Category: Education

University of Pennsylvania Loses Major Donor and Board Member over Anti-Semitism

Admin

The University of Pennsylvania lost the support of one major donor and saw one board of trustees member resign, both out of protest against the rise of anti-Semitism at the university in the wake of the massive Palestinian attacks against Israel.

As reported by Breitbart, Jon Huntsman, a former Governor of Utah, former U.S. ambassador, and former presidential candidate, announced publicly that he would not be donating to the school any further, due to the school’s refusal to issue a statement of any kind on the matter.

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Commentary: Troubling Ballot Chicanery in Virginia Elections Requires Immediate Action

Admin

In a chilling reminder that the integrity of our voting process is under constant attack, there is a serious violation of electoral law under way right now in the Elections Office of Fairfax County, Virginia. The Fairfax County Registrar, Eric Spicer, has allowed a candidate for school board to appear on the ballot although she failed to submit proper petitions with sufficient signatures.  Immediate action is required by the county Electoral Board to disqualify her.

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Tennessee’s Public Charter School Commission Overturns Five Local Charter School Application Denials

TC Weber

At this year’s annual charter school appeals hearing, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission (TPCSC) heard from eight proposed charter schools. State law permits charter authorizers who have been denied by the local authorizer to ask for reconsideration.

Established in 2022, as a means for those appeals to be heard, the commission has the power to overturn local decisions.

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‘Woke’ and ‘Sexual’ Books Found in 2nd Grade Classroom Library in Fountain Hills

Rachel Alexander

A parent of a child in second grade attending McDowell Mountain Elementary School in the Fountain Hills Unified School District was appalled to discover over 10 books in the classroom library inappropriate for children that age. The parent, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, informed Fountain Hills City Councilman Allen Skillicorn, who referred to the books “woke” and “sexual.” 

“As I finished my parent teacher conferences last week, my attention went to the classroom library section of the room,” the parent said. “I often wonder how teachers pick the books to line their classroom shelves. One particular SECOND GRADE classroom in the Fountain Hills Unified School District had the following books in their classroom library:

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ACT Test Scores Fall to 30-Year-Low

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A new report shows that the average high school student’s ACT college admissions test scores have fallen to their lowest point in 30 years, reflecting an ongoing decline in the quality of education in the United States after the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic.

As Fox News reports, the average scores for the American College Testing (ACT) exams have fallen for the last six years in a row, with the decline becoming noticeably faster in the years during and after COVID. The average score in 2023 was 19.5 out of 36, which comes out to a percentage of 54%. In 2022, the average score was 19.8.

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Commentary: Thales College Restores True Education to the University

Admin

I am delighted to say that I will be joining the new Thales College, as a professor of humanities. What that means, I shall try to describe by way of contrast.

Let us suppose I am at almost any other American or Canadian college. I am considering Caravaggio’s painting of Mary Magdalen. Right there, I’m skating on thin ice. That isn’t just because the painting has a religious theme. It’s because I can depend upon almost nothing, among even the brightest college students, when it comes to knowledge of the history of art, or of the Renaissance in particular; no understanding of why such a painting was impossible to be executed two centuries before, or of why no one would have conceived the desire to paint such a figure, alone as she is, in a moment of intense introspection, careless of the baubles of her trade that lie scattered about her on the floor — baubles that yet have considerable dramatic power, because Caravaggio supposes that we know, as she does not, what they signify, and what momentous events are in store for her.

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State Lawmaker Plans to Introduce Bill to Help Math Retention Rates for Tennessee Students

TC Weber

State House Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) told The Tennessee Star that he plans to introduce a new bill that closely resembles Temnnessee’s existing third-grade retention bill for literacy.

Tennessee implemented new policies last year to address low literacy rates among third-graders. This coming year, Tennessee lawmakers intend to turn their focus to mathematics.

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Arizona GOP Leaders Slam ‘Vague Threats’ from Gov. Katie Hobbs over Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

Tom Pappert

The Republican leaders of the Arizona Legislature joined the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in a joint press release on Wednesday in response to a recent social media post by Governor Katie Hobbs (D). In her post, the governor claimed Arizona’s popular Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program was unsustainable and called for it to be restricted.

Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R), Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) issued a press release defending the state’s education voucher program after Hobbs called it “unaccountable and unsustainable” in a statement posted to X.

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Teacher: Anoka-Hennepin Administrators, Teachers Intentionally Deceive Parents

Admin

Some administrators and teachers intentionally deceive parents, and those who don’t go along with the district’s political agenda are bullied or threatened, according to an Anoka-Hennepin public school teacher.

Alpha News spoke with that teacher, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of being retaliated against, in season two of “Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom.”

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American Colleges Are Partnered with Palestinian University That Praised Hamas as ‘Righteous Martyrs’

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Several American colleges are partnered with Al-Quds Open University, a Palestinian university that called the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel “righteous martyrs,” according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of university web pages.

Al-Quds Open University declared Sunday, Oct. 8 as a day to “mourn the souls of the righteous martyrs and to denounce the occupation’s continuing crimes against our people in the West Bank and Gaza,” following Hamas’ invasion of Israel. Al-Quds Open University ended its announcement by stating “glory and eternity to our martyrs.”

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Virginia School Board Adopts GOP Gov’s Parental Rights Policy After Parents Slap It with Lawsuit

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The Virginia Beach School Board approved Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s gender transition notification policy Tuesday after being hit with a lawsuit from parents, according to The Virginia Pilot.

In August, the board voted on the policy but was deadlocked with five votes in favor and five against, effectively stalling the proposal, which prompted several parents to file a lawsuit in September demanding the district protect parental rights. The board took up the issue again this week, however, and voted 9 to 1 in favor of adopting Youngkin’s policy, with one member abstaining, according to The Virginia Pilot.

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Commentary: As Families Take to Charter Schools, Cities and Their Teacher Unions Throw Up Obstacles

RealClearWire

A vote by the Los Angeles board of education vote last month to ban charter schools from sharing space at 300 district campuses is the latest big-city attack against alternatives to struggling traditional public schools.

With the strong support of United Teachers Los Angeles, school board members say the ban will protect black and Latino students from the disruption and harm that occurs when charters are placed in buildings used by other public schools. But charter advocates reject the board’s reasoning. Far from hurting disadvantaged students, charters in LA and other cities have established an outstanding track record in accelerating their academic performance compared with traditional schools, according to researchers.

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Tennessee Department of Education Presents Updates on School A-F Grades to State Board of Education Ahead of November Rollout

TC Weber

The Tennessee State Department of Education(TDOE) updated the State Board of Education(SBE) last week on progress toward implementing the state’s A-F school grading system.

Lawmakers passed legislation in 2016 requiring the TDOE to release school letter grades annually. Grades were intended to be implemented during the 2017/18 school year, but state testing issues and COVID-19 prevented the release of those scores until this year. In anticipation of releasing individual school grades, the Department of Education is revising the grading formula to give parents greater clarity. 

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Oklahoma Approves Contract for America’s First Religious Charter School

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The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved a contract Monday for the country’s first religious charter school, according to The Washington Post.

The charter for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the board in June, but a lawsuit was filed in July in an attempt to block the state from allowing religious groups to use taxpayer funding for schools. The board, however, went ahead with approving a contract this week in a 3 to 2 vote, putting the school one step closer to opening enrollment for the fall of 2024, according to the Post.

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Greater Pandemic Learning Losses Reported in School Districts with DEI Officers

Admin

On Wednesday, a new report was released showing that school districts with chief diversity officers (CDOs) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officers saw greater losses in learning capabilities during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic than schools that do not have such positions.

According to Fox News, the report from The Heritage Foundation reveals that 48% of all school districts with 15,000 students or more had a CDO or DEI officer on campus. Despite such positions ostensibly being created in order to increase the performance of minority students, schools with these employees saw bigger losses in academic performance among black and Hispanic students than schools without them.

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Schools Spent Millions in COVID Bucks on Educational Software That Was Barely Used

Admin

School districts across the country spent millions in federal relief funds on educational software intended to mitigate pandemic learning loss, but in many cases, much of the technology wasn’t used, according to The Associated Press.

Schools received billions in COVID-19 relief funds from Congress, and tech companies engaged in aggressive marketing to get districts to purchase their products. School districts used these federal funds to enter multi-million dollar contracts for software licenses that often went unused by students, the AP reported. Moreover, some products were found to not be particularly effective.

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Brown University to Start Interrogating Ph.D. Applicants on How They Will Advance ‘Diversity’

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An Ivy League university will now be requiring doctoral applicants to submit a 300-word diversity statement, according to the Brown Daily Herald.

Brown University administrators announced changes to Brown University’s Ph.D. admissions process Tuesday in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling banning race-based admissions, as well as changes to their Title IX policies, according to the Brown Daily Herald. Brown’s new Ph. D. admissions process will now include a diversity statement that questions ways in which applicants will “advance diversity.”

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Elite Private Schools in New York City Are Owned by ‘Chinese Communist Party Boss’

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A group of four high-class private schools in New York City is owned by a company that is run by a man identified as a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

According to the New York Post, the Basis Independent Schools (BIS) district has two campuses in Manhattan and another two in Brooklyn. The district charges as much as $44,500 a year in tuition, and promotes itself as a district that produces graduates who “gain entry into some of the world’s most prestigious colleges.”

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School District Paid Thousands to Organization Linked to Merrick Garland for Surveys Asking Kids Their Feelings About Race

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Colorado Springs School District 11 (CSSD) paid tens of thousands of dollars for surveys asking students how often they think about the “experiences” of someone of a different race or ethnicity, according to a public records request obtained by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a parental rights group.

The district paid Panorama Education, an education software company founded by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law, Xan Tanner, a total of $64,573 for the surveys, an annual membership fee and a professional development workshop for the 2023-2024 school year, according to documents obtained by PDE and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The survey goes over a number of topics about school climate, including a section titled “Feelings About School,” which has students answer how often their teacher pushes them to think about race and ethnicity, ranging from “almost never” to “almost always.”

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Medical School in Minnesota Objects to ‘Very Existence’ of Catholic Group on Campus

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A chapter of the Catholic Medical Association at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus is facing criticism because of its support of traditional Catholic beliefs.

The Star Tribune recently published a story on the “divisive” and “controversial” group that is “fracturing” the Duluth medical program. The article quoted two students and noted that Interim Regional Campus Dean Kevin Diebel wasn’t aware of any complaints made about the group.

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After Student Walkout, Pennsylvania School District Reverses Transgender Bathroom Policy

Just the News

The Perkiomen Valley School District in Pennsylvania recently passed a policy that mandates kids use the bathroom associated with their biological sex after students staged a walkout in protest of the school board for originally rejecting the proposal. 

The school board originally voted against the policy titled “Policy 720” in a 4-5 vote. However, the vote changed earlier this week after board member Don Fountain voted to approve the policy instead.

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Commentary: Protesters at Madison Black Conservatives Event Expose Themselves and Progressive Desperation

Admin

A discussion on black conservativism that took place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and was broadcast live on Zoom on Saturday, Sept. 30 was interrupted by what appeared to be a coordinated protest when someone hacked into the online portion, insulted speakers with vulgar language and was joined by a handful of others who exposed themselves onscreen nude or masturbating.

They did not show their faces.

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Georgia High School Teacher Arrested over Inappropriate Relationship with Student

Tom Pappert

A Georgia high school teacher in Cobb County was arrested on October 4 and charged with sexual assault by a teacher and solicitation of sodomy over an alleged inappropriate relationship with a student.

Harrison High School social studies teacher Eric Taylor Butler was arrested for an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship with a student that began in June. The alleged abuse reportedly and continued until October 2, according to Atlanta First News, which reported the 28-year-old teacher allegedly carried on a relationship with a 16-year-old student.

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Controversial Minnesota Social Studies Standards Set for Final Round of Public Comments

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A years-long, convoluted battle over new standards for social studies education in Minnesota’s public schools is nearing its end.

The public will have one last opportunity to weigh in on the standards before final adoption, the Center of the American Experiment explained, providing a link to where public comments can be submitted as well as instructions on what those comments can address.

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Education Choice Analysis Ranks Tennessee at No. 6 in the Nation

The Center Square

Tennessee ranked No. 6 nationally with a grade of B in the ALEC Index of State Education Freedom.

Grades were scored overall from tabulating funding and financing programs; charter schools; homeschooling; virtual schooling; and open enrollment. The overall score was 71.5 points, which trailed only Florida (95), Arkansas (92), Indiana (86.6), Arizona (84) and Iowa (78)

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Commentary: Ensuring Substitute Teachers Are Trained on Safety Procedures in Tennessee

Admin

Our schools are the bedrock of our communities, serving not only as centers of education but also as places of refuge and safety for our children. In an era of heightened concerns about school safety, it is essential that we leave no stone unturned in ensuring our schools are secure environments. One critical aspect of this is the requirement for substitute teachers to be adequately trained on lockdown procedures and safety protocols. It’s a seemingly small detail, but it plays a pivotal role in keeping our schools safe and our students protected.

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Report Gives Florida Nation’s Best Overall Grade for Education Freedom

The Center Square

After a legislative session where Florida lawmakers passed universal school choice, the state was recognized as the nation’s best in a recent report for its policies on education. 

The nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council, which previously published the Report Card on American Education over the past 25 years, has a new publication, The Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment.

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Education Equity Divides Pennsylvania Policymakers

The Center Square

For more than a decade, policymakers in Harrisburg – and the circle of education influencers that they attract – have struggled to define equity for public school students.

Now, with a court mandate baring down, the state must reimagine the free and fair public education system promised in its Constitution – the guarantee envisioned by revolutionary elected officials like Thaddeus Stevens, whose influence still looms large in the halls of the Capitol.

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Metro Nashville School Board Proposes Lottery Admission at Two Top Performing Schools to Increase Diversity

TC Weber

The Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) Board this week considered changing eligibility rules for admission to its two highly successful academic magnet schools – Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School and Hume-Fogg Academic High School. If adopted, all prospective students would be subject to a lottery system for admission.

The proposed rule change would not go into effect until the 2024 – 2025 school year, but if adopted, would sever established pathways for entry into MLK and Home-Fogg. Currently, Meigs Middle School and John Early Middle School serve as pathway schools to Hume-Fogg, while Head Middle School and Rose Park Middle School serve as pathways to MLK.

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America First Legal Asks Education Department to Investigate Alleged Georgia Tech Discrimination Against Men

Tom Pappert

Conservative litigation group America First Legal (AFL) asked for a federal investigation into the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, over alleged discrimination against men in its new Rising Stars program that only accepts students who are biologically female, identify as female, or do not identify as any gender, in a letter sent Tuesday.

AFL alleges Georgia Tech is violating Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972, which prohibits gender-based exclusion in “any education program or activity receiving federal Federal financial assistance,” and sent a letter to the Department of Education asking it launch an investigation based on the legal group’s evidence.

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Republicans Praise Bold Proposal Which Could Lead to State of Tennessee Rejecting All Federal Money from U.S. Department of Education, Democrats Whine Plan is ‘Misguided’

TC Weber

The creation of a new joint working group by Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) to study the impact federal funds have on education in the Volunteer State is eliciting a mixed response.

State Senator Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) and State Representative Debra Moody (R-Covington) will lead the new group. The state senator welcomes the opportunity to discuss using federal money in education.

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Nearly Half of Homeschool Parents Cite ‘Liberal’ Public Schools as Motivating Factor: Poll

Admin

Almost half of parents turning to homeschooling today say they are concerned about their children being “influenced by liberal viewpoints,” according to a Washington Post and George Mason University poll released Tuesday.

The number of American families that are homeschooling saw a significant spike following the COVID-19 pandemic, with one study finding that the number had risen by 30% during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Urban Institute. A new poll found that, when asked why they decided to homeschool, 46% of families replied that they were worried that “local public schools” are “too influenced by liberal viewpoints,” according to the Post.

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University of Wyoming Sorority Members Appeal Court Decision Allowing Biological Men into Chapter

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Several female members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at the University of Wyoming filed an appeal Monday after a court dismissed their lawsuit regarding a biological male who was allowed into their sorority house, according to court documents.

A judge ruled in August that the national organization of Kappa Kappa Gamma has the right to determine its own definition of women for its sororities and did not violate the rules by allowing biological male Artemis Langford, who identifies as a woman, into the chapter. In their first filing, the plaintiffs also listed Langford as one of the defendants, but the appeal only lists the housing organization, the chapter and Kappa Kappa Gamma President Mary Pat Rooney, according to court documents.

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Gavin Newsom Signs Law Barring Removal of LGBTQ Books from Schools

Admin

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday that will ban school boards from removing books that teach racial or LGBTQ topics in the classroom.

School boards around the U.S. are removing books and materials from classrooms that parents have deemed inappropriate, causing books with overtly racial or sexual material to become a flashpoint in the culture wars. A.B. 1078, which Newsom signed, will prevent school boards from banning instructional materials or library books that include information teaching about racial or LGBTQ topics, and will allow the county superintendent to take unilateral action to include these materials, according to the bill.

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‘Losing Our Freedom of Speech’: Parent Speaks Out Against Middle School’s Explicit Reading List

Admin

Cooper Middle School in McClean, Virginia, gave students an age- inappropriate reading list for their 7th grade English class this year, a concerned parent told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Students in the English class were assigned a wide variety of books on topics that spanned from illegal immigration to Black Lives Matter (BLM), according to a copy of the list. Although the reading list clarifies that students will not have to read every single book, one teacher at the middle school said students would have to choose books to read from the provided options unless a parent offered an alternate, school-approved book, an orientation video welcoming students to the class showed.

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University of Michigan Tells Faculty to Use ‘Inclusive Language, Check ‘Privilege’ in Fall Training Sessions

Admin

New faculty training courses at the University of Michigan this fall ask employees to check their “privilege,” use “inclusive language” for LGBTQ+ individuals, and respond to “harmful microaggressions” on campus.

The university’s Department of Organizational Learning is offering the courses as part of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative – a campus-wide effort that includes students as well as faculty and staff.

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Zero Students Proficient in Math at 40 Percent of Baltimore High Schools

Admin

Not a single student is proficient in math at 40% of Baltimore public high schools in the spring of 2023, according to state exam results obtained by Fox45.

Nearly 2,000 students took the state math exam across the 13 schools with no proficient students. Of the students who took the exam at those schools, 74.5% of them received the lowest possible score, Fox45 reported.

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Federal Government Handed over Billions in COVID Relief Money to Colleges with Massive Endowments

Admin

The federal government handed over nearly $76 billion to colleges and universities from COVID-19 federal funding packages, despite the colleges and universities having billions of dollars in their endowment funds, according to data compiled by OpenTheBooks.

The Cares Act, The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSSA) and The American Rescue Plan Act contained over $5 trillion in federal COVID-19 relief funds, of which nearly $76 billion was handed over to colleges and universities, according to data compiled by OpenTheBooks, a government transparency watchdog organization. Sixteen of the universities with the largest endowments received nearly $4 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds.

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