Teachers unions leverage contracts to fight climate change

Posted 2025-10-26 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

This story first appeared in Hechinger’s climate and education newsletter. Sign up here.  In Illinois, the Chicago Teachers Union won a contract with the city’s schools to add solar panels on some buildings and clean energy career pathways for students, among other actions. In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators demanded that the district create […] The post Teachers unions leverage contracts to fight climate change appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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OPINION: A shuttered government was not the lesson I hoped my Texas students would learn on a trip to Washington, D.C. 

Posted 2025-10-21 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

After decades serving in the Marine Corps and in education, I know firsthand that servant leadership and diplomacy can and should be taught. That’s why I hoped to bring 32 high school seniors from Texas to Washington, D.C., this fall for a week of engagement and learning with top U.S. government and international leaders.   Instead […] The post OPINION: A shuttered government was not the lesson I hoped my Texas students would learn on a trip to Washington, D.C.  appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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At Moms for Liberty summit, parents urged to turn their grievances into lawsuits

Posted 2025-10-21 03:15:46 by: Melinda King

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — It’s not a rebrand. But the Moms for Liberty group that introduced itself three years ago as a band of female “joyful warriors” shedding domestic modesty to make raucous public challenges to masks, books and curriculum, is trying to glow up. The group’s national summit this past weekend at a convention center […] The post At Moms for Liberty summit, parents urged to turn their grievances into lawsuits appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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Cellphone bans can help kids learn — but Black students are suspended more as schools make the shift

Posted 2025-10-20 10:00:00 by: Melinda King

Thirty states now limit or ban cellphone use in classrooms, and teachers are noticing children paying attention to their lessons again. But it’s not clear whether this policy — unpopular with students and a headache for teachers to enforce — makes an academic difference.  If student achievement goes up after a cellphone ban, it’s tough […] The post Cellphone bans can help kids learn — but Black students are suspended more as schools make the shift appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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OPINION: We cannot let higher education become a gated community for the wealthy, but that’s exactly where it is headed

Posted 2025-10-20 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

Washington lawmakers and the Trump administration passed a major legislative package this summer that will cut funding for programs that help students from low-income backgrounds — making it far harder for these students to afford and complete college.   The leaders behind these cuts claim that they’re necessary to curb wasteful spending and keep higher education […] The post OPINION: We cannot let higher education become a gated community for the wealthy, but that’s exactly where it is headed appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education office

Posted 2025-10-17 17:41:54 by: Melinda King

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 that works on behalf of millions of students with dyslexia and other disorders.  Jacqueline Rodriguez, NCLD’s chief executive officer, recalled pressing McMahon on a question […] The post Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education office appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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Getting preemies the help they need

Posted 2025-10-16 19:25:10 by: Melinda King

Every year, tens of thousands of infants are born prematurely, at a low birthweight, or with other conditions that would make them automatically eligible for therapeutic services that could help them thrive.  When everything goes smoothly, early intervention provides those services, required by federal law for children ages birth to 3. Funding sources for the […] The post Getting preemies the help they need appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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As more question the value of a degree, colleges fight to prove their return on investment

Posted 2025-10-16 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

This story was produced by the Associated Press and reprinted with permission.  WASHINGTON – For a generation of young Americans, choosing where to go to college — or whether to go at all — has become a complex calculation of costs and benefits that often revolves around a single question: Is the degree worth its […] The post As more question the value of a degree, colleges fight to prove their return on investment appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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Big Oil should help foot the bill for lost school time, students say

Posted 2025-10-15 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

This story originally appeared in Hechinger’s climate and education newsletter. Sign up for it here. Last January, Diego Sandoval’s high school in San Diego County closed abruptly one Friday because of wildfires menacing the Southern California area. Classmates evacuated their homes as the fire spread. Frida Vergara, whose school was among the few in the […] The post Big Oil should help foot the bill for lost school time, students say appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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NJ advisory group to probe how students with disabilities are separated from their peers 

Posted 2025-10-15 05:00:00 by: Melinda King

In New Jersey, fewer than half of 6- and 7-year-olds in special education spend the vast majority of their day with their classmates without disabilities. That might change, though, because a state special education advisory group has pledged to examine the issue.  Earlier this year, a Hechinger Report investigation revealed New Jersey is the worst […] The post NJ advisory group to probe how students with disabilities are separated from their peers  appeared first on The Hechinger ...

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