Free Republic

The College Board reduced the Reading and Writing portion of the SAT exam by up to 500 words, arguing the length was nonessential in assessing students' aptitude.. One expert projects the ACT will soon cut its standards as well. In 2024, the College Board introduced sweeping changes to the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), made largely without the awareness of lawmakers. According to a June 18 op-ed by Michael Torres, the policy director for the Classical Learning Test (CLT), one major change was the format switch from paper to computerized testing. This allows the exam to be adaptable, which means that...

“We’re aware; the challenge here is finding a federal hook. But WH has been in touch about whether we can assist in some form or fashion.”America First Legal shared documents with Fox News showing communication between the Biden White House and the DOJ over the memo that demonized protesting parents at school board meetings. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memo weaponized the FBI against these parents after the National School Boards Association begged former President Joe Biden’s administration to intervene. The NSBA described the protests as “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” The memo came out on October 4,...

There’s an old saying that goes, something that can’t go on forever won’t. Chicago is now in the early stages of learning that this applies to their public school system. They’re facing a massive budget deficit of $734 million and are on pace to lay off almost 1,500 teachers and staffers. Perhaps Mayor Brandon Johnson should have been more focused on delivering the services that American citizen taxpayers paid for and less on the needs of illegal immigrants and Chicago’s ‘sanctuary city’ status. ... Chicago Public Schools parents and community members sounded off on Monday, three days after the district...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN Political Contributor and Democratic strategist Paul Begala said that while he disagrees with bans on gender transitions for children, it’s “crazy” for states like California to keep schools from telling parents about their children transitioning. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) said, “[T]his is one of the reasons why the Democrats are losing on an issue like this, because, again, if you can’t definitively tell — I have a six, a four, and a 2-year-old. My six and four-year-old, they think that they’re Anna and Elsa and my little boy thinks he’s Lightning McQueen....

The education news outlet Chalkbeat recently highlighted a Denver, Colo. elementary school that’s teaching students as young as age 3 about environmental damage. Mental-health professionals praise their efforts, saying the lessons can help prevent “eco-anxiety,” a “chronic fear of environmental doom.” The mental-health industry’s logic is self-serving: Introduce kids to the idea of Earth’s demise, then step in to manage their worry. Climate catastrophism has come to the classroom — and, as one educator put it, it’s “scaring the kids to death.” Human beings aren’t born aware of our supposed environmental crisis. The fear of climate change — and therapists’...

In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a seismic shift caught many political analysts off guard: young voters, assumed to be a reliably progressive demographic, showed unprecedented support for conservative candidates. This was no fleeting anomaly. Rather, it reflects a cultural transformation among America's youth, in particular young men, one that is steering them toward traditionalism and a rejection of the liberal paradigms that have dominated their cultural landscape for decades. From a resurgence of traditional religious practices to a renewed appreciation for authentic, skill-driven music, the young are embracing values that align with Traditionalism. As politics is downstream from culture,...

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits medical schools, will no longer consider Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs during evaluations. Another medical education accreditor announced earlier this month that it would suspend diversity requirements. ... The Liaison Committee on Medical Education—which accredits medical schools around the country—has announced that it will no longer consider Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs during its evaluations. On May 19, the committee, which is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) decided to eliminate DEI considerations as part of its criteria for assessing medical schools’ performances, ... The Liaison Committee...

A bill seeking to allow Texas public and charter schools to hold voluntary prayer and readings of religious texts has stalled after lawmakers failed to take action on the legislation. The House Committee on State Affairs grappled with Senate Bill 11, which would allow school boards to decide whether to carve out time for private prayer or readings from religious texts, such as the Bible. The bill, which passed the Senate 24-6 in March, sparked intense debate last Wednesday before being left pending at the session’s close, signaling further deliberation ahead. Authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, and introduced in...

A Brooklyn teen was busted for allegedly making multiple threats to schools across Texas and Florida – even personally targeting a relative of one of the victims of the 2022 Uvalde school massacre on TikTok, authorities announced this week. The 16-year-old boy was picked up May 1 at his Brooklyn home and charged with one felony count of making terroristic threats, the Uvalde Police Department said Wednesday. In addition to the threats to the Uvalde shooting victim’s family, he is accused of making multiple “swatting” – or false report – calls and sending threats to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School...

SVU detective exposed the buffalo school system

Lefty activists pushed a resolution this week to issue a predator warning to schools if Andrew Cuomo is elected mayor. The bizarre political stunt happened Wednesday at the Community Education Council meeting for District 2. The motion called on the city to protect students and staff, specifically from Cuomo. It referenced his 2021 resignation following a report by state Attorney General Letitia James into allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women. “Given the extremely serious nature of the allegations against Cuomo . . . CEC2 urges the City Council to institute protocols to safeguard students and school staff from a...

In what many citizens concerned with the survival of Austria as a European nation-state are calling a demographic tipping point, Muslims have now become the largest religious group in Vienna’s compulsory schools, comprising a striking 41.2% of all students across primary, secondary, and vocational education levels. The stark demographic shift has sparked outrage among conservatives and nationally-minded citizens in Austria, with the Freedom Party (FPÖ) warning that the capital is being culturally transformed beyond recognition. “This is no longer immigration. This is displacement,” said Maximilian Weinzierl, national council member and leader of the FPÖ’s youth wing. “41.2% of Muslim students—that’s...

Mesquite ISD’s $600 Million Bond Would Cost $1.1 Billion With Interest School district property taxpayers are already on the hook for $979 million in bond debt principal and interest. Yet the district’s bond marketing claims the billion-dollar debt will have minimal impact on Mesquite ISD taxpayers, who are already on the hook for $979 million in outstanding bond debt principal and interest. All this while only 42% of the district’s 38,000 students meet or exceed grade levels across all subjects

Baltimore’s public school district is going on a hiring spree while student enrollment plummets and test scores remain in the basement. Baltimore City Public Schools inflated its number of employees by nearly 19% over the six years between 2018 and last year, according to Maryland State Department of Education data analyzed by Fox 45’s Project Baltimore, an investigative initiative on the city’s floundering schools. The school district hired 1,714 more staffers while the number of students plummeted by 4,781 or 6%, the data show. It wasn’t mostly teachers the district hired, either. Over those six years, the district hired 992...

New figures show that ethnic Austrians are about to become a minority in Vienna’s elementary schools. For the first time, Muslim pupils are now the largest religious group in Vienna's schools. According to recent figures, they make up 41.2% of pupils, while Christian pupils have dropped to 34.5%. The rapid demographic change has prompted Austria’s largest party FPÖ to sound the alarm. ”41.2% Muslim pupils - it's no longer a minority, it's becoming the new majority. This isn't immigration anymore, it's displacement,” says the head of FPÖ’s youth wing Max Weinzierl. The figures come from the city's school council. They...

The Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Board of Education are co-sponsoring a California bill that would establish school campuses as safe havens from immigration enforcement activity, as fears around deportations and arrests ramp up in Bay Area communities amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on noncitizens. Introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat who represents Torrance, AB 49 — the California Safe Haven Schools Act — would prohibit school employees from allowing immigration officers on campuses without a warrant or approval from school officials. The bill would also require immigration officers who are allowed on...

They’ve filed complaints with the Department of Education Local parents who opted their kids out of a student survey about sexual activity and gender activity are “livid” after the district still gave the survey to them. Burlington parents have now filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education in the wake of survey-gate, claiming the district violated the “Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment” by giving the questionnaire to students against their parents’ wishes. The controversial survey last month that was given to both middle and high school students in Burlington Public Schools had questions about: sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender...

Talk about unintended consequences! In 2023, Maryland Democrats voted to stick it to the Catholic-Church by lifting the statute of limitations on suing for child sexual abuse after an investigative report of the Archdiocese of Baltimore showed over 600 children had been abused there since the 1940s. Now, this might have been well intentioned, but it was also a clear attempt, and a successful one, to damage the Catholic Church in Maryland. But while the lawmakers were busy high-fiving the destruction of those awful Catholics, they ended up stepping in their own trap. Much to their chagrin, they had forgotten...

The parents of a nine-year-old girl have said they were held at a police station for 11 hours because they complained about their daughter’s primary school. . . Allen, a Times Radio producer, said six police officers turned up at his home on 29 January. He told Sky News: “When you watch the doorbell footage, you think, what are these six police officers doing? What is this operation? .. Allen had reportedly communicated to the school in May 2024 regarding the recruitment of a new headteacher but his queries were rejected. The school’s governors then reportedly wrote to the parent...

A federal judge has ruled against the Denver public schools system’s attempts to block immigration officials from carrying out raids on school grounds, marking a win for the Trump administration as it looks to ramp up its deportation efforts. U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said Denver Public Schools failed to prove that a recent drop in student attendance at schools was due to the Trump administration reversing a 2021 Biden-era policy of protecting schools — and other sensitive areas like churches — from ICE raids. There are currently more than 1.4 million individuals on ICE's final order of removal docket....