K-12 education

Earlier this week, nearly 90 people attended a special American Center for Transforming Education event hosted by friends of Discovery Institute, Dr. Gregory and LaFon Jantz, at their home in Woodway, Washington. The evening kicked off with a time of appetizers and lively socializing, followed by an elegant dinner, all generously provided by the hosts. As attendees dined, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, Keri Ingraham, provided highlights and accomplishments that occurred over the past few years. She outlined each of the five aspects of the American Center for Transforming Education’s approach to K-12 education transformation: education freedom, education entrepreneurship, education innovation, parental rights, and public education reform, with accompanying examples of how Read More ›

The state of California passed a law in 2021 requiring all students graduating from high school in the 2029-2030 school year to take at least one semester of ethnic studies. The intent, per the state’s California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, is to encourage cultural understanding of the struggles of equality, equity, justice, racism, ethnicity, and bigotry that have been prevalent throughout the history of America. Even though the state offers a model curriculum, it allows school districts to develop their own curriculum, or they can adopt an existing ethnic studies course. The Independent Institute’s Center for Education Excellence, led by Dr. Williamson Evers, has created the turnkey Comparative Cultures Ethnic Studies curriculum that school boards can evaluate and adopt. It stands in relation to another alternative, Read More ›

In July, just a few days after President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten boasted that the union under her charge was the first to endorse Kamala Harris for president. Weingarten pledged: “The AFT has 1.8 million members—including 450,000 in battleground states. Between now and Election Day, we’re going to give our all to make sure our voices are heard and our members are mobilized. Because when we fight, we win.” No question, Weingarten is a fighter. She fought to keep schools closed, which spanned three school years in some states. However, election night was far from a win for Harris, losing in a landslide to former president Donald Trump, who will Read More ›

There was a massive red wave last Tuesday night across the nation, and Texas was no exception. Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to X last week, once again making his commitment to education freedom known: “Parents know their kids better than anyone, & they want to put them on the best path to success.” He continued, “With last night’s election results, we can provide school choice for every Texan.” Less than 90 minutes later, the governor posted a pledge, “Texas will deliver school choice.” Texas, known for freedom, has been an outlier among historically conservative states when it comes to the rights of dads and moms to have education options for their children outside of the public school system. This is despite only 37% of Read More ›

In case you missed it, October 29 was the American Center for Transforming Education’s Annual Special Day of Giving. But it is not too late for you to contribute to this critical work of advancing education freedom, education entrepreneurship and innovation, protecting parental rights, and reforming public education. Donate Today Education freedom is now a reality for millions of students. Yes, millions!  Consider this: As of 2020, less than 500,000 of the more than 52 million K-12 public school students in the U.S. had access to a school choice program, and zero states had K-12 universal or near-universal education freedom. That was less than 1% of students eligible to exit the public education system unless their parents had thousands of dollars a year for tuition money Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on this week’s episode of the Humanize Podcast, hosted by Wesley J. Smith. Together, they discuss the importance of education for human dignity and freedom and the problems facing American K-12 education today, including how bureaucracy is impeding student success, the indoctrination happening in the classrooms, the incredible power of teachers unions, the problems of technology, and more. Listen to this important conversation here.

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on The Bill Walton Show to discuss the booming education freedom movement. Together, Ingraham and Walton explore the history of public education and its roots in progressivism, how public education is failing to teach students basic skills, the ways critical race theory has infiltrated the classroom, the explosion of classical education, and much more.