Nirvi Shah

COLUMN: Trump’s push for ‘patriotic’ education could further chill history instruction High school history teacher Antoine Stroman says he wants his students to ask “the hard questions” — about slavery, Jim Crow, the murder of George Floyd and other painful episodes that have shaped the United States. Now, Stroman worries that President Donald Trump’s push for “patriotic education” could complicate the direct, factual way he teaches such events. Last month, the president announced a plan to present American history that emphasizes “a unifying and uplifting portrayal of the nation's founding ideals,” and inspires “a love of country.”  Stroman does not believe students at the…

COLUMN: Trump’s push for ‘patriotic’ education could further chill history instruction

High school history teacher Antoine Stroman says he wants his students to ask “the hard questions” — about slavery, Jim Crow, the murder of George Floyd and other painful episodes that have shaped the United…

Nurses are in high demand. Why can’t nursing schools keep up? LOS ANGELES — Oscar Mateo dreamed of being an artist, but after he got leukemia when he was 20, his life plans abruptly changed. The compassionate nursing care he received while hospitalized touched him so much that he decided he wanted to provide the same for others. That impulse led him to the registered nursing program at Mt. San Antonio College in the Los Angeles County suburb of Walnut. But getting there wasn’t easy, as he had to battle competition for limited seats in one of the highest-demand fields in higher education, a career offering purpose, plentiful jobs and potentially six-figure paychecks.

Nurses are in high demand. Why can’t nursing schools keep up?

LOS ANGELES — Oscar Mateo dreamed of being an artist, but after he got leukemia when he was 20, his life plans abruptly changed. The compassionate nursing care he received while hospitalized touched him so much that he decided he wanted…

TRIO helps low-income students get to and through college. Trump wants to end it Over 60 years,TRIO programs have helped millions of people with little college exposure earn degrees. Now the administration says it wants to cut federal spending on TRIO to zero, saying the programs ...

Read more about what #TRIO programs do from @hechingerreport.org hechingerreport.org/these-federa...

Tracking Trump: His actions to dismantle the Education Department, and more The president has said he wants to eliminate the Education Department while fighting ‘woke’ ideology in schools. A week-by-week look at what he’s done

The government is about to #shutdown. But money for #TRIO programs that had been frozen for the 2025-26 academic year was unfrozen! Read more in the @hechingerreport.org's Trump Tracker: hechingerreport.org/tracking-tru...

Fires, floods and other disasters are multiplying. Schools are adding training for workers to combat them      WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Gavin Abundis watched as firefighter Adrian Chairez demonstrated how he uses pulleys and harnesses to rappel down buildings. “You’ve probably seen it in the movies where they’re going down ‘Mission: Impossible’ style,” Chairez said with a laugh one day this past winter as he prepared to step off a tower. “We get to do that.” Abundis, a then-senior at Aptos High School in Santa Cruz County’s Pajaro Valley Unified School District, has a friend whose home burned down a few years ago in a fire sparked by lightning.

Fires, floods and other disasters are multiplying. Schools are adding training for workers to combat them     

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Gavin Abundis watched as firefighter Adrian Chairez demonstrated how he uses pulleys and harnesses to rappel down buildings. “You’ve probably seen it in the movies…

Education Department takes a preliminary step toward revamping its research and statistics arm In his first two months in office, President Donald Trump ordered the closing of the Education Department and fired half of its staff. The department’s research and statistics division, called the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), was particularly hard hit. About 90 percent of its staff lost their jobs and more than 100 federal contracts to conduct its primary activities were canceled. But now there are signs that the Trump administration is partially reversing course and wants the federal government to retain a role in generating education statistics and evidence for what works in classrooms — at least to some extent.

Education Department takes a preliminary step toward revamping its research and statistics arm

In his first two months in office, President Donald Trump ordered the closing of the Education Department and fired half of its staff. The department’s research and statistics division, called the…

Congress exempted beauty schools from rules about how much graduates should earn Remiah Ward’s shift at the SmartStyle salon inside Walmart was almost over, and she’d barely made $30 in tips from the haircuts she’d done that day. It wasn’t unusual — a year after her graduation from beauty school, tips plus minimum wage weren’t enough to cover her rent. She scarcely had time to eat and sleep before she had to drive back to the same Walmart in central Florida to stock shelves on the night shift. That job paid $14 an hour, but it meant she sometimes spent 18 hours a day in the same building.

Congress exempted beauty schools from rules about how much graduates should earn

Remiah Ward’s shift at the SmartStyle salon inside Walmart was almost over, and she’d barely made $30 in tips from the haircuts she’d done that day. It wasn’t unusual — a year after her graduation from beauty school,…

What I learned about Head Start in rural America When Starr Dixon heard the Trump administration was floating a proposal last spring to eliminate Head Start, the 27-year-old parent in rural Michigan cried for a week. The free, federally funded early learning program has been life-changing for her and her young daughter, she said. It provided stability after Dixon, who lives about 100 miles north of Lansing, left a yearslong abusive relationship.  While her 3-year-old daughter has blossomed socially, emotionally and verbally in the program during the last year and a half, Dixon has taken on numerous volunteer positions with Head Start, gaining experience that she can put on her resume after a 7-year gap in employment.

What I learned about Head Start in rural America

When Starr Dixon heard the Trump administration was floating a proposal last spring to eliminate Head Start, the 27-year-old parent in rural Michigan cried for a week. The free, federally funded early learning program has been life-changing for her…

Rural Americans rely on Head Start. Federal turmoil has them worried TROY, Ohio — For almost as long as she’s been a mother, Sara Laughlin has known where she could turn for help in this western Ohio town 20 miles north of Dayton. For years, the local Head Start program provided stability and care for her oldest son, and it now does the same for her two younger children, twin boys. Head Start was there for Laughlin and her family through tough transitions, including the end of a long relationship. She credits the free federally funded program, housed in a blue building on the edge of this manufacturing hub of 27,000, for allowing her to keep her job as a massage therapist while raising three kids.

Rural Americans rely on Head Start. Federal turmoil has them worried

TROY, Ohio — For almost as long as she’s been a mother, Sara Laughlin has known where she could turn for help in this western Ohio town 20 miles north of Dayton. For years, the local Head Start program provided stability and care…

Helping kids learn how their brains work What if improving children’s mental health — and life outcomes — could be done by teaching kids how their brains work? That’s a key idea behind the approach of teachers at Momentous School in Dallas, a private elementary school that serves 225 students, most of whom come from low-income families. Each day, educators present lessons on neuroscience and mindfulness, from the youngest learners all the way up to fifth graders. Preschoolers in the school’s 3-year-old classroom learn about the brain by singing “The Brain Song” to the tune of “Bingo” (“I have a brain in my head/And it’s for thinking”).

Helping kids learn how their brains work

What if improving children’s mental health — and life outcomes — could be done by teaching kids how their brains work? That’s a key idea behind the approach of teachers at Momentous School in Dallas, a private elementary school that serves 225 students,…

Schools confront a new reality: They can’t count on federal money ASHE COUNTY, N.C. — In the time it took to read an email, the federal money vanished before Superintendent Eisa Cox’s eyes: dollars that supported the Ashe County school district’s after-school program, training for its teachers, salaries for some jobs. The email from the Department of Education arrived June 30, one day before the money — $1.1 million in total — was set to materialize for the rural western North Carolina district. Instead, the dollars had been frozen pending a review to make sure the money was spent “in accordance with the President’s priorities,” the email said.

Schools confront a new reality: They can’t count on federal money

ASHE COUNTY, N.C. — In the time it took to read an email, the federal money vanished before Superintendent Eisa Cox’s eyes: dollars that supported the Ashe County school district’s after-school program, training for its teachers,…

Public school kids were already going missing. There’s even more to come For many Americans, the specter of missing children evokes forlorn images on milk cartons or Amber alerts on cell phones. But a new report from the Brookings Institution suggests that the pandemic may have created a new generation of lost kids — this time, from classrooms. Lost but not found The number of students who are not in school exploded in 2020 after the Covid outbreak, and many still aren’t back. The missing kids are not in  private schools or being homeschooled. Many children are simply not enrolled anywhere, according to the Brookings’ analysis of federal data.

Public school kids were already going missing. There’s even more to come

For many Americans, the specter of missing children evokes forlorn images on milk cartons or Amber alerts on cell phones. But a new report from the Brookings Institution suggests that the pandemic may have created a new…

Schools confront a new reality: They can’t count on federal money Ashe County, North Carolina, and thousands of other school districts are preparing to lose some federal public school funding after a freeze on nearly $7 billion over the summer.

In Ashe County, NC, those federal dollars pay for the community's only afterschool program, training for teachers, salaries for some positions. There's no way they could make it up locally if it's gone next year. Across the US, schools are preparing to lose more:
hechingerreport.org/schools-conf...

STUDENT VOICE: What National Endowment for the Humanities cuts mean for high schoolers like me In April, the Trump administration announced drastic funding cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Those cuts are harming education groups that rely on NEH grants — and students like me. Among the organizations that lost funding was National History Day, a nonprofit that runs a half-century-old competition engaging some 500,000 students annually in original historical research. It also provides teachers with resources and training. For many schools, the annual event is cemented into the social studies curriculum. The cuts sliced $825,000 from National History Day’s budget over several years, the group said.

STUDENT VOICE: What National Endowment for the Humanities cuts mean for high schoolers like me

In April, the Trump administration announced drastic funding cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Those cuts are harming education groups that rely on NEH grants — and students like me.…

Do you contribute to a local public radio station? Have you considered contributing to one less local but more critical to the region it serves? Like: KWSO (91.9 FM), a public radio station owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in north central Oregon. h/t @nytimes.com

Behind the latest dismal NAEP scores The National Assessment for Educational Progress, called NAEP or the Nation’s Report Card, has long been considered the gold standard for understanding how American students are doing. So bad headlines were inevitable last week when the long-delayed 2024 results for 12th graders in math and reading and for eighth graders in science were finally released. It is tempting to blame the long tail of the pandemic for the dismal scores. But folks who keep a close eye on NAEP had some provocative analysis. Eric Hanushek: It’s not just the pandemic…

Behind the latest dismal NAEP scores

The National Assessment for Educational Progress, called NAEP or the Nation’s Report Card, has long been considered the gold standard for understanding how American students are doing. So bad headlines were inevitable last week when the long-delayed 2024…

Football fantasy: Colleges add sports to bring men, but it doesn’t always work SALEM, Va. — On a hot and humid August morning in this southwestern Virginia town, football training camp is in full swing at Roanoke College. Players cheer as a receiver makes a leaping one-handed catch, and linemen sweat through blocking drills. Practice hums along like a well-oiled machine — yet this is the first day this team has practiced, ever. In fact, it’s the first day of practice for a Roanoke College varsity football team since 1942, when the college dropped football in the midst of World War II.  Roanoke is one of about a dozen schools that have added football programs in the last two years, with several more set to do so in 2026.

Football fantasy: Colleges add sports to bring men, but it doesn’t always work

SALEM, Va. — On a hot and humid August morning in this southwestern Virginia town, football training camp is in full swing at Roanoke College. Players cheer as a receiver makes a leaping one-handed catch, and linemen…

Students, schools race to save clean energy projects in face of Trump deadline Tanish Doshi was in high school when he pushed the Tucson Unified School District to take on an ambitious plan to reduce its climate footprint. In Oct. 2024, the availability of federal tax credits encouraged the district to adopt the $900 million plan, which involves goals of achieving net-zero emissions and zero waste by 2040, along with adding a climate curriculum to schools. Now, access to those funds is disappearing, leaving Tucson and other school systems across the country scrambling to find ways to cover the costs of clean energy projects.

Students, schools race to save clean energy projects in face of Trump deadline

Tanish Doshi was in high school when he pushed the Tucson Unified School District to take on an ambitious plan to reduce its climate footprint. In Oct. 2024, the availability of federal tax credits encouraged the…

Yes! I saw that!! Interesting...

Suddenly sacked Former education stats chief describes her final days under DOGE

The agency that oversees NAEP, and produces the test results that are being cited widely today? That agency has been diminished this year. hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

NAEP scores -- you may be reading or hearing about them today -- include some students at charter schools and some private schools. American students, broadly, it seems, appear to be struggling. www.nationsreportcard.gov/dashboards/s...

Lawsuit saves massive reading experiment This story was reported by and originally published by APM Reports in connection with its podcast Sold a Story: How Teach Kids to Read Went So Wrong. The Zoom call was supposed to be a regular check-in for the team at Boston University. They’d wrapped up work on a massive, federally funded study of a system to detect when kids are having trouble learning to read and get them help immediately. The team was just waiting for the data on the early warning system to be analyzed. But one of the professors, Nancy Nelson, interrupted the call.

Lawsuit saves massive reading experiment

This story was reported by and originally published by APM Reports in connection with its podcast Sold a Story: How Teach Kids to Read Went So Wrong. The Zoom call was supposed to be a regular check-in for the team at Boston University. They’d wrapped up…

A researcher’s view on using AI to become a better writer Writing can be hard, equal parts heavy lifting and drudgery. No wonder so many students are turning to the time-saving allure of ChatGPT, which can crank out entire papers in seconds. It rescues them from procrastination jams and dreaded all-nighters, magically freeing up more time for other pursuits, like, say ... doomscrolling. Of course, no one learns to be a better writer when someone else (or some AI bot) is doing the work for them. The question is whether chatbots can morph into decent writing teachers or coaches that students actually want to consult to improve their writing, and not just use for shortcuts.

A researcher’s view on using AI to become a better writer

Writing can be hard, equal parts heavy lifting and drudgery. No wonder so many students are turning to the time-saving allure of ChatGPT, which can crank out entire papers in seconds. It rescues them from procrastination jams and dreaded…

A gender gap in STEM widened during the pandemic. Schools are trying to make up lost ground IRVING, Texas — Crowded around a workshop table, four girls at de Zavala Middle School puzzled over a Lego machine they had built. As they flashed a purple card in front of a light sensor, nothing happened. The teacher at the Dallas-area school had emphasized that in the building process, there are no such thing as mistakes. Only iterations. So the girls dug back into the box of blocks and pulled out an orange card. They held it over the sensor and the machine kicked into motion. “Oh! Oh, it reacts differently to different colors,” said sixth grader Sofia Cruz.

A gender gap in STEM widened during the pandemic. Schools are trying to make up lost ground

IRVING, Texas — Crowded around a workshop table, four girls at de Zavala Middle School puzzled over a Lego machine they had built. As they flashed a purple card in front of a light sensor, nothing happened.…

Nation’s Report Card at risk, researchers say This story was reported by and originally published by APM Reports in connection with its podcast Sold a Story: How Teach Kids to Read Went So Wrong. When voters elected Donald Trump in November, most people who worked at the U.S. Department of Education weren’t scared for their jobs. They had been through a Trump presidency before, and they hadn’t seen big changes in their department then. They saw their work as essential, mandated by law, nonpartisan and, as a result, insulated from politics. Then, in early February, the Department of Government Efficiency showed up.

Nation’s Report Card at risk, researchers say

This story was reported by and originally published by APM Reports in connection with its podcast Sold a Story: How Teach Kids to Read Went So Wrong. When voters elected Donald Trump in November, most people who worked at the U.S. Department of…

Landmark free preschool program reaches too few kids In the 1980s, a public interest law group sued the state of New Jersey, saying that the way it funded education left its low-income, urban school districts at a disadvantage compared to wealthier, suburban districts. The lawsuit, Abbott v. Burke, yielded a number of different decisions, including a requirement that the state offer free, full-day, high-quality preschool for children ages 3 and 4 in 31 school districts. This new school year marks the 26th since the program was created. Researchers have found that children who attend the preschool program are better prepared for school later on, but enrollment has been dwindling.

Landmark free preschool program reaches too few kids

In the 1980s, a public interest law group sued the state of New Jersey, saying that the way it funded education left its low-income, urban school districts at a disadvantage compared to wealthier, suburban districts. The lawsuit, Abbott v.…

State preschool program helps kids catch up — but many are missing out  This story about Abbott districts was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter. UNION CITY, N.J. — By 7:30 a.m., Jackson had started rushing his father, José Bernard, to leave their house. “Dad, we’re going! We’re going, come on, let’s go.” The 4-year-old was itching to return to his favorite place: Eugenio Maria de Hostos Center for Early Childhood Education, a burst of orange and blue on the corner of Union City’s bustling Kennedy Boulevard.

State preschool program helps kids catch up — but many are missing out 

This story about Abbott districts was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter. UNION CITY, N.J. — By…

Students can’t get into basic college courses, dragging out their time in school Ryan Arnoldy started community college with the goal of eventually transferring to a four-year university and getting a degree in chemical engineering. Soon Arnoldy started running up against the same exasperating bottleneck faced by a majority of university and college students: Classes required for his major were often not taught during the semesters he needed them, or filled so quickly there were no seats left. Colleges and universities manage to provide these required courses when their students need to take them only about 15 percent of the time, new research shows — a major reason fewer than half of students graduate on time, raising the amount it costs and time it takes to get degrees.

Students can’t get into basic college courses, dragging out their time in school

Ryan Arnoldy started community college with the goal of eventually transferring to a four-year university and getting a degree in chemical engineering. Soon Arnoldy started running up against the same exasperating…

A largely invisible role of international students: Fueling the innovation economy PITTSBURGH — Saisri Akondi had already started a company in her native India when she came to Carnegie Mellon University to get a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, business and design. Before she graduated, she had co-founded another: D.Sole, for which Akondi, who is 28, used the skills she’d learned to create a high-tech insole that can help detect foot complications from diabetes, which results in 6.8 million amputations a year. D.Sole is among technology companies in Pittsburgh that collectively employ a quarter of the local workforce at wages much higher than those in the city’s traditional steel and other metals industries.

A largely invisible role of international students: Fueling the innovation economy

PITTSBURGH — Saisri Akondi had already started a company in her native India when she came to Carnegie Mellon University to get a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, business and design. Before she graduated,…

Colleges struggle to make manufacturing training hot again  ELYRIA, Ohio — Nolan Norman had no idea what microelectronic manufacturing entailed when his adviser at Midview High suggested he take the school’s new class on it last year.  Yet once he started fusing metal to circuit boards, he says he was hooked. “When I was little, I thought that wizards made these things,” the 18-year-old joked of the electronics he’s now able to assemble. Despite long “hating” the idea of college, he was motivated to enroll in the microelectronic manufacturing bachelor’s degree program at nearby Lorain County Community College this fall.

Colleges struggle to make manufacturing training hot again 

ELYRIA, Ohio — Nolan Norman had no idea what microelectronic manufacturing entailed when his adviser at Midview High suggested he take the school’s new class on it last year.  Yet once he started fusing metal to circuit boards, he says he…