- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is now making videos teaching students about the Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, which determined that students maintain some free speech First Amendment rights in school. Writes Education Week’s Sarah Schwartz, “They argued that book bans represent censorship that limit speech, and they introduce students to the concept of advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations.” The three follow-up videos will cover book bans, the three branches of government, and intro to advocacy groups and non-government organizations, “as told through the history of the ACLU.”
- A 2024 survey of high school history teachers found that almost 80% use the 48-episode Crash Course in US History, a YouTube series by young-adult author John Green. Covering colonization to the 1990s, writes Ms. Schwartz, “Some lessons from online history and civics education providers make explicit connections to current events.”
- On March 2, 2026, the Supreme Court held that policies preventing schools from disclosing a child’s gender transition to their parents are likely unconstitutional. As reported by columnist George Will, according to a report cited by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, “Nearly 6,000 schools have policies that block parents from learning about their children’s gender-identity experimenting and the ways school personnel are involved in it.”
- Finds Common Sense Media’s State of Kids and Families survey of parents and 12- to 18-year-old students:
** 70% of the students said their voices don’t matter in the decisions made by local governments or the federal government.
** 58% of the parents said they want better public schools.
** 55% want better access to mental healthcare.
**53% believe free preschools would greatly improve children’s lives.
** 25% want public education to be a top federal government priority.
** 13% want the federal government to protect children from AI harm
- About state-funded pre-kindergarten:** Some 1.8 million children are enrolled: 37% of 4-year-olds and about 10% of 3-year-olds.
** In 2026, California made every 4-year-old eligible for its “transitional kindergarten (TK) program.”
** California accounts for more than 50% of the increased enrollment, about 25,000 children.
** No state mandates pre-school, while some states make it available to 4-year-olds. - Some teachers and parents believe that, according to federal data, homework assignments, particularly in math, have been steadily declining. However, writing for the Hechinger Report, Ariel Gilreath writes that, “Some studies show that students who spend more time on homework perform better than their peers…” Nevertheless:
** In 2023, 8th graders put in, on average, just 36 minutes on daily homework, down 17% since 2021.
** In 2023, 15% of 8th graders were “no homeworkers,” along with 10.8% of 10th graders. - According to a recent University of Florida and the University College London survey, reading for pleasure has dropped 40% in the last 20 years, about 3% every year. As UF’s Jill Sonke, Ph.D., writes, “Reading for pleasure has long been recognized not just as a tool for education, but as a means of supporting mental health, empathy, creativity, and lifelong learning.”
- Arguing that schools stop teaching foundational reading skills too early, Reading Reimagined researchers find that “all students could benefit from instruction that helps them decode multisyllabic words, the longer, more complicated words that often bear much of a text’s meaning in upper grades’ classrooms. This instruction is so central to reading comprehension that states should include advanced foundational literacy skills in their academic standards for grades 3-8.”
- On a different note: Pennsylvania’s Haverford High School Advanced Placement U.S. history and African American studies teacher, Leon Smith, has been named the 2026 National Teacher of the Year.
~ With thanks, Carol
