According to a 234-page report recently released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), active shooter drills — while intended to make schools safer for students and staff — can cause mental, emotional and behavioral harm for the very populations they seek to protect. As a result,…
On August 7, 2025, Illinois became the first state to require school districts to provide universal mental health screenings for students when SB 1560 was passed into law. Under the law, which goes into effect for the 2027-28 school year, Illinois schools will receive access to free screening tools and…
According to the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), 45 states reported special education teacher shortages in 2024-25 based on data reported to the Education Department. An LPI analysis shows that 48 states and the District of Columbia had 365,967 teachers who were not fully certified for their positions. Teacher preparation enrollment…
Maryland is providing $1 million in grants to 11 colleges and universities within the state to create or expand online programs that will allow federal employees laid off by the Trump administration to earn a teaching license. The move is part of the state’s efforts to address teacher shortages. The…
The leading cause of death in children is firearm injuries and, according to a policy brief from 2021, a child or teen is killed in the U.S. every 2 hours and 48 minutes. Now, a Journal of American Medical Association study has shown that states with permissive gun laws experienced…
On June 9, 2025, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2025 edition of the KIDS COUNT® Data Book, an annually published resource that tracks child well-being across the country. Every year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains — economic well-being, education,…
According to K-12 Dive, a June 3, 2025 report from Attendance Works shows that every state except New Hampshire now publishes chronic absenteeism data on its department of education website, and 43 had published their chronic absenteeism data for 2023-24 as of April. Most states provide chronic absenteeism data by…
For students with disabilities, the opportunity to develop confidence in themselves can help make the college transition less uncertain. This includes supporting their self-advocacy skills, as well as allowing them to explore what a college environment looks like before they start that part of their education. Schools can effectively prepare…
On March 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) announced a massive reduction in force. The most recent cuts, coupled with the previously accepted employee “buyouts,” has eliminated almost 1,900 employees, which drops the employee count from 4,133 when the new administration took over to the current number of…
A high-stakes lawsuit, Texas v. Becerra, is currently making its way through the courts, threatening crucial protections for people with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This federal lawsuit brought by Republican state attorneys general against the Biden Administration's updated disability discrimination regulation, challenges two aspects of that…
