Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent proposal to ban cellphones in New York schools has sparked a heated debate. Advocates argue that phones are a major distraction, pulling students away from learning and exacerbating mental health issues.  On the surface, it seems like a simple solution: remove the distraction, and students will focus. But as someone who...

Dear Madam Secretary, Congratulations and welcome to a place we once knew well. You face any number of tough challenges on behalf of American students, parents, educators and taxpayers, as well as the administration you serve, but your “Department’s Final Mission” speech shows that you’re well prepared to meet them. We particularly admire your commitment to making...

I remember the first day of the historic rain storm back in August 2016. I was happy to get a free day off from classes at Saint Amant High School in Prairieville, Louisiana.  What teenager wouldn’t be?  But the downpour was much worse than anticipated, quickly becoming a life-changing disaster — somewhat like the Los...

This story was originally published on The Conversation. Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: “STEM & Social Impact: Climate Change” What prompted the idea for the course? Harvey Mudd College’s mission is to educate STEM students – short for science, technology, engineering and math –...

Anticipating what Donald Trump and his allies will do can be as much an exercise in scrying as deep analysis. That said, it’s still useful to try and read the tea leaves to at least define the likely contours of possibility. Thus, I want to lay out what I think we might expect from the...

The Los Angeles Unified School District was able to avoid the hard choices that many districts around the state had to make in the 2024–25 budget year. They experienced only a 2% budget reduction and did not have to lay off personnel. This may have been in part because LAUSD was able to rely on...

It’s a crisp Saturday morning in August and the USC campus is abuzz with students.  Football season hasn’t yet started, and classes aren’t in session — and the students in question aren’t college students at all. The campus is overrun with middle schoolers who line two sides of a red carpet waiting to welcome the...

For all the campaign arguments about immigration and the United States border, you’d think that we were embarking upon a new situation, something coming, an arriving novelty barely visible over the horizon. And yet, as far as schools are concerned, this is a past tense debate. The U.S.’s demographic reality is already shifting in remarkable...

Ever since my senior year of high school in the suburban San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, I have tutored students ranging from elementary to high school.  I have always enjoyed working with students and felt it is a way to give back to the community.  When I enrolled at the University of Southern California...

This year, I’ve been speaking with everyday Americans to hear their ideas about the purpose of public schools and how to improve them. One aspiration cuts across all perspectives: Everyone wants their children to feel a sense of belonging in school. Parents can’t understand why this isn’t more of a priority in education policy, and...