The Biden administration announced Wednesday it is canceling $37 million in student loan debt for students of the online University of Phoenix. The money will cancel the debt for 1,200 former students who the administration said were tricked into believing the for-profit school had connections with Fortune 500 companies. The borrowers who received forgiveness had…
Author: Lexi Lonas
Book challenges at record high: report
Book challenges in school and public libraries have reached a record high in 2023, according to preliminary data released by the American Library Association (ALA). In the first eight months of 2023, there have been 695 attempts to challenge library materials, affecting 1,915 unique titles. This marks a 20 percent increase in book challenges from…
How parents can help students avoid college debt before it starts
Parents can do more than they might think to help their children avoid the mounting student loan debt plaguing millions of Americans. It is never too early for families moving toward college to start thinking about how to dodge a burden that can delay adults from buying homes or having their own children. From maximizing…
US News releases latest college rankings after formula change
U.S. News & World Report released its 2024 best college rankings list after making changes to how it would evaluate schools following criticism. Changes to the ranking formula included focusing on social mobility and outcomes for graduating students, such as how many students on Pell Grants graduate from a particular school. U.S. News also kept…
Five standout moments from the start of the new school year
The start of the 2023-2024 school year is in full swing as millions of U.S. students have returned to classrooms, but not without some hiccups. Kids across the country have seen some of their first days back canceled due to lack of transportation, extreme heat or insufficient educators to teach. Others saw schools closed over…
Cleveland mayor denounces new Catholic LGBTQ guidance for schools
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (D) denounced new LGBTQ guidance that was implemented by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for its schools. The diocese put out new policies for its 84 private religious schools that ban LGBTQ expression, restrict certain clothing and ban the use of pronouns or bathrooms that don’t match a student’s sex on…
US school shootings reach new high, doubled in past year
School shootings reached a record high in the 2021-22 school year, doubling the previous record that was set the year before, according to federal data released Wednesday. In the 2021-22 school year, 188 school shootings with casualties were reported, breaking the record from the year before, when 93 shootings with casualties were reported, according to…
White House raises alarm on students’ chronic absenteeism
The White House is raising the alarm on students’ chronic absenteeism, saying there needs to be an “all-hands-an-deck approach” as the issue could be contributing to learning loss. “A necessary step to ensure students benefit from all that schools have to offer is to support students’ consistent presence in the classroom—which is why the Biden-Harris…
As educators embrace AI, debate shifts to bias and equity concerns
The AI debate in education is shifting to equity, as schools are dropping their bans on ChatGPT and artificial intelligence has been added to numerous learning platforms. Used as a tutor or as an assistant for teachers to create more personalized lesson plans, AI has brought great hope for the future of technology. But that hope is also crowded by…
4 Las Vegas Valley schools cancel classes due to teacher shortage amid lawsuit against union
Four schools in the Las Vegas Valley shut down Tuesday due a lack of educators able to show up for class after a lawsuit was launched against a teachers union. Southwest Career and Technical Academy’s website shows a pop-up message that tells parents to “not send your children to campus today.” “There are an unexpected…