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-...

New: Margaret Spellings, the former Education Secretary under George W. Bush, tells me that she does not think it would be a good idea to close the Department of Education. Actually, she says, it would be inefficient. Check out our full interview: cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/the-former...

The first installment of @chalkbeat.org’s new “ideas” column does not disappoint. @mattbarnum.bsky.social brings his characteristically open mind, thorough research, and even-handed assessment to education’s much-discussed “Southern surge.” www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/28/l...

Great article by @mattbarnum.bsky.social cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/the-southe...

New: I try to unpack what we do and don't know about the "Southern surge" in student learning cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/the-southe...

"There have been some notable Southern success stories, especially in fourth grade. ... Eighth grade results have been less impressive for these Southern exemplars, though." www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/28/l... from @mattbarnum.bsky.social in his debut Ideas piece for @chalkbeat.org.

It's happening: The first Chalkbeat Ideas newsletter will go out tomorrow with a detailed look at data on the "Southern surge." You can sign up to get the newsletter here: www.chalkbeat.org/newsletters/... Learn more about my we're launching this new project here: www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/27/i...

Colorado now has what appears to the be the first-ever self-identified "public Christian school." Expect litigation to follow. www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/202...

It seems very plausible that there is room to be smarter w/ contracting. But also notable that they didn't offer many examples. The only one Mamdani offered is DOE did not rigorously track the technology it bought for remote learning in the middle of a global health emergency

My last piece at WSJ looks at how traditional public schools are trying to win back students and the public in the face of intense political pressure, declining birth rates, and more competition. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

This is my last week at the Wall Street Journal. I'll be returning to Chalkbeat to launch a new section focused on the big ideas and debates in American education. More on this soon! You can sign up to keep following my work here: www.chalkbeat.org/newsletters/...

New: A look at the latest 12th grade test scores, which paint a grim picture.* *Officials acknowledge, though, that rising graduation rates could complicate the longer-run interpretation of these results if more low-performing students are now taking the test. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: The Trump administration is now targeting race-neutral efforts to achieve racial diversity. This marks a striking shift from what some opponents of affirmative action had previously argued. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Our look at huge changes to civil rights enforcement for schools: -A reversal in what's considered discrimination w/ reverse racial discrimination and transgender sports cases prioritized -Severe staff cuts leaving thousands of others unresolved. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

New: The Education Department's cuts have left the niche, government-backed "industry" of education research in a dire state. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

What are the top books assigned in U.S. high schools? Turns out they're mostly the same as thirty years ago. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: SCOTUS clears the way for Trump's deep staffing cuts at the Education Department www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New: Schools and education leaders are in a bind this summer after learning last week that several billion dollars of federal funding may not show up after all. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: Democrats find themselves increasingly divided over how to approach K-12 education. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: The school choice/voucher proposal embedded in the tax bill would expand subsidies for private schools—and savvy investors. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

My full interview with Linda McMahon. www.wsj.com/video/series... A few interesting tidbits: -She briefly appears to conflate foreign 'activists' and 'terrorists' (2:00) -She reiterates that only Congress can close USED (10:30) ...

New: Linda McMahon is seeking to shutter the Education Department—while also expanding its reach into schools and universities. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Big day for education law. SCOTUS deadlocks 4-4 on religious charters, meaning this issue remains unsettled www.wsj.com/us-news/law/... Lower court halts Trump's effort to dimantle USED. Admin says they'll appeal www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New: "Grading for equity" continues to spread in schools—but does it work? www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: Are charter schools really public? Can they be religious? The Supreme Court is about to decide. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New from me: K-12 schools and leaders have, to a significant extent, been resisting Trump's various efforts to remake education. It's not clear how long this can last, though. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: Inside the dismantling of the Education Department that's already begun. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New: Trump signed the long-awaited (and previously reported!) executive order aimed at abolishing the Education Department. Here's what it means and what it doesn't mean. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

NEW from me and @deepa.bsky.social: AI-powered cheating remains a major problem in schools and colleges. There's good reason to worry that more students are outsourcing their work and learning to a chatbot. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chat...

Today, @mattbarnum.bsky.social and I detailed how educators are still struggling with the fallout of AI in their classroom with students surrounded by a thicket of conflicting advice about AI’s use as well as companies explicitly trying to get them to cheat via social media ads.

In change of plans, White House is now saying not expect the executive order today. bsky.app/profile/matt...

Scoop: A draft executive order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” It could come as soon as today. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

NEW: Peggy Carr, commissioner of the Nat'l Center on Education Statistics and a two-decade+ veteran at Educ Dept, was abruptly put on leave today. She runs NAEP, the national math and reading tests seen as important marker of educational progress www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

New: Chicago Public Schools' "Black Student Success Plan" faces a civil rights challenge. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Thoughtful piece by @marklieberman.bsky.social on the complexity of linking school funding and NAEP scores. www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

New from me: Regular civil rights enforcement at the Education Department has been curtailed in recent weeks because some staff face a ban on external communications, sharply limiting their day-to-day work. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New: Why Trump's Department of Education has proactively launched an investigation into the bathroom policies of a single Denver high school. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: The Trump admin is weighing executive orders aiming at dismantling the Department of Education. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

New: After pandemic-era declines, there's been little progress on national tests since—in fact reading scores have fallen even further. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Many ed-tech companies say their products lead to remarkable gains in student learning, citing internal analyses. But as we show in our recent piece—examining the popular digital learning platform IXL—there is often more than meets the eye to these claims. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New from me: Why there are so few male teachers in U.S. public schools—and why have their ranks been declining in recent decades? One theory: the teacher pay "penalty" is worse for men than for women. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

New: In recent years, there has been huge growth of technology in schools—walk into a random American classroom and there's a good chance you'll see students on screens. But is this good learning? I dig in with @wsj.com colleagues. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Yikes. Here is the full post on this: www.studentclearinghouse.org/news/nationa... bsky.app/profile/jill...

NEW: Girls have consistently lost more academic ground than boys since the pandemic. This is clear across a wide range of tests, but has gotten little attention to date. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

The ESSER "fiscal cliff" happened with a whimper, not a bang. Why? a) it's been bad! just not widely reported on b) it will be bad next year! c) it's been kinda bad but not disastrous d) it's not been bad b/c school leaders planned for it e) it's not been bad b/c state/local money filled gaps

The other interesting implication here—even holding aside change over time—is that the 18-24 cohort does not look much worse than older cohorts. That said, the U.S. as a whole doesn't look good compared to other countries. www.wsj.com/us-news/amer... bsky.app/profile/matt...

Before the misPIACCery (?) goes too far, I wanted to note: "Comparisons of 2023 results with 2012/14 and 2017 PIAAC assessments need to be made with caution due to differences in the assessments and scoring methodology."