Named after the hundred-eyed watchman of Greek myth, Argus watches the education landscape: spotting new opportunities, pressure-testing the ventures we're building, and tracing every read back to the real-world signals behind it.
The evidence library: the raw signals the pipeline is watching across the education ecosystem. Every idea is built from these.
In concert, state bodies governing public pre-K through Ph.D. students are implementing policies addressing safety and classroom use of artificial intelligence. Next week, the Florida Board of Governors, which controls Florida’s 12 state universities, will review language directing each campus to “establish policies requiring all course syllabi to include a disclosure of faculty use and […]
California lawmakers agreed to a deal that will allow many survivors of childhood sexual assault at public institutions to continue to sue the public bodies they say are responsible for their trauma. The compromise released Thursday is a partial win for some victims’ advocates, who opposed capping the amount of damages a survivor could seek […]
Summer is an exciting time for NBA fans with a flair for analytics. The free-agency period has my news feed full of trades, signings and salary dumps. One aspect of professional sports leagues that has always fascinated me is the way they build in financial safeguards to increase competition. Education finance could learn a thing […]
Laura Bornfreund opens her new book, “Rediscovering Kindergarten: Embracing Play & Joy in Kindergarten” by bringing readers inside her daughter Ainsley’s experience entering kindergarten in August 2017. The fact that Ainsley just started high school shows the long and thoroughgoing journey that the book represents. Bornfreund — a senior fellow at New America, where she […]
The children’s author Mac Barnett does not pull punches when it comes to his chosen profession: “If you don’t think children’s books are real books,” he writes, “on some level you don’t think children are real people.” The author of more than 70 books, Barnett has become a key evangelist for high-quality children’s literature, particularly […]
Rural America has a healthcare crisis hiding in plain sight. Hospitals are closing. Nurses are retiring faster than they can be replaced. And the students most likely to stay and serve their communities — kids growing up in small towns across Indiana, Texas, Delaware and dozens of states in between — often graduate high school […]
The U.S. Department of Education may no longer be able to fully support students, it says in an internal report that lays bare the full extent of the Trump Administration’s first round of government cuts. The department lost about 40% of its staff from the day Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025 through March […]
A version of this essay appeared on Matthew Yglesias’ Slow Boring, a site dedicated to offering pragmatic takes on politics and public policy. Katie Arnold-Ratliff wrote a cover story for New York Magazine criticizing New York City’s gifted and talented program in public schools that lands on a headline claim I think is staggeringly wrong: either […]
States can block transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, handing the Trump administration a victory in its effort to enforce such restrictions. In a 6-3 decision, the conservative court said that West Virginia and Idaho did not break the law when they passed legislation prohibiting […]
The Supreme Court ruled today that President Donald J. Trump exceeded his authority with his long-shot attempt to end birthright citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to undocumented parents or those without permanent status. In a 6-3 ruling, the court held Trump overreached when he tried to usurp the 14th Amendment by executive order […]
After a power failure knocked out electricity in parts of Lānaʻi High and Elementary School in 2021, the state set up temporary electrical lines to get the lights back on. Five years later, the so-called temporary lines are still there. Four portable classrooms and a building housing the boys’ locker room were affected when the […]
Has your kid ever used artificial intelligence to answer homework questions that their teacher used artificial intelligence to write? It’s possible, according to a report from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts that found a majority of teachers in the state are using generative AI for planning or in the classroom, but also express concern that […]
As I climbed the steps to the stage on the morning of my junior high graduation, I felt my heart racing. Just a few feet away stood a microphone and hundreds of eyes waiting for me to begin. As the commencement speaker, I had rehearsed my speech countless times, yet I had no idea this […]
The percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school dropped during the most recently available five-year lookback window of federal data, though that picture is likely clouded by COVID-era school closures. The decline was cited in the Kids Count Data Book, an annual report released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which uses federal data […]
When the leaders of a new elementary school applied for a four-digit public school code from the Colorado Department of Education last summer, they didn’t mention a key detail: The school would be religious. Instead, they said Riverstone Academy would offer traditional academics and trade-themed electives. But education department officials soon learned that the 30-student […]
As New Hampshire public schools grapple with funding challenges, declining enrollments, and increasing fiscal scrutiny from voters, some metrics suggest that the schools continue to perform well nationally. On Monday, Gov. Kelly Ayotte touted the latest analysis; a study by WalletHub that used a mix of proficiency scores, graduation rates, advanced placement course takeup, attendance, […]
Chronic absenteeism is playing a major role in students failing to reach pre-pandemic academic levels, a new report from NWEA shows. The report, issued last week, shows that the academic progress of students in districts with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism are more likely to lag behind districts that haven’t experienced drastic rises in […]
There’s a long-held misconception that students’ opportunities are constrained by the size of their town. In many people’s minds, rural career and technical education and career-connected learning are synonymous with agriculture and manufacturing, while college prep is limited to a path from the graduation stage to the nearest state school. Unfortunately, this mentality can be […]
Nearly 6 million children in California would be eligible for a scholarship under the new federal tax credit for education, more than in any other state, new data shows. But unlike other states with millions of eligible students, like Texas, Florida and New York, California hasn’t opted into the new Treasury Department program, and so […]
Disney characters are popular with kids and adults worldwide. That includes the U.S. Department of Education. Lightning McQueen from “Cars,” Nemo the clownfish and the Parr family from “The Incredibles” are among the animated personalities starring in the agency’s social media posts in recent months. “KA-CHOW! The Freedom 250 Grand Prix is coming to DC!” […]
Batula Kassim sat in front of a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in her school’s new library, the sunlight a welcome contrast to the refurbished Macy’s department store where she spent her freshman year. Kassim, an incoming sophomore at Burlington High School, is one of a cohort of students who spent part or all of their […]
There is perhaps no clearer sign that summer is drawing to a close than the arrival of school supplies in big box stores and school supply drives in most counties. On Wednesday, Gov. Josh Stein delivered school supplies collected over the summer to W.M. Irvin Elementary School in Concord. It’s the eighth year the governor’s […]
Put it in your locker. Store it in a pouch. Keep it in your backpack. Hand it over to the principal. Leave it at home. With the state of Michigan enacting a cellphone ban this fall that restricts students from using their phones during instructional time, lawmakers have left it up to school districts to […]
Rural schools are asked to solve national problems with local resources. They are expected to close readiness gaps they did not create, respond to poverty they cannot control, and provide opportunities students may not receive anywhere else. Yet these expectations are often placed inside buildings designed for a different era of education. The physical school […]
In late July, soon-to-be kindergarteners spent the morning getting their wiggles out at a summer learning program at Robert Bailey Elementary School in Providence. At first, they shyly raised their hands or whispered “that’s me” when their teacher sang an attendance song, but then they jumped up and spent the next hour stretching, dancing and […]
At the Charter School Growth Fund, graduation is our favorite time of year. It is when schools shine. We are reminded of what is possible when students, teachers and school leaders have excellence as their north star. Charters are built on the premise that all kids can learn when a culture of high expectations, great […]
For high school graduates about to head off to college the news is alarming: The degree they’re about to pursue might not land them the job they want. College grads are facing a tough job market, with headlines almost daily declaring their prospects “grim” or “shrinking” or call their “hiring woes” a “job market hell.” […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Touting his state’s soaring literacy scores, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves urged Oklahoma leaders to commit to tough reading policies. This year, Oklahoma enacted similar literacy laws as Mississippi, whose fourth-grade reading scores have surpassed the national average after decades of ranking near the bottom. The state’s meteoric rise has been called the […]
School choice enjoys broad support among the American public. But opposition within the Democratic Party and the political left remains concentrated among those with the most means. Higher-income and more highly educated Democrats are far more likely to oppose school choice, while Black, Hispanic and lower-income Democrats are more supportive. The divide reflects a gap […]
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When Reneta Johnson, head of a small charter network here, asked students how they wanted to spend this summer, they said they like to make TikTok videos. That gave her an idea. The staff at Legacy Prep built a three-week summer schedule around the theme of “Lights, Camera, Action,” blending drama, music […]
As Texas schools face at least $600 million in federal funding cuts, multiple mental health programs, particularly those implemented in response to the pandemic and mass shootings, are at risk of losing funding. School programs focused on chronic absenteeism, mental wellness and crisis services that were created in response to the Uvalde school shooting, as […]
States have made steady progress including students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, an independent federal report finds, but lawmakers and advocates worry that headway will be lost as federal special education offices move from the Department of Education to Health and Human Services. Released this month, the Government Accountability Office report shows the number of […]
States have made steady progress including students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, an independent federal report finds, but lawmakers and advocates worry that headway will be lost as federal special education offices move from the Department of Education to Health and Human Services. Released this month, the Government Accountability Office report shows the number of […]
Families across America, particularly those with young children, are struggling this summer. With costs up, many are facing financial hardship at a level even greater than what was seen at the onset of the pandemic. That economic strain is taking a toll on the emotional well-being of children and their caregivers. That’s according to numerous […]
Updated on July 21, 2026 Chemical fires, leaks and explosions happen at U.S. industrial facilities every other day — incidents such as four disasters in greater Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend, including one involving a chemical tank that threatened to explode and forced 50,000 residents and more than 20 schools to evacuate, and a […]
Even before massive staff cuts at the Department of Education, it could take years for officials to process a request under the Freedom of Information Act. But now, some offices that handled the hundreds of inquiries that pour in each month — from parents, reporters and watchdog groups — have either been eliminated or have […]
Three years after voters passed an ambitious arts education funding measure, California’s K-12 schools were supposed to be awash in dance, music, theater and fine arts. But some schools are returning their arts money to the state, saying the rules on how to spend it are too vague and they can’t find enough arts teachers. […]
I did not come to chess as a grandmaster, a coach or someone trying to raise the next great prodigy. I came to it first as a father. My son Harry is twice exceptional, a term often used for children who are both gifted and learn differently. Like many kids who think intensely, he did […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma children returned to school this week for their first academic year under strict new literacy laws. It will be their final school year before reading scores carry even higher stakes. More than 21,100 Oklahoma third graders, or 44%, scored below a basic level on statewide reading tests […]
Media stories about the skills mismatch between applicant qualifications and employer expectations have been a regular feature for decades. Among the most recent entries are a Washington Post story titled “Why Recruiters Can’t Find Workers and New Grads Can’t Find Jobs,” which warned of the oncoming “largest labor shortage in history,” and a Forbes report […]
Over the past four years, generative artificial intelligence has quietly colonized the minds of U.S. adolescents, changing the way they learn. A College Board survey last fall found that the share of high schoolers using it for schoolwork had climbed to 84%, with about half using it to brainstorm, revise essays or research topics. A […]
The University of California Board of Regents chair said Tuesday morning she expects a recommendation from the faculty-led Academic Senate by the end of this academic year on whether the system should reinstate the SAT and ACT for incoming freshmen. The announcement came shortly after the Senate’s admissions board said it was pulling back on […]
California’s audacious goal of having half of all K-12 students enrolled in bilingual education programs by 2030 has encountered one big stumbling block — there aren’t enough qualified bilingual teachers. To help remedy that, a $10 million grant tucked in the state budget aims to help school districts recruit high school students as future bilingual […]
Too often, parents take for granted that their children’s school experience is fundamentally the same as what’s happening in all the district’s schools. It turns out that is often far from reality. And some differences come through vastly different Parent-Teacher Association budgets. That doesn’t have to be the case. As researchers and parent leaders, we […]
San Francisco high school students, particularly those with high needs, enrolled in ethnic study courses achieved higher GPAs, stronger academic gains in math and science, and failed fewer courses, according to a new report. A new study from the universities of Pennsylvania and California analyzed a longstanding San Francisco Unified School District ethnic studies program, […]
The average public school building in America is now 49 years old. In more than half of U.S. school districts, those buildings require significant repairs or full replacement. Too many students are trying to prepare for a 21st-century economy in facilities that are no longer capable of supporting a 21st-century education. If communities continue treating […]
The average public school building in America is now 49 years old. In more than half of U.S. school districts, those buildings require significant repairs or full replacement. Too many students are trying to prepare for a 21st-century economy in facilities that are no longer capable of supporting a 21st-century education. If communities continue treating […]
At the beginning of each new class, Al Rabanera lets his students know that he knows they’re using AI. “I’m not going to pretend like you aren’t,” he tells his students. “I know it’s readily available for most of you, if not all of you.” A math teacher at La Vista High School in Fullerton, […]