regulation that will basically turn charters into district schools.鈥� The Alliance and other choice advocacy groups, like the , favor charter laws that allow for a variety of authorizers, including nonprofits.  

Meanwhile, in Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued stating that the First Amendment doesn鈥檛 prevent states from 鈥渆ncouraging鈥� religion and that excluding religious groups from opening charter schools violates the Constitution. 

So far, the Alliance hasn鈥檛 seen any religious groups trying to launch charters based on Uthmeier鈥檚 statements, Coleman said.

鈥淏ut it doesn鈥檛 mean we won鈥檛,鈥� she said. 

After all, Deutsch represented Florida in the House from 1993 to 2005 and that鈥檚 where he built a successful network of secular charter schools that teach Hebrew language and culture. In 2023, he told 社区黑料 that if he had known education savings accounts and private school choice programs were about to take off, he would have founded a 鈥淛ewish voucher school.鈥�

鈥淲e know there are people in Florida who are interested in advancing this issue,鈥� Coleman said. 鈥淲e are expecting that Florida could be the next state with an active case.鈥�

But here鈥檚 what it feels like from his seat. In his classroom, his teacher references a 鈥渟ilent e,鈥� but the intervention software calls it a 鈥渕agic e.鈥� His tutor uses different hand signals and follows a different skills sequence. Supports meant to reinforce classroom learning are unintentionally cutting against that, leaving him to sort it out alone.

When a student hasn鈥檛 mastered something in class, the standard response has been to try a fresh approach 鈥� a different program, a new strategy. But evidence from Knox County Schools in Tennessee suggests the opposite: What they need is more of the same.

Last year, Knox County conducted a , the 鈥済old standard鈥� of education research. Students below the 40th percentile on literacy assessments were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring models. Both received the same amount of tutoring time and similar support. The difference was the curriculum.聽

One group used off-the-shelf materials designed specifically for intervention. The other received tutoring built around the high-quality instructional materials used in their regular classroom. Content was delivered with scaffolding and pre-teaching, in groups no larger than four students who met at least three times weekly to ensure intervention kept pace with classroom instruction.

When Accelerate staff visited Pleasant Ridge Elementary, one of the pilot schools, the difference was immediately noticeable. Students receiving aligned tutoring moved seamlessly between intervention and regular instruction because the materials looked, felt and sounded the same. 

The data confirmed that impression. Students in the aligned group outperformed peers, posting gains of 0.12 standard deviations, or about 1.3 months of additional literacy growth, with even greater gains among students who began the year in the lower half of the tutored group. Those children saw the largest effect: 0.18 standard deviations in growth.

Under these conditions, trained paraprofessionals also delivered the aligned intervention at least as effectively as licensed teachers. That allows districts to keep experienced educators focused on core instruction while extending proven support to more children.

This idea isn鈥檛 unique to Knox County. In its recent report, “,” TNTP argued that instructional incoherence undermines learning acceleration and widens opportunity gaps. When districts align instruction across settings, students are better supported to engage in grade-level work.聽

This doesn鈥檛 mean standalone interventions should disappear. Some students require specialized instruction. But districts should stop assuming a separate intervention program is best for literacy learning, especially when they have a high-quality curriculum in place.

The practical case is just as strong.

• Teachers benefit from a unified system. When intervention specialists and classroom teachers use the same materials, coordination becomes genuine collaboration. In Knox County, who experienced both models preferred the aligned approach.聽
• Students face less cognitive load. When the words, routines, sequence and strategy hold steady between classroom and intervention, students stop spending energy navigating inconsistencies and can focus on learning.
• Cost savings are real 鈥� and can be redirected to other priorities. Districts invest approximately on literacy instruction, with a significant portion dedicated to parallel interventions. Tennessee SCORE estimated Knox County could save $2 million 鈥� 鈥� by drawing on the core curriculum rather than purchasing separate programs.
• Fragmentation falls hardest on students who need coherence most. Benefits should extend to multilingual learners and students with disabilities, who move between settings more than most. Knox County didn鈥檛 test that premise explicitly, but evidence from the pilot was promising enough that the district is expanding the aligned tutoring method to those students starting this fall. 

Exploring this sort of alignment doesn鈥檛 require major investments or a district-wide overhaul. Erin Phillips, Knox County鈥檚 executive director of learning and literacy, frames the opportunity in a refreshing way: “try in” rather than “buy in.”聽

District leaders can begin with a pilot 鈥� a low-risk one where teachers learn and refine with support, leaders build context-specific evidence, and costs stay low since they鈥檙e using materials they already own.

are drawing national attention, and districts everywhere are looking for what to borrow. Right now, leaders are making decisions about next year’s budgets, staffing and schedules. It may feel late to act, but the strategy embraced by Knox County doesn鈥檛 require a change of course, just a refocusing of intervention around the existing curriculum. Here鈥檚 how to do it:

• Start with a coalition of the willing. Pick one grade level and schools whose leaders want to try this. 
• Plan professional learning. Teachers and paraprofessionals can deliver this well but need effective support. Build training before the year starts.
• Set clear metrics. Decide how you鈥檒l measure success: student movement between tiers, curriculum-embedded assessment results, teacher feedback or dollars saved. Monitor progress and adjust as needed.

The most compelling lesson from the Knox County study may be that it doesn鈥檛 ask leaders to buy another program or adopt a new initiative. It asks them to reconsider how the pieces of their existing instructional system fit together.

Education has no shortage of products promising to accelerate learning. Before investing in the next one, leaders should embrace Phillips鈥� suggestion to “try in.” They might discover, as Knox County did, that the most effective intervention materials are sitting on their shelves.

The state has revamped both subjects in recent years, starting with the passage of the . New math curricula rolled out two years later. The dual efforts cost more than $130 million in state and federal funding, education officials said, and the work is ongoing.聽

State education leaders attribute student and teacher success to the use of high-quality instructional materials, ongoing professional development, robust summer math programs and high-dosage tutoring in both subjects. 

鈥淭ennessee implemented specific high-dosage tutoring requirements which include a minimum of two to three sessions per week for 30-45 minutes delivered by a certified teacher or trained tutor in groups no larger than three students for the entire school year,鈥� explained Kristy Brown, chief academic officer at the state Department of Education. 

According to the Education Scorecard report, which examined both state-level tests and student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for grades three through eight, Washington, D.C., made the most gains in math, followed by , Louisiana, Delaware and Maryland. 

The nation鈥檚 capitol also outdid all other states captured in the scorecard in reading. But the report鈥檚 overall findings were bleak. It concluded the U.S. has been in a 鈥渓earning recession鈥� since 2013, a trend that has run alongside kids鈥� skyrocketing use of social media and the decline of school accountability measures.

Math proficiency rates in Tennessee on state assessments between 2021 and 2025, moving from 28% to 42%. But historically underserved students still lagged their peers.

While nearly 51% of white children met that benchmark last year, just 24% of Black students, 32% of Hispanic kids, 26% of English learners and 24% of economically disadvantaged children did the same. Results were similar for  

Still, Tennessee ranked high among dozens of states, according to the Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth researchers who produced the scorecard, now in its fifth year. 

Christy Wall, the state鈥檚 assistant commissioner of academics and instructional strategy, said Tennessee learned much from the successful rollout of its literacy initiative and applied winning strategies to mathematics. The state was sure to include input from school leaders and staff, and provide proper training so they would not feel blindsided 鈥� or unsupported 鈥� in implementing the changes. 

And they were careful to factor in the time it takes to adopt a new strategy, she said. 

鈥淚t didn鈥檛 seem like something new,鈥� Wall said of the updated math curriculum. 鈥淚t was a predictable cadence in terms of tools and resources.鈥�

The scorecard analyzed data from roughly 10,000 school districts: 450 saw improvement in either math or reading and 108 were labeled 鈥渙n the rise鈥� for gains in both subjects. Such districts must serve more than 1,200 students in grades three to eight, have at least four peer districts in their state, and report an increase in achievement of at least 0.3 grade levels in reading and math from scores derived between 2019鈥�2025. Johnson City, Putnam County, White County, and Maury County schools in Tennessee were in the on-the-rise category. 

COVID-era federal relief money 鈥� the state received roughly $3.86 billion in aid for K鈥�12 schools at that time 鈥� supported much of Tennessee’s efforts around both subjects. That money eventually dried up, but the state managed to fund the programs that worked best, including summer learning and tutoring for English and math.  

Brown said, too, state regulations require that students who were retained in any grade between kindergarten through second must be provided a tutor. The same holds true for students who did not score proficient on the reading portion of the state assessments at the end of third grade. 

Chelsea Crawford is the executive director of , an advocacy organization that seeks to ensure every student in that state has access to a high-quality education. 

Crawford served as the state education department鈥檚 chief of staff during the pandemic closures in 2020 and credits another factor for its success: a quick return to in-person learning. 

Most Tennessee students, she said, by fall of that same year. 

鈥淣ot all of our districts opened on that timeline, but the vast majority of them did,鈥� Crawford said.  

And, she said, the state鈥檚 requirements around tutoring meant students received the help they needed, as evidenced by their improvement. 

鈥淭here’s a very specific kind of approach for districts to follow, including things like tutoring for the entirety of a semester focused on a single subject,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, you’re getting deep intervention in the subject matter where you need it as opposed to a little bit of tutoring across all of your areas.鈥�

And the districts had financial incentives to spur their own investment in education, she said. 

鈥淲e actually created a recognition program where districts would be required to fill out a plan on how they intended to spend their money,鈥� she said of COVID-era funding. 鈥淎nd if they were able to demonstrate to us that they wanted to spend at least 50% of their local allocation on student academic need, tying their investment to the areas where their students needed the most help, then we as a state agency would take a portion of our set aside and gift it to that district.鈥�

The report notes larger gains among the highest-income and the lowest-income school districts in the country with middle-income districts 鈥� those where 30% to 70% of students receive federally subsidized lunches 鈥� seeing the least improvement, on average.

Achievement data was derived from the and produced by  

A dozen states 鈥� Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont among them 鈥� were not included in the analysis. Some, including New York, had too few state test score results as many students chose to opt-out of those exams, according to the report. 

Before the “learning recession” detailed in the report, researchers noted the academic gains that preceded it. Between 1990 and 2013, math achievement in grades four and eight rose, improving by more than two grade equivalents during that time. 

Fourth graders in 2013 were scoring at a similar level to sixth graders in 1990, according to the analysis.

Testing experts at the Education Department had been laid off and the board in charge of the program . But now, expansion is coming in the form of additional results that could give the public more information about how students in their states are performing.

The National Assessment Governing Board approved a new testing schedule Friday that allows for state-level results in 12th grade math and reading, eighth and 12th grade civics and eighth grade science. 

The vote was 16 to 3.

NAGB, which sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, has long aspired to add more granular results, said Executive Director Lesley Muldoon.

鈥淭hat’s what helps drive actual policy action at the state level,鈥� she said. 

The would take effect in 2028 for eighth grade civics and 12th grade math and reading. The eighth grade science test would be administered in 2029 and 12th graders would take a civics exam in 2032. Participation is optional, but NAGB wants to know states鈥� intentions by this summer.

The governing board isn鈥檛 alone in wanting NAEP to be more useful to state policymakers. In its on the future of the American workforce, the Bipartisan Policy Center, led by former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, called for more state-level data in the same three areas and a shorter, six-month timeline between the assessment and the release of the results.

Some observers say the board鈥檚 vote underscores the importance of NAEP.

鈥淭his suggests an acknowledgment that standardized testing, and comparable data across states, still matters,鈥� said Dale Chu, an education consultant who frequently writes about assessment. 

At the same time, in its fiscal year 2027 budget, the administration is requesting less for the program than Congress has appropriated in recent years, $137 million compared with $193 million.

Muldoon told 社区黑料 that if Congress maintains $193 million for the program, no additional money would be needed to expand testing at the state level. But if all 50 states want to participate, they might need more resources. 

鈥榃e got busy鈥�

The response from states, she said, has been positive, but she doesn鈥檛 expect all to sign up. 

Board Member Julia Rafal-Baer, who voted against the plan, said while she agreed with the science and civics schedule, she鈥檚 concerned about whether enough states would participate in the 12^th grade assessments. The announcement, she said, would also come in the midst of a 鈥渃harged environment.鈥� 

鈥淵ou can see it bubbling up now 鈥� public trust around testing, technology, AI, screens and student data,鈥� she said during the meeting. 鈥淚n this room, we understand all the differences. Parents right now do not understand the differences.鈥�  

Others noted that with 39 governors鈥� races this year, those who show interest now might be out of office by the time they have to formally commit. But Board Member Ron Reynolds, formerly head of a California private school organization, said the elections shouldn鈥檛 affect the board鈥檚 decision.

鈥淚 think we would cross a dangerous line if we began to anticipate what the political environment might be at a specific time and then make decisions in advance that might foreclose an opportunity to assess and report,鈥� he said.

States would need to identify a sample ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 students in each of the categories for which they want new results. 

Tennessee Rep. Mark White, a Republican and current NAGB chair, told 社区黑料 that his state is among those that would likely 鈥渏ump on the opportunity鈥� to see how the state鈥檚 students are performing in science, civics and in their senior year.

鈥淭ennessee realized that our K-12 standards were not adequate in 2011 when we compared our performance to NAEP data,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e got busy.鈥�

In 2013, the state was the in the nation, and this week as a top performer in post-pandemic academic recovery.

Ang茅lica Infante Green, Rhode Island鈥檚 education commissioner, wants her state to participate in all of the assessments, but is particularly enthusiastic about state-level civics . The state passed in 2021 requiring students to demonstrate proficiency in civics to graduate.

鈥淚t’s important, based on where we are as a country,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f our students don’t know how the government works and how our democracy works, that poses a challenge.鈥�

Chu said he wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if Mike Morath, state chief in Texas, or Indiana Education Secretary Katie Jenner also take 鈥渁 keen interest,鈥� but predicted that 鈥渋n many other places the reaction would amount to little more than a shrug.鈥�

Former Florida Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. after the 2024 fourth and eighth grade results were released. The state saw a sharp decline in reading scores, which he attributed to a sample of schools that he said was not representative of the state overall and included two of the lowest-performing schools. He also blamed the shift that year on the switch to a digital test on school district devices. 

The Florida Department of Education did not respond to questions about whether the state might participate. 

鈥楶owerful source of information鈥�

Chu and others, however, question whether state-level data on 12th graders would be that useful. 

鈥淟ow student motivation has long been a cloud hanging over 12th grade,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure bringing those results to the state level adds much unless that issue is addressed.鈥�

Muldoon disagreed that motivation is a challenge, but said that getting a large enough national sample of 12th graders can be. Seniors, she said, are sometimes off campus for internships or college trips. 

Some states, like Nevada, require students to take the ACT for graduation. But Jhone Ebert, superintendent of the Clark County School District, and former state chief, said a college entrance exam might not be the best way to measure the skills of students planning to go straight into the workforce. NAEP, she said, would offer a fuller view of students鈥� skills.

鈥淣ot everybody鈥檚 going to college,鈥� said Ebert, also on the board. 鈥淭hat doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be successful participants in our society.鈥�

National results from 2024鈥檚 12th graders were discouraging. Twenty-two percent tested at the proficient level in math, a 2 percentage point decline since 2019. In reading, 35% were proficient, also a drop. As with fourth and eighth graders in recent years, the percentage of high school seniors scoring at the below basic level increased. But those results don鈥檛 tell states anything about their specific strengths and weaknesses. 

State-level data could be a 鈥渞eally powerful source of information,鈥� Muldoon said. 鈥淭here is no other nationally representative assessment of high school students鈥� achievement.鈥� 

鈥楤lue and red states鈥�

The same is true for civics. The last NAEP civics test was in 2022, and just in eighth grade. Average scores on the 300-point scale fell by two points, the first-ever decline in the 25-year history of the test, which measures students鈥� knowledge of government, the founding documents and politics. 

Twelfth grade results in civics haven鈥檛 been available since 2010. The 2032 civics test in 12th grade will also be an updated version. Patrick Kelly, chair of NAGB鈥檚 assessment development committee, told the members Friday that while the 鈥渂ones are good,鈥� the design of the civics assessment is old.

The last time the test was updated, 鈥渙ur president of the United States was playing ,鈥� he said. 

Shawn Healy, chief policy and advocacy officer at iCivics, a nonprofit that provides civics lesson plans and online games, called the state-level results and the update 鈥渁 big win for our field.鈥�

The results, he said, will offer insight into the success of civics education policies at the state level, such as requiring a dedicated course or completion of student projects, or offering diplomas that recognize achievements. This year, he鈥檚 tracked 240 civics education bills in 40 states.

鈥淭hat speaks to the interest in this issue across blue and red states,鈥� he said.

In science, 2029 won鈥檛 be the first time state results will be available. Most states voluntarily . But now, under a new design, the questions will more closely match what states expect eighth graders to know in science, said Christine Cunningham, senior vice president of STEM learning at the Museum of Science in Boston and a NAGB member. Large school systems,  those in the Trial Urban District Assessment group, would also be able to opt in to that science exam. Currently, only national data is available for those subjects and grades.

鈥淎t a time when science and engineering are having such a profound impact on our lives, it鈥檚 important to understand how our students are doing,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ducation leaders continue to see value in expanding opportunities for state-level reporting beyond reading and math.鈥� 

Knox County Schools looked like it was doing everything right.

The district was using a well-regarded, evidence-based curriculum to teach students how to read. Young students who struggled got intensive tutoring using high-quality supplemental materials. Tutoring sessions took place during the school day, ensuring high participation.

But the 60,000-student district in eastern Tennessee wasn鈥檛 seeing the results from tutoring that leaders had hoped for. Erin Phillips, the district鈥檚 executive director of learning and literacy, decided to try something new: ask tutors to use materials that matched what students were learning in the classroom.

Working with outside researchers during the 2024-25 school year, Knox County Schools randomly assigned more than 300 early elementary students who fell below the 40th percentile on a universal literacy screener into two groups. One group received tutoring using the district鈥檚 usual supplemental materials. The other got tutoring using materials that were aligned with the district鈥檚 core curriculum, Benchmark Advance.

The results, described in a , were striking. Students who received tutoring that aligned with classroom instruction made more progress, the equivalent of an additional 1.3 months of learning, compared with students in the control group whose tutoring sessions used supplemental materials.

This approach and the outcome might sound like common sense. But it goes against a widespread way of thinking about intervention, that if students didn鈥檛 learn the material well in class, they might benefit from new ways of approaching it or different explanations of the same concepts.

But the study suggests the opposite was true, that teachers and tutors may have inadvertently confused students by, for example, teaching different letter sounds in different orders or referring to the 鈥渕agic e鈥� in one setting and the 鈥渟ilent e鈥� in another.

The findings are important as school districts look for ways to make tutoring more effective with limited dollars. School districts were urged by experts and officials to invest in high-intensity or high-dosage tutoring, generally defined as occurring at least three times a week and for 10 weeks or longer, as an evidence-based way to address pandemic-related learning loss. But large-scale tutoring programs often .

The education sector jargon for what Knox County is doing is 鈥渃oherence.鈥� That鈥檚 simultaneously an increasingly popular buzzword and a .

In Knox County鈥檚 case, 鈥淲hat we were asking our most at-risk learners to do is carry the heaviest cognitive load,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淲e were calling the same thing by different names in every learning experience. We were overloading their ability not only to have that knowledge in their brain, but to retrieve that information, not only retrieve it, but then apply it, and then transfer it from place to place.鈥�

Using aligned materials, in contrast, lightens their cognitive load and gives them more opportunity to practice the same skills covered in class, she said.

Knox County students using aligned materials also did better on state standardized tests, according to the study from Jackson and Shakeel, though the difference was not statistically significant.

Tennessee is in its fifth year of a major early literacy initiative that includes teacher training, state-approved curriculum lists, mandatory tutoring for certain students, and holding back students who don鈥檛 meet certain benchmarks by third grade.

Stanford University鈥檚 National Student Support Accelerator鈥檚 notes that alignment seems like it would be good practice but doesn鈥檛 have a strong research base. Jackson, research manager at the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, said she wanted to address that gap with a randomized controlled trial.

鈥淲e were testing something lots of people very much believed would be true, and that a lot of people have talked about for a long time,鈥� she said.

Jackson said she hopes other researchers try to replicate her findings in other settings and with larger groups of students.

Phillips is moving to adopt more aligned curriculums across subjects and grades. She鈥檚 also continuing to closely monitor student learning, including whether fewer students score in the bottom quartile or are referred for special education evaluation.

She said the study results shed light on a long-standing problem in the district.

鈥淲e had a decade鈥檚 worth of data showing us that students were not exiting intervention,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey were becoming intervention lifers. That鈥檚 not the intention of this support. All this data was showing that this was not working.鈥�

Different curriculum choices can create an unhelpful 鈥榣asagna鈥�

Many factors have nudged districts away from using aligned curriculum for students in intervention services, according to TNTP, a school improvement consulting organization that worked with Knox County.

Large established publishing houses dominate the market for core curriculum, while dozens of smaller companies fill in the gaps. When states draw up lists of approved curriculum, core and supplemental materials might go through different approval processes, and districts might not see materials from the same company on both lists.

Grants might also require districts to pick materials from certain vendors, contributing to a proliferation of different learning materials that take different tacks.

鈥淲e build this lasagna of program over program over program,鈥� said Devon Gadow, TNTP鈥檚 director of national consulting.

Surveys by the research organization Rand Corp. found that , with the average teacher reporting they used two core curriculums and five supplemental curriculums.

And a found more than 350 different supplemental math products in use across 1,700 school districts. These same school districts chose from fewer than 20 core curriculum options.

While districts often put significant time and attention into assessing core curriculum options before making a decision, they adopted supplemental materials in an ad hoc way, in part because the contracts were shorter and less expensive, the analysis found.

TNTP is to look at ways they may be steering districts away from using more-aligned materials. The group also wants district leaders to look at what they already have in their arsenal that they could redeploy.

Gadow said district officials should be wary of marketing pitches based on coherence or alignment. They may not need to buy something new as long as they鈥檙e already using high-quality materials.

Core curriculum often includes materials to support scaffolding, remediation, and intervention, Gadow said, but classroom teachers don鈥檛 have the time to read through every page and develop lessons for struggling students. That鈥檚 work that central office staff could take on.

In Knox County, Phillips said teachers had developed a habit of using supplemental materials in the past when the district鈥檚 core curriculum wasn鈥檛 as good. Those habits were hard to break, in part because those past experiences led teachers to distrust that any core curriculum could cover all the necessary ground.

Phillips spent roughly $1.4 million from what remained of Knox County鈥檚 pandemic relief on aligned supplemental materials from Benchmark at the beginning of the study period. But if she had it to do over again, she would have looked more closely at what already existed in the core curriculum, she said. That鈥檚 what she鈥檚 doing now for other subjects. Most teachers are on board with the change, she said.

Meanwhile, she鈥檚 phasing out materials from other publishers as licenses expire, saving money going forward.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

When it comes to tech and kids, America has made serious mistakes. For years, children have been allowed unsupervised access to social media apps in school and at home that were not designed with their safety in mind. This has contributed to an in adolescent anxiety, depression, cyberbullying and suicide. Americans have every reason to be concerned 鈥� and every reason to act.  

Responsible legislation could limit the dangers by requiring age verification before kids can sign up for social media accounts, making learning content easier to access and demanding that cellphone providers provide safety tools for families. Instead, a huge wave of poorly constructed bills is working its way through state legislatures that could cause unintended consequences and set young people back even further. 

For example, in Missouri, a recently passed the statehouse that will require 70% of elementary school assignments to be completed with pencil and paper and prohibit schools from assigning any homework that uses technology. In Tennessee, lawmakers initially advanced that would have broadly banned classroom technology in grades K-5, though later amendments shifted the policy toward limiting and regulating its use. A proposed Kansas would mandate that all K-5 instructional materials be 鈥減rint-based.鈥� Virginia鈥檚 Senate has legislation directing the state to cap instructional screen time by grade level. And in Utah, a package of signed by the governor will sharply curtail the use of technology to support learning.

There are two consistent problems in the current wave of bills. First, they treat distracting entertainment media and research-based educational technology as if they are the same. But not all screen time is created equal, and these bills completely ignore that distinction. Lumping TikTok together with a math tutoring app, or Instagram with a text-to-speech tool for a student with dyslexia, is a practice that has been repeatedly . 

Second, they assume that the best way to limit tech use is with a timer. But the issue is quality, not quantity. Many of these bills set a daily time limit (e.g., one hour of digital instruction), though any amount of time would be too much for a student who is not using the technology effectively. On the flip side, technology used thoughtfully to increase student engagement and creativity should not be constrained by an arbitrary time limit, especially when supporting evidence-based pedagogical practices. What鈥檚 worse, not one of the bills requiring paper-based worksheets to be used in place of technology imposes any quality standards on the types of activities assigned. According to these bills, a teacher could replace a highly effective math app with a dot-to-dot worksheet, and it would be totally fine. That’s an 鈥渙ut of the frying pan into the fire鈥� situation.

As a parent and former educator, I understand the desire for . Personal devices and non-learning apps that don鈥檛 support educational goals can hijack students鈥� attention and try any teacher鈥檚 patience. But when learning is not engaging, literally anything will become a distraction. Limiting instruction to filling out paper-based worksheets would be mind-numbing for any student.

In contrast, the key to get kids to love learning is to make it meaningful, and this is where ed tech can be a game-changer. Recently, I visited a school in Los Angeles that was transforming math instruction by having students play a research-based math game, which informed the teacher exactly who needed extra help with specific concepts. Other technologies adapt learning activities based on students鈥� interests or skill levels, let teachers know which kids need help before they fall behind and enable educators to meet each student鈥檚 needs in ways that would otherwise be impossible. The effectiveness of these tools is backed by decades of . A bill like Missouri鈥檚 would make this kind of data-informed teaching nearly impossible.

For children with disabilities, assistive technology 鈥� screen readers, text-to-speech software, adaptive learning systems and language translation tools 鈥� is not just a nice-to-have; it whose needs might otherwise go unmet. Today, in the U.S. receive special education services, many of which include technology as part of their individualized education plans. For students with dyslexia using a text-to-speech app, for example, technology isn鈥檛 a distraction 鈥� it鈥檚 how they access learning. Tennessee鈥檚 original proposal would have barred teachers from even using digital devices for instruction, meaning the very tools these students depend on could have been eliminated.

In today’s economy, there is no college or career path that doesn鈥檛 require the effective use of technology. Students who develop digital literacy skills early than those who don’t. Essentially all jobs 鈥� 鈥� now require applicants to have digital proficiency. Preventing K-12 students from learning to use technology for writing, research and collaboration would undermine their future employability and the nation鈥檚 economic competitiveness.

This is even more striking in a global context. While America’s state legislatures debate whether to let elementary students touch a keyboard, other countries are on teaching students how to use technology 鈥� including artificial intelligence 鈥攖o solve complex problems. They recognize that technology can enhance curiosity, critical thinking and other essential skills, ensuring their graduates can thrive in the workplace and beyond. 

With the emergence of artificial intelligence, the world is at the . If the nation’s goal is to prepare kids to thrive in a complex and modern economy, it cannot retreat to the tools of the last century.

There is no disputing the need for guidelines and guardrails for children using consumer technology. But by treating math software the same as Netflix, and assistive technology the same as TikTok, the ed tech bans gaining momentum in statehouses around the country guarantee that the students who can least afford to fall behind will be the ones hurt most. If these bills become law, America won鈥檛 have protected its children 鈥� it will have forced them to learn for a paper-based world that no longer exists.

Banning technology for learning doesn鈥檛 make us principled 鈥� it makes us negligent.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Tennessee had passed a law banning all technology in grades K-5. The legislation that was passed had been amended to impose limits and regulations on the use of technology in the classroom.

A bill requiring Tennessee public schools to gather data on student immigration status and report it to the state education department advanced out of a House legislative committee Tuesday.

The bill () was introduced last year as part of a Republican effort to challenge Supreme Court precedent requiring public schools to enroll all children regardless of immigration status. As originally introduced,聽 the bill would have allowed Tennessee public school districts to refuse to enroll immigrant students who could not provide proof of legal status 鈥� or charge their families tuition.

But the controversial measure stalled, in part due to concerns it could jeopardize more than $1.1 billion in federal education funding.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican who sponsored the measure, told a legislative committee Tuesday the bill in its amended form is now 鈥渓iterally a data bill鈥� to give state leaders reliable information on the number of students without legal immigration status enrolled in taxpayer funded schools. Provisions allowing schools to deny enrollment or charge tuition have been stripped from the bill.

But opponents of the measure, among them educators, immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers, have questioned how the data will ultimately be used, how educators untrained in immigration law can reliably review complex immigration documentation and how the specter of being asked to produce immigration paperwork in schools would impact children and families.

Lamberth last week deflected questions about the ultimate use of student immigration data, which the legislation specifies would be reported to the state in aggregate, non-identifying formats.

鈥淲e can take whatever action down the road that this body would choose to take,鈥� after the data was gathered, he said then.

A statement Tuesday from Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of TIRRC Votes, raised continued alarms about the ultimate goal of student immigration status data gathering. TIRRC is the political arm of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.

鈥淎cross history, we鈥檝e seen the dangers of governments making and keeping lists of the people that they think don鈥檛 belong,鈥� the statement said.

鈥淏ut rather than learn from our past, these power-hungry politicians, desperate for Trump鈥檚 approval, are doubling down on their efforts to identify and track immigrant students in the hopes of one day being able to exclude them from our schools.鈥�

The bill is cosponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, a Hixson Republican. The full senate passed the bill in its original form in April but has yet to take it up in its amended form this year. The House and Senate versions of the bill would have to be reconciled before the legislation could ultimately advance to the governor鈥檚 desk.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

Each has implemented at least one of five strategies to boost student participation and success in the subject, according to in its recent report. 

Some, through these efforts, have reduced the need for remediation at the college level. This is particularly relevant for low-income students and those of color, who are more likely to be placed in these noncredit courses, which can derail their college trajectories. 

Concern over the issue has risen in recent years thanks to COVID: More than 900 students at the needed catch-up math classes in the fall of 2025 compared to just 32 five years earlier. And their lack of understanding wasn鈥檛 confined to high school: they were missing material they should have mastered in middle and Other universities reported similar problems.  

鈥淭oo often we spend a lot of energy discussing the challenges and constraints related to education or redesigning math,鈥� said Shakiyya Bland, Just Equations鈥� director of educational partnerships. 鈥淭his report highlights states that are doing the work, showing what鈥檚 possible 鈥� and showing results.鈥� 

The report recognized efforts in other regions, too. The Virginia Community College System, for example, saw the need for remedial math plummet from 40% of incoming students to 4% between 2014 and 2021 after it changed how it judged college math readiness and how it teaches students who need additional help, Bland said. 

鈥淚nstead of a single placement test that pushed huge numbers into noncredit remedial tracks, colleges started using multiple measures like high school GPA and math coursework, expanding access for more students to go straight into college鈥憀evel math with added support,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat shift, from assuming students weren鈥檛 ready to assuming they could succeed with the right help, is what drove the big drop in 鈥榬emedial鈥� placements.鈥�

Just Equations cited five strategies states can implement to align mathematics from high school to college, including course co-design, where secondary and post-secondary instructors unite to craft high school math sequences.  

The organization said, too, universities should have transparent expectations for incoming freshmen so these students know what is expected of them for various college majors. 

Just Equations also touts the value of senior year transition or readiness courses for high school students: These classes, the organization observes, help ensure students can handle the challenge of college-level work. 

States might also offer dual enrollment courses which allow high school students to earn college credit, saving them time and money, Just Equations concluded. They can also work to ensure public universities recognize new high school mathematics offerings so students are properly credited for those classes. 

Georgia redesigned its math pathway through a partnership with K-12 and higher education math teachers to make sure new high school courses aligned with college entry requirements. The state also added several new courses for high school seniors, including Advanced Placement Statistics and Mathematics of Industry and Government. 

California had given students conflicting guidance about how many years of high school math they needed: State law demanded two while school districts often required three and some colleges recommended four. State universities are now more transparent about what is needed for college success in general and in specific majors.

Just Equations notes Tennessee鈥檚 efforts date back 18 years when its high school students were first required to complete four years of math, including Algebra II. The state鈥檚 mathematics offerings have been reworked numerous times since then and statistics has emerged as a valuable course for many.

Out West, Utah鈥檚 dual-enrollment program made college-level classes more accessible and affordable. The state also expanded the range of math pathways for high school students beyond college algebra, a course that relies heavily on algebraic procedures where students often struggle with the material and finding its relevancy.

Students may now opt for quantitative reasoning, focusing on practical numeracy skills such as personal finance and statistical reasoning or introductory statistics, geared toward life sciences, business and social sciences.

Mike Spencer, secondary mathematics specialist for the state board of education, said the change has been helpful to many students who might otherwise be kept out of college by their inability to pass a course that often had no bearing on their major or career aspiration. 

But, he said, students were reluctant to make the switch. 

鈥淲hen it was first released, we saw a majority of our students were still taking college algebra, partly because of tradition,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淪o, we made a significant effort to help inform students, families and counselors to understand why you would go into each of these.鈥�

Just Equations noted, too, Utah鈥檚 university professors help craft high school syllabuses, screen high school teachers to teach college-level courses, and 鈥渧erify grading consistency using common assessments.鈥� It credits these and other changes for a massive increase in the rate of high school seniors completing four years of math, from 28% in 2012 to 87% in 2020. 

Bland of Just Equations said states should routinely bring together K鈥�12, higher education, and workforce leaders to find the best math pathways for students. And, she said, they should invest in sustained professional development and K鈥�16 longitudinal data to track students into the workforce to learn which math experiences best supported their success. 

Five years ago, Oregon adopted new mathematics standards intended to be 鈥渕ore modern and equitable,鈥� moving away from the three-course sequence of Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II to a required two-year core curriculum focused on algebra, geometry and data/statistics. 

Students can now choose a course of study for a required third year 鈥� including mathematical modeling, data science and quantitative reasoning 鈥� and an optional fourth year. 

The changes required colleges to revisit their stated requirements. The University of Oregon, for example, mandated Algebra II for all incoming students, but now requires three or more years of high school math, which 鈥渃ould be satisfied by any math course with a primary focus on concepts in algebra, calculus, data science, discreet mathematics, geometry, mathematical analysis, probability or statistics.鈥� 

In addition to the five core states at the heart of the study, Just Equations also lauded North Carolina鈥檚 automatic enrollment policy, adopted in 2018, which places students who score high on state assessments into advanced mathematics courses for the following year, eliminating subjective recommendations. More than 95% of the state鈥檚 eighth-grade students who scored at the highest level were placed in advanced math courses in 2022鈥�23, up from 87% in 2017鈥�18, before the policy was enacted. 

While these states have made noteworthy progress, critics note problems remain. 

A lack of longitudinal data in Tennessee makes it difficult to understand the impact of the changes that have taken shape there, state officials say. 

鈥淥ne of the goals that I have over the next year or so is to better track the entire arc of the student journey,鈥� said Juliette Biondi, who directs the state鈥檚 Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support program, as documented in the report. 鈥淚 want to understand how they do in their college math classes. Do they struggle? Does it influence graduation rates?鈥�

Utah, too, can also improve: Rural areas find it hard to recruit and retain qualified teachers for college-level courses, leading them to rely on virtual instruction.

And Jo Boaler, the Stanford professor who helped California reshape its math program, said she regularly observes ineffective teaching practices that undermine K-12 learning.

鈥淎ll I can see is that we have not built conceptual understanding or number sense well by the end of school,鈥� Boaler told 社区黑料. 鈥淲hen I visit classrooms, I still see students going through uninspiring textbook math. Maybe there has been some improvement but I have not heard about it or seen it yet.鈥�

Disclosure: The Gates Foundation provides financial support to Just Equations and 社区黑料.

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted unanimously against an application Monday for a virtual Jewish charter school, citing聽the state supreme court’s 2024 ruling that public funding for a religious school would violate state law.聽As expected, some board members voiced support for聽Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation.

“I think our hands are tied,” said Board Member Damon Gardenhire, who said he didn’t see much difference between Ben Gamla’s application and a now-closed Native American charter school that featured a “spiritual component.”聽

In a statement responding to the vote, Brett Farley, a member of the proposed school’s board, said organizers plan to challenge the decision in federal court. “Oklahoma families should have the freedom to choose schools that best meet their children’s needs 鈥� without losing strong options simply because they are faith-based,” he said.

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board is expected to deny an application for a Jewish charter school Monday, but will likely welcome organizers of the school to take them to court.

Peter Deutsch, founder of the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, and a former Democratic congressman, made his pitch for the school in January, saying that he aims to bring 鈥渁 rigorous, values-driven education鈥� to Jewish parents in Oklahoma.

鈥淚 anticipate that our board would like to grant them the application,鈥� Brian Shellem, the board chair, told 社区黑料. 鈥淏ut we can’t snub our nose at the court either.鈥�

He means the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled against the nation鈥檚 first Catholic charter school in 2024. That decision still stands after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked over that case last year. The charter board鈥檚 likely denial of Ben Gamla鈥檚 application is expected to spark another lawsuit, pitting against those who say it would violate the Constitution’s prohibition on establishing a religion. With a case over a proposed Christian charter in Tennessee already in federal court and another religious school in Colorado founded to test the same legal question, there鈥檚 little doubt that the nation鈥檚 highest court will eventually settle the debate.

鈥淚t is hard for me to imagine the court doesn鈥檛 take the issue again when it comes to it,鈥� said Derek Black, a constitutional law professor at the University of South Carolina. But after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself in the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, resulting in the 4-4 tie, the justices likely in favor of religious charters, he said, 鈥渨ould want a case that was very strong.鈥�

鈥楶ray and hear Scripture鈥�

So far, the only case to watch is in Tennessee. Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville, a nonprofit that wants to open a K-8 Christian charter school, sued the Knox County school board because the district wouldn鈥檛 accept its letter of intent to apply. State law prohibits charter schools from being religious. 

鈥淪tudents will begin to develop biblical literacy in kindergarten and begin taking catechism lessons by third grade,鈥� according to Wilberforce Academy鈥檚 request for a quick ruling in the case. 鈥淎nd they will pray and hear Scripture together in a school assembly every morning.鈥�

As St. Isidore did before them, Wilberforce argues that the nonprofit is a 鈥減rivate actor鈥� and that approving its charter application would not turn it into a government entity.

The Knox County board told the court that it will 鈥渕ost likely鈥� not take a position on the legality of Wilberforce鈥檚 argument. On Thursday, the board rejected asking state education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds to consider granting Wilberforce Academy a waiver so they can open the Christian school.

The Knox board, however, also said the issue of religious charter schools 鈥渄eserves a thorough examination by the federal courts.鈥� 

Judge Charles Atchley Jr, for the Eastern District of Tennessee, thinks so, too. Last week, he allowed a group of Knox County parents and religious leaders, who oppose Wilberforce鈥檚 application, . 

The case, he wrote, has the 鈥減otential to reshape First Amendment jurisprudence in the educational context鈥� and it wouldn鈥檛 serve the court or parties involved to not have 鈥渧igorous advocacy on both sides.鈥�

Amanda Collins, a retired Knox County school psychologist, is among those who have signed up to fight against Wilberforce Academy. She has two children still in the district and one who graduated in 2024. She grew concerned about Wilberforce Academy when she learned the organization didn鈥檛 have a history of operating charter schools in the state and feels its attorneys are using the district to 鈥渕erely force an issue up the ladder to the Supreme Court.鈥�

鈥淚n Tennessee, we have plenty of things that are underfunded,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don’t need to be wasting our local Knox County taxpayer money on somebody’s agenda that is not intended to promote the education safety and wellness of our public school students.鈥� 

鈥楾he clear constitutional boundary鈥�

Another school that could spark a lawsuit over public funds for religious schools is Colorado鈥檚 , which advertises that it offers students a 鈥淐hristian foundation.鈥� 

The school operates 鈥減retty much just like a charter school鈥� said Ken Witt, executive director of Education reEnvisioned, the board of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, that contracted with the school. 

As , emails between the attorney for the Pueblo County district, which allowed the school to open within its boundaries, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm, suggest the school was intentionally founded to test the legal argument over whether public schools can practice religion. 

After threatening to withhold state funds because of the school鈥檚 religious mission, the Colorado Department of Education funded Riverstone鈥檚 31 students. But the state is also conducting a , which could take another year, before deciding whether it can legally provide money to the school. In the meantime, Riverstone had to close its building last week because of health and safety violations. It鈥檚 unclear whether students are learning remotely or in another facility in the meantime.

For now, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat running for governor, hasn鈥檛 issued an opinion on Riverstone, but his views on St. Isidore, the Oklahoma school, were clear. Last year, he in opposing state funding for the school.

In , he urged the Supreme Court 鈥渢o preserve the clear constitutional boundary that protects both religious liberty and the integrity of our public education system.鈥�

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican who is also running for governor, made a similar argument about St. Isidore before both the Oklahoma and U.S. supreme courts. 

But that鈥檚 where both he and Weiser split with the Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. In his , Skrmetti states that categorically excluding faith-based schools from public charter programs violates parents鈥� rights to freely exercise their religion.

To Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the conservative Manhattan Institute, it鈥檚 a matter of equity. Higher-income families can move into wealthier neighborhoods or pay private school tuition, he wrote in a on the Wilberforce case. The state, he added, already funds religious schools through education savings accounts. 

鈥淏ut families who rely on charter schools are told that their options must be secular,鈥� he wrote. 

Black, with the University of South Carolina, said the issue comes down to who authorized the school to begin with. In both Oklahoma and Tennessee, either local or state boards approve charter applications.

鈥淭hat explicit state involvement, to me, makes it clear that state action is involved,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd thus the Establishment Clause applies.鈥�

Tennessee families experienced a bottleneck earlier this year as they waited to submit applications for the state’s new program. In July, 166 parents that they had received a scholarship, only to alert them a few days later that the notification was a mistake. 

鈥淚t wasn’t the most ideal user experience,鈥� said Heide Nesset, a senior fellow for the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a right-leaning think tank. But there was a 鈥渢ight runway,鈥� about three months, to get the program off the ground. 

With state leaders hoping to serve up to 70,000 students next year, they鈥檙e now . Proposals are due Friday.

But the rough start in Tennessee wasn鈥檛 an anomaly. All states with education savings accounts have struggled to some extent with ensuring smooth transactions for families, whether that鈥檚 paying a school on time or ordering a homeschool curriculum. Some say the solution lies in picking more than one company to handle the increasing demand and improve customer service.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 one contract, I think the vendor is inherently trying to ensure that the state department has a really fantastic experience,鈥� said Nesset, who is also the vice president of

implementation at the Yes. Every Kid. Foundation, a school choice advocacy organization. 鈥淚f you have more than one [vendor], then they start competing, and families have the opportunity to make choices.鈥�

Tennessee鈥檚 current vendor is Student First Technologies, which won to run a smaller ESA program in three counties. Earlier this year, the state with the Indiana-based company to manage the new statewide program, despite its problems in other states. 

In West Virginia, where Student First still operates the Hope Scholarship program, an ESA, homeschool families complain that they can鈥檛 access the platform on their phones and that approvals and denials for purchases are inconsistent. Arkansas canceled its contract with Student First last fall after it failed to deliver a 鈥渇ully operational鈥� system on time. The company paid the state . 

鈥楪et what they need鈥�

Eighteen states now have at least one ESA program. With a new federal tax credit scholarship system beginning in 2027, the demand for organizations to manage them will surely grow. The trick is delivering a system that runs smoothly for families while ensuring that they鈥檙e using the money the way the state intended.聽

In a , Michael Horn, cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, a think tank, talked with Jamie Rosenberg, the founder of ClassWallet. Still the biggest player in the market, the Florida-based company manages nine ESA programs. 

Prior to platforms like his, states had two options, he explained. They either issued debit cards, which made it hard to ensure parents spent the money on allowable purchases, or expected them to pay up front and request reimbursement 鈥� a significant obstacle for families on a tight budget.

ESA vendors, he said, give families the 鈥渁gency to get what they need but also the ease of knowing that what they’re doing and what they’re buying [complies with] program rules.鈥�

Adding more than one vendor to the mix could make the companies work harder to reach lower-income and minority families who are less likely to use the programs, said Lisa Snell, a senior fellow at Stand Together Trust, which funds school choice initiatives.

鈥淔amily outreach and satisfaction become the goal rather than the government as the customer to one vendor,鈥� she said.

Texas had the option to choose multiple vendors for its new ESA program, which launches next fall. allows the comptroller鈥檚 office to contract with up to five companies. But officials opted against it and awarded a two-year, $26 million contract to New York-based Odyssey, which currently runs programs in four other states. 

Joe Connor, Odyssey鈥檚 CEO declined to comment on the state鈥檚 decision and referred 社区黑料 to the state comptroller鈥檚 office. The office did not respond, but Amar Kumar, CEO of KaiPod Learning, a large national network of microschools, said the state likely felt multiple vendors would further complicate the process.

鈥淭here was this huge question of the complexity of doing that,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ow do you tell families which portal to go to or how will they decide who manages which part of the program?鈥�

鈥楽end a quarterly check鈥�

The vendor platforms include built-in tools to prevent misuse. Student First Technologies has an AI feature, , that reviews each expense, 鈥渁ssigns a confidence score鈥� and flags anything that鈥檚 new or that the state hasn鈥檛 approved in the past. 

But Katie Switzer, a West Virginia parent using the state鈥檚 Hope Scholarship to homeschool her children, said it鈥檚 unreliable, sometimes approving purchases for some families and rejecting the same items for others. She thinks states should focus more on monitoring students鈥� academic progress than tracking every purchase. 

鈥淚t’s stupid in my opinion to micromanage down to like the $20 workbook level,鈥� she said. 鈥淗onestly, I think it would be more cost effective to send a quarterly check to families.鈥�

That鈥檚 unlikely with such programs constantly under the microscope, and critics, especially in Arizona, pointing to high-end purchases, like , as examples of misuse. The state education department says it takes steps to prevent fraud and has to the attorney general鈥檚 office that have . 

West Virginia officials said they鈥檙e pleased with Student First鈥檚 progress since October, when that delayed orders caused students to fall behind on lessons. Orders are now 鈥済enerally鈥� processed within two business days, said Assistant Treasurer Carrie Hodousek, and the company has added and trained staff to prepare for peak order times.

Providers like Kaipod have their own concerns. School founders in the network have sometimes gone to the brink of eviction from their leased space because of late tuition payments, said CEO Kumar. 

鈥淭here should be a predictable schedule, but sometimes it can take weeks extra to get paid,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you’re running a small business and you owe rent, you owe payroll and your state payment is delayed, that creates a huge amount of stress for founders.鈥�

For now, rebidding contracts for vendors is the strongest form of accountability, he said.

鈥淭hey ought to not feel safe once they鈥檝e won a contract,鈥� he said.

Disclosure: Stand Together Trust provides financial support to 社区黑料. 

They were right.

In Tennessee, the nonprofit Wilberforce Academy is suing the Knox County Schools in federal court because the district refuses to allow a Christian charter school. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is on the school鈥檚 side. He issued last month that the state鈥檚 ban on religious charter schools likely violates the First Amendment. 

鈥淭ennessee鈥檚 public charter schools are not government entities for constitutional purposes and may assert free exercise rights,鈥� he wrote to Rep. Michele Carringer, the Knoxville Republican who requested the opinion. 

The legal challenge in Tennessee comes as a Florida-based charter school network prepares to submit an application to the Oklahoma Charter School Board for a Jewish virtual charter high school. Peter Deutsch, the former Democratic congressman who founded the Ben Gamla charter schools, began working on the idea long before the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School even went to court. The 4-4 tie in May means that an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the school from receiving state funds still stands.聽

鈥淭he prior decision shows that there’s an open question here that needs to be resolved,鈥� said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm representing the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation. 鈥淲e hope the court will get it right this time. We hope the federal courts get it right without having to go to the Supreme Court.鈥�

Idaho also confronted the issue earlier this year. The state鈥檚 first charter, Brabeion Academy, initially the school as Christian. But it in August as a nonreligious school and will open as such next fall. 

Deutsch, Skrmetti and other supporters of faith-based charter schools base their argument on three earlier Supreme Court rulings allowing public funds to support sectarian schools. They say that excluding religious organizations from operating faith-based charter schools is discrimination and violates the Constitution. But leaders of the charter sector and public school advocates argue that classifying charter schools as private would threaten funding and civil rights protections for 3.7 million students nationwide.

鈥淯nless and until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a future case and rules otherwise, we advise all charter school associations and public charter schools to adhere to the letter and spirit of the law in their respective states,鈥� Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said in a statement.

鈥楴ot on our watch鈥�

When the Supreme Court considered St. Isidore, Deutsch, was prepared to advocate for Jewish congregations to open schools that not only teach their language, but also their faith. He called the case 鈥渁 historic opportunity鈥� to bring Jewish education to thousands of children.

To Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the debate is settled, for now. In November, he said his office would 鈥渙ppose any attempts to undermine the rule of law.”聽

Americans United, which advocates for maintaining church-state separation, has also issued a warning over the new school. The organization represented parents and advocates in a separate case over the school. 

鈥淩eligious extremists once again are trying to undermine our country鈥檚 promise of church-state separation by forcing Oklahoma taxpayers to fund a religious public school. Not on our watch,鈥� Rachel Laser, president and CEO, said in a press release.

The legal fight over religious charter schools began in 2023, when the Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve a charter for St. Isidore, setting off a closely watched case that spanned two years. At the time, the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, a nonreligious group, called the charter board鈥檚 decision unconstitutional. Rachel Johnson, the group鈥檚 executive director, didn鈥檛 return calls or emails requesting a comment on Ben Gamla鈥檚 proposal.

None of the members who originally voted on St. Isidore serves on the state鈥檚 new Oklahoma Charter School Board. But for one person involved with Ben Gamla鈥檚 application, this is familiar territory. Brett Farley is on the proposed school鈥檚 board, according to a letter of intent the foundation submitted to the charter board in November.

Farley once held a top position with the and is also executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which focuses on public policy issues involving the church. While preparing the St. Isidore application, with Notre Dame law Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett, whose scholarly work formed the basis of the legal argument for the school.

骋补谤苍别迟迟鈥檚 is that nonprofits running charter schools are like private contractors, and as with other publicly funded programs, can鈥檛 be excluded just because they are religious. She鈥檚 also close friends with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who recused herself from the St. Isidore case. Experts speculated that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberals on the court, resulting in the 4-4 tie.

鈥楶assion for religious freedom鈥�

The virtual school, the intent letter says, would initially enroll about 40 students, focusing on 鈥渃ollege readiness, while developing deep Jewish knowledge, faith and values within a supportive learning community.鈥�

But some are surprised Deutsch isn鈥檛 making his bid for a Jewish charter school in Florida, where his existing, non-religious charter schools have thrived.

鈥淚 think Florida could be a good option given the new attorney general鈥檚 passion for ,鈥� said Daniel Aqua, the director of special projects at Teach Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for Jewish education

The demand for a Jewish charter school would be much higher in Florida, which has Jewish population of nearly 762,000, compared with about 9,000 in Oklahoma. 

Charter founders in Florida submit their applications to local school districts first. The state recently added as authorizers, but Oklahoma, where organizers directly with the state charter board, offers a more streamlined process. 

鈥楶ublic Christian school鈥�

But efforts to create publicly-funded religious schools are not limited to the charter sector. A new school in Colorado, Riverstone Academy, calls itself the state鈥檚 鈥渇irst public Christian school.鈥� Now serving 30 students in Pueblo, south of Colorado Springs, Riverstone is what is sometimes referred to as a 鈥渃ontract鈥� school because districts sign agreements with private organizations to provide education services. In this case, Education reEnvisioned, one of the state鈥檚 21 boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, authorized the school. 

In October, the Colorado Department of Education warned Ken Witt, the BOCES鈥� executive director, that the school鈥檚 per-student funding is at risk because it is 鈥渘ot operating in a nonsectarian nature.鈥� The letter also went to District 49, near Colorado Springs, one of Education reEnvisioned鈥檚 member districts. 

In a response, Witt wrote that he was 鈥渁larmed at the threat鈥� that the school might not receive funding. 鈥淲e did not and legally cannot discriminate against this school on account of its religious affiliation,鈥� he wrote. Examining Riverstone鈥檚 curriculum to determine if the school is truly sectarian, he said, would be 鈥渦nconstitutionally entangling and discriminatory against different forms of religion.鈥�

Witt told 社区黑料 that funding usually doesn鈥檛 flow from the state to a new school until January, so it鈥檚 too soon to know whether officials will withhold funds.

鈥楰eep coming back鈥� 

鈥淵ou’re going to see those within the charter sector and outside of it basically taking the same approach鈥� 鈥� arguing that private groups delivering religious instruction can鈥檛 be denied public funds, said Preston Green, an education professor at the University of Connecticut. 

To Green, Riverstone鈥檚 identity as a 鈥渃ontract鈥� school calls to mind a 1982 case, one that Garnett and other proponents of religious charter schools often highlight when they say that charters are not 鈥渟tate actors.鈥� In , the Supreme Court said a Massachusetts private school that received public funds for educating teens with behavior problems did not act under the 鈥渃olor of state law鈥� when it fired six employees. 

The question, experts say, is not if, but when the Supreme Court will eventually see another case about religious public schools Justice Barrett won鈥檛 have the same reason to recuse herself, Green said, and he鈥檚 not convinced that Roberts would side with the liberals a second time.

The advocates, he said, 鈥渒eep coming back at this because they think that they’ll get the votes.鈥�

The 61-year-old retiree and former cop 鈥� who had a penchant for posting provocative progressive memes that made him stand out in his deeply conservative community southwest of Nashville 鈥� was to shoot up a local school. 

The evidence, which the county鈥檚 elected sheriff used to hold Bushart in a cell on a $2 million bond until last week, is a meme accusing President Donald Trump of dismissing the lives lost in a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, while pushing punishment for critics of slain right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk.

The charges were dropped and Bushart was released from the Perry County Jail in Linden, Tennessee, only after Sheriff Nick Weems acknowledged in a TV interview that Weems initially claimed that Bushart鈥檚 post set off 鈥渕ass hysteria鈥� that he was plotting a shooting at the local Perry County High School. 

The high-profile arrest appears to be part of a broader crackdown by Republican lawmakers 鈥� including the Trump administration 鈥斅爋n Americans whose social media posts about Kirk鈥檚 killing聽they found to be offensive. Among them are in violation of the First Amendment for online posts about Kirk鈥檚 Sept. 10 death. Bushart鈥檚 case is an extreme example, civil rights advocates said, and may be the only one where someone has wound up in handcuffs. He

鈥淭his guy should never have been arrested in the first place, but the second that there was real scrutiny of the meme that he posted 鈥� and it was very apparent that he was not in any way suggesting that he intended to commit a school shooting or anything like that 鈥� he should have been released immediately,鈥� said Brian Hauss, an American Civil Liberties Union senior staff attorney who focuses on free speech issues and called Bushart鈥檚 arrest 鈥渁n absolute travesty.鈥� 

Bushart鈥檚 arrest calls attention to applying strict penalties for school shooting threats and mandating police officer involvement in campus threat assessments intended to ferret out students with violent plans before they act. The bipartisan laws, passed in the wake of the 2023 mass school shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, have led to a wave of student arrests and have similarly become the subject of . 

The state鈥檚 new and 鈥渋ncredibly broad鈥� laws can be used as a 鈥渃onvenient tool,鈥� Hauss said, for law enforcement officials with 鈥減olitical grudges to settle.鈥� 

Weems, himself an avid Facebook user who warned after Kirk鈥檚 death that 鈥渆vil could be standing right beside you in the grocery store,鈥� didn鈥檛 respond to interview requests. Neither did Bushart nor the local school district. 

While Bushart鈥檚 school days are long behind him, his case is a prime example of why police shouldn鈥檛 be 鈥減art of the broader role of educators鈥� in scrutinizing students鈥� behaviors to distinguish an 鈥渙ff-the-cuff remark of a frustrated student鈥� from a threat of violence, said Dan Losen, a senior director at the National Center for Youth Law who has spent more than two decades researching school discipline policies and the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.  

鈥淥nce the police are involved, they鈥檙e entrenched,鈥� Losen said, adding that officers can make arrests even without the support of educators on threat assessment teams. While law enforcement should be called in threatening circumstances, he said there鈥檚 a greater risk for 鈥渓aw enforcement to abuse their authority鈥� if they鈥檙e regularly asked to evaluate student conduct through a policing mindset. 

鈥淭hey can, at any point, decide that a student is a threat,鈥� Losen said. 鈥淭hey can go after people that they don鈥檛 like 鈥� they can go after their kids.鈥�

Losen said he initially saw value in school-based threat assessments as 鈥渁 clear process鈥� to evaluate students鈥� conduct and react appropriately. In recent years, however, he鈥檚 come to believe the research supporting the model lacks rigor and that it鈥檚 led to a surge in unjust suspensions and arrests 鈥�

鈥業 don鈥檛 care, I want him arrested鈥�

In states across the country, police officers have become routinely involved in evaluating students鈥� behaviors and motives as members of formal campus-based behavioral threat assessment teams. School-based threat assessments have become mainstream, particularly in the aftermath of the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Schools nationally have assembled teams of teachers, mental health officials, police and other campus adults to identify students who pose safety threats and intervene with counseling and other services 鈥� and sometimes arrests 鈥� before anyone commits violence. 

Such teams are used in 85% of schools across the U.S., by the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute. Forty-five states have policies that establish the teams in public schools, the report states, and 20 have laws requiring them. 

District leaders have also turned to technology for school safety, using artificial intelligence-powered surveillance tools to scan social media websites in search of posts that could spell danger. 

Threat assessments have prompted concerns from civil rights groups that the method could misidentify struggling students as future gunmen and unnecessarily push them into the juvenile justice system. School shootings are statistically rare yet student behaviors that are often factors in threat assessments 鈥� like alcohol use and a history of mental health issues 鈥� are exceedingly common.

In 2023, Tennessee lawmakers passed rules requiring every school to have threat assessment teams that included police officers. That same year, lawmakers established mandatory yearlong expulsions for students who make violent threats against schools. In 2024, lawmakers increased the penalty for threats against schools from a misdemeanor to a felony. Georgia and New Mexico have since . 

The changes have led to , according to reporting by The Tennessean. Last year, 518 students statewide were arrested under the new law, 71 of them between the ages of 7 and 11. Some of the arrests were preceded, the outlet reported, by ill-advised jokes and statements erroneously perceived as threats. 

In one case, a high school student was arrested for allegedly making a 鈥淗itler salute鈥� and, despite a lack of evidence, the principal said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care, I want him arrested.鈥� The teen was reportedly taken into custody, strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement at the local juvenile jail. 

When speech becomes a 鈥榯rue threat鈥�

The rate of school shootings has surged in recent years, yet early interventions have received credit for saving lives in several instances. 

In September, the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise 鈥� which was formed in the wake of the 2012 mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first graders and six school staffers dead 鈥� boasted of .

A high school student reported to the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System “detailed threats on social media,鈥� to shoot up a local school complete with images of ammunition, a mapped-out attack plan and access to a gun, according to the nonprofit, which notified a local school district response team. The student who made the alleged threats was ultimately detained by the police. 

Sandy Hook Promise claims the incident is the 19th planned school shooting they鈥檝e prevented since 2018. School shootings are , a majority of whom leak their violent plans to people around them in advance, offering officials a window to act. 

Mo Canady, the executive director of the nonprofit National Association of School Resource Officers, said the police play a critical role in assessing school threats and preventing campus violence. Canady acknowledged that social media, in particular, 鈥渋s not an easy environment to navigate鈥� when trying to decipher whether someone鈥檚 speech constitutes a threat.

But the focus needs to be placed on keeping campuses safe, he said, rather than 鈥渂eing hyperfocused on, 鈥極h my gosh, am I violating someone鈥檚 First Amendment rights?鈥� 

鈥淧eople have a right to say what they want to say, but there are also consequences at times to what they say,鈥� Canady said. 鈥淔rom a behavioral threat assessment standpoint, I don鈥檛 think there’s ever an intent there to try to squish anyone’s First Amendment rights. That’s not what this is about.鈥�

In its new report on school-based threat assessments, the Learning Policy Institute concluded that the approach appears effective in preventing violence at schools where it鈥檚 implemented with high fidelity and where educators receive instruction from expert trainers. In the absence of adequate staff and training, educators often turn to suspensions, expulsions and arrests to handle students who are viewed as problematic. 

Poorly designed assessments have led to concerns they 鈥渕ay target and potentially traumatize the most vulnerable students, including through the exclusion and criminalization of historically marginalized students.鈥� 

It also called for additional research into threat assessments, noting that much of the existing evidence supporting them comes from a team of University of Virginia researchers who developed a model used in schools nationwide. In one 2021 study, resulted in low student disciplinary rates and didn鈥檛 exhibit racial disparities in outcomes. 

Psychologist Dewey Cornell, the principal author of the university鈥檚 Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines, declined an interview request, but argued that First Amendment implications were rare.

鈥淔ree speech objections to threat assessment don鈥檛 come up very often in school threat settings,鈥� Cornell wrote 社区黑料 in an email. 鈥淭here is case law on how threats are excluded from free speech protections.鈥� 

The Supreme Court has set a high bar for what constitutes a 鈥渢rue threat,鈥� and the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank, said Bushart鈥檚 Facebook post fell . In a 1969 Supreme Court opinion, the group noted, the nation鈥檚 top court 鈥渕ade it crystal clear that only true threats are exempt from the freedom of speech 鈥� not hyperbole and political bombast.鈥�

 In 2023, the Supreme Court further strengthened First Amendment protections, finding someone can only make a 鈥渢rue threat鈥� if they knowingly disregard a 鈥渟ubstantial risk鈥� that their speech would cause harm. 

In Bushart鈥檚 case, it doesn鈥檛 matter whether the sheriff鈥檚 actions were the result of a misunderstanding about the intent behind the Facebook post or an effort to censor speech he found objectionable, the ACLU鈥檚 Hauss said. The monthlong confinement violated the Tennessee citizen鈥檚 constitutional rights. 

Hauss said he understands 鈥渢he very serious security concerns when it comes to school shootings.鈥� But campus safety matters, he said, 鈥渟hould not be left up to people who can鈥檛 distinguish political speech from threats of violence.鈥�

Memphis students with dyslexia will start receiving targeted reading support this school year through the district鈥檚 first universal intervention program in an effort to increase state test scores.

Under a nearly $540,000 contract approved by the Memphis-Shelby County school board last month, an outside literacy company will boost support for nearly 5,000 students who show characteristics of dyslexia. But one local reading expert noted that many students struggle with comprehension, which needs intervention beyond foundational skills.

MSCS is required by state law to screen every student for signs of dyslexia, such as difficulty connecting letters with sounds. But Tennessee allows only to students, in order to trigger state and federal disability services.

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Jo Anna McCall, an education consultant for Utah-based Reading Horizons, the literacy company contracted by the district, said the end goal of the program is to increase MSCS scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP. .

McCall said students with characteristics of dyslexia often get 鈥渓ost in the shuffle鈥� of general classroom instruction.

鈥淢any have fallen through the cracks, and it鈥檚 going too fast for them, and so we have to slow down,鈥� she said.

In an Aug. 26 board meeting, MSCS leaders said Reading Horizons will train at least one district staff member per school building to run small group tutoring sessions using the company鈥檚 dyslexia-focused curriculum by the end of the school year.

It鈥檚 unclear who exactly will receive that training or when they will run the 30-minute intervention sessions recommended by the company.

Reading Horizons鈥� method is based in the science of reading, a literacy strategy focused on phonics and fluency that has gained traction in education systems in recent years. Laura Kelly, a Rhodes College education professor who specializes in elementary literacy, said MSCS already uses the science of reading in its classroom curriculum.

鈥淪o my question is, what is this adding that their existing curriculum doesn鈥檛 already have?鈥� she said.

Focusing on foundational phonics skills will help students with dyslexia, Kelly said. But she worries that won鈥檛 translate into improvement on comprehension skills 鈥� which means it鈥檚 unlikely to boost TCAP scores.

鈥淭CAP is not a phonics test; it鈥檚 a comprehension test,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淎nd there is a good chunk of kids that master foundational skills, and then they still don鈥檛 comprehend what they鈥檙e reading.鈥�

McCall said Reading Horizons鈥� method does go beyond phonics skills, including time in each lesson to read and write sentences or passages of text.

The company鈥檚 method is unique, she said, because of a 鈥渕arking system鈥� that helps students sound out words. Students mark vowels with x鈥檚, break words into syllables, and follow simple pronunciation rules that McCall says guide about 75% of English words.

鈥淚 think of this as training wheels on a bicycle,鈥� McCall said. 鈥淎s students are learning the patterns to the word, they鈥檙e going to have these markings. And then when they read passages, the marks won鈥檛 be there, but they can apply them when they come to an unfamiliar word.鈥�

According to Reading Horizons鈥� contract, the company will provide scripted manuals, flashcards, and longer texts targeted to skills students are learning. There will also be one six-hour training for chosen MSCS staff and one-day targeted coaching budgeted at $3,000 each for 30 sessions.

MSCS Director of Curriculum Amy Maples said the district is investing the 鈥渂are minimum鈥� funding level for Reading Horizons鈥� program, which company leaders said cuts out additional training and coaching sessions for school staff.

But Maples said MSCS could invest more in the program after the first year depending on results. The contract with Reading Horizons has the option for renewal through 2030.

District leaders will also be screening more students for characteristics of dyslexia this year, according to an emailed statement sent to Chalkbeat.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

With only a week until school starts, local early childhood education nonprofit Porter-Leath needs to fill 250 staff positions and nearly 3,000 student seats as Memphis鈥� new sole Head Start provider.

Porter-Leath announced last Monday that it鈥檚 taking over the five-year contract and the nearly $30 million annual federal grant from Memphis-Shelby County Schools. The district lost the contract after repeated safety violations.

The changeup leaves Porter-Leath with only a week to transition before the school year starts on Aug. 4. And families who previously signed up with MSCS for the upcoming school year need to apply again, said Vice President of Development Robert Hughes. The district didn鈥檛 explain how it plans to communicate that to parents.

鈥淭ime is a huge challenge,鈥� Hughes said.

Over 700 families applied for acceptance last week, he said, and the organization is throughout the month of August.

Hughes also said Porter-Leath is expanding partnerships with other community organizations like First 8 Memphis to open new Head Start sites 鈥渇or space reasons.鈥� The nonprofit currently operates five centers of its own.

During the first enrollment event Friday, Family Services Manager Tracy Jackson said over 100 families showed up to Porter-Leath鈥檚 American Way center for support before 11 a.m.

For the past four years, MSCS has run the free federal pre-K program for low-income families. But funding from the federal Administration for Children and Families went up for grabs this spring because , according to The Daily Memphian. The district received including teachers who 鈥渉it, pulled and grabbed children by the neck.鈥�

In an email to Chalkbeat, MSCS confirmed that it will not receive any Head Start funding this school year.

But the district will still provide 鈥渉igh-quality early learning opportunities鈥� to 3,340 students, the email said, primarily four-year-olds, through funding from the .

MSCS did not say whether it would need to lay off any staff. In an earlier press release, district officials said the transition will affect 23 childcare providers.

鈥淲hile the loss of Head Start funding has required adjustments to our staffing model, we are working diligently to retain as many team members as possible through reassignment and redeployment into roles supported by [the] Early Childhood Department,鈥� the recent email said.

Last year, Porter-Leath served around 1,500 children in its Early Head Start program for children up to 3 years old and other pre-K models. And until , the district paid the nonprofit around two-thirds of its grant award to serve as a partner in offering Head Start services.

Porter-Leath was one of 13 providers nationwide to be in 2023. Hughes credits most of the organization鈥檚 success to its early education staff, and the focus on professional development.

鈥溾�嬧�媁e鈥檙e not just like, 鈥楬ey, you鈥檙e hired. Go for it,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not asking somebody to rely on what they learned in school 25 years ago with no additional support. And that pays off in the classroom.鈥�

Hughes said Porter-Leath also puts additional adults in its classrooms and centers through outside partnerships with AmeriCorps, including its 鈥渇oster grandparents鈥� program.

鈥淗aving extra adults in the classroom and in the centers makes a huge difference obviously, for our teachers, knowing that there鈥檚 a third set of eyes,鈥� he said.

Starting Friday, Porter-Leath will begin hosting job fairs specifically for former MSCS Head Start employees, which will run every Wednesday and Friday through August.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Penny Schwinn, in line to serve as second in command of the U.S. Department of Education, has withdrawn from the nomination, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Thursday.

Instead, the former Tennessee education commissioner will take on a different role for the department.

“I am grateful to Dr. Schwinn for her commitment to serving students, families, and educators across the nation,” McMahon said in a statement. “Penny is a brilliant education mind and I look forward to continuing working with her as my chief strategist to make education great again.”

Schwinn, in a statement, said she gave the decision 鈥渢houghtful consideration鈥� and said she will  鈥渞emain committed to protecting kids, raising achievement and expanding opportunity  鈥�  my lifelong mission and north star.”

Considered a champion for improving reading outcomes and high-dosage tutoring, Schwinn was among President Donald Trump鈥檚 early picks for department posts. Many perceived her as a more bipartisan choice than others joining the administration, but among Tennessee conservatives, many who felt she was too liberal, opposition to her nomination was strong.

The timing of Schwinn鈥檚 withdrawal couldn鈥檛 be worse, according to some conservatives. 

鈥淗er decision to remove herself from consideration to become deputy secretary hurts students, educators, and the Trump administration,鈥� said Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, a think tank. 鈥淪ecretary McMahon has been charged by Congress and the president with huge tasks under the One Big Beautiful Bill and several urgent executive orders.鈥�

As head of the Education Department, McMahon is striving to turn more authority over education to the states. It鈥檚 now unclear who will step into the deputy position and take the lead on the state鈥檚 requests for more flexibility over education funding. At least two states, Iowa and Oklahoma, have already submitted requests for block grants, and is currently gathering comments from the public in preparation for a similar proposal. Kirsten Baesler, North Dakota鈥檚 long-time education chief, is currently awaiting confirmation to be assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the department. In February, she joined 11 other GOP chiefs in asking McMahon for greater freedom to direct education funds toward state-level needs.

Controversies and questions over Schwinn鈥檚 conservative qualifications have followed her for years. Far-right groups, including Moms for Liberty, said her past support for equity initiatives, like hiring more , was evidence that she was not a good fit for an administration determined to eliminate such programs. Others remained angry over Schwinn鈥檚 pandemic-era plan to conduct 鈥渨ell-being鈥� . Even though she scrapped the plan, parents and members of the legislature considered it an example of government overreach.

More recently, Steve Gill, a conservative commentator in Tennessee, that while she was deputy superintendent of the Texas Education Agency, Schwinn recommended individuals who advocate for comprehensive sex education, including , to advise the state on health curriculum. 

Gill told 社区黑料 he shared his TriStar Daily about her stance on these issues with Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as the state鈥檚 congressional delegation. Blackburn, who is expected to run for governor next year, was considered a possible no vote for Schwinn.

According to Gill, Blackburn鈥檚 office 鈥渉as been working tirelessly behind the scenes with the White House, Secretary Linda McMahon and Majority Leader [John] Thune to block the confirmation.鈥�

But Madi Biedermann, spokeswoman for the department, said the agency 鈥渟trongly disagrees with that characterization.鈥�

Blew said it鈥檚 unfortunate that politics got in the way, noting that Schwinn鈥檚 experience in both blue and red states would have brought valuable expertise to the Ed Department role. In addition to her jobs in Tennessee and Texas, Schwinn founded a charter school in Sacramento and also served in the Delaware Department of Education.

鈥淚t’s sad that a handful of demagogues are standing in the way of giving Secretary McMahon the team she needs to succeed,鈥� he said.

Others praised Schwinn鈥檚 record of prioritizing the science of reading in Tennessee schools and directing COVID relief funds toward tutoring.

鈥淭his is a setback for all who want to see Washington slashing red tape, advancing literacy and fighting for common sense values,” said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

For some critics, Schwinn鈥檚 business ventures since leaving the top spot in Tennessee two years ago raised questions as she waited to appear before the Senate education committee. 

In June, a day ahead of her joint hearing with three other nominees, 社区黑料 reported that shortly after Trump tapped her for the job, she registered a new education consulting business in Florida, New Horizon BluePrint Group, with a longtime colleague. Before Schwinn filed ethics paperwork with the federal government, her sister replaced her as a manager on the business. 

When a reporter from 社区黑料 asked questions about the new project, Donald Fennoy, her colleague and a former superintendent of the Palm Beach County School District, dissolved the business.

Ethics experts say candidates for an administration post often distance themselves from new business entanglements to avoid any appearance of a conflict, but Schwinn has faced accusations of poor judgment before.

While she was in Texas, the state agency signed a $4.4 million in 2017 with a software company where she had a 鈥減rofessional relationship鈥� with a subcontractor, according to a state audit. And in Tennessee, the education agency made an in 2021 , a teacher training organization where her husband was employed at the time. Lawmakers considered the deal a 鈥溾��

鈥淓thics was a crucial concern,鈥� said J.C. Bowman, executive director and CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-union organization. He was among those who sent letters to the Senate, asking them to remove her from consideration. 鈥淗er personal business interests and possible conflicts could potentially influence educational decisions in ways that many found difficult to overlook.鈥�

Clarification: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the role Penny Schwinn will take on in lieu of serving as the deputy education secretary. Schwinn will be taking on an advisory role at the Education Department.

The committee also voted to move the nomination of Kimberly Richey to lead the Office for Civil Rights. A conservative civil rights lawyer, Richey served in the second Bush and first Trump administrations.

The votes for both nominees fell along strict party lines, 12 to 11. 

鈥淭hese nominees are crucial to enacting President Trump鈥檚 pro-America agenda,鈥� Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the committee, said in a statement.

With the Senate focused on passing President Donald Trump鈥檚 tax bill and roughly 200 nominations awaiting a vote, it could be several weeks before both are confirmed.

Schwinn would oversee K-12 policy. During a June confirmation hearing, she expressed support for a more hands-off approach from Washington while also strengthening reading instruction based on science.

A week after the hearing, she participated in at a Nashville charter school with Education Secretary Linda McMahon to promote one of the Trump administration鈥檚 top priorities 鈥� school choice. The visit came as the department has increased funding for charters while proposing over $4 billion in cuts to other programs. 

If confirmed, Richey would take over a civil rights office with a much leaner staff following mass firings in March and recommendations from McMahon for further reductions. She vowed to continue the department鈥檚 actions against schools that permit antisemitic demonstrations and allow trans students to use facilities or compete in sports consistent with their gender identity. 

Those views have drawn opposition to her nomination from civil rights groups that advocate for LGBTQ students. In advance of Thursday鈥檚 vote, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with 45 other organizations, sent senators saying Richey 鈥渉as not demonstrated a willingness and ability to enforce civil rights law and protect all students in our country from discrimination.鈥�

Some hope she鈥檒l prioritize disability complaints. As acting assistant secretary for civil rights during the pandemic, she into districts that failed to provide students with disabilities services written into their individual education programs.  

鈥淪he was responsive during the first Trump term and pushed through the COVID complaints,鈥� said Callie Oettinger, a special education advocate in Fairfax County, Virginia.

鈥楽he has Linda McMahon鈥檚 ear鈥�

While Richey鈥檚 track record fits squarely within the Trump administration鈥檚 ultra-conservative agenda, many education insiders view Schwinn as a moderate who largely avoided culture war clashes while holding schools and students accountable for progress in reading. 

Unlike McMahon, Schwinn has always worked in education. The California native founded a charter school in Sacramento in 2011 and held top positions in Delaware and Texas before Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee appointed her commissioner in 2019. 

鈥淧enny has the strongest literacy chops of any state supe I鈥檝e known, and she has Linda McMahon鈥檚 ear and trust,鈥� said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 

But tends to follow her. Under her leadership in Tennessee, was higher than normal. Conservatives who calling on senators not to confirm Schwinn argue that she holds progressive views on educational equity and proposed an unpopular effort to conduct 鈥渨ell-being鈥� checks on students during the pandemic. 

Others question her judgement, pointing to incidents in which and directed no-bid contracts to companies where Schwinn had personal connections, including her husband, Paul Schwinn.

But those complaints didn鈥檛 sway Republicans on the committee, and Pondiscio dismissed the backlash to Schwinn as 鈥淏.S.鈥� In a February commentary, he that her 鈥渃onservative critics want a culture warrior, not an administrator focused on competent governance and delivering results.鈥�

贬别鈥檚 who hope her confirmation brings more attention to core education issues.
鈥淚f you see the secretary spending her time on curriculum and instruction,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hat will be Penny鈥檚 thumbprint.鈥�

鈥淢y mind was blown,鈥� said Fagerburg. 鈥淚 had no idea education could be this good.鈥�

She applied to open her own Acton Academy, and was accepted into the fast-growing network of approximately 300 independently-operated schools, emphasizing learner-driven education. Fagerburg launched last fall with 13 students, including four of her own children. Today, she has 26 K-6 students enrolled in her secular microschool, with plans to add a middle school and high school program in the coming years. 鈥淧arents want this. They love it,鈥� said Fagerburg, adding that some families drive up to 45 minutes each way for their children to attend her program. 

She says she sees enormous demand for the Acton Academy model, and hopes to open more locations in Tennessee, but access is a key concern. 鈥淚 grew up poor,鈥� said Fagerburg. 鈥淚 never would have been able to attend a school like this.鈥� 

With the current expansion of school choice programs, such as Tennessee鈥檚 new universal education savings accounts (ESA), many more families are able to access innovative schools and learning models. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a complete game changer,鈥� said Fagerburg, explaining how the ESA program enables Tennessee families who previously had limited education choices to now use a portion of state-allocated education funding to select the school or learning space that is best for their child. 

But there鈥檚 a catch. In order to participate in Tennessee鈥檚 ESA program, Fagerburg鈥檚 school must be accredited, and its current accreditation by the , isn鈥檛 recognized by the state. 

That is why Fagerburg jumped at the opportunity to participate in a fledgling program offered through the (MSA), one of the four major K-12 accreditation entities, with 3,200 member schools worldwide. In with Stand Together Trust, MSA鈥檚 Next Generation Accreditation pilot program seeks to offer a faster, more affordable, and more flexible route toward accreditation for today鈥檚 emerging schools. 

鈥淲e created this flexible protocol around how a school actually works,鈥� said Christian Talbot, President and CEO of MSA. 鈥淭hat gives mostly microschools, but really any innovative school, the opportunity to tell their story with the production of evidence that makes the most sense to them.鈥� 

Talbot offered the example of a hypothetical urban 鈥減lace-based鈥� learning environment, with no designated school building and students taking classes at various museums, public parks, and historic sites throughout a city. 鈥淭hat school is going to have the opportunity to describe the learning environment in ways that existing accreditation protocols really don’t allow because you have to have a certificate of occupancy, or a lease, or some other thing that is tied to this mental model we have that school has to be in a building,鈥� said Talbot. 

He emphasized that these innovative schools are 鈥渕eeting all of the exact same standards of accreditation鈥� as conventional schools, but they are able to demonstrate these standards in ways that reflect the ingenuity of their models. 

MSA is the world鈥檚 second-oldest accrediting agency. It launched more than a century ago, as interest grew from schools and colleges for independent, third-party verifiers of quality. For higher education, accreditation eventually became a requirement for U.S. colleges and universities to participate in federal student financial aid programs, but at the K-12 level, mandatory accreditation is less common. 

Most states don鈥檛 require schools 鈥� public or private 鈥� to be accredited, but some schools choose to become accredited to earn an external 鈥渟eal of approval,鈥� which may help them to attract and retain students and educators. With the expansion of school-choice programs nationwide in recent years, certain states, such as Tennessee and Texas, require accreditation in order for a school to participate in these programs.

Cammy Herrera had been exploring the possibility of accreditation for her secular microschool , in Mansfield, Texas, well before the state introduced a new universal school-choice program this spring. A former public school teacher, Herrera had been running a licensed in-home preschool for more than a decade when she decided in 2021 to add a Montessori-inspired school-age program. She now serves over 50 students through middle school, with plans to open a high school if she can find a larger space to accommodate more students.

For Herrera, accreditation was appealing as a signal of quality, but she felt that most existing accrediting organizations took a traditional view of education that didn鈥檛 reflect her personalized, flexible approach. 

鈥淥ur school is so different. We are not trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all box when it comes to schooling,鈥� said Herrera, whose students are technically considered homeschoolers. They can attend her school full-time at an annual tuition of $10,250, or customize their enrollment based on their own learning needs. Tuition for Herrera鈥檚 two-day-a-week option is about $4,000 annually. 鈥淲hoever we get accredited through has to believe in our vision and has to be on board with what makes our school special because we don’t want our school to lose that special part that makes us different from a traditional school,鈥� she said. 

When Herrera learned about the MSA鈥檚 pilot accreditation program for microschools, she eagerly applied. Next Generation Accreditation would offer Herrera that third-party validation she has been seeking while retaining her program鈥檚 originality. It would also enable her to participate in Texas鈥檚 new school choice program, should she choose. 

MSA hopes to run the Next Generation Accreditation pilot with 10 to 15 innovative schools over the next several months to learn more about these schools鈥� distinct needs and structures, and then iterate and adapt protocols to provide a valuable accreditation pathway for today鈥檚 creative schooling models. 

As the creator of the Facebook group, Herrera sees mounting interest in microschooling and the diverse educational models and methods that the movement fosters. She thinks that accreditation options that reflect this diversity can be beneficial to founders and families who value that credential, or who need it to participate in certain school-choice programs. But she also warns of potential drawbacks: 鈥淭here are all these special schools, and if everybody has to follow the same standards to be accredited, then I think they’ll be more alike than different. That’s the only thing I could see being a downfall.鈥�

Disclosure: Stand Together Trust provides financial support to 社区黑料.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a potential landmark decision, upheld Tennessee鈥檚 law prohibiting gender affirming care for minors, saying children who seek the treatment don鈥檛 qualify as a protected class.

In United States v. Skrmetti, the high court overturning a lower court鈥檚 finding that the restrictions violate the constitutional rights of children seeking puberty blockers and hormones to treat gender dysphoria. The U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the district court鈥檚 decision and sent it to the high court.

The court鈥檚 three liberal justices dissented, writing that the court had abandoned transgender children and their families to 鈥減olitical whims.鈥�

Tennessee lawmakers passed the legislation in 2023, leading to a lawsuit argued before the Supreme Court last December. The federal government, under the Biden administration, took up the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and three transgender teens, their families and a Memphis doctor who challenged the law, but the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump dropped its opposition.

In its ruling, the court said that the plaintiffs argued that Senate Bill 1 鈥渨arrants heightened scrutiny because it relies on sex-based classifications.鈥� But the court found that neither of the classifications considered, those based on age and medical use, are determined on sex.

鈥淩ather, SB1 prohibits healthcare providers from administering puberty blockers or hormones to minors for certain medical uses, regardless of a minor鈥檚 sex,鈥� the ruling states.

The ruling says the application of the law 鈥渄oes not turn on sex,鈥� either, because it doesn鈥檛 prohibit certain medical treatments for minors of one sex while allowing it for minors of the opposite sex.

The House Republican Caucus issued a statement saying, 鈥淭his is a proud day for the Volunteer State and for all who believe in protecting the innocence and well-being of America鈥檚 children. Tennessee House Republicans are pleased by the court鈥檚 courage to stand firm against ideology that denies biological reality. The sterilization and disfigurement of children will no longer be normalized. As we celebrate the precedent set by this decision, we remain committed to leading the nation in safeguarding the health, safety and future of all children.鈥�

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who sponsored the bill, said he is grateful the court ruled that states hold the authority to protect children from 鈥渋rreversible medical procedures.鈥�

鈥淭he simple message the Supreme Court has sent the world is 鈥榚nough is enough,’鈥� Johnson said in a statement.

The Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group, expressed dismay at the decision: 鈥淲e are profoundly disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to side with the Tennessee legislature鈥檚 anti-transgender ideology and further erode the rights of transgender children and their families and doctors. We are grateful to the plaintiffs, families, and the ACLU for fighting on behalf of more than across the nation.鈥�

The group said gender-affirming care saves lives and is supported by medical groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

The court also rejected plaintiffs鈥� argument that the law enforces 鈥渁 government preference that people conform to expectations about their sex.鈥� 

The court found that laws that classify people on the basis of sex require closer scrutiny if they involve 鈥渋mpermissible stereotypes.鈥� But if the law鈥檚 classifications aren鈥檛 covertly or overtly based on sex, heightened review by the court isn鈥檛 required unless the law is motivated by 鈥渋nvidious discriminatory purpose.鈥�

鈥淎nd regardless, the statutory findings on which SB1 is premised do not themselves evince sex-based stereotyping,鈥� the ruling says.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

Not likely. Yet in Republican-dominated states, that鈥檚 exactly what the future holds. This is arguably the most profound change in American education since the development of universal public education over a century ago.

Over the past five years, 14 states have passed laws creating , often known as Education Savings Accounts 鈥� public money families can use to pay private school tuition.聽All are Republican states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Two more, , have passed refundable tax credits available to all families.

Every family in those states is eligible, or will be within a few years, for somewhere between per student. Counting programs limited to low-income students, more than half of all K-12 students in the U.S. .

This will accelerate the process of the rich getting richer while the poor fall further behind. And now, Republicans in Congress have quietly slipped worth $5,000 per child into their 鈥渙ne big beautiful bill.鈥�

Equal opportunity has always been a fundamental principle of public education: the idea that every child, no matter how poor, would have access to the same quality school. This has long been more an ideal than a reality, but after decades of legal battles, in poor and affluent districts.

States could preserve equal opportunity in a voucher system if parents were barred from topping up vouchers with their own money. But telling Americans they can鈥檛 help fund their child鈥檚 private school would never fly. So families will add to the value of their vouchers and buy the best education they can afford 鈥� because they love their children.聽

Other parents will have no money to add. Their kids will attend public schools or the least expensive private schools. And equal opportunity will fly out the window.

Vouchers will segregate students by income, since private school tuition varies widely. Hence, they will no doubt increase segregation by race as well.

Over time, as more and more people use vouchers, the education market in Republican states will stratify by income far more than it does today. It will come to resemble any other market: for housing, automobiles or anything else. The affluent will buy schools that are the equivalent of BMWs and Mercedes; the merely comfortable will choose Toyotas and Acuras; the scraping-by middle class will buy Fords and Chevrolets; and the majority, lacking spare cash, will settle for the equivalent of used cars 鈥� mostly public schools.

Meanwhile, the billions spent on vouchers will be subtracted from public school budgets, and the political constituency for public education will atrophy, leading to further cuts.

It鈥檚 obvious why vouchers appeal to people who already send their kids to private school, or would like to. But pro-voucher referenda have never won a majority. They have on state ballots, and three of those defeats occurred last fall, even in red states 鈥� in .

Yet, GOP funders donate millions to state legislators to support vouchers. And Republican lawmakers are heeding their wishes.

So far, studies have shown in private schools that accept vouchers. This is just common sense: Expensive private schools are often excellent, but cheap private schools are often worse than neighboring public schools.

Yet only one state, Louisiana, denies schools voucher money if their students perform poorly on state standardized tests. In West Virginia, voucher students who fail state tests lose their eligibility for the program. Most states , not even publishing test scores for schools that receive voucher money.

Private schools have the right to select their students, and some will no doubt discriminate 鈥� against gay students, transgender students, Muslim students or all of the above. State voucher laws often do not have comprehensive prohibitions against discrimination, and there are reports of bias in Wisconsin’s program, which is only for low-income students.

Finally, recent research suggests another common-sense reality: Heightened demand fueled by vouchers leads schools to .

None of these outcomes would draw support from a majority of Americans. Yet they are happening, and they will surely deepen the growing divide between rich and poor.

Is there an alternative, other than the status quo of struggling public school systems? Indeed there is. States and school districts could reduce bureaucratic controls, empower educators and increase choice, competition and accountability for performance within the public school system, through the spread of charter schools. Cities that have done so, including , have produced some of the nation’s most rapid improvements in student performance.

Voucher advocates are right, in my opinion, to want more choice, more competition, more diversity of school models and more accountability for performance in the nation’s education system. Traditional districts are operating with a centralized, standardized model that emerged more than a century ago, which makes creating quality public schools an uphill battle, particularly in low-income areas.

I also have no problem with vouchers for low-income students who are now trapped in failing public schools. But for too long, American society has been divided 鈥� economically, socially and politically 鈥� between those fortunate enough to have earned college degrees and those for whom college was out of reach. Turning the K-12 education system into a marketplace, in which the quality of a child鈥檚 school depends upon how much their parents can afford to pay, will only widen the gaps between haves and have-nots. Sadly, 16 Republican states have taken a huge step down that path.

Though Democrats probed where she stands on President Donald Trump鈥檚 plan to shutter the department, the former Tennessee education commissioner appeared to answer questions to their satisfaction. 

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire homed in on the administration鈥檚 move to end grants to train and hire K-12 school mental health professionals 鈥� part of a that passed with bipartisan support. 

鈥淒o you think that what the department did helps or hurts the communities that were counting on the funding that they were promised?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚f confirmed, do you commit to reigning in the chaos and operational failures that we are seeing at the department?鈥� 

Schwinn said the department will open a new competition for those grants and promised to 鈥渉ave an efficient, effective and outcomes-oriented department.鈥�

She voiced support for Trump鈥檚 ultimate goal to eliminate the department and repeatedly said states and local communities are in the best position to make decisions about education. As a charter school founder who served in the Delaware and Texas education agencies before leading Tennessee鈥檚 for four years, Schwinn has a reputation for working . She pushed for and using pandemic relief funds to implement a statewide tutoring program. A vote on her confirmation is expected in the coming days.

鈥淲hat we need to do is ensure that we’ve created a system that is going to drive outcomes,鈥� she told GOP Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana. 鈥淭hat is not going to happen from the federal government, whether there’s a Department of Education or not.鈥�

At the same time, Schwinn implied that there is a role for the department in ensuring states intervene in their lowest-performing schools. 

鈥淭here must be a commitment to ensuring that our most struggling schools improve because our students deserve that,鈥� she said.  

A from the Government Accountability Office found that less than half of states are meeting those requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Schwinn鈥檚 tenure in Tennessee, for example, included overseeing a state turnaround effort known as the Achievement School District. Considering it a failure, the state legislature and will try another approach. 

鈥淭here’s real tension there,鈥� Thomas Toch, director of FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University, told 社区黑料. 鈥淲ill the Trump administration make a meaningful commitment to school improvement? Or will [Education Secretary Linda] McMahon and her team dodge that responsibility in the name of local control?鈥�

Some observers have called Schwinn a smart pick for her focus on and her attempts to avoid some of the more divisive culture war debates of the post-pandemic era. But to others she has a troubled track record that includes contracts with vendors that gave the of interest. On Wednesday, 社区黑料 reported that after Trump nominated her, she registered a new business in Florida with a longtime colleague. While the venture was ultimately dissolved, Schwinn鈥檚 sister replaced her as a manager a few weeks before the nominee submitted her financial disclosure documents. 

Some parent groups have vehemently opposed her nomination, viewing her as more left-leaning than most Trump nominees. 

鈥淚t amazes me that President Trump would consider Penny Schwinn conservative,鈥� said Tiffany Boyd, a homeschool advocate who opposed Schwinn鈥檚 plan to conduct well-being checks on students during the pandemic. Schwinn nixed the idea after strong backlash. Boyd also cited a that focused, in part, on attracting more teachers of color 鈥� efforts that the department now says push 鈥渋llegal diversity, equity and inclusion.鈥�

But none of that surfaced during the hearing. Even Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has the 鈥渓eft鈥檚 indoctrination of students,鈥� opted to skip direct questions to Schwinn and said he would submit them in writing. 

The committee interviewed Schwinn as part of a panel, along with Kimberly Richey, Trump鈥檚 choice to lead the Office for Civil Rights, and two Department of Labor nominees. In that format, the senators focused on issues most important to them 鈥� for example, Chairman Bill Cassidy emphasized better serving students with dyslexia.

鈥淎s the Department of Education streamlines educational funding, how can we ensure that resources are there to identify and address an issue, specifically speaking of dyslexia?鈥� he asked.

Schwinn touted Tennessee鈥檚 move to include 鈥渃haracteristics of dyslexia鈥� as a disability category in its state education funding formula and ramp up screening of students鈥� early reading skills. The federal government, she said, could do a better job of guiding states on this issue and sharing lessons from states that have posted the greatest gains in literacy, like and Louisiana.

Some advocates are eager to have an educator who prioritized reading instruction at the department. 

鈥淲e love her track record of improving student outcomes in Tennessee and talking a bit more technically about literacy and the science of reading 鈥� which we think having leadership on the federal level around is going to be key,鈥� said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Foundation. 

But she stressed that it was , now at risk under the Trump administration, that informed those improvements.

鈥淭he research and the funding for all these 鈥榮tate miracles,鈥� 鈥� she said, 鈥渃ome from regional and federal efforts 鈥� which I think a lot of folks are forgetting.鈥� 

The business venture never got off the ground, but the arrangement could raise ethical issues for Schwinn as she heads before the Senate education committee for confirmation Thursday.

The colleague with whom she co-founded the business, Donald Fennoy, told 社区黑料 in an interview that the enterprise, named New Horizon BluePrint Group, was intended to combine their expertise as education leaders. Fennoy, the former superintendent of the Palm Beach County School District, was to consult with districts, while Schwinn, who has experience in Delaware, Texas and most recently as Tennessee鈥檚 education commissioner, would focus on state leadership. The pair have known each other for a decade, Fennoy said, meeting when they were part of the 2015-16 class of the Broad Academy, an education leadership program.

But the business does not appear among financial ties outlined in mandatory disclosure documents Schwinn submitted to the Office of Government Ethics on March 24. One reason could be that three weeks earlier, Schwinn鈥檚 sister, , replaced her as manager of the business, according to state documents. Sully, a former assistant principal at a Texas charter school, has far less educational experience than Schwinn or Fennoy.

On Friday, as 社区黑料 began asking Schwinn and the department questions about the venture, Fennoy dissolved the company, documents show, listing 鈥渂usiness never started鈥� as the reason.

鈥淩ight when we were securing the name, she got a phone call,鈥� Fennoy told 社区黑料, referring to the nomination. The plan, he said, was to bring in at least one more leader with district experience and build a team to do work 鈥渘ationally and internationally.鈥�

On Jan. 18, Trump announced his pick of Schwinn to be the department鈥檚 deputy secretary, citing her 鈥渟trong record of delivering results for children and families.鈥� The LLC wasn鈥檛 registered until Feb. 18. 

But pressed for details about why Schwinn registered the business after her nomination, Fennoy appeared confused about the timeline. 鈥淭his is on what day?鈥� he asked in response to a reporter’s question. He did not respond to additional questions sent by email.

Contacted by 社区黑料, Schwinn referred the matter to the Education Department. Madison Bidermann, a department spokesman, declined to address why Schwinn moved forward with a business venture after her nomination and said the nominee 鈥溾�嬧�媤orked with the relevant ethics officials and resolved any conflicts.鈥�

Sully did not respond to attempts to contact her over email.

The Florida LLC would have been just one of Schwinn鈥檚 many business interests, detailed in the disclosure filed with the federal government. She stated in May that if confirmed, she would divest or resign her positions at multiple companies. 

Historically, potential business conflicts could raise red flags for senators vetting a potential nominee. As deputy secretary, Schwinn would be tasked with overseeing federal policy and a vast network of K-12 programs 鈥� the same policy and programs that districts might seek help from a consulting firm to navigate. 

She would also enter the department at a crisis point, as Education Secretary Linda McMahon drastically cuts staff and cancels funding to reach Trump鈥檚 goal of eliminating the department. The proposed 2026 budget slashes over $4 billion from K-12 programs, raising concerns that officials won鈥檛 be able to carry out their congressionally mandated duties 

鈥�This administration is unique鈥�

The period between nomination and confirmation is typically a time when candidates distance themselves from financial entanglements and potential conflicts of interest. 

鈥淥nce you’re nominated, the typical rule of thumb would be that you kind of slow down,鈥� said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, interim vice president for policy and government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, a nonprofit focused on government accountability. 鈥淵ou probably wouldn’t establish a new LLC, for example鈥� 

But Schwinn is not a typical nominee, and this is not a typical administration.

Trump reportedly held an exclusive dinner on May 22 for investors in his , a form of cryptocurrency. As president, he of his business empire. In the midst of negotiations with over punishing U.S. tariffs, for example, the country approved the development of Trump hotels and golf courses. Previous reporting revealed that FBI Director Kash Patel from a Chinese 鈥渇ast fashion鈥� company, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth鈥檚 wife in companies that contract with that department.

It鈥檚 not unusual for administrations to run into trouble with officials who have close ties to the industries they oversee, Hedtler-Gaudette said. In 2022, his group filed a complaint about a in charge of digital services who had investments in the tech industry.

鈥淏ut this administration is unique,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd just doesn’t seem to take any of that into consideration.鈥�

Schwinn is also an unusual choice. She has fans among GOP moderates and Democrats. The former and earned respect for toward academic recovery in Tennessee and implementing far-reaching instruction. 

For a Trump nominee, she has also faced a high degree of conservative ire. Some of that is due to her past support for the kind of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives the Trump administration wants to eliminate from schools, like . But accusations of conflicts of interest and other ethical lapses have followed her for years.

They include a $4.4 million that the Texas Education Agency signed in 2017 with SPEDx, a Georgia software startup, despite what a state audit called Schwinn鈥檚 鈥減rofessional relationship鈥� with a subcontractor for the company. At the time, she was a deputy superintendent of the state agency.

Critics also point to an in 2021 that the Tennessee Department of Education signed with TNTP, a teacher training organization where her husband was employed at the time. The state鈥檚 procurement office approved the contract and Schwinn agreed to distance herself from the project, but some lawmakers still considered the deal a 鈥溾��

鈥� 鈥楧rain the swamp鈥� is a phrase coined by President Trump, signifying the removal of corruption and special interests from government,鈥� said J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-union association. 鈥淢any conservatives oppose Penny Schwinn’s nomination as deputy secretary of education, believing she embodies the interests they want to eliminate from the agency.鈥� 

Others say she left the state better off. She pushed requirements that districts screen students for reading difficulties and use a phonics-based curriculum. After the state passed a in 2021, roughly 30,000 teachers received in the science of reading. The investments paid off. Tennessee was among the first to see test scores bounce back after the pandemic. Results from show students continue to make gains. 

To many education advocates, she represents the best chance to shift the national department鈥檚 focus away from culture war issues and toward bipartisan priorities like improving literacy and maintaining accountability. 

鈥淚 certainly wholeheartedly hope she gets approved, and think members on both sides would be gratified by her performance in office,鈥� said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 

Yet dozens of have sent senators letters outlining why they think she鈥檚 wrong for the job. They list, for example, her affiliation with Chiefs for Change, made up of left-leaning district and state officials, and cite about her support for they say has elements of critical race theory, which holds that racism in America is systemic.  

Several that Ruby Bridges鈥� children鈥檚 book about being the first Black child to integrate a white elementary school referenced 鈥渁 large crowd of angry white people.鈥� a first grade book about seahorses was inappropriate because it explains how males carry the eggs.

While never implemented, her plan to conduct 鈥渨ell-being鈥� home visits during the pandemic parents who consider it an example of government overreach.

If the committee advances Schwinn鈥檚 nomination, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican who is running for governor, is expected to vote against her, multiple sources told 社区黑料. 

鈥淪he鈥檚 a Democrat, through and through,鈥� said Elizabeth Story, legislative chair for the Tennessee chapter of Moms for Liberty, the conservative advocacy group that opposes progressive ideas in school about race, sex and gender. 鈥淲e need President Trump to withdraw her.鈥�

Just after her nomination, she met with anti-DEI activist Chris Rufo in an apparent effort to reassure the Trump administration she would be a good fit. According to on X, she promised to 鈥渟hut down the terrible programs at the Department of Education, fight critical race theory, gender cultism, and DEI in America鈥檚 schools, and support new initiatives on school choice and classical education.鈥�

If she loses the support of some conservatives, she may have to lean on Democrats to secure her nomination.

To Leslie Finger, an assistant political science professor at the University of North Texas, that would be an appropriate finale to a nomination that has veered far from the typical Trump playbook.

鈥淚n many ways, she seems opposed to the Trump administration’s education agenda,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne might think it was meant to show that they want to reach across the aisle on education issues, since she would be supported by bipartisan education reform types. But when has the Trump administration taken actions to signal bipartisanship?鈥�

Since leaving her post as Tennessee commissioner, Schwinn has invested in and been involved with companies at the forefront of education, her disclosure forms show. Those include , an AI reading curriculum program; , a vendor that manages education savings accounts in multiple states; and , an online curriculum and assessment company. She鈥檚 also a board member for Really Great Reading, a literacy program used in , and a consultant for , a lobbying firm.

Blake Harris, former communications director for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, founded BHA, where Schwinn served as chief operating officer until February. Two other LLCs she owns would cease operations, she wrote in a letter to the Education Department. 

John Pelissero, a government ethics expert at Santa Clara University in California, said her financial ties deserve a closer look.

鈥淲hat she puts down on her disclosure form for her confirmation is always kind of an important starting point for how transparent she will be,鈥� he said. 鈥淪crutiny should be given to whether she has the capacity to demonstrate that she’ll act in the public interest.鈥� 

鈥楢 pragmatist鈥�

Schwinn isn鈥檛 the first Trump nominee to face opposition from Republicans. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former majority leader from Kentucky, Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary But those objections focused more on the nominees鈥� qualifications, said Jonathan Collins, an assistant professor of education and political science at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Conservatives鈥� concerns about Schwinn, 鈥渟eem like more of a test 鈥� or critique 鈥� of her loyalty to the new Republican culture war coalition,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he’s as moderate as it gets. She’s a pragmatist who in no way pushes far-left progressive policies.鈥� 

Under McMahon, the department required states to sign a certification saying they wouldn鈥檛 implement DEI programs. The Office for Civil Rights has also prioritized investigations into state and district policies allowing transgender students to in school sports. 

Not all parental rights advocates are opposed to her nomination. 

Moms for America, founded in 2004, is a conservative, Christian organization that shares many of the same values as Moms for Liberty. Last year, the group presented Trump with its .

The organization, however, said Schwinn would make 鈥渁n excellent choice鈥� for deputy secretary, citing her 鈥渆xtensive experience as an educator, innovator and state leader.鈥�

As the department鈥檚 number two, she would oversee K-12 initiatives, which McMahon has said will prioritize the science of reading, school choice and giving states more control over education. 

鈥淪he has a proven ability to improve student outcomes, champion school choice, and navigate crises like the pandemic,鈥� the organization said in a statement to 社区黑料. 鈥淲e stand by her candidacy for nomination as deputy education secretary and wish her the best in that role.鈥� 

Disclosure: According to financial disclosure documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics, Penny Schwinn earned $250,000 as a consultant and adviser to the Walton Family Foundation. The foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

鈥淓ven if the feds decide that they’re not going to require statewide assessments, that is not something that I’m going to buy into,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he moment you lower standards, you do kids a disservice.鈥�

With President Donald Trump on a path to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and revert power back to the states, Wright鈥檚 words gave urgency to a burning issue state leaders have been wrestling with for months.

While Education Secretary Linda McMahon has declared it鈥檚 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� necessary to continue the National Assessment of Educational Progress 鈥� which allows the public to compare student performance across states 鈥� she鈥檚 so far been silent on federal requirements for state testing and the need to identify low-performing schools for extra support. The lack of a plan has left some wondering if sending education 鈥渂ack to the states,鈥� as Trump is fond of saying, means abandoning what has been a mainstay of education policy for more than 20 years.  

鈥淭his is one of the discussions that the department, the administration, the Senate and House need to talk through,鈥� said Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, a right leaning think tank that supports Trump鈥檚 agenda. 

A department official during the president鈥檚 first term, he argues that the Every Student Succeeds Act, the law that spells out federal requirements for testing and accountability, has had little impact on holding students to high standards. 

鈥淪tates that do not want to be transparent about their testing results simply aren’t,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you don’t believe me, just go and try and find the results for any state.鈥�

As the president鈥檚 plan takes shape, some Republicans are trying to remove those annual testing and accountability requirements altogether. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota reintroduced last week that would not only eliminate the education department, but also repeal ESSA. In exchange for a federal block grant, states would be required to submit student data to the Treasury Department, complete an annual audit and follow civil rights laws 鈥� but not conduct annual tests.

The rationale is clear, said Charles Barone, senior director of the Center for Innovation at the National Parents Union: Maintaining some federal authority over testing and accountability could imply there鈥檚 still a role for the department.

鈥淪en. Rounds鈥� bill simply has federal programs as money streams,鈥� he said. 鈥淣o policy attached.鈥�

Since the pandemic, a handful of states, like Oklahoma, and , have rolled back expectations for passing state tests. The changes are likely to result in more students reaching grade-level targets even if they haven鈥檛 learned more. The trend has revived debate over the 鈥渉onesty gap鈥� 鈥� the discrepancy between NAEP鈥檚 higher standard for proficiency and the often lower bar set by states. 

Others, like and education Secretary Aimee Guidera are phasing in tougher assessment and accountability systems. To Blew, that shows the federal government should just stay out of the way. 

鈥淎t the end of the day, states are going to determine this,鈥� he said. 鈥淟et’s give them the freedom to do that.鈥�

Passed a decade ago, ESSA requires states to test all students in third through eighth grades in reading and math, to assess students once in high school and to ensure at least 95% of students participate in testing. States also have to break down results by race and for different student groups, including those in poverty, English learners and students with disabilities. 

The major components meet the threshold of what Barone describes as the 鈥溾�� for accountability. 

Testing every student allows parents to get assessment results for their own children, which can then be used to determine where students are struggling or if they need more challenging work. 

Disaggregating the results shines a light on how districts serve historically marginalized students 鈥� data that is especially important to policymakers and advocacy groups. Finally, a common test allows for apples-to-apples comparisons across schools and districts. 

鈥淥ver the years, a consensus has formed that you want certain guardrails in place,鈥� Barone said.  

鈥楢 federal backstop鈥�

Observers don鈥檛 expect Rounds鈥� bill to get very far. But some call it a harbinger of a return to the days , the strict accountability law that preceded ESSA. In the 1990s, just a fraction of states tested students every year and many imposed no consequences for failing schools. 

鈥淚 think accountability is already at a pretty low point,鈥� said Cory Koedel, an economics and public policy professor at the University of Missouri. 鈥淚f things go back to the states even more formally, I would just expect that unwinding to complete itself.鈥�

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the education committee, is expected to introduce another proposal to eliminate the education department and revamp the role of the federal government in education. Blew said that bill could be weeks away. 

Democrats and some state leaders warn that dumping federal testing and accountability requirements and issuing block grants would allow states to turn their backs on the neediest students.

鈥淚f you get rid of accountability, you’re just essentially giving [states] a blank check,鈥� said Stephanie Lalle, communications director for the Democrats on the House education committee. Federal mandates, she said, are how you push them to 鈥渘ot discriminate and incentivize them to close the achievement gap.鈥�

At a February conference on assessment and accountability in Dallas, Virginia ed secretary Guidera shared data showing how her state鈥檚 performance on NAEP steadily improved between 2003 and 2013 鈥� the NCLB years. 

The landmark education law, which set strict testing and accountability requirements in exchange for Title I funds, passed in 2002. Data shows the policy led to nationally, but it quickly became highly unpopular. The law set ambitious goals for all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014, but drew considerable pushback from critics who said it led schools to teach to the test. But even if states continue their own testing and accountability systems, Guidera doesn鈥檛 want Washington out of the picture.

“We need the federal backstop,鈥� she told 社区黑料. 鈥淲e have to have high standards, and we need to be honest with ourselves about where every child is.”聽

鈥楢 rallying cry鈥�

Opposition to standardized testing comes from both the left and the right. Educators grumble that it eats up too much class time and that results from spring tests come back too late to help students or make adjustments for the fall. Others, , say state tests offer a narrow view of student learning. 

The question is what states would do if the federal government were no longer in the picture. In his conversation with Wright and other experts earlier this month, Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment, leaned on a handy metaphor: a motorcycle cop holding a radar gun. 

鈥淲hat if nobody was checking your speed?鈥� he asked.

State leaders have been thinking about the possibilities.

Rep. Robert Behning, an Indiana state legislator, said he 鈥渨ould be willing to look at other options, like sampling鈥� 鈥� giving tests to a random, representative group of students instead of everyone. can be less of a drain on teachers鈥� and students鈥� time and still give the public district and school-level results. But the tradeoff is that most parents would be left in the dark about their children鈥檚 performance.  

Other state leaders like the idea of spreading assessments rather than building up toward one big test.

鈥淲e’ve got better assessments that tell us more about our students,鈥� Eric Mackey, Alabama state superintendent, said during a in March.  

But research shows there are with arriving at a final score for the year and the model might not reduce testing time.

Marion giving state exams every other year, which would allow more time in the intervening years to employ innovative methods like asking students to complete a project to demonstrate their learning.

Marianne Perie, an assessment expert who advises states on test design, said she wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if Oklahoma completely stopped giving statewide assessments. In March, state Superintendent Ryan Walters questioned the integrity of the 2024 results, even though they were included in for districts and schools.

But in other states like Tennessee and Mississippi, annual tests have been 鈥渁 rallying cry鈥� for parents and policymakers, said Emily Oster, a Brown University economist who tracks states鈥� . 

Such states 鈥渉ave championed their gains in the last few years,鈥� especially in English language arts, she said. 

Tennessee, for example, was among the first to bounce back from pandemic-era learning loss. At the same time, the fact that roughly 60% of third graders still scored below grade level in reading was worrisome enough to lawmakers that they passed a law requiring students to be retained or get extra help over the summer and retake the test. 

Remote learning during the pandemic and in-depth reporting on poor literacy instruction has also motivated more parents to push for improvements.

鈥淧arents are increasingly demanding accountability from their educational system, which will make sunsetting these assessments more complex,鈥� Oster said.

Roughly value state assessments and think they should be used to guide support for struggling schools and students, according to a National Parents Union poll.

鈥楥ome up with something better鈥� 

If the federal government does hand more control over assessment and accountability to states, Barone said it鈥檚 far more likely to happen through waivers from McMahon than legislation. 

ESSA allows the secretary to excuse states from annual assessments. That鈥檚 what former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did in 2020 during the pandemic. She waived the accountability provisions for both 2020 and 2021. Barone sees no reason why McMahon wouldn鈥檛 do the same. 

A former Democratic staffer in the House, he thinks it would be hard to improve on the existing testing regimen. But even he agrees that the accountability side of the equation hasn鈥檛 led to measurable progress in how states support 鈥� and attempt to turn around 鈥� their most troubled schools. 

The law requires states to identify the lowest-performing 5% of schools, analyze why they鈥檙e struggling and adopt a proven , like coaching teachers or changing leadership. But a report found that less than half of states were complying with those requirements.

鈥淭here’s not a lot of evidence that even those that are doing it are doing it well,鈥� Barone said. Maybe Trump鈥檚 planned overhaul of the federal role in education, he said, is an opportunity to 鈥渃ome up with something better.鈥�

More than two dozen Chattanooga business owners are condemning a bill to require student immigration background checks in Tennessee鈥檚 public schools as 鈥渆conomically reckless.鈥�

The Tennessee Small Business Alliance represents restaurants, real estate firms, retail stores and other local employers operating within the district represented by Sen. Bo Watson.

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Watson, a Republican, is cosponsoring the legislation to require proof of legal residence to enroll in public K-12 and charter schools.聽 The bill would also give public schools the option of charging tuition to the families of children unable to prove they legally reside in the United States 鈥� or to deny them the right to a public education altogether.

House Leader William Lamberth of Gallatin is a co-sponsor of the bill, which has drawn significant 鈥� but not unanimous 鈥� support from fellow Tennessee Republicans. Lamberth鈥檚 version of the bill differs from Watson鈥檚 in that it would make it optional 鈥� rather than mandatory 鈥� to check students鈥� immigration status in all of Tennessee鈥檚 more than 1700 public schools.

The bill, one of the most controversial being considered during the 2025 Legislative session, has significant momentum as the Legislature winds down for the year even as it has drawn raucous protests at times.聽 The legislation will next be debated on Monday in a House committee.

A statement released by the business alliance described the legislation as a 鈥減olitical stunt that鈥檚 cruel, economically reckless, and completely out of step with local values.鈥�

Citing estimates compiled by the nonprofit advocacy organization, American Immigration Council, the statement noted that more than 430,000 immigrants in Tennessee paid $4.4 billion in taxes 鈥� more than $10,000 per immigrant.

Watson, in an emailed statement from Chattanooga public relations firm Waterhouse Public Relations, said his bill 鈥渞aises important questions about the financial responsibility of educating undocumented students in Tennessee鈥攓uestions that have long gone unaddressed.鈥�

The statement said the Supreme Court鈥檚 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe, which established the right to a public school education for all children regardless of immigration status, has 鈥渘ever been re-examined in the context of today鈥檚 challenges.鈥� The statement said Watson is committed to a 鈥渢ransparent, fact-driven discussion about how Tennessee allocates its educational resources and how federal mandates impact our state鈥檚 budget and priorities.鈥�

Watson has previously also said the legislation was prompted, in part, by the rising costs of English-language instruction in the state鈥檚 public schools.

Democrats have criticized that argument as based on inaccurate assumptions that English language learners lack legal immigration status.

Kelly Fitzgerald, founder of a Chattanooga co-working business and one of 27 employers that signed onto the statement of condemnation, criticized lawmakers.

鈥淒o our representatives believe that undocumented children 鈥� who had no say in their immigration status 鈥� should be denied a public education, even though their families already pay taxes that fund our schools?鈥� said Fitzgerald, whose own children attend Hamilton County Public schools

鈥淢y children are receiving a great education in our public schools, and I want every child to have the same rights and opportunities as mine do,鈥� she said.

鈥淚n my opinion, this is not something our legislators should be spending their resources on when there are much larger issues at hand in the current environment,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e should leave children out of the conversation.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.