Education news archive — Page 6
Explore 185 stories on the decisions, evidence, and tools shaping education.
OpenAI offers free ChatGPT research workspaces to eligible faculty, postdocs
The 12-month program gives approved academic teams up to five seats with business data protections, but access is limited by institution, country, field, and recent preprint history.
New York Times posts 2026-27 student contest calendar for classroom planning
The year-ahead lineup starts with a 100-word narrative contest in September, then moves through visual, video, open-letter and podcast challenges teachers can build into coursework.
San Diego Unified puts its screen-time reset into day-one Chromebook rules
A July 31 family notice spells out what changes on Aug. 10: video streaming on student Chromebooks is off unless teachers enable it for instruction, gaming stays blocked, and TK computer carts are being removed with accommodations preserved.
Two college chatbot studies show AI helps with tasks, not persistence
Two July 2026 working papers point to a narrower use for higher-ed AI. Course-specific chatbot outreach improved grades and tutoring use, while a four-year administrative bot helped students complete time-sensitive tasks without detectable gains in academic performance or persistence.
Chicago board passes CPS budget counting on $150 million not yet approved
The July 30 vote reversed more than 1,000 planned layoffs, but CPS says the added state money is still unenacted, leaving questions about payroll, borrowing, and the start of school.
California and Washington face new federal pressure on parent access to records
After recent court rulings, the U.S. Department of Education asked both states to explain what policy changes districts should make on student records, privacy, and parent access before the school year begins.
Senate committee backs bill to block four Education Department transfers
The 13-9 vote targets offices tied to special education, K-12 grants, higher-ed programs, and tribal education while leaving other transfers untouched.
Washington cancels July bar exam after Yakima tech failure
Most applicants now must choose a Sept. 1-2 makeup exam in Tacoma, a transfer to February 2027, or a refund, creating immediate problems for law schools, bar-prep programs, and employers.
Bethel and Denver face new federal parent-rights probes
The July 28 investigations do not establish violations, but they put parent notice, opt-out records, access to materials, and Denver’s Title IX response under federal review.
Illinois Requires School Phone Policies by 2027-28
A new state law gives Illinois districts and charters a deadline to adopt wireless-device rules, with required exceptions, discipline limits, and local choices on storage and access.
Richmond voters will weigh a 1% sales tax for school construction
City Council unanimously placed a November 2026 referendum on the ballot, giving Richmond an early test of Virginia’s new local option for school capital funding.
West Virginia rolls out a statewide AI framework for schools
The state introduced the model in educator sessions this week, pairing AI literacy goals with county training plans and workforce-linked digital science pathways.
Education Department escalates FERPA cases against Anne Arundel, Ann Arbor
Federal officials said Anne Arundel could face Justice Department enforcement and possible funding consequences, while Ann Arbor has until Aug. 10 to explain its records and parent-disclosure practices.
How San Diego Unified Built a Paid High School Teaching Internship
San Diego Unified’s fifth summer of Teach Lead offers something rare in teacher-pipeline coverage: a district that has published the nuts and bolts. The paid, five-week program placed teens from five high schools in 18 elementary schools, with public details on eligibility, training, scheduling and credit.
NASA’s Mars to Table challenge closes July 31 for higher-ed teams
The final registration window is open for NASA’s food-system design challenge, which asks teams to create a Mars crew meal plan and a broader Earth-independent habitat food system. Global teams can enter; partner materials say NASA prize money is limited to eligible U.S. teams.
Google Classroom’s new role-based homepage starts rolling out July 27
The redesign gives teachers, students, and administrators different default dashboards, but analytics and Gemini-linked tools still depend on licensing, settings, and user eligibility.
Mississippi districts roll out new attendance routines for 2026-27
As Senate Bill 2103 takes effect, schools are contacting families after three cumulative absences, referring students after five unlawful absences, and posting district attendance policies and chronic absenteeism plans online.
South Dakota gets federal OK to pool some education funds, ease Title I carryover
Two federal approvals let South Dakota consolidate more than $19 million in selected state-level funds through 2029 and give it broader authority to approve district Title I carryover waivers.
Colorado case shows a practical model for early writing
At Sand Creek Elementary in Douglas County, writing sits inside structured literacy with a protected WIN intervention block, universal screening and a named routine such as thinkSRSD. The lesson for schools is less about assigning more writing and more about building time, staffing and shared practice around it. Public evidence so far is strongest on implementation, not districtwide writing results.
School web filters can look compliant and still miss proxy game sites
A Hechinger investigation found students bypassing managed-device filters through proxy and other workarounds, giving districts a clear back-to-school task: test what real student accounts can actually open.
Education Department finalizes Title VI rollback, rescinds CTE guidelines
The two final rules shift federal civil-rights enforcement toward intentional discrimination, with immediate implications for complaint handling, staff training, and policy reviews in districts, colleges, and career and technical education programs.
Five medical schools face new federal civil rights admissions probes
The Education Department said its Office for Civil Rights opened Title VI investigations at Dartmouth, East Carolina, Saint Louis University, Western University of Health Sciences, and William Carey, raising the stakes for admissions documentation and reviewer training ahead of the 2026-27 cycle.
Oregon packages K-1 math intervention evidence for schools
A new University of Oregon summary of 112 studies, plus an implementation guide, gives K-1 teams a practical tool for choosing Tier 2 and Tier 3 numeracy support before fall plans lock in.
Midland ISD sues Texas over school finance and recapture
The district argues that state-controlled tax rates and recapture leave trustees without meaningful control over local revenue, setting up a constitutional test with statewide budget implications.