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.
Marking the start of two weeks of intensive negotiations, the Legislature passed a state budget Monday with higher revenue projections than those proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, providing several billion dollars in additional spending for TK-12 and community colleges in 2026-27. Several other significant issues remain unresolved. Chief among them is the $3.9 billion in […]
Three top Senate Democrats are accusing the Trump administration and Republicans of “taking a wrecking ball” to childcare programs, highlighting the issue in a midterm year where many Democrats are running on inflation and the high cost of living. Childcare costs have skyrocketed in recent decades, outpacing inflation. There’s bipartisan consensus on the crisis: an […]
It is widely accepted in the field of early care and education that staff turnover is high, but exactly how high has proven difficult to measure. A recent analysis from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska offers new insights into the extent of the field’s attrition rates, finding that only 56% […]
The end of the fiscal year is near. For many school administrators, that means scrambling to decide whether to spend more money on artificial intelligence-driven ed tech products that promise everything from letting teachers operate on autopilot to ensuring that all students receive exactly what they need, minute-by-minute. Principals, superintendents and other school leaders are […]
A bill to provide $10,000 bonuses to New York City’s full-time paraprofessionals is headed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s desk after it was approved by City Council members Thursday. Similar legislation introduced last year was backed by the United Federation of Teachers in an effort to address the city’s paraprofessional shortage. After the bill failed to […]
Preschoolers with disabilities in New York City will gain access to an unprecedented set of programs and services thanks to a major expansion in special education announced Tuesday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels. The nation’s largest school system is investing $67.5 million in special education as families […]
Federal teams charged with making sure states are doing right by students with disabilities appear to have visited fewer than half of the states originally scheduled for review in 2025 and 2026. That information comes from U.S. Department of Education documents compiled and analyzed by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a group that […]
America’s collapse in confidence in higher education — with support for colleges falling four times as much as for other government and civic institutions — doesn’t appear to be getting better anytime soon. Gallup polls over the last decade have shown a decline in support of colleges and universities from a high of 57% of respondents having […]
Every few years, a new technology enters schools. Television beamed lessons from the best teachers into classrooms. Computers and the internet gave students access to a wealth of information, right at their fingertips. Interactive whiteboards, tablets and Chromebooks were sold as the future of education. Now, it is artificial intelligence. And educators must ask: What […]
Charter schools in Massachusetts have significantly accelerated student learning over the last quarter century, a newly released study shows. Compared with their counterparts in the state’s traditional public schools, charter students earned higher marks on state exams and the SAT, with particularly large gains in cities like Boston. Notably, however, these effects fluctuated over time. […]
Chicago Public Schools is further away from having enough money to meet its students’ needs as defined by the state, according to new data released by the Illinois State Board of Education. Under ISBE’s calculations released Friday, CPS is now considered a little over 70% adequately funded, compared with 73% last year. CPS isn’t alone […]
Right now, 15.5 million undergraduate students around the country are getting ready to start or return to college. Seven million of them have one thing in common: relying on a Pell Grant to help pay for their higher education. But the grant program is facing a $15 billion funding shortfall that will undermine college access […]
Indiana’s early literacy rates improved for the fifth consecutive year, with nearly 89% of Hoosier third graders demonstrating proficiency in foundational reading skills on the state’s IREAD assessment. The Indiana Department of Education released statewide IREAD, ILEARN and SAT results for the 2025-26 school year Tuesday at the State Board of Education’s August meeting. The […]
Across the economy, Americans are watching an artificial intelligence investment boom reshape the job market. Some of the same companies spending hundreds of billions to build the AI future are also announcing sweeping job cuts, adding to an already daunting employment landscape for college graduates. In other sectors, opportunity is booming. Homes, roads, bridges, vehicles, […]
This story was co-published with Mother Jones. A few years ago, Eric Gil was living at his uncle’s place in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he shared a bedroom with his brother and cousin. With eight people in the house, it was crowded. He was trying to get out, but rental prices in Waterbury — which currently […]
Public schools continued to serve more than 1.5 million students across North Carolina in the 2025-26 school year — or about 84% of market share, a percentage that is about the same as previous years. Market share is a term used to describe how many students are served by different sectors of schools, including public […]
Class Disrupted is an education podcast featuring author Michael Horn and Futre’s Diane Tavenner in conversation with educators, school leaders, students and other members of school communities as they investigate the challenges facing the education system in the aftermath of the pandemic — and where we should go from here. Find every episode by bookmarking […]
The last time I interviewed Dr. Dana Suskind, we discussed the three T’s strategy outlined in her book “Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise”: Tune in. Talk more. Take turns. “It doesn’t require fancy gadgets,” she told me, “or a specialized degree.” Though it was only a few years ago, the fancy […]
This may sound strange coming from the co-founder of an education technology company, but I think paper is a powerful technology in a classroom. Research on the science of learning consistently says so. So do the piles of paper that good teaching produces, the piles that bury the teachers who produced them. The real question […]
Public schools are beginning to imagine ways they can benefit from the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, after the Treasury Department clarified last month that district students will be eligible for scholarships. But for microschools, a growing segment of the private school market, the initial guidance from federal officials has left school leaders worried they […]
Most of Cassie Reed’s life has been marked by instability. During her childhood, she moved between nine different foster homes, often enduring abuse. Violence followed her into her adult life, as she met and fled partners who mistreated her. The turning point came several years ago for Reed, who lives in Spokane, Washington, when she […]
More than 85,000 families are participating in Texas’ private school voucher program during its first year, a number that could increase as state officials finalize enrollment data, according to a new state report. White families make up the largest share of participants so far, as do those considered low-income, the comptroller’s office noted in the […]
California teachers had some big wins in this year’s state budget, including about $700 million for stipends and training, and $218 million to support paid pregnancy leave. The funding for teacher recruitment and retention builds on the more than $1 billion California has spent since 2018 to end a persistent school staffing shortage that has […]
As John Adams observed, “facts are stubborn things.” The facts, as education policy writer Chad Aldeman recently observed, are that No Child Left Behind coincided with some of the fastest achievement gains on record for Black, Hispanic and low-income students, and when that accountability framework loosened after 2015, scores fell — fastest for the students […]
By all appearances, she is a typical fourth-grade girl. She has long, dark brown hair and an infectious smile, and she dreams of becoming a police officer when she grows up. But unlike most 10-year-olds, a year ago this child left her family and her home, walking for days with little to eat. To protect […]
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education announced a plan for increased enforcement measures against two Kansas school districts for their gender-inclusive policies. In April, the department found four public school districts — Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas — were in violation of federal Title IX civil […]
New York City is expected to release its school policy for artificial intelligence on Wednesday, with a ban on student-facing AI tools for 2-K through eighth grade, according to four people briefed on the plans and Education Department documents obtained by Chalkbeat. Under the new rules, the youngest children in the nation’s largest school system […]
When a middle schooler sits down in math class, she might be thinking about the argument she had on the way to school, the stress at home she can’t escape or whether she’s going to eat today. She is probably not thinking about algebra. Adults design policies for her future — the classes she takes, […]
Earlier this year, U.S. senators convened to grill experts on how social media, smartphones and other technologies are affecting children’s mental health and learning. That conversation has since helped fuel a new wave of legislative action, with nearly a dozen states now considering screen-time restrictions for students. It’s an important debate. But from where I […]
This story was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of The 19th. Meet Nadra and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. To understand why five California families took their fight against segregated schools to court in the 1940s, picture the buildings reserved for their children’s learning. At that time in rural Orange […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — Confidential student records are sitting in a vacated building nearly eight weeks after a charter school permanently closed its doors, officials from the state and the school said, though both sides disagree on who is at fault. Proud To Partner Leadership Academy, known as PTPLA, ceased operations on July 1 after the […]
Too often, public debate rewards simple answers to complicated problems. The most visible ideas can easily be mistaken for the most effective ones, but appearance isn’t the same as progress. Youth mental health is no exception. As parents and former elected officials, we know there is no silver bullet to solve the mental health challenges […]
The fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to shift control of the California Department of Education from the state superintendent of public instruction to a new education commissioner answering to future governors and the State Board of Education will become clearer within the next week. Supporters and opponents disagree not only on the merits of […]
This spring, an estimated 3.9 million high school students — one of the largest classes in American history — graduated into a world their education never fully prepared them for. They are, in many ways, the first graduating class of the artificial intelligence era, launching into adulthood at a moment when the world around them […]
Head Start, the federal program providing free early education for low-income children, has benefited from strong bipartisan support since its 1965 inception, withstanding funding cuts and political turbulence across 11 presidencies. But more recent threats from the second Trump administration have thrust Head Start into the spotlight. Last year, its programs faced disruptions and threats […]
Five years ago, diesel costs averaged $2.68 a gallon. This spring, that more than doubled to over $5.50. That’s not just a headline; it’s a real problem for anyone operating on a tight budget. But for school districts, the issue is even more severe. The cost of fuel for just one school bus runs into […]
Five years ago, diesel costs averaged $2.68 a gallon. This spring, that more than doubled to over $5.50. That’s not just a headline; it’s a real problem for anyone operating on a tight budget. But for school districts, the issue is even more severe. The cost of fuel for just one school bus runs into […]
Michigan’s initiative to offer free pre-kindergarten for all is paying off, state educators said Wednesday, as the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, also known as MiLEAP, touted nearly 53,000 applications on file since June. Emily Laidlaw, MiLEAP’s deputy director, said during a virtual news conference that the figure had grown by 700 applications […]
We’re once again in a cycle of headlines that feels acutely focused on celebrity and weight and eating disorders. And unfortunately there will likely be more tomorrow and the next day and on and on. It can be overwhelming, especially if you’re still feeling the effects of the extreme thinness culture that dominated the 1980s […]
Gov. Jeff Landry and legislative leaders are pushing back on claims from public school leaders that the governor’s plan to pay for teacher stipends with school operations funds would hurt public education across Louisiana. The governor announced a tweak Monday to his original proposal that would allow school districts already giving pay increases to teachers […]
Every year, parents — usually mothers — toil months in advance of the summer break to sign kids up for camps, book nannies, fly grandparents out to help or sort out a medley of arrangements and schedules. Planning can start as far as a year in advance. After signing her kids up for all their […]
Public school librarians in Ohio are raising alarms about book bans and funding cuts. School librarians have been navigating challenges in their work as long as they’ve been among the stacks in their local districts. Proposed legislation to filter the reading choices students can make has brought concern, and budget reductions make some worry about […]
When Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City, he vowed to gather community feedback on how the public schools are working. His chancellor, Kamar Samuels, has assembled working groups “tasked with creating customized proposals to accelerate the work of building a stronger school system, rooted in academically rigorous, safe and integrated schools.” So I […]
The U.S. Department of Education is expected to award $41.3 million in grant funding through the Alaska Native Education Program to 26 Alaska grantees after some delay, according to an announcement from Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The grant funding was expected on July 1, but has been delayed more than a month. Grantees […]
The Trump administration is pushing a total overhaul of Head Start that could fundamentally reshape the 60-year-old program that has provided childcare and key support for America’s lowest-income families. A new proposed rule released last week put more than 1,400 regulatory provisions that govern how Head Start is implemented on the chopping block. Across the […]
For the third year in a row, Gov. Tate Reeves opted out of a state-federal partnership that would have given summer grocery benefits to roughly 320,000 Mississippi children who rely on free meals during the school year. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia are enrolled in the program, called SUN Bucks, which doles out […]
As school administrators map out curricula, schedules and priorities for the next school year, they should be thinking holistically about what kids actually need. Because honestly, young people are not doing well, and education systems aren’t doing enough about it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes what young people are experiencing right now […]