Susan K. Patrick

Nearly 21,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg students absent from school on Monday, officials say Officials did not make it clear if the absences were connected to the on-going immigration operation in the city.

Over 20,000 students stayed home from school Monday in Charlotte amid ICE raids, representing 15% of enrollment

The district is nearly one-third Hispanic, per WBTV

www.wbtv.com/2025/11/18/n...

Most K-12 Programs Will Leave Education Department in Latest Downsizing The Trump administration announced six agreements to transfer Ed. Dept. programs elsewhere.

A Trump administration official said Tuesday that today's changes at the U.S. Department of Education are part of a decades-long conservative goal of eliminating the agency.

Latest on changes, by @beeschultz3.bsky.social, @caitlynnpeetz.bsky.social, and me: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Nice summary of our paper and related work by @tomdee.bsky.social and @kslungaardmumma.bsky.social here.

www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/10/i...

How to explain ICE and the national guard in DC to kids We asked experts how to discuss ICE, the national guard deployment, and the current political moment with kids.

With the national guard now possibly in D.C. through next summer and immigration detentions continuing to tick up, local parents say they’re struggling to explain this moment to their children.

We asked a few experts — including @profmbj.bsky.social — for guidance:

How Uncertified Teachers Went From a Stopgap to an Escalating Crisis Using uncertified teachers to fill shortages may further destabilize the educator pipeline.

How Uncertified Teachers Went From a Stopgap to an Escalating Crisis: Using uncertified teachers to fill shortages may further destabilize the educator pipeline.

Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education department Two months after Education Secretary Linda McMahon was confirmed, she and a small team from the department met with leadership from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, an advocacy group tha...

The Education Department is close to functionally disappearing. I didn't think this could happen, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Here's a piece I wrote on how the hollowing out is affecting special education:

hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...

Education Department Layoffs Would Affect Dozens of Programs. See Which Ones Entire teams that work on key funding streams may not return to work even when the shutdown ends.

New: More than $50 billion (yes, with a b) for education is in jeopardy if the Education Department eventually proceeds with the layoffs it implemented last Friday. A federal judge put them on hold as of Wednesday.

Here's a list of the affected funding streams: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Special education isn't a "nice thing to have." It isn't "charity" or doing something to make us feel better. It is a right. The right to a Free Appropriate Public Education is codified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, signed by a Republican president.

U.S. Department of Education fired nearly everyone in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in a wave of new layoffs that began Friday, according to the union representing the agency's employees. www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.

I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.

This was heartrending. Not just a personal and professional tragedy, but a scientific and statistical tragedy.

Dr. Carr's unceremonious firing and ongoing unrecoverable loss to data access and quality represent symbolic and literal damage to democratic leadership and governance.

Trump Tells States He's Holding Back $6.8 Billion for Schools Schools nationwide won't see funding earmarked for English learners, migrant students, professional development, and more.

More bad news for public education, including DC public schools. www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

States Face Uncertainty as an Estimated $6.2 Billion in K–12 Funding Remains Unreleased: Here’s the Fiscal Impact by State States face uncertainty as $4.8 billion in K–12 federal funding remains unreleased. If the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t distribute these funds by July 1, state educational agencies will need p...

learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/states-...
From the Learning Policy Institute, showing the impact of the administration's reckless decision to withhold billions of critical education dollars. Vermont and DC are set to see over 20% of their federal school funding yanked. Over 10% in every state.

Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools

The current wave of federal immigration raids began in January with a “rogue” operation in California’s Central Valley.

My new study finds these raids increased school absences by 22%—a leading indicator of the resulting family stress & lost learning opportunities👇

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

Imagine proposing a system that would serve every kid in this country (no exceptions), fully fund 13 years of nearly year-round support, employ trained professionals to lead the work, and seek to produce a wide range of positive outcomes--from academic preparation to self-actualization.

We have it.

A Court Told Trump to Reverse Ed. Dept. Layoffs. Will It Happen? A judge ruled May 22 that the Trump administration had to reinstate laid-off Ed. Dept. staffers. They're still not back on the job.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate laid-off Education Department employees.

Two weeks later, multiple agency staffers say that hasn’t happened.

Essential reporting from @beeschultz3.bsky.social: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Yesterday, June 2, was an interesting day at work. I was reporting a story about how the Education Department hadn't delivered a report to Congress on the Condition of Education, despite the June 1 deadline mandated by law. 🧵 (1/9)

Students read few—or no—books in top ELA programs, survey finds Elementary students get little practice reading whole books in some of the country's most popular elementary reading curricula, shedding new light on national reading crisis

Would you believe that some of the most widely-used reading curricula in America incorporate no actual books? 🚩🚩🚩

I talked with @hollykorbey.bsky.social about the issue, and the work we are doing to illuminate the issue at the Curriculum Insight Project.

hollykorbey.substack.com/p/students-r...

Changes to SNAP Could Reduce Student Access to Free School Meals Free school meal access has become increasingly intertwined with federal social safety net programs—including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—to reduce duplicative paperwork for s...

Changes to SNAP Could Reduce Student Access to Free School Meals

www.urban.org/research/pub...

Yes, What We Pay Teachers Matters Paying teachers well is an essential part of a healthier public education system

It's Teacher Appreciation Week. Here's how to appreciate teachers: pay them better.

How the House Reconciliation Bill Harms the Average American Family The House reconciliation bill makes college less affordable — ignoring Americans’ top higher ed concern

🧵 1/n
Our team @educationwork.newamerica.org has a piece out on the reconciliation bill from the Ed and Labor Committee.
Rachel Fishman breaks down the bill, and how it flies in the face of what most Americans say they want when it comes to higher ed
#HigherEdSky
www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Judges block Trump administration efforts to end DEI initiatives in schools At least 16 states have said they won’t sign a certification that they are in compliance with the Trump Education Department’s contested interpretation of civil rights law. A looming standoff could be delayed, though, after judges issued preliminary injunctions.

Trump Education Department efforts to get DEI out of schools hit roadblock
https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/04/24/trump-education-department-anti-dei-efforts-in-schools-hit-roadblock/

Practically, what does this mean? The government is saying it will go back to garnishing wages, tax returns, social security payments, etc. in order to collect money from the >5 million people currently in default on student loans. I'll make this a lil mini thread that highlights the key points.

I hope it is not lost, in all of the chaos at the federal level, that there are many longstanding, discretionary programs that are on the Administration's chopping block, either directly or through the erosion of agency staff, expertise, and capacity. Programs enacted and reauthorized through...

How federal investments in education research help students succeed Researchers discuss how federally funded research projects have helped identify and scale programs that improved student outcomes.

How federal investments in education research help students succeed www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

Opinion | When Trump Is Done, What Will Remain of Public Education? The administration has done everything in its power, and some things beyond its authority, to ensure education is equal no more.

I wrote about education, citizenship, and the administration’s sledgehammer approach to the gains we’ve made since the civil rights era for @nytopinion.nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/o...

School Districts’ Use of Talent Analytics: Barriers and Possibilities | Journal of Education Human Resources In this commentary, we discuss common barriers districts face in implementing and using talent analytics (personnel data systems) to build a more effective, diverse pool of school leaders. Our discuss...

Everyone loves to debate the lowest hanging fruit in school improvement. It's this: building coherent district data systems. (Especially now in the era of declining investment in fed and SLDS!)

We wrote a fun commentary discussing this issue within the context of developing effective principals.

NCES's federal data collections are the foundation of so much education policy and policy research. We're currently scanning state education agencies for teacher-level shortage data (not federally collected). Imagine if that was necessary for all national education research.

Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3 Acting stats chief booted after only 15 days in the job; fate of the Nation’s Report Card unclear

Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3

A quick 🧵: The news of Congress potentially blowing a $1.1 billion hole in D.C.'s budget has certainly riled up a lot of people. But it's part of a larger trend of how Congress's years-long budget dysfunctions have bled into D.C.'s municipal government.