Aug. 21 marks 50 years since the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was passed into law. Back then, student privacy looked a lot different than it does today: The classrooms and textbooks of yesteryear presented much less risk than Google or artificial intelligence do, but education officials still had growing concerns over databases...

It is a bromide in a presidential election year to fret that young people will not turn out to vote, and that the election will therefore be dominated — as in so many past years — by wealthy older voters. As thoughtful observers have already pointed out, that notion is — statistically and philosophically — a red...

In the last few weeks news media outlets have reported problems with Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) new AI chatbot portal.  But while district officials work through the program’s kinks, for many Latino and Indigenous families, talk about the use of advanced technologies to improve or simplify communication with schools is daunting. Even parents...

In an era when partisan echo chambers have produced polarized public discourse and a politically aligned unwillingness to entertain inconvenient facts, clear investigative journalism is among the highest forms of public service. It’s also increasingly rare, with many media outlets struggling to find their footing in an era of financial, political and technological instability. More...

This summer, everyone from homeschoolers to large urban districts like Los Angeles Unified is trying to process what artificial intelligence will mean for the coming school year. Educators find themselves at a crossroads — AI’s promise for revolutionizing education is tantalizing, yet fraught with challenges. Amid the excitement and the angst, and the desire to...

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case Milliken v. Bradley, which is regarded by many academics and observers as one of the most consequential judicial decisions in our nation’s history. The 1974 decision overturned a desegregation plan in Detroit that would have encompassed both the Detroit Public Schools and 53 nearby...

Excited graduates wearing caps and gowns walk across the stage. After exhorting speeches, auditoriums and bleachers erupt in tears, hugs and laughter as one milestone is passed and another era begins. As the nation’s school districts celebrate this transition in the lives of the Class of 2024, they are also preparing for the transition from...

It’s been 70 years since the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education ruling that declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. We recognize that Brown was a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Yet we also acknowledge its profound consequences. Before Brown, in the 17 states that had segregated school systems, 35% to 50% of...

While debates rage over who should win admission to selective high schools, public education leaves millions of talented young people, many of them students of color and from low-income backgrounds, without access to advanced learning. Vanderbilt University researchers have found that high-achieving students from the wealthiest 20% of U.S. families are six times more likely...

In the realm of high school counseling, the traditional narrative has often centered around the four-year college experience as the sole path to success. However, as demands of the workforce change, it’s time to recognize that there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to post-secondary education. To ensure equitable support for all students, schools must adopt a...