Education News Update » 03-17-26
OTHER STORIES
Southern States Boost Early Reading, but Gains Stall in Middle School
Parents Opt Kids Out of School Laptops, for Pen and Paper
Majority of Students in Underfunded Districts Concentrated in 10 States
The Lesson of A.I. Literacy Class: Don’t Let the Chatbot Think for You
What SEL Skills Do Graduates Need Most? Report Lists Top Picks
Changing Civics Lessons
A poll from the education nonprofit iCivics, asked a nationally representative group of 2,200 K-12 educators about their instructional choices, perspectives on the field, and concerns for the future. Teachers overwhelmingly said instruction should not have a partisan bent. But they feel that they’re under scrutiny anyway: 35% say they have changed or removed lessons they usually teach, “because of the climate in their school or community.” More than half said teaching basic civics concepts now feels difficult, and almost 6 in 10 said they worried about potential backlash for teaching something the “wrong way.” Twenty percent said they had experienced backlash.
Social Media Trial
The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. The first of these trials has now begun in Los Angeles. The plaintiff says that despite the public position of Meta and YouTube being that they work to protect children and implement safeguards for their use of the platforms, their internal documents show an entirely different position, with explicit references to young children being listed as their target audiences. They drew comparisons between the social media companies and tobacco firms, citing internal communication between Meta employees concerned about the potential harm their platforms can have on children and teens.
The 90/10 Gap
A new study finds that inequalities in learning between high-achieving students and their lower-performing classmates have grown since 2005, when the study data began. In particular, the years since 2013 saw the gap between the 90th and 10th percentile widen dramatically. The divergence was largely driven by stagnation among struggling students, which turned into steep learning losses during the COVID pandemic. Patrick Wolf, an economist and one of the paper’s co-authors, called his findings “demoralizing,” arguing that many American schools are clearly failing the students who most need their help.
These summaries are abbreviated highlights from the original articles. While we strive to capture key insights, these do not represent the full text or intent of the authors. We encourage readers to explore the full articles linked above for complete context.