CARLISLE, Pa. — For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States government and Christian denominations operated boarding schools where generations of Native American children were isolated from their families. Along with academics and hard work, the schools sought to erase elements of tribal identity, from language and clothing to hairstyles and even their names.
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of 17 students were exhumed and repatriated in recent weeks, served as a model for other schools.
By the Numbers:
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An Interior Department review published in 2024 found 417 federally funded boarding schools for Native children in the United States. Many others were run by religious groups and other organizations.
An “incomplete” number of burial sites, at 65 schools, identified by the Interior Department across the federal boarding school system.
Number of treaties between the U.S. government and Native American tribes that implicate the federal boarding school program, reflecting its significance to westward expansion.
Amount the U.S. government authorized to run the schools and pursue related policies, in inflation adjusted dollars, 1871-1969.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School operated from 1879 to 1918.
Children and young adults enrolled at Carlisle over four decades, from more than 100 tribes.
Number of students who signed a petition in 1913 asking for an investigation into conditions at Carlisle.
Deaths among students enrolled at Carlisle.
Deaths among students at government run boarding schools in the U.S., according to the Interior Department report. A review by The Washington Post last year documented about 3,100. Researchers say the actual number was much higher.
Indigenous students repatriated from the Carlisle Barracks cemetery since exhumations began in 2017, leaving 118 graves with Native American or Alaska Native names. About 20 more contain unidentified Indigenous children.
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Sources: National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; “Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories and Reclamations”; U.S. Army; “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume 2″
Progressive-backed candidates flipped three school board seats in a district near Houston, Texas, as Democrats flipped seats across the country Tuesday night.
Mike Doyle, chair of the Harris County Democrats, told Newsweek in a phone interview that the wins in a red-leaning, suburban area are a testament to “a lot of hard work” by candidates and their supporters.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris County GOP for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Tuesday’s elections were a key bellwether for the electorate’s mood ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when Democrats are hoping to stage a comeback following losses in the 2024 elections. The results fueled Democratic optimism after a year of uncertainty about the party’s future, with Democrats outperforming expectations in key races.
Those victories extended to suburban Texas. The Lone Star State has been viewed as a reliably conservative state. Democrats did make some gains in the first Trump administration, but it shifted back toward Republicans last November. Still, Democrats are hoping to make the state’s Senate race competitive next November.
Public education has remained a divisive issue in Texas as some state legislators have supported bills that would infuse religion into schools, including by requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms across the state.
What to Know
Three candidates who have identified as being more progressive flipped seats on the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD school board, reported local news outlet Houston Press. Lesley Guilmart, Cleveland Lane Jr. and Kendra Camarena all defeated Republican-aligned candidates in the race, the news outlet reported.
That is the third-largest school district in the state
Technically, the board is nonpartisan, but Guilmart, Lane and Camarena have all voted in Democratic primaries, while their opponents were viewed as more conservative. They have said they would keep their personal politics off of the school board due to its nonpartisan nature, the news outlet reported.
Conservatives previously held a 6-1 majority on the school board, but will now be in a 4-3 minority, reported Houston Public Media. They have implemented policies including book-banning practices and adding a Bible-focus elective course for students, according to the report.
The races became competitive as voters saw “Republican ideologues fully revealed themselves,” Doyle told Newsweek. The race, despite the nonpartisan nature of the board, had become partisan, he said.
“They were focused on banning books and running off good teachers and cutting school budgets, and pretty much ripping into the fabric of the school system out there,” he said.
Their defeat comes amid a broader debate about religion in schools, of which Texas has found itself the center after lawmakers passed a bill that required schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. In August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, issued a statement directing schools to abide by the order.
“The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated. I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country,” he said in a statement at the time.
What People Are Saying
School Board Trustee-elect Lesley Guilmart wrote in a Facebook post: “’Im so proud of us, and I am deeply grateful. We came together across lines of difference, from across the political spectrum to do right by our children. Every student and staff member deserves to thrive in our district, and Cleveland4CFISD, Kendra 4 CFISD, and I will fight for just that.”
Zeph Capo, president of Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT) wrote in a statement: “While there’s more work to do to make this board representative of the community and responsive to its needs, this victory turns the page on a dark chapter in this district’s history. The trustees defeated last night routinely pushed the school board into a hard right turn to the extremist fringe, and voters said enough.”
What Happens Next
Republicans will continue to grapple with losses during Tuesday night’s elections. Democrats performed well across the country, including in high-profile contests like the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. Victories also extended into states like Georgia and Mississippi.
Staff at a high school in Arizona have been doxed and flooded with online attacks, and have received multiple death threats, after a spokesperson for Turning Point USA inaccurately accused a group of teachers of wearing Halloween costumes that purportedly mocked the assassination of TPUSA cofounder Charlie Kirk.
On Friday, members of Cienega High School’s math department wore matching, bloodied white T-shirts with the words “Problem Solved” written in black lettering across the front. A picture of the group was posted on the Vail School District Facebook page. The district’s superintendent, John Carruth, said in a statement that no student or parent complained about the costumes during the school day.
Then, on Saturday, Andrew Kolvet, who was the executive producer on Charlie Kirk’s show, posted the picture on X. “Concerned parents just sent us this image of what’s believed to be teachers in [Vail School District] mocking Charlie’s murder,” Kolvet wrote. “They deserve to be famous, and fired.”
The white T-shirts, Kolvet implied, bore a resemblance to the “Freedom” T-shirts Kirk was wearing when he was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10.
Kolvet’s post went viral and had been viewed almost 10 million times before it was deleted on Tuesday after WIRED contacted him.
Immediately following Kolvet’s post going live, Cienega High School was bombarded with social media posts, comments, direct messages, emails, and at least one voicemail containing racial slurs, calls for the teachers to be fired, the personal information of school staff, and explicit threats of violence. The school shared these messages with WIRED.
The school district immediately responded to the accusations, clarifying on Facebook that the costumes were not a reference to Kirk’s assassination and that the math department had in fact worn the same costumes a year previously.
“We want to clarify that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems,” Carruth, the superintendent, wrote. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.” The Vail School District provided WIRED with a copy of an email from October 31, 2024, featuring a picture of the same costumes.
While Kolvet acknowledged Carruth’s statement and admitted in a post on X later on Saturday that the costumes had been worn the year previously, he did not remove his original post.
“It’s a very weird costume for teachers in general, but after what happened to Charlie, I’m absolutely floored they wore it again,” Kolvet wrote. “I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent.”
For the second time this year, Denver Public Schools board members on Wednesday took John Youngquist to task for his behavior toward district staff, but the director was defiant in the face of his colleagues’ criticism as he reiterated his belief that district employees are retaliating against him.
Youngquist called the allegations of racism and creating a hostile work environment made by Superintendent Alex Marrero and other district staff in recent months an attempt to “intimidate and diminish me.”
“It has become clear certain members of the board and district leadership have attempted to impeach my credibility,” he said during Wednesday’s board meeting.
School board members called the meeting to discuss the results of a third-party investigation that found Youngquist displayed “belittling, dismissive and condescending behavior” toward DPS staff. As directors weighed in on the findings, which were released Monday, they called for a moment of reflection, but did not say what action they might take in response to the report.
John Youngquist, right, looks at Superintendent Alex Marrero as he speaks with the board during a special Denver Public Schools board meeting on Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Directors are considering whether to censure — or formally rebuke — Youngquist and plan to continue the conversation during a Nov. 13 meeting, which could result in such a vote.
“There’s definitely something that’s not working well in board interactions with staff, so we would want to talk about what would be next steps,” board President Carrie Olson said. “…This is something we don’t want to rush.”
The investigation was conducted by attorneys with the Denver-based firm Garnett Powell Maximon Barlow and Farbes, which the board hired to look into Marrero’s allegations.
In the spring, Marrero accused Youngquist of hostile behavior toward DPS employees — especially staff of color — and of wanting his job, in an email sent to Olson. Marrero, in his email, requested that the board take the rare step of censuring Youngquist for his actions.
A censure is the strongest step the school board can take to formally reprimand a colleague. The board does not have the authority to remove a member.
A DPS board last censured a member in 2021 after a third-party investigation found former director Auon’tai Anderson flirted online with a teenage student and made intimidating social media posts.
Wednesday’s meeting was the second time in 10 months that school board members have publicly scolded Youngquist for his behavior toward staff. While recent DPS boards have become known for infighting in recent years, they rarely air grievances openly as they did during the meeting.
“This is concerning repetitive behavior that may or may not change,” board member Xóchitl Gaytán said of the investigation’s findings. “I’m still working through the findings of the report. Thinking about how I want to deconstruct the white privilege that I read in it and how it is playing out.”
Staff, most of whom are people of color, told investigators that Youngquist cuts them off in conversations, has refused to shake hands and declines to meet with them. Employees said Youngquist questions them to such an extent that it appears the director believes they are lying or incapable of doing their jobs, according to the report.
“We conclude it is more likely than not that Mr. Youngquist exhibited bias in interactions with some district leaders of color,” investigators wrote in their findings.
Director Michelle Quattlebaum, right, speaks during a special Denver Public Schools board meeting to discuss a third-party investigation into Superintendent Alex Marrero’s allegations against Director John Youngquist, in Denver on Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
In his statement to the board, Youngquist, a white man, emphasized the investigation did not determine his behavior was driven by overt racism — even as it also found that his actions were the result of biases, including when interacting with employees of color.
“I hold biases as each and every one of us,” Youngquist said. “Our biases may or may not be represented in our behavior.”
Youngquist’s comments fell short of the accountability that several of his colleagues said they were seeking from him, and spurred board member Michelle Quattlebaum, who is Black, to tears.
“I am heartbroken,” she said. “I have experienced racism, discrimination and oppression almost every single day of my life. Mr. Youngquist, as I listen to your statement, my heart broke.”
“What breaks my heart is that I didn’t hear accountability,” Quattlebaum added.
Gaytán and Marlene De La Rosa — the other two directors of color on the board — pressed Youngquist on what they also said was a lack of accountability in his statement.
“I feel disappointed,” De La Rosa told Youngquist. “…I thought I knew you to be a different person than that. If we don’t take accountability when we do things that harm people, that hurts their feelings, that make them feel a certain way, we cannot move forward to reach our goals as a collective board.”
Youngquist responded by saying that he has previously reached out individually to district staffers whom he has offended. “Blanket level of accountability is not something that makes sense to me,” he said.
A cash-strapped school district that’s looking to unload a shuttered elementary school.
A nonprofit human services agency that’s in need of a bigger home as it serves more than 60,000 households a year.
And a judge who’s telling Colorado’s fifth-largest city not to make any moves on the whole situation — a complex deal that would allow the agency to move into the school — until she can determine whether everything is on the up and up.
That’s the strange nexus at which Lakewood, Jeffco Public Schools and The Action Center have found themselves after their proposed real estate deal was challenged in court by a former Lakewood city councilwoman who thinks the whole arrangement is “taking place in secret.”
“Government should have to do this in a way that’s transparent and above board — and includes the public in this kind of decision-making,” said Anita Springsteen, who’s also an attorney. “I think it’s unethical. I think it’s wrong.”
The deal on the table calls for Lakewood to purchase Emory Elementary — which closed three years ago because of declining enrollment — from Jeffco Public Schools for $4 million. At the same time, the city would buy The Action Center’s existing facility on West 14th Avenue for $4 million.
The Action Center, in turn, would buy Emory from the city for $1 million when the organization, which for more than a half-century has provided free clothing and food, family services and financial assistance to those in need, moves to its new home in the former school on South Teller Street.
The core problem, Springsteen says, is that Lakewood did not properly announce two September 2024 executive sessions during which officials discussed details of the deal in private. In a lawsuit, she accused the city of violating Colorado’s open meetings law, which requires governments to state, in advance and “in as much detail as possible,” what will be discussed behind closed doors “without compromising the purpose for the executive session.”
Jefferson County District Judge Meegan Miloud had enough questions last week about how Lakewood gave public notice of its executive sessions that she imposed a temporary restraining order on the City Council — forbidding it from voting on three ordinances that would authorize the deal to move forward.
The council had been scheduled to consider the measures Monday night.
Miloud said the city’s executive session notices on the council’s September 2024 agendas were “so vague that the public has no way of identifying or discerning what is being negotiated or what property is being assessed.”
On Tuesday morning, the judge conducted a hearing on the matter but did not make a ruling. She called another hearing for next Monday and said in a new order that her injunction remains in effect.
The fast-moving situation has Lakewood playing defense. A special council meeting that had been set for Wednesday night — to once again put the ordinances up for a council vote — will now have to be rescheduled, city spokeswoman Stacie Oulton said.
Lakewood, she contended, has been open throughout the process.
“The public process has included updates from the city manager during public City Council meetings, and the city has followed the public notification process for these agenda items,” she told The Denver Post in an email this week. “Additionally, the proposed end user of the property, the Action Center, has had several public community meetings about its proposal.”
Anita Springsteen, a lawyer and former Lakewood city councilwoman, is leading a challenge to a complex land deal between the City of Lakewood, Jeffco Public Schools and The Action Center that would bring the humans services nonprofit to the former Emory Elementary School in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. She posed for a portrait outside the former school. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Questions about meetings, market value
Jeff Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said it was “unusual” for a judge, via a temporary restraining order, to preempt a city council from casting a vote.
But case law, he said, makes it clear that governing bodies in Colorado must provide as much detail as possible when they announce closed-door sessions — short of disclosing or jeopardizing strategies and positions that are crucial in real estate negotiations.
“In general, an announcement that doesn’t give any indication of the topic is not enough information for the public,” Roberts said. “In most cases — and that’s why it’s in the law — you must tell the public what the executive session is about.”
That standard, he said, was upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2020, when it ruled that the Basalt Town Council violated the state’s open meetings law several times in 2016 by not properly announcing the topic of private deliberations it would be having regarding a former town manager.
In the Lakewood school matter, the alleged open meetings violations are not the only thing that bothers Springsteen. She objects to the structure of the proposed real estate transaction, saying it would be a sweetheart deal for The Action Center and a waste of money for taxpayers.
“They are stealing money out of our pockets,” said Springsteen, who served on City Council from 2019 to 2023.
Lakewood, she said, would be underpaying for the 17-acre Emory Elementary School parcel, overpaying for The Action Center’s current facility and basically giving the school property away to the nonprofit.
“For the city to not intend to own the property, but to buy it on behalf of a nongovernmental organization — when did we become an agent for other agencies?” Springsteen said.
According to the Jefferson County assessor’s site, The Action Center’s buildings on West 14th Avenue have a total value of about $2 million, while the city has proposed purchasing them for double that. The assessor’s office lists Emory Elementary as having a total value of up to $12 million.
Springsteen said she is flummoxed by the Jeffco school district’s willingness to sell the elementary school to Lakewood for a third of that valuation.
“What bothers me most is the way Jeffco schools is handling this,” she said. “The district didn’t even have a school resource officer at Evergreen High School because of budgetary issues.”
A spokesperson for Jeffco schools said a decision on whether to sell Emory Elementary to Lakewood hadn’t been made yet. That vote, by the district’s school board, is expected Nov. 13.
Raven Price picks out food at The Action Center’s food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
‘We need to bring this into our community’
Pam Brier, the CEO of The Action Center, said property values don’t tell the full story.
“There are many instances locally and nationally of municipalities helping to support the affordable acquisition of properties for organizations like The Action Center — who are serving such a critical need in our community,” she said, “and ultimately saving taxpayer money by helping to meet people’s basic needs.”
On Wednesday, she provided The Denver Post a May 2024 appraisal done by Centennial-based Masters Valuation Services that valued the organization’s current facility — made up of a 14,960-square-foot building and a 15,540-square-foot building — at $4 million.
Her organization, Brier said, serves 300 households a day. It provides a free grocery and clothing market, financial assistance, free meals, family coaching, skills classes and workforce support to people who are down on their luck.
“As public dollars dwindle, our work is more important than ever,” she said. “Without organizations like The Action Center to provide food, clothing and other critical support, individuals and families fall into crisis, needing assistance that will cost taxpayers and cities so much more.”
Oulton, the Lakewood city spokeswoman, said it was not unusual for cities and counties across metro Denver to “provide financial support in a variety of ways to nonprofits that serve their communities.”
“Additionally, Jeffco Public Schools has clearly communicated to the city that the district views the value of this project in more than the dollars involved, because the district’s priority has been to see former schools used in a way that will continue providing services and support to Jeffco Public Schools students and their families,” Oulton said.
Diana Losacco, a 48-year resident of Lakewood who lives about a mile from the Emory site, was one of more than three dozen people who urged the city to pursue the purchase and sale of the school to The Action Center on the Lakewood Speaks website.
Raven Price and her 4-year-old son, Gabriel Luna, head home with a wagon full of food they selected from The Action Center’s food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
“This will provide opportunities to people to become self-sufficient, which will provide significant financial savings for our community,” Losacco told The Post in an interview. “We need to bring this into our community. It needs to be in a neighborhood.”
But not her neighborhood, said Katherine Byrne. Byrne has owned Stockton Pet Hospital on South Wadsworth Boulevard for six years. The business, which was founded in 1964, sits just a few hundred feet west of Emory Elementary.
There are enough challenges with assaults, shots fired and drug dealing in the vicinity, especially along the nearby bike path, Byrne said. Because The Action Center won’t be providing overnight shelter space at its new location for people who are homeless, she worries about where people using the organization’s services might go once the doors close.
And she wonders why the city didn’t look at wealthier areas of Lakewood for potential sites to relocate The Action Center.
“It’s just a ridiculous, unsavory plan to put this center in the middle of a neighborhood that didn’t know it was coming,” Byrne said.
High school principals in Ohio will vote on an emergency bylaw referendum on Name, Image and Likeness regulations next month.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors announced Thursday that the vote will take place from Nov. 17-21.
OHSAA members decisively voted down an NIL proposal in 2022, 538-254. The OHSAA Board of Directors last month approved language for another NIL proposal that they planned to vote on in May.
The timeline for the vote was accelerated after Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page issued a temporary restraining order on Monday, allowing all students who are part of the 818 schools in the OHSAA to enter into their own NIL deals.
Ohio is one of six states that has rules in place that don’t allow high school athletes to accept payments for their name, image and likeness. The others are Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Wyoming.
Jasmine Brown, the mother of Jamier Brown, filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 15 in her role as “parent or guardian.” Brown is a junior who attends Wayne High School in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton. He is the top wide receiver prospect in the class of 2027. Brown has verbally committed to Ohio State University, which is in Franklin County.
Brown’s mother and attorneys stated that Brown has already missed out on more than $100,000 in potential NIL deals.
“I’m being raised by an amazing single mom who’s always doing her best to keep things steady while helping me chase my goals on and off the field,” Jamier Brown said on X when the lawsuit was filed on Oct. 15. “Like what’s allowed in other states, i want to be able to use my name, image, and likeness to help my family financially and get the extra after school academic help and football training that can help me maximize my potential, NIL can make that possible for me and many other student athletes in Ohio.”
Another hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Dec. 15.
The OHSAA says the proposed new bylaw would allow student-athletes to enter into an NIL agreement, and would establish reporting procedures and limitations so that students do not jeopardize their eligibility.
“It’s important for folks to understand high school NIL is different from college NIL,” said Luke Fedlam, Brown’s attorney with the Amundsen Davis law firm in Columbus. “There are guardrails that have been in place that protect the integrity of sport and competition. In college we have seen collectives for NIL to recruit and retain. That does not exist at the high school level. Most states have the regulations that do not allow collectives and how they can transfer and maintain eligibility.”
NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Author Jodi Picoult has the dubious honor of being banned in two mediums this fall — her books and now a musical based on her novel “Between the Lines.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the first author who has now had censorship occur in two different types of media,” Picoult says. “Honestly, I’m not out here to be salacious. I am writing the world as it is, and I am honestly just trying to write about difficult issues that people have a hard time talking about because that is what fiction and the arts do.”
The superintendent of Mississinewa High School in Gas City, Indiana, canceled a production last week of “Between the Lines,” saying concerns were raised over “sexual innuendo” and alcohol references in the musical. Jeremy Fewell, the superintendent, did not respond to a request for comment.
“It’s devastating for us to know that these kids who put in hundreds of hours of hard work had that torn away from them because of the objections of a single parent,” says Picoult.
“What I know, perhaps better than most people, as someone whose books have been banned, is when one parent starts deciding what is appropriate and what is inappropriate for the children of other parents, we have a big problem.”
Picoult noted that the same Indiana high school has previously produced “Grease,” where the sexual innuendo and alcohol abuse is much greater, including a pregnancy scare, sex-mad teens and the line “Did she put up a fight?”
“Between the Lines” centers on Delilah, an outsider in a new high school, who finds solace in a book and realizes she has the power to write her own story and narrate her own life. “It is a very benign message. And it’s actually a really important one for adolescents today,” says Picoult.
The original work, which features a nonbinary character, had already been edited with licensed changes to make it more palatable for a conservative audience, including removing any reference to the nonbinary character’s gender orientation.
The production was scheduled for Halloween weekend at the Gas City Performing Arts Center. The show has music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, and a story by Timothy Allen McDonald, based on the 2012 novel by Picoult and her daughter, Samantha van Leer. It played off-Broadway in 2022.
Picoult, the bestselling author of “My Sister’s Keeper” and “Small Great Things,” has also written about the moments leading up to a school shooting in “Nineteen Minutes,” which was banned 16 times in the 2024-2025 school year, according to PEN America, making her the nation’s fourth most-banned author.
“I had 20 books banned in one school district in Florida alone because of a single parent’s objection and she admitted she had not read any of the books,” said Picoult, a PEN America trustee. “She said that they were banned for ‘mature content and sexuality.’ There were books of mine that did not even have a single kiss in them.”
The uptick in book banning has spread to stages as well. The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund has documented recently challenged plays and musicals from states including Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio and New Jersey after parents or teachers complained that the works’ social themes weren’t appropriate for minors.
The Northern Lebanon High School, in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, canceled a 2024 production of “The Addams Family,” citing concerns over scenes with violence, children smoking and subtle queer themes. Paula Vogel’s play “Indecent,” which explores a flashpoint in Jewish and queer theatrical history, was abruptly canceled in Florida’s Duval County in 2023 for “inappropriate” sexual dialogue.
Last year, the Educational Theatre Association asked more than 1,800 theatre educators in public and private schools across the U.S. about censorship. More than 75% of respondents reported pressure to reconsider their play and musical choices during the 2023-24 school year.
“We are not protecting kids,” said Picoult. “We are robbing them of materials that we use to deal with an increasingly complex world.”
Today’s school IT teams juggle endless demands–secure systems, manageable devices, and tight budgets–all while supporting teachers who need tech that just works.
That’s where interactive displays come in. Modern, OS-agnostic solutions like Promethean’s ActivPanel 10 Premium simplify IT management, integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and cut down on maintenance headaches. For schools, that means fewer compatibility issues, stronger security, and happier teachers.
But these tools do more than make IT’s job easier–they transform teaching and learning. Touch-enabled collaboration, instant feedback, and multimedia integration turn passive lessons into dynamic, inclusive experiences that keep students engaged and help teachers do their best work.
Built to last, interactive displays also support long-term sustainability goals and digital fluency–skills that carry from classroom to career.
Download the full report and see how interactive solutions can help your district simplify IT, elevate instruction, and create future-ready classrooms.
Laura Ascione is the Editorial Director at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
EDMONDS, Wash. – A Snohomish County mother is suing the Edmonds School District, claiming her 10-year-old son’s fingertip was severed when a special education teacher slammed a metal door shut — and that the school never gave her a straight answer about what happened.
The lawsuit, filed last month, accuses the district, the teacher — who we are not naming because they’ve not been charged with a crime — and a principal of negligence and violating state laws protecting students with disabilities.
Cedar Way Elementary School
The backstory:
According to the complaint, the incident happened in April 2023 at Cedar Way Elementary. The fourth grader became overwhelmed during class and tried to leave the room. Instead of deescalating the situation, the lawsuit alleges his teacher “forcefully pulled the door shut,” severing the tip of his right middle finger.
Attorney Chris Davis, with Davis Law Group, representing the family said, “He had his own Individual Education Plan, and that plan required a paraeducator to help him at all times while he was in his classroom. She leaves the classroom, and the boy follows her and tries to plead with her not to leave,” Davis said. “She doesn’t stop, and she slams the door on his finger, and that severs the boy’s finger.”
10-year-old boy’s statement about the Edmonds incident
Dig deeper:
When the child was asked what happened, documents state he said, “I was screaming at the top of my lungs. You could hear me probably three classrooms away, probably from the office you could hear me. Screaming. I lost my voice. [Teacher] was just standing there. I banged on the window to tell her, “my finger!” When I was screaming, all she did is look at me through the window, then she walked away—I think to eat her lunch. She didn’t open the door. I had to open the door myself. I don’t feel safe. I don’t like being in that classroom.
The mother claims the school called to tell her there had been an accident but never explained the severity. When she arrived, she found her son covered in blood.
“The school never informed mom what had happened or why it had happened,” Davis said. “She was promised a phone call by the principal — that never materialized. She was just told to pick up her boy… and when she goes to the school to pick him up, he’s got blood all over his shirt, and they hand her a cup with his severed fingertip.”
Cedar Way Elementary School
The lawsuit also claims the district failed to comply with the boy’s federally mandated Individualized Education Program (IEP) — including not providing a dedicated one-on-one paraeducator or updating behavioral assessments required by law.
What they’re saying:
“The mom certainly wants to raise awareness for this incident,” Davis said. “She also wants school districts to do a better job at providing the education that special needs children deserve. We know there are over 140,000 special needs students in the state of Washington, and we just want to bring awareness to the need to provide these children with the attention and instruction that they need.”
The filing also claims staff never reported the restraint, failed to explain what happened, and less than a month after the incident sent messages to each other “that they hoped [the boy] had learned his lesson.”
After the incident, documents say the teacher apologized, saying, “I’m sorry for what happened to you, but you shouldn’t have kept asking me when I wasn’t answering you because if I don’t answer you than that means I’m doing something. So it was kind of your fault, but I’m sorry.”
Edmonds School District just displayed a remarkable insensitivity to what happened to the boy. We don’t believe the district has actually taken full responsibility for what happened.”
FOX 13 reached out to the Edmonds School District for comment but were told they cannot comment on pending litigation.
Davis says the boy’s injury has healed physically, but the trauma remains.
“Physically, he seems to be doing much better,” Davis said. “But probably what’s more troubling now is the emotional impact. He still has fear surrounding doors and trust issues with teachers because of what his teacher did to him. I believe he has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
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WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — Kate Bulkeley’s pledge to stay off social media in high school worked at first. She watched the benefits pile up: She was getting excellent grades. She read lots of books. The family had lively conversations around the dinner table and gathered for movie nights on weekends.
Then, as sophomore year got underway, the unexpected problems surfaced. She missed a student government meeting arranged on Snapchat. Her Model U.N. team communicates on social media, too, causing her scheduling problems. Even the Bible Study club at her Connecticut high school uses Instagram to communicate with members.
Gabriela Durham, a high school senior in Brooklyn, says navigating high school without social media has made her who she is today. She is a focused, organized, straight-A student with a string of college acceptances — and an accomplished dancer who recently made her Broadway debut. Not having social media has made her an “outsider,” in some ways. That used to hurt; now, she says, it feels like a badge of honor.
With the damaging consequences of social media increasingly well documented, some parents are trying to raise their children with restrictions or blanket bans. Teenagers themselves are aware that too much social media is bad for them, and some are initiating social media “cleanses” because of the toll it takes on mental health and grades.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But it is hard to be a teenager today without social media. For those trying to stay off social platforms while most of their peers are immersed, the path can be challenging, isolating and at times liberating. It can also be life-changing.
This is a tale of two families, social media and the ever-present challenge of navigating high school. It’s about what kids do when they can’t extend their Snapstreaks or shut their bedroom doors and scroll through TikTok past midnight. It’s about what families discuss when they’re not having screen-time battles. It’s also about persistent social ramifications.
AP AUDIO: Life as a teen without social media isn’t easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline
AP correspondent Jocelyn Gecker reports on the social ramifications some families saw for their teenagers after cutting out social media.
The journeys of both families show the rewards and pitfalls of trying to avoid social media in a world that is saturated by it.
A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE
Concerns about children and phone use are not new. But there is a growing realization among experts that the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed adolescence. As youth coped with isolation and spent excessive time online, the pandemic effectively carved out a much larger space for social media in the lives of American kids.
No longer just a distraction or a way to connect with friends, social media has matured into a physical space and a community that almost all U.S. teenagers belong to. Up to 95% of teenagers say they use social media, with more than one-third saying they are on it “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.
More than ever, teenagers live in a seamless digital and non-digital world in ways that most adults don’t recognize or understand, says Michael Rich, a pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School and head of the nonprofit Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“Social media is now the air kids breathe,” says Rich, who runs the hospital’s Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders.
For better or worse, social media has become a home-base for socializing. It’s where many kids turn to forge their emerging identities, to seek advice, to unwind and relieve stress. It impacts how kids dress and talk. In this era of parental control apps and location tracking, social media is where this generation is finding freedom.
It is also increasingly clear that the more time youth spend online, the higher the risk of mental health problems.
Kids who use social media for more than three hours a day face double the risk of depression and anxiety, according to studies cited by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who issued an extraordinary public warning last spring about the risks of social media to young people.
Those were the concerns of the Bulkeleys and Gabriela’s mother, Elena Romero. Both set strict rules starting when their kids were young and still in elementary school. They delayed giving phones until middle school and made social media off limits until 18. They educated the girls, and their younger siblings, on the impact of social media on young brains, on online privacy concerns, on the dangers of posting photos or comments that can come back to haunt you.
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
In the absence of social media, at least in these two homes, there is a noticeable absence of screen time battles. But the kids and parents agree: It’s not always easy.
WHEN IT’S EVERYWHERE, IT’S HARD TO AVOID
At school, on the subway and at dance classes around New York City, Gabriela is surrounded by reminders that social media is everywhere — except on her phone.
Growing up without it has meant missing out on things. Everyone but you gets the same jokes, practices the same TikTok dances, is up on the latest viral trends. When Gabriela was younger, that felt isolating; at times, it still does. But now, she sees not having social media as freeing.
“From my perspective, as an outsider,” she says, “it seems like a lot of kids use social media to promote a facade. And it’s really sad. Because social media is telling them how they should be and how they should look. It’s gotten to a point where everyone wants to look the same instead of being themselves.”
There is also friend drama on social media and a lack of honesty, humility and kindness that she feels lucky to be removed from.
Gabriela is a dance major at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and dances outside of school seven days a week. Senior year got especially intense, with college and scholarship applications capped by an unexpected highlight of getting to perform at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre in March as part of a city showcase of high school musicals.
After a recent Saturday afternoon dance class in a Bronx church basement, the diverging paths between Gabriela and her peers is on full display. The other dancers, aged 11 to 16, sit cross-legged on the linoleum floor talking about social media.
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I am addicted,” says 15-year-old Arielle Williams, who stays up late scrolling through TikTok. “When I feel like I’m getting tired I say, ‘One more video.’ And then I keep saying, ‘One more video.’ And I stay up sometimes until 5 a.m.”
The other dancers gasp. One suggests they all check their phones’ weekly screen time.
“OH. MY,” says Arielle, staring at her screen. “My total was 68 hours last week.” That included 21 hours on TikTok.
Gabriela sits on the sidelines of the conversation, listening silently. But on the No. 2 subway home to Brooklyn, she shares her thoughts. “Those screen-time hours, it’s insane.”
As the train rumbles from the elevated tracks in the Bronx into the underground subway tunnels in Manhattan, Gabriela is on her phone. She texts with friends, listens to music and consults a subway app to count down the stops to her station in Brooklyn. The phone for her is a distraction limited to idle time, which has been strategically limited by Romero.
“My kids’ schedules will make your head spin,” Romero says as the family reconvenes Saturday night in their three-bedroom walkup in Bushwick. On school days, they’re up at 5:30 a.m. and out the door by 7. Romero drives the girls to their three schools scattered around Brooklyn, then takes the subway into Manhattan, where she teaches mass communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Grace, 11, is a sixth grade cheerleader active in Girl Scouts, along with Gionna, 13, who sings, does debate team and has daily rehearsals for her middle school theater production.
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I’m so booked my free time is to sleep,” says Gabriela, who tries to be in bed by 10:30 p.m.
In New York City, it’s common for kids to get phones early in elementary school, but Romero waited until each daughter reached middle school and started taking public transportation home alone. Years ago, she sat them down to watch “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that Gabriela says made her realize how tech companies manipulate their users.
Her mom’s rules are simple: No social media on phones until 18. The girls are allowed to use YouTube on their computers but not post videos. Romero doesn’t set screen-time limits or restrict phone use in bedrooms.
“It’s a struggle, don’t get me wrong,” Romero says. Last year, the two younger girls “slipped.” They secretly downloaded TikTok for a few weeks before getting caught and sternly lectured.
Romero is considering whether to bend her rule for Gionna, an avid reader interested in becoming a Young Adult “Bookstagrammer” — a book reviewer on Instagram. Gionna wants to be a writer when she grows up and loves the idea that reviewers get books for free.
Her mother is torn. Romero’s main concern was social media during middle school, a critical age where kids are forming their identity. She supports the idea of using social media responsibly as a tool to pursue passions.
“When you’re a little older,” she tells her girls, “you’ll realize Mom was not as crazy as you thought.”
STRUGGLING NOT TO MISS OUT
In the upscale suburb of Westport, Connecticut, the Bulkeleys have faced similar questions about bending their rules. But not for the reason they had anticipated.
Kate was perfectly content to not have social media. Her parents had figured at some point she might resist their ban because of peer pressure or fear of missing out. But the 15-year-old sees it as a waste of time. She describes herself as academic, introverted and focused on building up extracurricular activities.
That’s why she needed Instagram.
“I needed it to be co-president of my Bible Study Club,” Kate explains, seated with her family in the living room of their two-story home.
As Kate’s sophomore year started, she told her parents that she was excited to be leading a variety of clubs but needed social media to do her job. They agreed to let her have Instagram for her afterschool activities, which they found ironic and frustrating. “It was the school that really drove the fact that we had to reconsider our rule about no social media,” says Steph Bulkeley, Kate’s mother.
Schools talk the talk about limiting screen time and the dangers of social media, says Kate’s dad, Russ Bulkeley. But technology is rapidly becoming part of the school day. Kate’s high school and their 13-year-old daughter Sutton’s middle school have cell phone bans that aren’t enforced. Teachers will ask students to take out their phones to photograph material during class time.
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The Bulkeleys aren’t on board with that, but feel powerless to change it. When their girls were still in elementary school, the Bulkeleys were inspired by the “Wait Until 8th” pledge, which encourages parents to wait to give children smartphones, and access to social media, until at least 8th grade or about age 13. Some experts say waiting until 16 is better. Others feel banning social media isn’t the answer, and that kids need to learn to live with the technology because it’s not going anywhere.
Ultimately they gave in to Kate’s plea because they trust her, and because she’s too busy to devote much time to social media.
Both Kate and Sutton wrap up afterschool activities that include theater and dance classes at 8:30 p.m. most weeknights. They get home, finish homework and try to be in bed by 11.
Kate spends an average of two hours a week on her phone. That is significantly less than most, according to a 2023 Gallup poll that found over half of U.S. teens spend an average of five hours each day on social media. She uses her phone mainly to make calls, text friends, check grades and take photos. She doesn’t post or share pictures, one of her parents’ rules. Others: No phones allowed in bedrooms. All devices stay on a ledge between the kitchen and living room. TV isn’t allowed on school nights.
Kate has rejected her parents’ offer to pay her for waiting to use social media. But she is embarking slowly on the apps. She has set a six-minute daily time limit as a reminder not to dawdle on Instagram.
Having the app came in handy earlier this year at a Model UN conference where students from around the world exchanged contact details: “Nobody asked for phone numbers. You gave your Instagram,” Kate says. She is resisting Snapchat, for fear she will find it addictive. She has asked a friend on student government to text her any important student government messages sent on Snapchat.
Sutton feels the weight of not having social media more than her older sister. The eighth grader describes herself as social but not popular.
“There’s a lot of popular girls that do a bunch of TikTok dances. That’s really what determines your popularity: TikTok,” Sutton says.
Kids in her grade are “obsessed with TikTok” and posting videos of themselves that look to her like carbon copies. The girls look the same in short crop tops and jeans and sound the same, speaking with a TikTok dialect that includes a lot of “Hey, guys!” and uptalk, their voices rising in tone at the end of a thought.
She feels left out at times but doesn’t feel the need to have social media, since one of her friends sends her the latest viral videos. She has seen firsthand the problems social media can cause in friend groups. “Two of my friends were having a fight. One thought the other one blocked her on Snapchat.”
There’s a long way to go before these larger questions are resolved, with these two families and across the nation. Schools are trying. Some are banning phones entirely to hold students’ focus and ensure that socializing happens face-to-face. It might, educators say, also help cut back on teen depression and anxiety.
That’s something Sutton can understand at age 13 as she works to navigate the years ahead. From what she has seen, social media has changed in the past few years. It used to be a way for people to connect, to message and to get to know each other.
“It’s kind of just about bragging now,” she says. “People post pictures of their trips to amazing places. Or looking beautiful. And it makes other people feel bad about themself.”
___
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Our system is a 50-state hodgepodge of policies and practices. Is it a surprise that social services are overwhelmed?
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Different pages
The dismal academic performance of American K-12 students compared with peers in other industrialized countries is obvious. Employers lament the lack of qualified applicants. Social services are overwhelmed. Who or what is responsible? What can be done?
An aspect of the issue rarely discussed is the difference between public education in the United States and that in other countries. In the U.S., there is no national vision of public education — no goals and policies exist to ensure a system best suited not only for the individual but for the greater good of the nation. There is national frustration, but no consensus.
Our public education system is a 50-state hodgepodge of visions, policies and practices. Families, voters, civic leaders and government officials have influence in each state. All are involved; no one is responsible. What outcomes would you expect?
– William H. Koehler,Fort Worth
Eyes opened
Do you like the America you see now? Do you like the greed and corruption of our so-called public servants? What about the protection of child sex predators? The cruelty of immigrant deportation when no crime other than illegal entry has been committed? The disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law? The substitution of unproven ideas for science-based health care?
Growing numbers of American see beyond the painful reality of the moment and are seeking a better country than either political party has proposed. The value of leaders with integrity who value a democratic America is apparent.
Meanwhile, other retailers such as Target removed lethal tobacco products from their shelves years ago. Where is Walmart on that?
– David Fusco,Arlington
Try, at least
For a retired professor, threats to diversity, equity and inclusion are like using four-letter words to stigmatize institutions that overtly welcome populations harmed in the past.
I’m a white native Texan, and my K-12 education included no native minority classmates. After graduate school, I never met a Black chemistry Ph.D. until the 1970s.
By the late 20th century, some things, including gender equality, improved. But whole generations of us grew up where public schools, drinking fountains and restrooms were segregated until, thankfully, the sacrifices of Martin Luther King Jr. and those like him “woke” some of us.
It’s not what we say but what we do. It’s not a perfect world. But it was a better one when we not only recognized inequities but did something about them.
QUIZ: President Trump is bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test. How much do you remember?
– If you ever get sidelined by cramps, injury, or if you’re new to running and want to understand how your body moves, fitness tests are a great tool to become better, faster, and stronger. Let’s break down what tests are beneficial for runners? A gait analysis, which involves being recorded from different angles while running on a treadmill to look at form, including foot strike and body alignment, is especially useful for runners with chronic injuries like shin splints, patella femoral pain, or IT band issues. If you’re new to running, consider a functional movement screening, or FMS, which is when a coach or a trainer will typically put you through movements like single leg squat, push up, and step over, and then watch how your body moves. If your hip drops to one side or your knees cave in on that squat, then that could indicate weakness in your core stability. Some places like NYU, HSS and Columbia Run Lab offer running analyses, which combine a gate analysis on a treadmill with a movement screen like the FMS, so it’s one stop shopping. You can also often get an FMS at a gym as part of an initial training evaluation, and it can be useful on its own. If you wanna measure your cardio fitness, VO2 max is what you’re looking for. It’s an increasingly popular test in recent years. VO2 max measures your aerobic capacity. It can give you a sense of your cardiovascular fitness, which can be helpful as a benchmark to try to improve, often via short, intense intervals. This test can also help determine your max heart rate and training zones based on that. Lactate threshold or the point at which your body goes from aerobic to anaerobic is something you can train and improve. Knowing your threshold allows you to train in the proper zones so you can increase it. Wearable data is the most affordable option, and you can track a lot of these same things right from your watch like gate, cadence and stride length. But that data might not be very useful if you don’t know what to do with it. That’s where these tests come into play. For more expert advice about fitness testing for runners, check out runnersworld.com.
QUIZ: President Trump is bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test. How much do you remember?
President Donald Trump is reviving the long-retired Presidential Fitness Test, a test schools haven’t used in over a decade. Trump signed an executive order on July 31 directing the Secretaries of Health and Education to re-administer the exam.It’s not clear which exercises will be part of the test or when it will launch in schools.Along with the fitness test, Trump is also reinstating the Presidential Fitness Award, which recognizes top-performing students.The award program was first introduced in 1966 as an incentive to promote health and fitness to American children. How much do you remember about the test and award? Take the below quiz to find out.Not seeing the quiz? APP USERS: Tap here
WASHINGTON —
President Donald Trump is reviving the long-retired Presidential Fitness Test, a test schools haven’t used in over a decade.
Trump signed an executive order on July 31 directing the Secretaries of Health and Education to re-administer the exam.
It’s not clear which exercises will be part of the test or when it will launch in schools.
Along with the fitness test, Trump is also reinstating the Presidential Fitness Award, which recognizes top-performing students.
The award program was first introduced in 1966 as an incentive to promote health and fitness to American children.
How much do you remember about the test and award? Take the below quiz to find out.
Tension between Indiana University and its student newspaper flared this week with the elimination of the outlet’s print editions and the firing of a faculty adviser, who refused an order to keep news stories out of a homecoming edition.
Administrators may have been hoping to minimize distractions this homecoming weekend as the school prepares to celebrate a Hoosiers football team with its highest-ever national ranking. Instead, the controversy has entangled the school in questions about censorship and student journalists’ First Amendment rights.
Advocates for student media, Indiana Daily Student alumni and high-profile supporters including billionaire Mark Cuban have blasted the school for stepping on the outlet’s independence.
The Daily Student is routinely honored among the best collegiate publications in the country. It receives about $250,000 annually in subsidies from the university’s Media School to help make up for dwindling ad revenue.
On Tuesday, the university fired the paper’s adviser, Jim Rodenbush, after he refused an order to force student editors to ensure no news stories ran in the print edition tied to the homecoming celebrations.
“I had to make the decision that was going to allow me to live with myself,” Rodenbush said. “I don’t have any regrets whatsoever. In the current environment we’re in, somebody has to stand up.”
A university spokesperson referred an AP reporter to a statement issued Tuesday, which said the campus wants to shift resources from print media to digital platforms both for students’ educational experience and to address the paper’s financial problems.
Chancellor David Reingold issued a separate statement Wednesday saying the school is “firmly committed to the free expression and editorial independence of student media. The university has not and will not interfere with their editorial judgment.”
It was late last year when university officials announced they were scaling back the cash-strapped newspaper’s print edition from a weekly to seven special editions per semester, tied to campus events.
The paper published three print editions this fall, inserting special event sections, Rodenbush said. Last month, Media School officials started asking why the special editions still contained news, he said.
Rodenbush said IU Media School Dean David Tolchinsky told him earlier this month that the expectation was print editions would contain no news. Tolchinsky argued Rodenbush was essentially the paper’s publisher and could decide what to run, Rodenbush said. He told the dean that publishing decisions were the students’ alone, he said.
Tolchinsky fired him Tuesday, two days before the homecoming print edition was set to be published, and announced the end of all Indiana Daily Student print publications.
“Your lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the University’s direction for the Student Media Plan is unacceptable,” Tolchinsky wrote in Rodenbush’s termination letter.
The newspaper was allowed to continue publishing stories on its website.
Andrew Miller, the Indiana Daily Student’s co-editor-in-chief, said in a statement that Rodenbush “did the right thing by refusing to censor our print edition” and called the termination a “deliberate scare tactic toward journalists and faculty.”
“IU has no legal right to dictate what we can and cannot print in our paper,” Miller said.
Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center, said First Amendment case law going back 60 years shows student editors at public universities determine content. Advisors like Rodenbush can’t interfere, Hiestand said.
“It’s open and shut, and it’s just so bizarre that this is coming out of Indiana University,” Hiestand said. “If this was coming out of a community college that doesn’t know any better, that would be one thing. But this is coming out of a place that absolutely should know better.”
Rodenbush said that he wasn’t aware of any single story the newspaper has published that may have provoked administrators. But he speculated the moves may be part of a “general progression” of administrators trying to protect the university from any negative publicity.
Blocked from publishing a print edition, the paper this week posted a number of sharp-edged stories online, including coverage of the opening of a new film critical of arrests of pro-Palestinian demonstrators last year, a tally of campus sexual assaults and an FBI raid on the home of a former professor suspected of stealing federal funds.
The paper also has covered allegations that IU President Pamela Whitten plagiarized parts of her dissertation, with the most recent story running in September.
About one in four teachers say their schools don’t give students zeroes. And nearly all of them hate it.
The collection of practices known as equitable grading, which includes not giving students zeroes, not taking off points for lateness, and letting students retake tests, has spread in the aftermath of the pandemic. But it wasn’t known how widespread the practices were.
A new nationally representative survey released Wednesday finds equitable grading practices are fairly common, though nowhere near universal. More than half of K-12 teachers said their school or district used at least one equitable grading practice.
The most common practice — and the one that drew the most heated opposition in the fall 2024 survey — is not giving students zeroes for missing assignments or failed tests. Just over a quarter of teachers said their school or district has a no-zeroes policy.
Around 3 in 10 teachers said their school or district allowed students to retake tests without penalty, and a similar share said they did not deduct points when students turned in work late. About 1 in 10 teachers said they were not permitted to factor class participation or homework into students’ final grades.
Only 6% of teachers said their school used four or more equitable grading practices.
That was surprising to Adam Tyner, who co-authored the new report for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. He expected more schools would be following a “whole package” of grading reforms supported by advocates like former teacher and education consultant Joe Feldman, who wrote the influential book “Grading for Equity.”
Proponents of equitable grading say it’s important for students to be able to show what they know over time, and that just a few zeroes averaged into a grade can make it difficult for students to ever catch up. When students don’t see a path to passing a class, it can make them less motivated or stop trying altogether.
Eight in 10 teachers said giving students partial credit for assignments they didn’t turn in was harmful to student engagement. Opposition to no-zeroes policies came from teachers of various racial backgrounds, experience levels, and who worked with different demographics of students.
No-zeroes policies can take various forms but often mean that the lowest possible grade is a 50 on a 100-point scale. Some schools use software that will automatically convert lower grades to a 50, one teacher wrote on the survey.
Schools that enrolled mostly students of color were more likely to have no-zeroes policies, the survey found. And middle schools were more likely than high schools and elementary schools to have no-zeroes policies, no-late-penalty policies, and retake policies.
Researchers weren’t sure why those policies popped up more in middle schools.
But Katherine Holden, a former middle school principal in Oregon’s Ashland School District who trains school districts on equitable grading practices, has some guesses.
High schools may be more worried that changing their grading practices will make it harder for students to get into college, Holden said — a misconception in her eyes. And districts may see middle schoolers as especially likely to benefit from things like clear grading rubrics and multiple chances to show what they know, as they are still developing their organization and time-management skills.
In the open-ended section of the survey, several teachers expressed concerns that no-zeroes policies were unfair and contributed to low student motivation.
“Students are now doing below-average work or no work at all and are walking out with a C or B,” one teacher told researchers.
“Most teachers can’t stand the ‘gifty fifty,’” said another.
More than half of teachers said letting students turn in work late without any penalty was harmful to student engagement.
“[The policy] removes the incentive for students to ever turn work in on time, and then it becomes difficult to pass back graded work because of cheating,” one teacher said.
But teachers were more evenly divided on whether allowing students to retake tests was harmful or not.
“Allowing retakes without penalty encourages a growth mindset, but it also promotes avoidance and procrastination,” one teacher said.
Another said teachers end up grading almost every assignment more than once because students have no reason to give their best effort the first time.
The report’s authors recommend getting rid of blanket policies in favor of letting individual teachers make those calls. Research has shown that other grading reforms, such as grading written assignments anonymously or using grading rubrics, can reduce bias.
Still, teachers don’t agree on the best approach to grading. In the survey, 58% of teachers said it was more important to have clear schoolwide policies to ensure fair student grading — though the question didn’t indicate what that policy should look like — while the rest preferred using their professional judgment.
“There are ways to combat bias, there are ways to make grading more fair, and we’re not against any of that,” Tyner said. “What we’re really concerned about is when we’re lowering standards, or lowering expectations. … Accountability is always a balancing act.”
Nicole Paxton, the principal of Mountain Vista Community School, a K-8 school in Colorado’s Harrison School District 2, has seen that balancing act in action.
Her district adopted a policy a few years ago that requires teachers to grade students on a 50-100 scale. Students get at least a 50% if they turn in work, but they get a “missing” grade if they don’t do the assignment. Middle and high schoolers are allowed to make up missing or incomplete assignments. But it has to be done within the same quarter, and teachers can deduct up to 10% for late assignments.
Paxton thinks the policy was the right move for her district. She says she’s seen it motivate kids who are struggling to keep trying, when before they stopped doing their work because they didn’t think they could ever bounce back from a few zeroes.
“As adults, in the real world, we get to show what we know and learn in our careers,” Paxton said. “And I think that kids are able to do that in our building, too.”
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
The education sector is making measurable progress in defending against ransomware, with fewer ransom payments, dramatically reduced costs, and faster recovery rates, according to the fifth annual Sophos State of Ransomware in Education report from Sophos.
Still, these gains are accompanied by mounting pressures on IT teams, who report widespread stress, burnout, and career disruptions following attacks–nearly 40 percent of the 441 IT and cybersecurity leaders surveyed reported dealing with anxiety.
Over the past five years, ransomware has emerged as one of the most pressing threats to education–with attacks becoming a daily occurrence. Primary and secondary institutions are seen by cybercriminals as “soft targets”–often underfunded, understaffed, and holding highly sensitive data. The consequences are severe: disrupted learning, strained budgets, and growing fears over student and staff privacy. Without stronger defenses, schools risk not only losing vital resources but also the trust of the communities they serve.
Indicators of success against ransomware
The new study demonstrates that the education sector is getting better at reacting and responding to ransomware, forcing cybercriminals to evolve their approach. Trending data from the study reveals an increase in attacks where adversaries attempt to extort money without encrypting data. Unfortunately, paying the ransom remains part of the solution for about half of all victims. However, the payment values are dropping significantly, and for those who have experienced data encryption in ransomware attacks, 97 percent were able to recover data in some way. The study found several key indicators of success against ransomware in education:
Stopping more attacks: When it comes to blocking attacks before files can be encrypted, both K-12 and higher education institutions reported their highest success rate in four years (67 percent and 38 percent of attacks, respectively).
Following the money: In the last year, ransom demands fell 73 percent (an average drop of $2.83M), while average payments dropped from $6M to $800K in lower education and from $4M to $463K in higher education.
Plummeting cost of recovery: Outside of ransom payments, average recovery costs dropped 77 percent in higher education and 39 percent in K-12 education. Despite this success, K-12 education reported the highest recovery bill across all industries surveyed.
Gaps still need to be addressed
While the education sector has made progress in limiting the impact of ransomware, serious gaps remain. In the Sophos study, 64 percent of victims reported missing or ineffective protection solutions; 66 percent cited a lack of people (either expertise or capacity) to stop attacks; and 67 percent admitted to having security gaps. These risks highlight the critical need for schools to focus on prevention, as cybercriminals develop new techniques, including AI-powered attacks.
Highlights from the study that shed light on the gaps that still need to be addressed include:
AI-powered threats: K-12 education institutions reported that 22 percent of ransomware attacks had origins in phishing. With AI enabling more convincing emails, voice scams, and even deepfakes, schools risk becoming test grounds for emerging tactics.
High-value data: Higher education institutions, custodians of AI research and large language model datasets, remain a prime target, with exploited vulnerabilities (35 percent) and security gaps the provider was not aware of (45 percent) as leading weaknesses that were exploited by adversaries.
Human toll: Every institution with encrypted data reported impacts on IT staff. Over one in four staff members took leave after an attack, nearly 40 percent reported heightened stress, and more than one-third felt guilt they could not prevent the breach.
“Ransomware attacks in education don’t just disrupt classrooms, they disrupt communities of students, families, and educators,” said Alexandra Rose, director of CTU Threat Research at Sophos. “While it’s encouraging to see schools strengthening their ability to respond, the real priority must be preventing these attacks in the first place. That requires strong planning and close collaboration with trusted partners, especially as adversaries adopt new tactics, including AI-driven threats.”
Holding on to the gains
Based on its work protecting thousands of educational institutions, Sophos experts recommend several steps to maintain momentum and prepare for evolving threats:
Focus on prevention: The dramatic success of lower education in stopping ransomware attacks before encryption offers a blueprint for broader public sector organizations. Organizations need to couple their detection and response efforts with preventing attacks before they compromise the organization.
Secure funding: Explore new avenues such as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate subsidies to strengthen networks and firewalls, and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre initiatives, including its free cyber defense service for schools, to boost overall protection. These resources help schools both prevent and withstand attacks.
Unify strategies: Educational institutions should adopt coordinated approaches across sprawling IT estates to close visibility gaps and reduce risks before adversaries can exploit them.
Relieve staff burden: Ransomware takes a heavy toll on IT teams. Schools can reduce pressure and extend their capabilities by partnering with trusted providers for managed detection and response (MDR) and other around-the-clock expertise.
Strengthen response: Even with stronger prevention, schools must be prepared to respond when incidents occur. They can recover more quickly by building robust incident response plans, running simulations to prepare for real-world scenarios, and enhancing readiness with 24/7/365 services like MDR.
Data for the State of Ransomware in Education 2025 report comes from a vendor-agnostic survey of 441 IT and cybersecurity leaders – 243 from K-12 education and 198 from higher education institutions hit by ransomware in the past year. The organizations surveyed ranged from 100-5,000 employees and across 17 countries. The survey was conducted between January and March 2025, and respondents were asked about their experience of ransomware over the previous 12 months.
SEATTLE – The Seattle Public School Board has rejected a pilot program that would bring police presence back inside Garfield High School.
There was a dramatic silence in the room following the 5-2 vote Wednesday, with five voting against the motion and two voting for it.
The backstory:
The motion would have advanced a pilot program to place school engagement officers on the Garfield High School campus.
While it’s unclear what’s next for the future of officers at Seattle Public Schools, many seemed to agree more work needed to be done.
“Police presence is a very powerful deterrent,” said Amanda Thornewell, the parent of a former SPS student.
Parents and educators took to the mic for public comment to air their opinions before the vote.
“I’m here today speaking against bringing armed cops back into schools,” said Makena Gadient, Special Ed Teacher.
The idea of having a school resource officer in the schools gained traction after 17-year-old Amarr Murphy-Paine was shot and killed outside Garfield High School in June 2024 as he was trying to stop a fight that he saw in the parking lot. His killer still hasn’t been caught.
Seattle police are investigating a shooting in the 400 block of 23rd Avenue, near Garfield High School on June 6, 2024 in Seattle, Wash. (Lauren Donovan)
FOX 13 previously reported, a group of parents and educators asked the district to support exploring the pilot program.
“A building principal is saying, I need better support to keep my students safe, and I want to make sure I have this agreement in place to support safety around the campus. That should be like, of course,” said Liza Rankin, District 1 School Board Director.
Director Hersey said during the meeting Wednesday that there was a need to address threats to kids in that particular community, but said the conversation had become “warped.” Others also expressed disappointment in the proposal.
In order to have passed the proposal, the school board would have had to lift or end a moratorium that was passed in 2020, when the district officially cut ties with Seattle Police.
“With it not passing, I hope they have time to revise it and find ways for everyone at Garfield to feel safe,” said Amanda Thornewell, a parent of a former SPS student.
Emijah Smith says in future proposals, she’d like to see officers patrol outside the schools, but not inside the halls of the school itself.
“I have commended the police for being around, at the school, in the vicinity,” said Smith. “But being in the school gives me a lot of stress.”
Seattle Public Schools original school resource officer program ended back in 2020 during nationwide calls for police reform.
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The Source: Information in this story came from the Seattle Public School Board and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating antisemitism in schools.
The California Legislative Jewish Caucus said the law will help respond to alarming harassment against Jewish students. But critics, including educators and pro-Palestinian advocates, said it could inadvertently obstruct instruction on complex issues in the classroom.
“California is taking action to confront hate in all its forms. At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate,” Newsom said in a statement.
The law creates an Office of Civil Rights with a governor-appointed coordinator who will develop and provide training to help school employees identify and prevent antisemitism. The coordinator has to consult with the State Board of Education to make recommendations to the Legislature on policies to address anti-Jewish discrimination in schools.
The new civil rights office could cost the state about $4 million annually, including money for six staffers, according to the Government Operations Agency, which oversees departments in the Newsom administration.
Students in public schools nationwide are generally protected against discrimination through state, federal and district policies. But lawmakers in states including Missouri, Vermont and Tennessee have pushed further by introducing legislation aimed specifically at combating antisemitism at K-12 schools. The efforts come amid political tensions in the U.S. over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have banned teachers from promoting antisemitism in schools. She said the bill was about attacking teachers, not about combating antisemitism.
President Donald Trump’s administration has paused or frozen federal funding at colleges, including the University of California, Los Angeles, over allegations that they failed to adequately respond to antisemitism. UC President James B. Milliken has said the cuts, which are being litigated, won’t address anti-Jewish acts and that the university system’s efforts to address antisemitism went ignored.
The Anti-Defamation League, which supports the new law, tracked 860 antisemitic acts reported to the group last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide. Reports include harassment, vandalism and assault. That’s a 26% decrease from the previous year but much higher than the 494 reported in 2022.
Lev Miller Ruderman, a Jewish student at San Lorenzo Valley High School near the coastal city of Santa Cruz, said at a legislative hearing that school officials did not take an antisemitic act on campus seriously during his freshman year.
Another student used school materials to make a Nazi flag and pinned it to Ruderman’s back, he said. Ruderman walked past numerous students across campus before a teacher asked him about it, he said.
“I felt sad, confused and overwhelmed,” said Ruderman, who spent the rest of the school year at home.
The civil rights office does not need legislative approval for educational materials for teachers. But some educators have criticized a part of the law requiring that all teacher instruction “be factually accurate” because they say it could unintentionally stifle learning.
Many controversial subjects have conflicting facts depending on perspective, said Seth Bramble, a California Teachers Association manager. Not being allowed to teach those facts reinforces rote learning over critical thinking and gives advocates “a new legal tool to disrupt instruction and to threaten educators,” she said.
A previous version of the bill set specific requirements for “instructional materials regarding Jews, Israel, or the Israel-Palestine conflict,” including that they be balanced, accurate, don’t promote antisemitism and don’t label Israel as a settler colonial state.
The law no longer references Israel’s war in Gaza, but critics have said it could still have a chilling effect and prevent open discussion on contentious issues in the classroom.
“Teacher discourse on Palestine or the genocide in Gaza will be policed, misrepresented, and reported to the antisemitism coordinator,” Theresa Montaño with the California Faculty Association said in a statement.
Democratic state Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who co-authored the bill, said in September that lawmakers had to push back against harassment, bullying and intimidation that Jewish students face.
“When swastikas are painted on elementary school playgrounds, when a Jewish student has a Nazi flag taped to their back, or is chased and yelled at, we will not turn a blind eye,” he said in a statement. “This bill is about affirming safe and supportive learning environments consistent with our state’s values.”
BOSTON — State education officials and advocates are calling for a renewed focus on academic performance in the public school system after the latest MCAS test results showed most students are still lagging behind prepandemic levels.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the results of 2025 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams on Monday, showing that students across the state are still trailing prepandemic achievement levels.
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When her son was 8 years old, Clare Brown noticed that his stress in school was taking a toll. “He was doing well on the academic side, but having a really hard time emotionally at school,” she told HuffPost. “At that point, we didn’t know he had ADHD; that wasn’t diagnosed until we moved to Florida when he was 10.”
It was at that moment that Brown decided to take her son out of the traditional classroom and homeschool him instead.
“Homeschooling gave us a chance to slow things down, meet him where he was and take the pressure off.”
MoMo Productions via Getty Images
Homeschool doesn’t need to feel like “mom school.”
But is homeschooling for everyone? Hear what some parents have to say about homeschooling their kids.
Why Some Families Turned To Homeschooling
In 2020, when the pandemic forced schools to close, many children were required to participate in at-home learning. That’s one reason Jaime Smith, MA, MSEd, CEP, Educator and founder of learning platform OnlineG3.com, believes that homeschooling is becoming a more popular alternative.
“I think [parents] feared that homeschooling was difficult,” Smith, who also homeschooled her daughter since Kindergarten, told HuffPost. “But once they were forced to try homeschooling, they discovered that it worked well for their family.”
Another reason for the growing interest in homeschooling is the impact of the political climate on the traditional school system. What was the norm for many religious families, according to Smith, now applies to families who don’t want religion in school, or want to continue teaching about diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Upside Of Homeschooling
In a classic school setting, the ratio of teachers is typically 1 to 20-30 kids, making it challenging for individualized learning. Homeschooling allows you to meet where your child’s needs are, focus more on their interests and provide flexibility for parents.
Because Brown and her child weren’t tied to a set schedule, she could shape lessons around his interests and where they were living at the time. “Math might happen through baking together in the kitchen and history could mean exploring the Tower of London in the UK.”
Smith also loved the idea of using the real world as their classroom.
“We went on field trips all the time — to the symphony, the history museum, the aquarium,” she recalled. “Our ‘classroom’ was our entire local community.”
Smith also credits homeschooling for her daughter’s success in college. “Colleges love independent thinkers and self-directed learners, and those qualities are often a natural product of homeschooling.”
Suzette Conrad, a proud homeschooler, found at-home learning to be beneficial, especially when her father unexpectedly passed away when she was 9 years old.
“Homeschooling gave me the space to go through the grieving process at my own pace without worrying about grades,” Conrad told HuffPost. “I struggled with my mental health because of my dad’s death and everything that comes with that, and homeschooling gave me the flexibility to heal.”
The Challenges Of Homeschooling
Despite the idea that remote learning allows you and your children to customize their own curriculum, there are still guidelines to be met, Smith said. There arehomeschooling laws that vary by state that families must follow.
For example, states such as New York and Pennsylvania require testing, whereas New Jersey and Michigan don’t need testing. Alaska doesn’t require specific subjects to be taught, and Texas only requires homeschool curricula to cover the basics like reading, math and spelling.
Another challenge that parents and children struggle with is the blurred lines between teacher and student.
“There’s no bell at 3 o’clock, you’re always on,” Brown said. “Some days felt like a gift and other days it was heavy because I carried the worry of ‘Am I doing enough?’”
“As the oldest child, I already supported my mom a lot as a single mother and with her as my teacher, it meant we spent a lot of time together,” recalled Conrad. “I didn’t love it when she would tell me I spelled something wrong or make me rewrite a paper.”
Still, for Conrad, it felt natural for her mom to be her teacher, since she had already taught her basic life skills, such as how to walk, cook and take care of herself.
Lastly, with traditional schooling comes making friends and achieving milestones such as graduations, homecoming dances and participating in athletics. A big concern for kids and parents is how homeschooling will affect their kids’ ability to socialize.
“The only thing [my daughter] really missed was having the regular day-to-day friendships that only come with being in the same place at the same time,” Smith said. “She recognizes that those might not be the deepest relationships, but they serve a purpose in a teen’s life, and we couldn’t really replicate that.”
What To Know About Homeschooling Your Kids
Both Smith and Brown can attest that any parent can homeschool their child. “Curious, self-motivated kids thrive, but even reluctant learners can do well if parents have patience and stick with it,” Brown said. “The bigger factor is the family, whether they can give the time, patience and consistency homeschooling requires.”
They shared some tips to follow if you are thinking about homeschooling your kids:
Find what works for your family.
When Brown started homeschooling her son, she was trying to mimic the structure of a traditional classroom with hourlong lessons with start and end times. She quickly realized that the structure was not working for them and noticed how much more her son was engaged when she found the right routine that worked for him.
“My biggest tip is not to be afraid to throw out the ‘school model’ and find what works for your family,” she said. “Some of our best learning happened on the sofa reading together, in the kitchen baking, or out at a museum on a Tuesday morning.”
Follow state guidelines.
As mentioned before, each state has its own guidelines surrounding homeschooling, requiring students to complete assessments, study specific subjects and meet certain requirements. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a great resource for finding out your state’s law.
Outsource certain subjects.
A significant downside of homeschooling is the excessive togetherness. When Smith’s daughter was beginning to resist her mom’s instructions, Smith resorted to outsourcing certain lessons that helped the two of them give each other the space they needed.
Since the pandemic, several micro schools and online learning platforms have become available to help students complete their schooling at home. One of them is Smith’s own OnlineG3.com, where students like her daughter learn collaboratively with peers in real time. “It didn’t feel like ‘mom school’ that way,” said Smith.
Keep them socialized.
While homeschooled kids are missing out on making friends inside a classroom, it’s important to incorporate socialization in their daily lives. Smith’s daughter frequently participated in a local youth theater program, performed with a competition dance team and even attended field trips with peers. As she entered high school, she even attended prom as a guest.
And just because your kids are homeschooled now doesn’t mean they can never go back to regular school. At 13, Brown and her family moved from Florida to Alabama, and her son wanted to attend a traditional high school realizing he’d be missing out on events like football games, prom and the entire high school experience. It was an adjustment as he was the “new kid in every way.”
“We didn’t know anyone here, so we thought it might be a good time socially as well,” Brown said, “but that part was harder than expected.”
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We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
Brown’s son also had to adjust to an entirely new routine, one with juggling assignments between several teachers, participating in group projects and completing timed tests. While there was a learning curve, Brown said his independence from homeschooling helped him adjust quickly to high school.
Even though he’s in high school, Brown’s son doesn’t regret his homeschooling experience. “He loved it through elementary and middle school; it gave him confidence and space to really explore what he cared about.”
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s latest statewide assessment results show signs of progress in student performance, with both Portland Public Schools and the state overall reporting increases in English language arts and math. Still, overall achievement levels remain below where they were before the pandemic, and education leaders say more work lies ahead.
The Oregon Department of Education on Thursday released the 2024-25 Oregon Statewide Assessment System scores. Statewide, participation rates improved across all subjects, and it was the first year since testing resumed in 2021-22 that scores rose in math, English language arts, and science across multiple grade levels. Oregon’s two largest districts, Portland and Salem-Keizer, posted gains in both math and ELA.
In Portland, district officials highlighted student growth in Grades 3–8, with ELA scores up 1.5 percentage points and math scores up 2 points compared to last year. Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong called the results a reflection of the collective effort of “students, educators, and families across Portland.”
“These results show what happens when school communities believe in their children,” Armstrong said. “Our students are rising, our teachers are pushing forward every day, and our families are reinforcing learning at home.”
Governor Tina Kotek said the broader state results demonstrate both progress and persistent challenges. “Oregon’s students deserve a system that fosters success and delivers the results our students, families, and educators expect,” she said, urging continued focus on early literacy, math readiness, attendance, and equity.
District leaders in Portland echoed that message. Kristina Howard, the district’s Senior Chief of Academics, said the data “aligns directly to our Board goals” and noted new emphasis this year on attendance and keeping ninth-graders on track for graduation.
State education officials said targeted initiatives are already underway, including the Early Literacy Success Initiative, expanded summer learning opportunities, and the launch of Oregon’s new Education Accountability Act.
Despite recent gains, state officials acknowledged that participation remains below the federal requirement of 95 percent, particularly among 11th graders, and that large gaps persist among student groups. Still, the results showed increases for African American/Black students, Hispanic/Latino students, and students experiencing poverty.
Dr. Renard Adams, Portland’s Chief of Accountability and Equity, said the district is encouraged by the momentum but not yet satisfied. “We won’t be satisfied until we have 100% of students meeting standards—that’s the goal,” he said.
