Best Education Journalism of the Week (06/06/2025)
In this week’s newsletter: McMahon and Schwinn appear before Congress — and Elon Musk trashes Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Great stories about special education, English learners, and hidden obstacles that keep kids from school. A roundup of non-traditional journalists and approaches. AEI’s Rick Hess interviews the New York Times’ Dana Goldstein (this afternoon!). And: Trump’s big middle school commencement address.
WILD WEEK IN WASHINGTON
The big education story of the week
The big education story of the week is the appearance of two key Trump administration education officials before Congress — and the possibility that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is in trouble in the Senate.
First, EdSec Linda McMahon appeared to talk about the Trump administration’s budget and policy priorities (NPR, Providence Journal, The Hill). It wasn’t a DeVos-level implosion, but it didn’t go smoothly.
Then, Nominee Penny Schwinn appeared to talk about her priorities if she is approved, which seemed to go much better (Chalkbeat, The 74, EdWeek). Just a month after Trump tapped her for the department, Schwinn registered a new consulting business in Florida (The 74).
Now up for deliberation in the Senate, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would cut Pell Grants and other services to vulnerable students, but it appeared to be in increasing trouble of stalling even before Elon Musk started eviscerating it (and Trump) on Twitter (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Washington Post, The Hill).Trump’s budget includes a 15% funding cut to the Education Department and would eliminate dozens of small programs along with services that benefit English learners (NPR, New York Times, EdWeek, EdSource).
Other big education stories of the week include the release of the Milford (MA) student from ICE custody, the ongoing disputes between the Trump administration and Harvard, and cancer fears prompt 21 teachers to leave a Missouri elementary school. Follow @thegrade_ for daily education news, Monday through Friday.
SPECIAL ED, ENGLISH LEARNERS, & HIDDEN OBSTACLES
The best education journalism of the week
In no particular order:
🏆 What School Leaders Learned When They Talked to Families About Absenteeism (Edweek)
🏆 Waiting to learn: How Chicago’s approach to staffing bilingual education programs falls short (Chalkbeat)
🏆 Young kids with and without disabilities can learn side by side. One state has instead kept them apart for years (Hechinger Report)
🏆 ‘Shot down at every turn’: Nebraska school districts frequently deny transfers to kids with disabilities (Flatwater Free Press).
🏆 Discrimination cases unravel as Trump scraps core civil rights tenet (Washington Post)
MAKE ROOM FOR NON-TRADITIONAL NEWS!?
Our latest columns and commentary
With traditional journalism knocked off its pedestal, alternative outlets, voices, and platforms are on the rise.
Many provide commentary and analysis, but the most valuable new sources — including the handful included in this week’s roundup — bring us information we haven’t seen before.
Where do you get your education news? Which new, non-traditional sources and approaches are most worth emulating?
See additional alternatives below.
PEOPLE, JOBS, & EVENTS
Who’s going where and what’s happening
📰 Events & segments: WNYC’s Brian Lehrer had John B. King on his show, talking about his new book TEACHER BY TEACHER. The New York Times’ Ezra Klein talked about Educating Kids in the Age of A.I. with co-author Rebecca Winthrop not too long ago. Hess and Rotherham and Nat Malkus talked about the Education Writers Association conference on the latest AEI Report Card podcast. Hess and the New York Times’ Dana Goldstein will talk about education this afternoon. “I expect we’ll discuss what political polarization, cultural shifts, and educational challenges have meant for efforts to improve K-12,” says Hess, who also thinks they’ll get into the politics of literacy and — crossed fingers! — the role of the press.
📰 People: Congrats to all the Education Writers Association award winners and finalists! I’m not exactly sure when or why the Wall Street Journal’s Sara Randazzo shifted towards higher ed, but the move tells you that the paper’s focus isn’t K-12 education. I could imagine other news outlets redeploying similarly, if they haven’t already. I’m told that the GBH ed team is safe, but it’s obviously not a good time for public media journalists.
📰 Alternative voices & approaches: Video clipper @Acyn was among the first to share a key moment in EdSec Linda McMahon’s dismal performance on the Hill. Former teacher and Atlanta public schools parent Steve Owens explains choice, vouchers and Republican f*ckery on TikTok — often while walking in the woods. Will Austin shares data and insights that often include Boston Public Schools. Young people crave news that fits their digital world, according to Nieman Lab. The Washington Post is planning to beef up its opinion section with AI and outside writers.
📰 Quotables:
“The JCPS superintendent search literally could not have gone down in a more JCPS fashion.”
“Claire Cain Miller just wrote a great piece for the Times on why boys fall behind in school. She nailed it, but troubling that her entire reasoning came right from my book … right down to the meeting in Charlottesville.”
“The lack of books in ELA is a much more consequential issue than whether or not Gender Queer is on a high school library shelf somewhere.”
“Clueless scholars run analyses on a massive sample (12000), find near 0 effects for social media on youth mental health.”
“We are not teaching a remedial math class, we are simply remediating math in a class. There is a huge difference between the two you would understand if you went to Harvard.”
THE KICKER
We saved the best for last.
“Loser countries have better schools. Sad!”
That’s all, folks. Thanks for reading!
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