Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

A year late, and their schools destroyed, Gaza’s students complete exams

Ghada Abdulfattah, Christian Science Monitor

When Sally Abu Mkhaimer learned in ِAugust 2021 that she had received high marks on the Tawjihi, the Palestinian high school graduation exam, her family behaved as though it was the most important day of her life. They hired a raucous, dozen-member folk band to parade through the streets of Rafah and threw a huge party. Tables sagged under the weight of trays of sweets and gifts for Sally, as the house filled with laughter. The scale of the Mkhaimers’ celebration was in no way unusual. In Gaza, the Tawjihi is far more than a standardized test. In refugee camps, in villages under occupation, on the Strip’s crowded streets, succeeding in the exam has long symbolized endurance – even victory – over a life of narrowly scripted choices. To pass the Tawjihi is to step into adulthood carrying both your own dreams and your country’s.

Judge orders Trump administration to restore more than $500 million in research funds to UCLA

Eric He, Politico

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restart the flow of about $500 million in funding for scientific research it withheld from the University of California, Los Angeles, sparing the university for now from a devastating fiscal blow. While only temporary, the ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin in San Francisco was a significant victory for UCLA and the rest of the sprawling UC system, which has been caught up in a campaign by federal officials to punish high profile universities for what President Donald Trump and other conservatives allege was their overly permissive response to student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza and failure to address antisemitism on their campuses.

The Firing of Educators Over Kirk Comments Follows a Familiar Playbook

Stephanie Saul, New York Times

“NO CLASS TODAY,” read the email. It was the morning after the November 2024 presidential election. “Need time to mourn and process this racist, fascist country.” The email rapidly spread on social media and would soon unravel the career of Prof. James Bowley, who had sent it to the three students enrolled in his “Abortion and Religions” class at Millsaps College. One of them shared it on Instagram. The professor was ordered to leave campus the next day.

Language, Culture, and Power

New laws restrict immigration officers from entering California schools

Zaidee Stavely, Ed Source

Immigration enforcement officers will now have to present a warrant or court order signed by a judge to enter a school campus in California or question a student, and schools and colleges will have to notify all students, faculty and staff when immigration officers are on campus. These changes are the result of two bills, Assembly Bill 49 and Senate Bill 98, which were signed into law Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both bills attempt to protect immigrant students and families and alleviate fears that the Trump administration will conduct immigration enforcement on school campuses after ending a long-standing policy not to conduct immigration enforcement at or around schools or churches. Some research has found that attendance drops when families are afraid that immigration enforcement will occur on campus.

Ethnic studies was supposed to start in California schools. What happened?

Carolyn Jones, Cal Matters

This fall, every high school in California was supposed to offer ethnic studies — a one-semester class focused on the struggles and triumphs of marginalized communities. But the class appears stalled, at least for now, after the state budget omitted funding for it and the increasingly polarized political climate dampened some districts’ appetite for anything that hints at controversy. “Right now, it’s a mixed bag. Some school districts have already implemented the course, and some school districts are using the current circumstances as a rationale not to move forward,” said Albert Camarillo, a Stanford history professor and founder of the university’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. “But I’m hopeful. This fight has been going on for a long time.”

“We Want to Be Seen, Not Surveilled”: Black Students Telling Their Side of the Story

Jaleel Howard, The Educational Forum

While the chronic underperformance of Black students in K-12 schools is well-documented, Black students’ perspectives are notably absent from conversations about school improvement. This study centers Black students as hidden geniuses: knowledgeable stakeholders whose brilliance is often overlooked but who offer invaluable perspectives on the daily functioning of schools. The findings underscore the urgent need for educator preparation programs to equip teachers with the cultural knowledge and relational skills necessary to effectively support Black students.

Whole Children and Strong Communities

Trump administration to hold back grants from NYC, Chicago, Fairfax schools over bathroom policies

Carolyn Thompson, AP News

Three of the nation’s largest public school districts stand to lose $24 million after missing a Trump administration deadline to agree to change policies supporting transgender students, officials said Wednesday. The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights had given New York City Schools, Chicago Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia until Tuesday to agree to stop giving students access to locker rooms and restrooms corresponding with their gender identity or risk losing funding for specialty magnet schools.

Half of Teachers Expect to Buy Food for Students This School Year, Survey Finds

Lauren Wagner, Z Network

Half of educators expect to purchase food for their students this school year, according to a recent survey from the nation’s second-largest teachers union. The American Federation of Teachers published the findings Sept. 10 after research company Grow Progress surveyed 705 members about classroom expenses and federal education policy changes. The union also collected personal insights about student hunger, an issue that previous studies have found is prominent at school and could be impacted by impending government cuts to food assistance programs. “Every year, public school educators dig into their own pockets to help their students get the education they deserve,” union President Randi Weingarten said in a press release. “They pay for books, decorations, paper, pencils and, yes, even food.”

With students back on campus, schools need a broader approach for addressing their mental health needs 

Erin Andrews, Hechinger Report

Many colleges are facing a steady surge in mental health crises, but their infrastructure hasn’t kept pace — even as the number of students reporting suicidal or self-injurious behavior has risen sharply over the past decade, along with the number of students reporting psychological distress and loneliness. While our understanding of crisis intervention and suicide prevention has deepened in recent years, the systems designed to protect students often lag behind. Despite research showing that early identification and broad community support are critical, many colleges still rely on traditional care models that place the full load of crisis response on counseling centers, contributing to staff burnout. 

Access, Assessment, Advancement

The New Reality of College Debt [Audio]

Monnica Chan, Scholars Strategy Network’s No Jargon

Student loans are shaping the college experience more than ever. As tuition rises and financial aid rules keep changing, more students are taking on college debt. Professor Monnica Chan explains what’s happening with student loans, Pell Grants, and repayment plans, and how these choices affect students long after graduation. She discusses the real impact of debt on college affordability, career decisions, and family life—and what solutions could make paying for college less stressful. For more on this topic Listen to Chan speak about proposed federal student aid regulations: Nine Scholars Provide Public Comment at U.S. Department of Education Hearing on Student Loan Reforms Read the piece she co-authored in The Conversation: 5 things to consider before taking out a student loan

‘Fear and hopelessness’: study finds one in four professors consider leaving US south

Olivia Empson, The Guardian

Many professors in the US south, particularly in Florida, South Carolina and Texas, are considering leaving their state because of the impact the political climate is having on education, according to a new survey by the American Association of Professors. Of those interviewed in the survey, roughly a quarter of respondents said they applied for a job in higher education in another state since the start of 2023. Heather Houser worked as a professor in the English department, teaching American literature and environmental humanities, at the University of Texas at Austin for 14 years. Like the growing number of professors in the stronghold Republican state, she found the increasing government oversight on higher education alarming. Houser left Texas earlier this year for a new teaching position at The University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Colleges pull back as Trump cuts programs that help migrant students

Jordan Owens, NPR

Some colleges have laid off staff members and cut back services after the Trump administration halted funding for programs that help students from migrant families attend and succeed in college. The College Assistance Migrant Program, also known as CAMP, has served about 2,400 students annually at colleges and universities since its creation in 1972. Focusing on first-year students, with continued support through their college years, CAMP provides students with internship resources, mental health counseling, tutoring and financial aid.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

Increasing Educational Inequality in Biological Aging Among U.S. Adults Aged 50-79 From 1988-1994 to 2015-2018

Mateo P Farina, Jung Ki Kim , and Eileen M Crimmins, Demography

Educational inequality in health has been increasing in the United States. The growth in health inequality has not been limited to specific conditions but has been observed across a wide range of outcomes, including disability, multimorbidity, self-rated health, and mortality. This study used data for adults aged 50-79 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to assess changes in biological aging across education groups over a 25-year period. We found that while biological aging slowed for each education group, educational inequality increased owing to greater improvements among those with the highest education levels. Specifically, biological age differences between adults with 0-11 years of schooling and adults with 16+ years of schooling grew from one year in 1988-1994 to almost two years in 2015-2018. Growing inequality in biological aging was not attenuated by changes in smoking, obesity, or medication use. Overall, these results point to an increasing difference in physiological dysregulation by education among U.S. older adults, which might remain a source of greater and growing inequality in morbidity, disability, and mortality in the near future.

Equal rather than ‘other’

Fatima Kamran, International News

Education in Pakistan is largely spoken of in terms of books, exams, and grades. In reality, schools are far more than just learning factories; they are institutions that mould the very fabric of society. The kind of schooling a nation chooses determines the type of citizens it produces. Education policymakers must reflect on whether our schools are truly preparing children for life or merely for the next test. Much of the current system runs like a conveyor belt. Children memorise lessons, sit for exams, move up a grade — and repeat the process all over again. While this may produce literate students, it does not guarantee the creation of educated citizens. Education, in its fullest sense, is meant to cultivate empathy, respect, cooperation, tolerance and responsibility — qualities that enable societies to hold together and move forward. And this is where co-education becomes critical.

Majority of girls and young women in UK alter behaviour to feel safe, study finds

Enmin Sinmaz, The Guardian

Two-thirds of girls and young women have changed their everyday behaviour to try to stay safe, with 31% avoiding taking public transport alone, according to a survey by the Girlguiding charity. The research found that 56% of girls and young women in the UK aged between 11 and 21 said they feel unsafe travelling by themselves, up from 45% in 2022, while almost one-third said they avoided public transport altogether. Girlguiding’s annual Girls’ Attitudes survey found that 86% of respondents have avoided going out after dark to stay safe, with girls of colour less likely to step out.

Democracy and the Public Interest

California School Boards: Navigating Democracy In Divided Times

Julie Marsh, James Bridgeforth, Jacob Alonso, Akunna Uka, Laura Mulfinger, and Miguel Casar, USC Rossier School of Education

Local school boards have historically played a major role in the function and character of U.S. schools by providing fiscal oversight, shaping policy, and creating avenues for community voice, representation, and accountability. As such, school boards have regularly served as critical sites for political struggle and public discourse on a range of issues (e.g., school integration, teaching of evolution), at times perpetuating inequity, and at others challenging it. In early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, partisan politics increasingly seeped into school board meetings and elections. This was particularly true regarding decisions about mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and school reopenings. During this period, school boards also came into the media spotlight as local sites for national culture wars including issues related to the teaching

of race and racism, LGBTQ+ issues, book bans, etc.. Growing demands on schools, rapid advancements in technology, political extremism (Rogers et al., 2024), and well-coordinated attacks on public education are now further testing the capacity, legitimacy, and purpose of these democratic institutions. An increase in recall elections, uncontested races, and board turnover are all manifestations of the current strains on boards.

Arizona public schools remain ranked last in the US as voucher spending hits $1 billion

Caitlin Sievers, AZ Mirror

Arizona’s public education system has maintained its dead-last ranking in a survey of all 50 states for the second year in a row. The rankings, released last week by Consumer Affairs, a product information and research company, scored states by evaluating graduation rates, standardized test scores, funding levels, class size, quality of higher education and safety.Arizona scored among the worst on all of those metrics except for higher education. The Grand Canyon State was ranked dead last for public school funding, 49th for student performance and 47th for school safety. The state’s colleges and universities fared comparatively better, ranking 35th in the nation.

Is Oklahoma Breaking Public Schools? [Audio]

Hanna Rosin, Radio Atlantic

Testing the line between church and school is a recurring American theme. In Pennsylvania in 2004, a school board tried to introduce teaching “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution. In 2002 in Georgia, a board tried to add a disclaimer to textbooks saying that evolution was “a theory, not a fact.” And 2025 is, after all, the 100th anniversary of the Scopes “monkey trial,” when Tennessee put a public-school teacher on trial for teaching evolution.

But what’s been happening to American public schools lately is different: more coordinated, more creative, and blanketing the nation. Pressure on what kids learn and read is coming from national parents’ movements, the White House, the Supreme Court.

Other News of Note

Transatlantic Fugitivity: Irony, Empire, and Transnational Citizenship

Adam Dahl, Political Theory

The role of irony and sarcasm has been widely noted in Frederick Douglass’s 1852 Fifth of July oration. In this paper, I use a different and neglected episode in Douglass’s career as an orator—specifically, his exile and speaking tour in the British Isles from 1845–1847—to examine his ironic rhetoric in a transnational frame. In the transnational mode of ironic rhetoric employed during his exile, irony proceeds through the figurative transposition of symbolic meaning in contrasting geopolitical entities—for instance, a contrast wherein Douglass’s condition of freedom in “monarchical” Britain provides a source of rebuke for practices of enslavement in “democratic” America. I then explore how Douglass deployed similar rhetorical techniques upon his return in his critique of U.S. expansionism during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). In expanding the boundaries of irony to encapsulate a transatlantic audience, he uses sarcasm and rebuke to call into existence a transnational democratic citizenry. Doing so first requires breaking down patriotic modes of identification that shield the slaveholding and imperial nation-state from criticism. The purpose of irony is not simply to instill a sense of sympathy with the enslaved and conquered. It is to lead citizens to withhold sympathy from slaveholders and expansionists. Ironically, the impetus for democratic transformation comes from without rather than from within the nation.