Education Archives

Fayetteville State University sets record enrollment, retention gains

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WPTF) – Fayetteville State University is experiencing another year of record enrollment while also posting some of the strongest academic gains in its history, school leaders announced Tuesday. For the fourth straight year, FSU reached an all-time high enrollment with 7,628 students, surpassing last year’s record of 7,100 by more than 500. The freshman class is the largest since 2007 with 820 students, who arrived with an average GPA of 3.32. The university also reported a 78% student retention rate, a 15-point increase since 2021.… Continue Reading

Test Scores and Graduation Rates Improve in North Carolina

According to annually released data that was presented to the State Board of Education on Wednesday, North Carolina students achieved a three-year high in most standardized tests at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. … Continue Reading

College isn’t in the plans for many rural students despite stepped-up recruiting efforts

PERRY, N.Y. (AP) — America’s rural high school students are less likely to go to college than their urban and suburban peers. Students in the most sparsely populated regions often face obstacles to attending college, including having to travel far to get to campus, a lack of public transportation, and inconsistent broadband access that limits access to online courses and financial aid. Family dynamics also often factor in, including a lack of exposure to college because parents didn’t attend and an underlying doubt about the value of a college degree and curriculum. Some colleges have stepped up efforts to recruit rural students.… Continue Reading

NC joins more than 20 states suing Trump administration over frozen after-school and summer funding

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — More than 20 states have sued President Donald Trump’s administration over billions of dollars in frozen funding for after-school care, summer programs and more. Programs for more than 1 million students are at risk because of a Trump administration freeze on education grants. Congress set aside money for the programs at Boys & Girls Clubs, the YMCA and public schools to provide academic support, enrichment and child care. But Trump’s administration says it wants to make sure recipients’ programs align with the Republican president’s priorities. The lawsuit was filed Monday. The lawsuit is led by California. It says freezing the money violates the Constitution and several federal laws.… Continue Reading

Judges blocks Trump push to cut funding to public schools over diversity programs

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s guidance forbidding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 public schools. The ruling Thursday came in a lawsuit brought by National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union. In February, the Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or they were at risk of losing their federal funding. The department ordered states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.”… Continue Reading

Trump orders a plan to dismantle the Education Department while keeping some core functions

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department. The Republican president announced his plan Thursday. Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. And the White House says the department would not close completely right now. It is to retain certain critical functions, like managing federal student loans and Pell grants.… Continue Reading

Schools use AI to monitor kids, hoping to prevent violence. Our investigation found security risks

Schools are turning to AI-powered surveillance technology to monitor students on school-issued devices like laptops and tablets. The goal is to keep children safe, especially amid a mental health crisis and the threat of school shootings. Machine-learning algorithms flag suspected problems like bullying, self-harm or suicide and then alert school officials. But these tools raise serious questions about privacy and security. When The Seattle Times and The Associated Press partnered to investigate school surveillance, reporters inadvertently received access to almost 3,500 unredacted student documents through a records request. The documents were stored without a password or firewall, and anyone with the link could read them.… Continue Reading

Most US kids aren’t gaining fast enough in reading and math. These schools are different

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — The average American student remains half a grade level behind pre-pandemic levels of achievement in both reading and math. That’s according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, an analysis of state and national test scores by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth. The scorecard gives the most comprehensive picture of how American students are performing after the pandemic. It’s based on tests taken by students in Spring 2024. By then, the worst of the pandemic was long past, but schools were dealing still with a mental health crisis and high rates of absenteeism. In reading, especially, students are even further behind than they were in 2022, the analysis shows.… Continue Reading

US colleges returning to campus sexual assault rules created during Trump’s first term

WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Donald Trump’s first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students. In a memo to education institutions across the nation, the Education Department clarified that Title IX will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts. Colleges have already been returning to DeVos’ 2020 rules in recent weeks after a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administration’s Title IX rules.… Continue Reading

Founder of artificial intelligence company used by schools in Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta is arrested

NEW YORK (AP) — The founder of an artificial intelligence company that worked with large school districts nationwide has been arrested on fraud charges. Joanna Smith-Griffin had been arrested Tuesday in North Carolina. She is the founder of the AI technology company ALLHere Education Inc. It serviced schools in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta using a chatbot that created learning plans for each student. Federal authorities say she defrauded investors out of millions of dollars by inflating the company’s financial information to secure investments. It was not immediately clear who would represent her in an afternoon court appearance in North Carolina.… Continue Reading