K-12 education

Last week, Iowa led the nation with the first Workforce Pell Grant program in the country approved by the U.S. Department of Education. According to a press release from the Department, it is “a major milestone in expanding faster, more affordable pathways to careers in high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand industry sectors and occupations.” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds explained that “Now, the Workforce Pell program will allow schools to fast-track students within eight to 15 weeks into rewarding careers with little-to-no debt, expanding high-quality career opportunities and paving the way to a stronger and more resilient economy.” Director of the Iowa Department of Education McKenzie Snow said, “With the nation’s first Workforce Pell application, Iowa will identify postsecondary programs with the best completion, employment, and earnings outcomes, ensuring students get a Read More ›

Nearly 60 years after Congress outlawed housing discrimination, the federal government has had to remind America’s colleges and universities that racial segregation is still illegal. That fact alone should alarm every American. This summer, Craig Trainor, assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), issued a Dear Colleague letter reminding colleges and universities of an important legal and moral principle. In the letter, Trainor wrote: “The law is clear: When educational institutions permit the existence of racially segregated student housing — or openly encourage separation on the basis of race, color, or national origin, advertise a discriminatory preference, or have policies that discourage students from one race, ethnicity, or nationality Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on NTD Evening News on August 2 to discuss the rising monopoly of the American mind. Ingraham explained that school choice is needed to counteract the widespread promotion of socialism and communism in public schools. She went on to explain why capitalism and free markets are superior, given the examples throughout history of human flourishing under systems that allow for individual freedom rather than top-down control.

In an era when many education leaders are focused on maintaining the status quo, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder has chosen a different path. Her bold leadership, meaningful reforms, and unwavering focus on students, families, and teachers have benefited students and educators alike. Instead of just talking about academic excellence and educational innovation, results have occurred. Perhaps Degenfelder’s most significant accomplishment has been her leadership in advancing education freedom for Wyoming families. She helped champion Wyoming’s Education Savings Account program, which provides families with funding for educational expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum, and other customized learning opportunities. Wyoming’s program is notable for its broad eligibility and its support for pre-kindergarten students. She has also been instrumental Read More ›

On July 13, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and American Center for Transforming Education Director, Keri D. Ingraham, spoke at the Forum on International Education and Leadership, hosted by Dallas Baptist University in Texas and held on its campus. The annual five-day educator’s conference is “designed to inspire, equip, and connect educators from across the nation and around the world.” It provides attendees with opportunities to network, visit local private schools, attend cultural outings, and hear from Dallas Baptist University faculty as well as nationally and internationally recognized speakers. The theme of this year’s forum was “Real Wisdom for Artificial Times: Navigating AI with Purpose.” Dr. Ingraham encouraged the teachers and administrators to consider how various uses of this rapidly advancing Read More ›

For generations, education has been confined to four walls, desks arranged in rows, and a curriculum increasingly disconnected from the world students are preparing to enter. Sadly, the majority of students today are disengaged and unmotivated. It is not because they lack potential, but because school feels removed from real life. At the same time, today’s children spend an average of nearly seven hours a day on screens while engaging in only a few minutes of unstructured outdoor play. As opportunities to explore, wonder, and learn through firsthand experience disappear, so too do many of the conditions that help children thrive. In Holland, Michigan, the Outdoor Discovery Center (ODC) Network is offering a way forward. It demonstrates what becomes possible Read More ›

A recent open letter signed by more than 2,000 University of California science, technology, engineering and math professors expressed concerns about something that put “UC’s mission…at risk.”

Over the past five years, they wrote, students have become increasingly unprepared for college math courses. The decline has been “so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics.”

The professors proposed a solution: The UC system should once again require students to submit SAT or ACT scores in the admission process, a practice it abandoned in 2020.

This was originally published in The Believe! Journal on July 4th, 2025, with the title: Is America Doomed to Decline? We republish it here for the United States’ 250th birthday, since its message remains relevant and important on this historic anniversary. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence With the 250th anniversary of our nation upon us, many are reflecting on the past while also considering the future. What makes America unique? Where is the great American experiment headed? Are our best days behind us? Is America doomed Read More ›

Across 423 counties in 13 states, 26 million Americans live with a persistent opportunity gap. It’s not because of a lack of effort, talent, or community commitment, but because big government systems meant to serve them have failed to deliver. At the center of that failure is education. For too long, families in Appalachia have been asked to accept a one-size-fits-all public education system that assigns children to schools based on ZIP code rather than need, fit, or school quality. The results have been predictable. According to the Appalachian Regional Commission’s 2019-2023 American Community Survey, just 27.3 percent of adults in the region hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 35 percent nationally. In Kentucky’s Appalachian counties, that number Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on Futures Edge on June 22 to discuss the landscape of education freedom in America today. She and host Jim Iuorio discussed the Trump Administration’s progress in dismantling the Department of Education and why it was created under President Jimmy Carter. They also explore alternatives to public school and four-year colleges that can set students on paths toward a successful future.

For decades, the Appalachian region of America has been the subject of political promises, federal programs, philanthropic funding, and endless so-called solutions. Despite trillions of dollars in government spending and generations of outside intervention, the majority of Appalachian communities continue to struggle with poverty, addiction, outmigration, economic stagnation, and weak educational outcomes. Appalachia has long been given “the wrong kind of attention,” according to Garrett Ballengee, president and CEO of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy. Under Ballengee’s leadership, the Center for Appalachian Renewal is committed to creating a brighter future for people, not another generation of paternalistic programs or distant experts managing decline from afar. Nowhere is that failure more obvious than in education. If Appalachia is going Read More ›

On May 28, Keri D. Ingraham appeared on The Andy Caldwell Show with guest host Dave Cross. Ingraham explains how the Department of Education is reducing its federal footprint. Ingraham dispels the fearmongering tactics of teachers unions and government officials and highlights how the major reforms happening in the Department of Education are incentivizing states to modernize their education systems. In part two, Ingraham explores how the push for phonics-based literacy instruction in states like Mississippi is producing better academic outcomes and forging the way for other states to do the same. School choice is empowering parents to ensure their child gets an academically rigorous education.