Author: Kerry McDonald

There are mounting concerns over profound learning loss due to prolonged school closures and remote learning. New data released last week by the US Department of Education reveal that fourth-grade reading and math scores dropped sharply over the past two years. Fingers are waving regarding who is to blame, but the alleged “learning loss” now being exposed is more reflective of the nature of forced schooling rather than how children actually learn. The current hullabaloo over pandemic learning loss mirrors the well-worn narrative regarding “summer slide,” in which children allegedly lose knowledge over summer vacation. In 2017, I wrote an…

The new academic year hasn’t even begun and public school enrollment is already not looking good in some parts of the country. Seattle Public School fall enrollment is projected to be down to its lowest rate in a decade, declining even further from last year’s significant drop. Similarly, the New York City public schools shared data last week suggesting a continued dip in public school enrollment, with more than 28,000 fewer students expected to attend a district school this fall. “We have a hemorrhaging of families that are leaving the city, leaving the school system,” said New York City Mayor…

“Our goal is to have a system in which every family in the U.S. will be able to choose for itself the school to which its children go,” the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman stated in 2003. “We are far from that ultimate result. If we had that, a system of free choice, we would also have a system of competition, innovation, which would change the character of education.” Last week, Arizona lawmakers moved us much closer to that ultimate result. Legislators in that state, which already had some of the most robust school choice policies in the US, passed…

The past two years have been marked by major education disruption at the K-12 level, as more families questioned the schooling status quo during prolonged school closures and remote learning. They left district schools in droves, choosing instead to become independent homeschoolers, join learning pods and microschools, or find high-quality virtual learning platforms. Public school enrollment plummeted during the 2020/2021 academic year, and continued its decline this academic year in many areas, despite the fact that schools reopened for full-time, in-person learning.  Higher education is seeing a similar trend. College enrollment dropped in the 2020/2021 school year as many colleges…

Over the past two years of social and economic disruption, U.S. education has experienced an extraordinary transformation that can best be defined by 3 “Es”: Empowerment, Exit and Entrepreneurship. Empowerment Beginning in the spring of 2020, and prompted by widespread school closures and remote schooling, parents began to reclaim control of their children’s education. For some, getting a close-up look at their children’s classrooms and curriculum over Zoom was the prompt they needed to make a change. For others, they may have long pondered a different learning environment for their children but lacked the catalyst to take the leap. The…

This article is excerpted from LiberatED, a weekly email newsletter where FEE Senior Education Fellow Kerry McDonald brings you news and analysis on current education and parenting topics. Click here to sign up. Since 2020, more families have been fleeing local district schools for other options. Homeschooling rates doubled in that year alone and remain high today. Home-based “pandemic pods” have evolved into established microschools and co-op arrangements that have worked better for many families than a conventional classroom. Catholic schools, like other private schools, were more likely to remain open while district schools were closed and have experienced their…

It’s 2022 but you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s still 2020—especially if you have children enrolled in K-12 district schooling. Some parents are grappling this week with a return to, or threat of, remote learning first introduced nearly two years ago. Fear of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus is leading school officials across the country to once again shutter schools. In Cleveland, for example, this first week of school for the new year is entirely remote for public school students. Several districts throughout Ohio are following suit, while others are re-imposing 2020 virus-related restrictions or extending the holiday…

We shouldn’t be too surprised that the ongoing exodus from public schools is leading those loyal to government-run schooling to go on the offensive. A new Washington Post Op-Ed is leading the charge, boldly declaring in its headline: “Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.” The two authors, Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire, clearly fear the collapse of public schooling if parents gain access to more education choices. So, they’re attacking parents for having the audacity to think they could actually make such choices. The authors sneer at parents for challenging “experts” like them…

Many parents pulled their children out of school last year for homeschooling and other private options, as schools remained shuttered due to the coronavirus response. Nationwide, homeschooling numbers tripled last year from their pre-pandemic levels, driven largely by black families who left district schools for homeschooling at the highest rate of any demographic group and are now over-represented in the homeschooling population compared to K-12 public schools. With most schools open for full-time, in-person learning this year, it seemed reasonable to assume that parents would eagerly re-enroll their children in their local district school, tabling last year’s alternative education plans.…

Illinois legislators last week voted in favor of enacting new “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” in the state’s teacher education programs. Beginning in October, all Illinois teacher training programs must start to reflect the new standards that focus on “systems of oppression,” with teacher trainees required to “understand that there are systems in our society that create and reinforce inequities, thereby creating oppressive conditions.” Under the new standards, all teachers-in-training are also expected to “explore their own intersecting identities,” “recognize how their identity…affects their perspectives and beliefs,” “emphasize and connect with students about their identities,” and become “aware of…

As district school closures enter their 11th month, many parents are frustrated and angry. They may see private schools that have been open for in-person learning since the start of the academic year and wonder why their own children are forced to endure remote schooling indefinitely. They may ask why in some parts of the country district schools have been open for in-person learning for months. To a large degree, the answer lies in the power and influence of local teachers unions to determine whether or not schools reopen for in-person classes. As a case in point, district schools in…