New– We all know that virtual instruction is not ideal, but surely it's better learning than a full snow day off, right? Actually this is less obvious than it seems. Holding class when engagement is low can set everyone back. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/01/29/s...

This oft-cited stat on is accurate but keep in mind two things. 1) the drop is almost entirely among two-year colleges. Yet inexplicably the discourse has focused on disillusionment with four-year degrees. 2) this data is now outdated after two straight years of surging college enrollment.

New: How will we know if new private school choice programs are working? This will prove difficult to answer in the short term because publicly funded private schools don't typically take the same tests as public schools. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/are-privat...

Really nice and approachable piece from @mattbarnum.bsky.social about the challenges of evaluating new school choice programs (which I happen to especially like because I'm just finishing this chapter of my book!) www.chalkbeat.org/2026/01/27/a...

New: Rahm Emanuel has stepped into a void in the Democratic party on education — but some of his key claims are questionable. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/01/22/r...

New: Taken on its own terms, the Trump administration's case for closing US ED is a bit vexing. Officials suggest this will boost student learning by getting the feds out of the way. But they're also saying that major federal programs will be preserved. So what exactly will change for schools?

“He has not been afraid to touch the third rail and have difficult conversations." Great profile of NYC schools chancellor Kamar Samuels, who has a tough job in front of him. via @alexzimmerman.bsky.social and @amyzimmer.bsky.social www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026...

Here’s what Lindsey Burke, a top Trump administration official and Project 2025 author, told us about funding cuts, students with disabilities, and more.

Join us in about an hour for a discussion on the future of the Education Department: www.eventbrite.com/e/chalkbeat-...

New: My colleague Ann Schimke has been chronicling the creation of a "public Christian school" in Colorado. It is intended as a legal test case and could have major national implications. I spoke with Ann about what she's found and why it matters. nationally.

The next Christian public school test case is in the works. Seems to me like a much weaker case than the Oklahoma Catholic/public school, but we'll see how it plays out. Thanks to @mattbarnum.bsky.social at @chalkbeat.org and Ann Schimke for following this story so closely.

@mattbarnum.bsky.social with a sensible take on declining test scores...no one knows what's going on, and it's probably complicated. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/what-expla...

New: A look at what we know and don't know about the last decade of test score declines. –They've been remarkably pervasive and started before the pandemic. –Other countries have been hit too. –Experts (and everyone else) have theories, but not definitive answers. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/01/08/w...

A new roundup from me: -Was the Mississippi miracle really debunked? -Can better schools help address affordability? -An update: Which party do voters trust on education -Higher-ed's "vibecession" continues cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/a-debunkin...?

RSVP for this upcoming conversation with Lindsey Burke, currently the Education Department's deputy chief of staff and previously of the Heritage Foundation, and let us know what questions you have.

More people are saying... bsky.app/profile/josh...

In the new year Chalkbeat Ideas will host an online event about the Education Department's future with Lindsey Burke of the Trump administration. Join @ericameltzer.bsky.social and me for what I'm sure will be a lively conversation! You can also submit questions. www.eventbrite.com/e/chalkbeat-...

New— Emails I obtained show that a top charter school advocacy group is concerned about moving education programs to the Department of Labor. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/charter-sc...

College costs are soaring! www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...

New— I spoke with @dianeravitch.bsky.social about her new book, a memoir on her many decades in the education policy debates. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/what-diane...

Education groups are jockeying to shape the federal tax-credit scholarship through the rule-making process. But making this scheme, designed to create a voucher-like benefit, work for public school students could be tricky. www.chalkbeat.org/2025/12/09/f...

This is a terrific and helpfully clear piece about what IQ scores do (and don't) mean. www.aft.org/ae/winter202...

Worth listening to @mattbarnum.bsky.social who busts three general myths about higher ed (maybe debunker-in-chief or uncle-debunker?): 1) average tuition has soared; 2) 4YC enrollment has plummeted; 3) it's not worth it to go to college. Plus 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

This UCSD story is driving the national conversation around math education right now. There is plenty of evidence that math outcomes are not nearly where we'd want them to be, but Matt has a predictably nuanced and research-backed take. #edusky

I enjoyed joining @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social to discuss the new mythologies of higher education. Net tuition is not soaring, the value of a degree is not plummeting and neither is four-year college enrollment. educationgadflyshow.substack.com/p/is-the-col...

Important reality check from @mattbarnum.bsky.social on the oft-heard refrain that loosening admissions at selective schools will harm the lower-scoring students who get in by setting them up for failure. Research shows precisely the opposite: those students see real benefits.

New — What the internet backlash over rising remedial math at UC San Diego misses: Yes, it's a problem that math scores are going down, but selective, well-resourced universities are arguably best equipped to help students catch up. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/what-the-i...

NEW: Our look at one of the most important players in the school choice debate: Jeff Yass, the billionaire funding campaigns across the country and in his home state of PA. Got a chance to talk with him at length and he had lots of provocative things to say 1/x www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Great piece by @tktk.bsky.social on the growing backlash to school-issued screens in L.A. www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Great, nuanced @mattbarnum.bsky.social piece My take: Studies demonstrating larger impacts on low-stakes tests & LT outcomes use a no accountability counterfactual that no longer exists. That was the right research q then. But the current policy q is what happens when we mix stronger acc back in.

The rise of accommodations is a legit issue to explore, but this graf conflates two different things. *504 plans* are generally for accommodations. IEPs are for needed educational services and *do not* disproportionately go to advantaged students. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Lots of words here but very little new: the retention as selection bias explanation does not make sense for explaining Mississippi's long-run gains because retained students must eventually move forward. statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/h...

There's a new nostalgia for No Child Left Behind gripping parts of the education world . I took a deep dive into the research to see whether it's really true that NCLB-style school accountability drove learning gains. Answer: yes—with several asterisks cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/would-more...

New: I look at the surprisingly difficult question of how to rank different states' schools (inspired by @jerseyjazzman.bsky.social). I also take a look at a new project summarizing education research on various topics. And more in this Ideas roundup cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/chalkbeat-...

Nice piece by @laurameckler.bsky.social wondering how moving Education Department functions to different federal agencies would "return education to the states." www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Excited to share that I'm writing a book: a history of the debates over funding public schools from the 1960's to now. (Yes the working title is tongue in cheek.) Now I just need to finish writing—stay tuned! And if you want to follow my work, you can do so here: www.chalkbeat.org/newsletters/...

"In surveys conducted this year by eight different organizations, all but one showed Democrats with an edge on education. Voters again now tend to trust Democrats on the issue of education," writes @mattbarnum.bsky.social. www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/18/w...

New– I look at why outsourcing the Education Department is and is not a big deal. It sets up major legal and political fights. But it won't matter for the typical school. Federal influence comes from funding, not the name of the administrative agency. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/why-trump-...

This is, as always, an excellent and comprehensive take from @mattbarnum.bsky.social www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/18/w...

New— There's been a lot of discussion about Democrats losing their historic advantage with voters on education. In fact, this oft-repeated narrative no longer seems to be true. Nearly every poll from this year shows Dems with a clear edge on education. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/voters-sti...

New: Pandemic-era school closures still occupy a significant part of the American political discourse, but do they still matter for student test scores? Answer: yes, but only a bit. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...

Already getting some Discourse wins here. (I take full credit.) www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca...

This is big news: Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group, has helped to seed a test case in Colorado over whether public schools can provide Christian education www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/202...

There’s a big gap between the narrative about higher ed and the data, explains @mattbarnum.bsky.social for @chalkbeat.org. Tuition is actually more affordable, and both the value of a bachelor’s degree and four-year college enrollment remain “near historic highs.” www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/11/i...

Reports of the death of the bachelor’s degree have been greatly exaggerated. Enrollment is near pre-pandemic levels, real tuition is flat or down, and the college wage premium remains high. I explore how the narrative became disconnected from the data. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/is-college...

A study of a large Florida school district found that the effects of immigration enforcement on students’ academic performance was concentrated in high-poverty schools. The test score declines also occurred for U.S. citizen students.

New: I spoke with MagicSchool's Adeel Khan about the AI in schools. –Khan says AI can draft IEPs. -He says that schools should empower students with information to make their "own choices" about AI. –He responds to math errors I ran into in the platform. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/magicschoo...

Technologists have long chased the dream that technology-powered tutoring can improve student learning by two standard deviations, a massive effect. OpenAI is the latest. The problem: Effects of this size are virtually never seen even by human tutors. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...

The Coming AI Teaching Assistant Boom (And Cheating) open.substack.com/pub/curmudgu... @mattbarnum.bsky.social

What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories: –The student cheating problem won't go away. –AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant. –AI will *not* be a super-tutor. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...