The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the nation’s largest federal employee union, filed a lawsuit on Oct. 1 against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, alleging that the Trump Administration unlawfully compelled federal employees to distribute partisan political messages during the ongoing government shutdown. The complaint, filed in federal court […]
Posted inSocial Justice
The Science of Reading: Forgot the Playground
Decoding alone doesn’t capture the rhythms, rhymes, and stories children carry in their bodies and homes. You walk into a classroom, and you hear the laughter on the faces of the youth. They are clapping their hands, stomping their feet, reciting the songs in their homes, and the dances of the latest dance challenge. I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Most Banned Books of the 2024-2025 School Year
According to PEN America, there have been nearly 23,000 book bans in public schools nationwide since 2021, the largest number ever recorded in America. There were 6,870 instances of book banning, nearly 4,000 unique titles, during the 2024-2025 school year. This censorship is being mobilized by groups with conservative viewpoints, such as Moms for Liberty, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Around the World in 80 Lessons: Warnings in Genocide to the US from Armenia
This summer, I was invited to study at the Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia as a teacher fellow with the Genocide Education Project. I walked the museum with Regina Galustyan, the museum’s biographer and researcher. I sat in on lectures from professors like Dr. Dikran Kaligian and visited cultural sites and monasteries. I watched Armenian […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How teachers are rebuilding a love of reading among teens
In a post-pandemic world, teachers have seized the opportunity to pause and rebuild their approach to learning. When life handed us lemons, we understood the need to offer more than just lemonade in order to reinvigorate students who are chronically absent and disengaged. Many teachers have increased student choice, social-emotional learning strategies, and centered learning […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools detained by ICE
On Friday, the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, Dr. Ian Roberts, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to the district. According to ICE, Roberts was in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having “a final order of removal and no work authorization.”In addition, when […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Ryan Walters steps down after turbulent tenure as Oklahoma state superintendent
Ryan Walters, the state school superintendent who implemented Bibles in all public classrooms in the state, will resign from his position effective the end of this month. Elected in 2022, Walters spent his tenure as head of schools routinely injecting religion into the States’ public schools, and he will join the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
RIF: The hidden cost of teacher reductions in students
“Gutted.” “Devastated.” “Abandoned.” These words, written in emails from my former students, express their feelings toward the news that my contract would not be renewed after ten years of service to the students and families in my community. I found myself “riffed,” a colloquial term for a reduction in force, or RIF–a storm that we […]