Research Guides: Current News in Education: Education News: Weeks of June 15-July 13

Introduction

Are overwhelmed with the amount of education news? Do worry, we got you covered! We'll update this page every 1-2 weeks with important and interesting news from the world of education.

An important note before you begin. We link to both free-to-read articles and articles that require a JMU account to access. This includes newspapers like The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Be sure to follow the instructions to sign up for these resources in order to read all the content linked.

News since 06/16

Schools and the Supreme Court

Supreme Court requires opt-out for LGBTQ-themed lessons in schools
While the outcome of this case is not surprising, it will be interesting to see the large scale ramifications of the requirement for parents to opt out of religiously objectionable lessons.
Teachers Face New Burdens After Supreme Court LGBTQ+ Opt-Out Ruling
This article presents the new challenges teachers are required to face because of the recent Supreme Court decision requiring parents be allow to opt out of religiously objectionable content.

Schools and AI

National AI training hub for educators to open, funded by OpenAI and Microsoft
Companies are investing in teacher training to get their products into the classroom. While is good for teachers to be aware of these products and how they can supplement education, it's also important to remember these are for-profit companies funding this training.
A Classroom Experiment
This brief overview of how schools are incorporating A.I. is a useful primer.
AI Will Never Be Your Kid’s ‘Friend’
As schools begin incorporating more AI tools into the classroom it's important to remember the inherent friction and messiness of human relationships are necessary learning experiences for students.

Children, Smartphones, and Social Media

We Don’t Have to Give In to the Smartphones
Riding the wave of his book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, joins pollster Will Johnson and research Zach Rausch to present a case for not giving into the social pressure to let kids use smart phones and social media. Phone free schools feature prominently as a immediately implementable step in the right direction.

Schools and Legislation

Who Will Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Hold on $6.8 Billion in School Funds?
This article outlines which programs will be most effected by the Trump Administrations hold on 6.8B in congressional approved funding.
3 things to know about school choice in the ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’
The OBB Act carves out the possibility for larger school choice vouchers. It's unclear how the reductions in the Department of Education and the law's requirement that the DOE create rules for this will actually work.

Ideas for student empowerment

Why I Believe We Need to Redesign Schools Around Decision-Making
This piece provides an interesting look at allowing students to make decisions about their own education. It forefronts allowing students to address their own interests and make plans to learn more about them. This is, of course, inquiry projects (the hottest trend of mid-aughts) wrapped up in a different name, but it is still valuable to be reminded that children are often very curious and we should be encouraging that.