After struggling for months to sustain her child care business at home, Minerva Caba Toribio thought she would have to close due to rent increases and high costs. But now, she鈥檚 able to operate out of a classroom located on Granite Street in Worcester at the Guild of St. Agnes, the largest early education and care agency in Central Massachusetts. Caba Toribio has space for 10 children, with five currently enrolled and three others that will soon be joining.

鈥淲e serve Brazilian families, Latin American families, immigrant families,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey feel comfortable to see that we can speak the same language and we have the same traditions.鈥�

Caba Toribio will be able to use the space rent-free for two years. By saving on rent, utilities, meals, and other expenses, she hopes to restart her home-based child care service once the time is up.

It鈥檚 all part of a pilot program called the , formed in partnership by the Guild of St. Agnes 鈥� which serves almost 2,000 children across roughly 150 child care establishments 鈥� and the Worcester-based Seven Hills Foundation 鈥� which provides supportive services to children, adults, and seniors with disabilities and other life challenges. Their new family child care incubator 鈥� only the third of its kind in the nation 鈥� provides two classroom spaces that were empty due to a lack of staffing to two licensed educators to operate their child care businesses while they prepare to later offer the service in their homes. The program is meant to provide more child care slots in an area where demand is high but supply is low, while also making it easier for family child care entrepreneurs to get their start.

鈥淚n addition to expanding care to more children and families by using classrooms that were otherwise empty, we are able to share services such as transportation, healthy meals, and business support to the resident educators as they establish their new businesses,鈥� said Sharon MacDonald, president and CEO of the Guild of St. Agnes.

The program, which can accommodate up to 20 children, was modeled after in Boston, which was the first of its kind in the Commonwealth and provides short-term program space, resources, and training for newly licensed family child care entrepreneurs. The other incubator program in San Francisco in 2019 and has trained and established more than 100 new child care businesses, creating over 800 new child care slots.

鈥淚 was thinking about closing my business, so when I heard about the incubator, I thought, 鈥楾hat can’t be possible. I will have a space where I can keep working with the same families that I had at my home?鈥欌�� Caba Toribio said.

The other resident educator, Eva Fajardo Marroqu铆n, is a newly licensed provider who will lead the second classroom with 10 children.

Around 59,000 (70 percent) of infants, around 43,000 (43 percent) of toddlers, and around 10,000 (5 percent) of preschoolers in Massachusetts live in a child care . The state defines this as areas where for every three children there is only one child care slot, though there are regions in central Massachusetts where the ratio is greater than ten children to one slot.

Granite Street is in the heart of one of Worcester鈥檚 child care , according to Leslie Baker, program director for the Seven Hills Foundation鈥檚 Center for Childcare Careers.

The children鈥檚 tuition is covered by state subsidies, meaning the Guild of St. Agnes and the Seven Hills Foundation are not responsible for the educators鈥� salaries. A $1 million grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts allows them to pay for the building, the classroom equipment and supplies, and a full-time project coordinator who provides case management, business training, and professional development support for the two educators. (The foundation also provides grant funding to CommonWealth Beacon.) The educators will soon establish savings accounts so the coordinator can document their progress towards their long-term business goals.

Cost isn鈥檛 the only barrier that aspiring educators face in trying to open family child care businesses. Many, including Caba Toribio, face landlord resistance and struggle to find homes or apartments that allow family child care to operate. Others struggle with navigating the licensing process with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.

Many of the families served by the Guild鈥檚 child care programs qualify for (CCFA) vouchers from the state. But that system remains underfunded even after the Legislature approved Gov. Maura Healey鈥檚 proposal to change the income eligibility threshold from 50 percent of the state median income to 85 percent last year. That move added 4,000 low and moderate-income families to the program, but more than 30,000 children were on the statewide waitlist for the program at the end of 2025.

鈥淚t’s opportunities like this that are making sure we are creating pathways for early educators, because the more classrooms we can fill with great educators, the more slots that will become available for the littlest learners in our community,鈥� said Sen. Robyn Kennedy, a Democrat representing Worcester, at the pilot program鈥檚 ribbon-cutting event on Monday.

The Commonwealth鈥檚 early child care system continues to suffer from a due to low earnings, a lack of employee benefits, and subsequently high turnover.

Among family child care program owners and employees, just over 40 percent receive paid time off, around 25 percent receive paid sick leave, around five percent receive discounted child care, and less than 8 percent receive dental insurance and retirements benefits, according to a 2025 published by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Just 4 percent of employees receive health insurance compared to 15 percent of owners.

鈥淚 don’t think we often think of childcare as a business,鈥� said Sen. Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat who represents Worcester. 鈥淵ou can’t be successful if you can’t operate it, put the business model together, and be able to afford it.鈥�

Caba Toribio said many families prefer home-based family child care over center-based child care because it is often less expensive, more flexible, and tightly knit.

鈥淲e have a small group. Some parents prefer that. The children have the opportunity to feel like they are part of a family,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ere in the center, I keep the same concept. Because it’s a small group, they feel safe.鈥�

Baker and MacDonald want to ensure that the program is sustained after the educators move out in two years.

鈥淎s they eventually launch their business, part of the project is to backfill it and continue this on,鈥� MacDonald said. 鈥淥ne of the questions, obviously, is: What does it cost to do that without the grant funding?鈥�

They are confident that eventually, other cities and programs across the state will pursue their own incubator projects.

鈥淲e’re trying to develop a model that could be replicable by other family child care systems,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淲e’d like to be that resource for other systems that are interested in developing this.鈥�

This article is part of CommonWealth Beacon鈥檚 ongoing coverage of early childhood education issues and is funded, in part, by the .

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

鈥淭hese support systems are what students really rely on,鈥� one girl told the board. 鈥淎s someone who struggles a lot with being overwhelmed and anxious, sometimes I just need someone to talk to.鈥�

The layoffs will help reduce an $8.6 million budget deficit, due in part to the loss of 350 students. 

Sarah Neville, a board member in the Boston-area district, knows one reason enrollment is down. Under federal law, districts can鈥檛 ask whether students are U.S. citizens, but almost 90% of the 5,700-students are Latino and 47% are English learners. The state education agency estimates that the population of English learners in Massachusetts schools has since 2024. Officials from Chelsea and other metro-area districts say as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted raids in last fall.

鈥淲e’re low hanging fruit for ICE because so many of our folks are undocumented,鈥� Neville said. 鈥淲hen they say, 鈥榃e’re going to go target Boston,鈥� you find the vans actually hanging out in Chelsea.鈥�

The district is among several across the country now confronting the financial impact of the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration enforcement efforts. Whether students are absent from school, families have been detained, or they鈥檝e left the district or the country on their own, the empty desks add up.

Districts no longer have federal COVID relief funds to fall back on, and many already saw steep enrollment declines during the pandemic. The Chelsea board is one of asking the legislature for one-time grants to help address the shortfall. With fixed costs like payroll and contracts with vendors, a sharp drop in enrollment 鈥渃reates chaos,鈥� Neville said.

In Texas, officials from , and several districts in the are among those who say the immigration crackdown has contributed to further enrollment loss and, with it, potential drops in state funding. 

Districts鈥� heightened concerns over finances come as conservatives increasingly argue that American taxpayers shouldn鈥檛 be footing the bill to educate undocumented students in the first place. 

During a heated , members of a House judiciary subcommittee argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn , a landmark 1982 ruling in a Texas case that guaranteed children a right to a public education, regardless of citizenship status.

鈥淭he financial costs of Plyler are undoubtedly staggering, clearly representing a significant burden on localities,鈥� said Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who chaired the hearing. 鈥淏ut it isn’t just fiscal costs we should be worried about. Our nation’s classrooms routinely deal with illegal alien students, many of whom know little to no English and may struggle with other learning disabilities.鈥�

Pointing to Census Bureau figures, a from the subcommittee estimated that educating non-citizen students in U.S. schools costs about $68 billion a year. But during the hearing, Democrats highlighted of providing students access to education, like $633 billion paid in state and local income taxes and contributions to the U.S. economy worth more than $2.7 trillion.

The witnesses included James Rogers, senior counselor with the conservative America First Legal Foundation, who called the Plyler opinion 鈥漞gregiously wrong from the start鈥� and an example of judicial overreach. He predicted that the current conservative majority on the court would overturn it if given the opportunity. Republicans in like have proposed legislation to collect students鈥� immigration status. If one of those bills passes, opponents are expected to challenge it in court.

But Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said that excluding undocumented students from school or charging tuition would mean 鈥渙nly certain classes of children whose parents can afford to pay are entitled to the blessings of liberty and the hope of a better future.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, warned that at a time when chronic absenteeism remains above pre-pandemic levels, non-citizen children wouldn鈥檛 be the only ones out of school if the court overturned Plyler.

鈥淚t will extend beyond the families to peers and ultimately it will be impossible to enforce truancy laws,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ny child who doesn’t want to be in school will know to simply say 鈥業’m undocumented.鈥� 鈥�

The 鈥榖ottom line鈥�

For now, most Texas districts want to hang on to as many students as possible.

鈥淲hen you’re a rural school district, every kid has a big impact on your bottom line,鈥� said Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators. 鈥淲hen you lose five or 10 kids, you have to cut programming. You can’t cut teachers, so you have to start looking for other ways to do it.鈥�

He expects to see a request during next year鈥檚 legislative session to allow for some 鈥渢ransition period鈥� before funding drops, but 鈥渨hether something passes is another question.鈥�

In California, where state funding is based on districts鈥� average daily attendance, Gov. Gavin Newsom last October that would have added immigration enforcement as one of the emergencies that triggers a waiver of the funding rule. The change was unnecessary, he said.

In Minnesota, districts are still hoping for some relief. On their behalf, a national nonprofit to temporarily suspend a state law that requires districts to drop students from the rolls if they鈥檝e been absent for 15 straight days. The legislation allows exemptions for emergencies.

, in which the Trump administration deployed roughly 4,000 ICE agents to the Minneapolis area, 鈥渘o doubt qualifies as a calamity that would trigger application of the exemption,鈥� leaders of the National Center for Youth Law wrote to state House and Senate leaders last month. 

Fridley Public Schools, outside Minneapolis, has lost 20 students because of the 15-day rule.听

鈥淪ome of our children have been in an apartment for 14 weeks and haven’t been able to leave,鈥� Superintendent Brenda Lewis said on a recent webinar. 

Roughly 100 more have left since the surge, possibly taking advantage of the state鈥檚 open enrollment policy to relocate to other districts. The loss means a $1 million hit to the district鈥檚 $51 million budget. The district also missed out on $131,000 in meal reimbursements from the federal government because low-income students weren鈥檛 in school to eat breakfast and lunch, Lewis said. 

Fridley鈥檚 enrollment would have been down another 400 students if the district hadn鈥檛 quickly implemented a virtual learning program, Lewis said. But federal agents used the device distribution process to apprehend those they suspected to be undocumented, she said. 

鈥淲e had ICE agents arresting people because they knew they were coming for the Chromebooks,鈥� said Lewis, whose district is part of against the Trump administration over its policy of allowing immigration enforcement near schools and other 鈥渟ensitive鈥� locations. 鈥淚CE agents will board your buses. They’ll board your vans. They’ll pull the vehicle over and start interviewing children about immigration status. By interviewing, I mean interrogating.鈥�

鈥業n-your-face presence鈥�

The Trump administration recently such actions in an effort to end a government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security. Julie Sugarman, who studies immigration policy affecting K-12 schools at the Migration Policy Institute, said a 鈥渓ess-aggressive鈥� approach near school grounds would likely lead some missing students to return. 

鈥淭he in-your-face presence absolutely is causing people to stay home,鈥� she said.

The Chicago Public Schools last fall saw steep declines in attendance that coincided with , according to by Kids First Chicago, an advocacy group, and the Coalition for Authentic Community Engagement, representing multiple nonprofits. On Sept. 29, the Monday after enforcement activity began, nearly 14,000 students at schools serving high percentages of Latino students were absent, the report showed. 

The district uses enrollment counts from the early part of the school year to make budget and staffing decisions. If students missed school on those days, or if the district eventually dropped students out for extended periods, those absences could affect funding, explained Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago.

District leaders can only estimate how many undocumented students are entering, or leaving, their schools, and that鈥檚 a problem, Mandy Drogin, a senior fellow at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, said in testimony before the House subcommittee. She blamed that warned districts against asking for students鈥� or parents鈥� citizenship status for enrollment purposes. 

While many English learners are U.S. citizens, she called out districts under state takeover, like and nearby , which have English learner populations above 30%, according to the state. 鈥淚llegal students,鈥� she said, are impacting schools as a whole. 

鈥淭eachers are being forced to 鈥� do Google Translate on their phones,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll of these things obviously impact the total education system, and the taxpayers are left holding the bag.鈥�

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said immigration enforcement affects all students. He pointed to Willmar, Minnesota, about 150 miles west of the Twin Cities and the site of a Jennie-O turkey plant that employs many . It鈥檚 the town where ICE agents in a Mexican restaurant and then returned to detain the owners and a dishwasher. 

In December, as rumors of an ICE raid spread, hundreds of kids, including white students, stayed out of school, Superintendent Bill Adams . 

鈥淚 remember walking in the hallways going, 鈥楬oly God, where are all the kids?鈥欌�� said a district employee who declined to speak for attribution due to the sensitivity of the topic. 鈥淚t was eerie.鈥�

In October, Adams said enrollment in the 4,400-student district was down by over 170 students, amounting to a loss of more than $4 million. To make up for some of that gap, the district is it used to teach independent living skills, like cooking and doing the laundry, to older students with disabilities. 

鈥淚t’s just hit our community really bad,鈥� the employee said.  

But new studies bolster the evidence that done well, virtual models can be just as effective at moving students forward as face-to-face instruction.

In Massachusetts, first graders who spent 15 minutes a day online with a tutor from stayed on track a year later without additional tutoring, according to exclusively with 社区黑料. Students gained, on average, at least five additional months of learning over their expected growth. 

Another virtual program, , produced positive results for the lowest-performing students in the Kansas City, Missouri, schools. Students who received one-on-one tutoring from certified teachers made greater progress than those who didn鈥檛 receive the extra help, .听

鈥淰irtual models are getting stronger,鈥� said Amanda Neitzel, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of the Ignite Reading study. 鈥淚f you go back just a few years, we had no examples of evidence-proven models and now we are getting them.鈥�

In addition to following Ignite Reading for two years, she recently published a study showing that elementary school students in Texas and Louisiana who received virtual tutoring from , outperformed their peers and gained nearly three additional months of learning.

Results like those have broadened the conversation about how to bring students who are missing critical reading skills up to speed. 

鈥淭utoring can work in many ways and in different settings,鈥� Kevin Huffman, CEO of Accelerate, said earlier this month at the nonprofit鈥檚 annual conference. 

When the organization began funding tutoring research four years ago, there were doubts, he said, about whether virtual programs could compete with in-person models. There鈥檚 more confidence in online versions now, but as with tutoring in general, progress depends on whether providers feature the components of a high-dosage program 鈥� meaning they were offered for roughly 90 minutes a week, during the school day with a trained tutor. Ensuring kids get all the tutoring hours a program is designed to deliver is also key.

鈥淲e obsess over student attendance,鈥� said Jessica Reid Sliwerski, Ignite Reading’s founder. Now in 24 states, the program focuses on building phonics skills and reading fluency.

In the Johns Hopkins Ignite Reading study, which focused on 13 Massachusetts school districts, 85% of students who mastered foundational reading skills 鈥渄uring the crucial first grade window鈥� were still keeping up at the end of second grade, Neitzel wrote. But if students didn鈥檛 meet expectations on time, they couldn鈥檛 catch up. Some were just too far behind.

鈥淢any kids start our program still not knowing basic kindergarten skills, like letter names and sounds,鈥� Sliwerski said. That means tutors have two years of content to get through.

To Sliwerski, the findings demonstrate that third grade, when many states decide whether students are strong enough readers to advance, is too late to intervene. If kids struggle to decode unfamiliar words, they won鈥檛 be able to comprehend more complex reading assignments. 

鈥淲e are so caught up in 鈥榬eading by grade three鈥� that we aren鈥檛 honoring that kids are actually supposed to have fully cracked the code and be able to fluently read grade-level text at the end of first grade,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e act like kids have all the time in the world, when they don鈥檛.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The 5,700-student Chelsea Public Schools was among the Massachusetts districts using Ignite Reading as part of a project funded by One8, a nonprofit that helped schools get high-dosage tutoring off the ground. The state the program.  

At first, 鈥渙ur teachers were a little skeptical,鈥� said Superintendent Almi Abeyta, a former kindergarten and first grade teacher. 鈥淭hey were like, 鈥榃e just got off of remote learning. Why are we going to put kids on a computer again?鈥� 鈥� 

Then they saw the data. Students made similar gains on DIBELS, a widely used early literacy assessment, whether they were Black, Hispanic, English learners or had a disability, the study found.

鈥楢 great opportunity鈥�

Results like those are why the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, near San Diego, California, is now spreading the program to all of its elementary schools as part of its First Grade Promise initiative. 

In a pilot, Fallbrook STEM Academy, which serves a high-poverty population, enrolled 20 second graders in the program. Many of the students speak Spanish at home, didn鈥檛 attend preschool and lack access to books, flash cards and other early reading materials, said Principal Ana Arias. She called each parent to ask that they get their children to school a little early so they could meet with a tutor.

鈥淚 phrased it as an opportunity 鈥� a great opportunity 鈥� but I needed their commitment,鈥� Arias said. 鈥淲e have so many kids in the classroom and there’s so much need. It’s very rare to have a teacher meet one-on-one with a student every single day.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

At the beginning of this school year, the 20 students were reading at a kindergarten level. By November, 19 had advanced to a first grade level, and she鈥檚 hoping they鈥檒l be on par with their peers by the end of the school year. 

鈥楾ranscend time zones鈥� 

The latest findings build on those that Harvard University and City University of New York researchers published last year. Whether tutoring is remote or in-person, , matters less than whether the tutor is well qualified and students attend sessions regularly.

Virtual models even have some advantages over in-person programs, experts say. Schools have to pay an in-person tutor whether or not the student is present. But virtual programs 鈥渢ranscend time zones,鈥� Sliwerski said, and can redeploy a tutor to meet with another student.  

If the tutor is absent, 鈥渨e have a substitute ready to go,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he technology underpinning the program ensures the child receives the exact lesson they were supposed to get.鈥�

In Kansas City, consistency was key to the strong results. Students in first through fourth grade across 14 schools met with their tutors for 30-minute sessions at least three times a week for 20 weeks during the 2024-25 school year. The more sessions completed, the stronger the growth. Some students gained more than two months of additional learning and were less likely to be placed in special education. 

On average, the students who participated in the Hoot program and those in the comparison group began the school year two grade levels behind. While many are still struggling readers, their progress was significant, said Carly Robinson, a senior researcher at Stanford University and a co-author of the study.

鈥淭his wasn’t a boutique pilot,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s tutoring operating inside a district system that is messy, and it still proved to be effective.鈥�

The district had to contend with technical glitches and unexpected snow days that forced students to miss some sessions.

Not all virtual programs have been able to overcome disruptions. 

In a large suburban district in Texas, some students meeting with virtual tutors during the 2021-22 school year did worse in reading than their peers who didn鈥檛 receive the intervention. Scheduling conflicts, like school assemblies, and tutor turnover, contributed to the disappointing results.

鈥楢 higher bar鈥�

Those challenges grow even more complex in the middle grades with electives and block schedules where students don鈥檛 have the same classes every day. But Rahul Kalita, co-founder of Tutored by Teachers, said maintaining relationships between tutors and students is essential. 

He hopes to contribute to the research base on virtual tutoring by participating in a randomized controlled study, funded by Accelerate and focused on math in two large Indianapolis middle schools. 

鈥淚t felt like the right opportunity to test our model under a higher bar of rigor,鈥� he said.

On top of virtual programs refining their practices, districts, he said, 鈥渉ave also become more sophisticated buyers of tutoring.鈥� Multiple districts across the country pay providers higher rates if students make measurable progress or pass state tests. 

In addition, there鈥檚 growing agreement that literacy tutoring, whether virtual or not, is more effective if it’s part of a strong early reading program that includes a curriculum based on the science of reading and screening students for dyslexia or other learning difficulties. 

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 throw tutoring at the problem,鈥� Sliwerski said at the Accelerate conference. 鈥淚t has to be part of a very intentional system.鈥�

I鈥檇 invited Weeden, a Mashpee Wampanoag educator, to visit my high school English class in Boston. When I began teaching American Literature, I felt the course had to encompass Native American literature. I started with Tommy Orange鈥檚 novel There There. But the book is set in Oakland, California, and I wanted its message to ring closer to home.

Weeden had once driven from New England to California to of redface. Before his visit, my students watched a video of his impassioned speech to the school board. We discussed how cultural appropriation undermines the right of all students to learn 鈥� and can, as happened with Weeden鈥檚 own brother, result in self-harm and suicide.

As a child, Weeden himself encountered racism in school. 鈥淚t was the teachers, not even the students, who called me the worst names,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 had long braids. They鈥檇 call me sissy, queer, say, 鈥楾he girls鈥� bathroom is over there.鈥欌��

Weeden鈥檚 own pedagogy couldn鈥檛 be more different than the harassment he faced in his youth. He meets students鈥� questions with some of his own: 鈥淗ave you ever seen a square bird鈥檚 nest?鈥� Heads shake no. 鈥淚鈥檓 gonna bet we鈥檒l never see one. Because the square is not a shape we see in nature. Look around. We鈥檙e surrounded by squares.鈥� He gestures to our classroom, students鈥� notebooks, the Boston skyline. Weeden asks students to consider whether the way things are now is natural.

In Massachusetts, students learn about Native people in two main ways: through the lens of Thanksgiving and in third grade, when the allocate time for a deep dive into Native history. So that鈥檚 the age group Weeden primarily works with. 

But there are certain topics 鈥� like forced sterilization or King Philip鈥檚 War, one of the deadliest conflicts in New England history 鈥� that you can鈥檛 broach with young kids. 鈥淲e need middle school curriculum. We need high school curriculum,鈥� Weeden says.

For the past four years, I鈥檝e partnered with Weeden in 10th and 11th grade English. At this age, students are deciding not only their postgraduate plans, but the values by which they will live. If students鈥� only in-depth exposure to Native Americans is in third grade, how can they be expected to understand Native people as adults?

鈥淚t should be every year,鈥� Weeden says. 鈥淭he key is consistency.鈥�

Many of the students at Boston Collegiate Charter School, where I teach, have heritage outside of the U.S. 鈥� from Cape Verde to Ireland to the Dominican Republic. Many would consider their families indigenous to those places. But few claim Indigenous American heritage. So students鈥� final project, presenting a lesson to their peers, is an act of allyship 鈥� teaching about another culture without speaking for that group. Like There There, the project aims to expand their ideas of what it means to be Native.

One common oversight is to think of Indigenous people as a monolith, when there are so many distinct tribes. 鈥淭he reason I鈥檓 a Wampanoag is because of the land that I鈥檓 on. Cape Cod is where you see the sun rise,鈥� Weeden tells my students. 鈥淲e always identify ourselves as People of the First Light. And right now, we are in Boston, home of the Massachusett tribe. People say that word, Massachusetts, without ever questioning, What does it mean? It means Great Barren Hill Place.鈥�

In some other states, Native culture is more visible. In Washington State, tribes guided revision of the state history standards. Now Indigenous studies are addressed in every year of K-12 through the In the Southwest, Weeden says, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 go there and not see the Navajo, the Apache, all their artwork and pottery. It鈥檚 synonymous with the culture.

鈥淲hy New England chooses to only promote colonial history鈥hat鈥檚 something for New England to examine,鈥� he continues. 鈥淚鈥檓 sad and disappointed for the focus to be just Thanksgiving. I don’t want to be a token add-on to that narrative.鈥�

As an educator, I believe in not only teaching about Native history, but inviting Native speakers into my classroom. I鈥檓 grateful that my school has funded these visits. There are also low- and no-cost online resources to connect students with local tribes. But until Massachusetts and other states recognize that education about Indigenous peoples must be sustained, consistent and inclusive of living Native people, we will not be able to overcome the ignorance that characterized Weeden鈥檚 youth.

鈥淎 lot of what I was attacked for as a kid, it鈥檚 because people had no clue,鈥� Weeden reflects. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have encountered that abuse if people were taught the right things about our culture. I don’t even honestly work with Pre-K and early childhood enough 鈥� you can never start too early. It鈥檚 weird how our culture is considered so foreign even though we’re the Indigenous people of this land.鈥�

The article, , draws on state and national data to measure changes in student enrollment over the last half-decade. Both in Massachusetts and around the country, white and Asian parents were far likelier to pull their children out of public schools than Hispanics and African Americans. Kindergarten and middle school enrollment plunged, while elementary schools actually saw a small bump in total students.

Joshua Goodman, an economist at Boston University and one of the study鈥檚 authors, said the uncertainty of the COVID era has given way to a new equilibrium for the 2020s: The families of the highest-performing K鈥�12 students, and those with access to greater resources, increasingly disaffiliate from traditional public schools.

鈥淭he question that worries me is whether this means that public schools have now cemented a reputation as not being the place where high-achieving students attend,鈥� Goodman said. 鈥淚f you’re a family that’s looking for a challenging curriculum, and you have a talented student, you’re no longer seeing public schools in quite that light.鈥�

The number of pupils filling seats in all Massachusetts schools, public or private, was lower in fall 2024 than five years before. But that erosion, driven in part by broader changes to the state鈥檚 demographics, is less striking than the changes going on beneath the surface. 

Enrollment at private schools shrank by just 0.7 percent during that period, much less than the 16.3 percent decline that was predicted by years of falling head counts leading up to the pandemic. By contrast, traditional public schools saw a drop of 4.2 percent, nearly double the projected reduction over the first half of the 2020s. 

Various racial and ethnic subgroups also exhibited radically different behavior. At the beginning of the last school year, enrollment in Massachusetts public schools was much lower for white and especially Asian students (-3.1 percent and -8.1 percent percent, respectively) than was presaged by trends running through the 2010s. Black and Hispanic enrollment, however, actually climbed upward compared with the same projections. Goodman and his co-author, BU doctoral student Abigail Francis, found similar patterns in data collected from around the United States, though those figures run only through 2023.

Perhaps the most jarring divergence arose along class lines. In the state鈥檚 most affluent 20 percent of school districts, as defined by their share of students qualifying for free lunch, K鈥�12 student rolls fell by 5.7 percent; everywhere else, the slide amounted to just 1 percent. In all, that slice of the richest communities lost about 150 percent as many pupils as the bottom 80 percent.

Those findings offer a suggestive update to those of earlier studies. One, , showed that white, Asian, and higher-income families in Michigan were the least likely to return to their local public schools in the second year after school closures began. Among them, four-fifths of students who moved to private schools in 2020 stayed there the following year. 

In examining student flows in the initial years of the pandemic, University of Michigan economist Brian Jacob found that white families removed their children from public schools at much higher rates in districts that were slow to reopen for in-person instruction. Jacob said in an interview that he was 鈥渘ot surprised鈥� to see that parents who had found private alternatives hadn鈥檛 yet switched back.

鈥淭here was evidence that more affluent families were shifting kids away from public schools during COVID because they wanted more in-person instruction,鈥� he observed. 鈥淚t may be that schools are going to have to work a lot harder to win back some of the families they lost.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Even today, with COVID quarantines and Zoom classrooms long in the past, Americans鈥� feelings about public schools are notably cool by historic standards. In a Gallup survey released in February, 73 percent of U.S. adults expressed dissatisfaction with the state of public education, up from 57 percent in 2001. 

Parents, directly invested in their local schools and regularly exposed to their children鈥檚 teachers, are more sanguine about the issue than other respondents. But they to say that K鈥�12 education is headed in the wrong direction than in years past. 

Martin West, Education Next鈥檚 editor in chief and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said the 鈥渆xit of quality-conscious families鈥� 鈥� particularly those with the means to afford private school tuition 鈥� provides a real-time picture of how perspectives of local schools are changing, even in a state with comparatively impressive academic results. 

“We have lots of survey data telling us that parents are concerned with public schools,鈥� West said. 鈥淭his analysis gives us data on families’ revealed preferences, based on the decisions they’re making.” 

Over the last few years, news accounts in Greater Boston have reflected building frustration among parents in some of the area鈥檚 wealthiest towns, with many departures apparently spurred by new constraints on access to advanced coursework. and , each boasting some of the highest home values in the state, have reportedly lost sizable portions of their pre-COVID enrollment to nearby private schools. As one Newton teacher in the conservative Free Press, those migrations largely followed the district鈥檚 move away from 鈥渢racked鈥� math classes.

Goodman, a resident of middle-income Cambridge, said he had seen parents in his own social circle consider independent schools out of impatience with both a lack of rigor and growing behavioral problems in their neighborhood schools.

鈥淭hat’s the piece of the conversation that’s been missing for me in Massachusetts,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 haven’t seen school districts grappling with the questions of why they lost all these families, and whether they actually want to do the work to bring them back into schools.鈥�

Sterling, Massachusetts聽

Matthew Lane peeked his head through a window at his parents鈥� house on a wooded, winding road, and, with apprehension, opened the front door. 

The chime of the doorbell at the gray, two-story house, which sent the family dog into a fit, wasn鈥檛 expected 鈥� or welcomed. 

尝补苍别鈥檚 had been the subject of speculation and intrigue since May when federal prosecutors announced the rail-thin, shaggy-haired 19-year-old college freshman had confessed to a ransomware attack on education technology behemoth PowerSchool. 

Federal prosecutors accused Lane of collaborating with at least one unnamed co-conspirator to steal the sensitive records of more than 60 million students and 10 million educators. Claiming to be part of a “notorious hacking group,鈥� he used the stolen data to extort nearly $3 million from California-based PowerSchool. Though charging documents describe the education technology company as 鈥淰ictim 2,鈥� extensive details released by the government align with the company鈥檚 disclosure about the breach. 

Lane pleaded guilty to the breach 鈥� widely considered the largest exposure of private student data in history 鈥� in June and is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Tuesday. 

“Money and greed” motivated his actions, released on Wednesday that states Lane wanted 鈥渢o buy designer clothes, diamond jewelry and luxury vehicles鈥� while spending funds on “extravagant rental apartments and near daily fast-food delivery.鈥� Lane returned about $160,000 to the government, but roughly $3 million remains unaccounted for, according to the sentencing report.

Federal prosecutors, who charged him with computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, are seeking a seven-year prison sentence and more than $14 million in restitution.

His 鈥渃rimes were not a mistake resulting from an isolated lapse in judgment,鈥� the memo alleges, but rather part of a pattern of criminal cyber activity that dates back to at least 2021, when he was still in high school. His targets include at least eight victims total, 鈥渞anging from a school athletic association to private companies to foreign governments.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Open-source reporting and a threat intelligence report obtained by 社区黑料 from cybersecurity firm Cyble reveal details of what that past cyber crime life looked like. They provide evidence that , who was known on the Worcester, Massachusetts, campus for being socially reserved, took on flamboyant, meme-inspired personas in online cybercrime communities that were highly active for years. 

In the physical world, Lane appeared to keep a low profile around town 鈥� and he hoped to keep it that way. 

鈥淧lease leave鈥� Lane told a reporter who traveled to his hometown in August to learn more about the teenager described by federal prosecutors as 鈥渉iding behind his keyboard鈥� to carry out 鈥済et rich quick鈥� cyberattacks.

尝补苍别鈥檚 attorney, Sean Smith, didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

Prosecutors said Lane “grew up in a safe, small town鈥� with what the teenager himself described as “loving and nurturing parents” and close relationships with all his family members. It was here in Sterling 鈥� a middle-class enclave of fewer than 8,000 residents 鈥� where neighbors watched a parade of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents park outside the Lane residence and conduct an early-morning raid this spring.

For cybersecurity professionals following the PowerSchool case, 尝补苍别鈥檚 indictment, which was publicized by federal law enforcement as a major score in their crackdown on cybercrime rings, . Among them, to a network of young, for and

Cyble leverages open-source intelligence techniques and proprietary tools to track the online behaviors of threat actors and help businesses manage their cyber risks. The firm provided threat intelligence research exclusively to 社区黑料 that aligns with prosecutors鈥� assertions in 尝补苍别鈥檚 sentencing report. 

Cyble researchers identified digital personas it connected to Lane and tracked their account behaviors on a cybercrime forum and across the web. These threat-actor accounts 鈥渟ystematically targeted educational institutions, government agencies and corporate networks since 2021,鈥� citing the same year as federal prosecutors. 

These earlier hacks and data breaches, Cyble said, affected an alcoholic beverage company, a major U.S. supermarket chain, an Indonesian telecommunications company and the Colombian armed forces. 

To bring down targets without detection, the threat actor behind the accounts leveraged the techniques of 鈥渆xperienced hackers,鈥� Cyble Chief Product Officer Kaustubh Medhe said. The PowerSchool hack was 鈥渁 predictable escalation rather than an isolated incident,鈥� Cyble analysts concluded, and was not the work of a 鈥渇irst-time offender鈥� but rather 鈥渁 seasoned cybercriminal.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 treat him like an amateur,鈥� Medhe said. 鈥淚n no way can we say that he was just a young kid who struck rich.鈥�

The sentencing report similarly describes 尝补苍别鈥檚 conduct as 鈥渟ophisticated, involving virtual private networks, eSIMs (a digital, more secure version of a physical card), anonymized email addresses and phone numbers, stolen credentials and foreign servers.鈥�

Federal prosecutors accused Lane of working with a co-conspirator to extort $200,000 from a U.S.-based wireless telecommunications company before discussing the “need to hack another shitty company that[鈥橾ll pay.” 

PowerSchool became that next victim, prosecutors say.

The extortion pipeline

Online fingerprints that Cyble used to connect the digital aliases 鈥�,鈥� 鈥渘etsaosa,鈥� 鈥渇uckmarykill鈥� and others to Lane show they have been exploiting vulnerabilities since the defendant was barely old enough to drive. Then the hacker bragged about it. 

On a now-defunct online cybercrime marketplace, that security researchers pegged to Lane, in part from an exposed IP address,  appeared to boast of attention-grabbing exploits: 鈥渋ve been on news sites a few times,鈥� g0re wrote in a signature line. 

As news of 尝补苍别鈥檚 connection to the PowerSchool case circulated around Sterling, neighbors said they were thankful  he wasn鈥檛 arrested for dealing drugs. But few people knew the young man accused of carrying out the crime. 

鈥淚鈥檝e never heard of him, but he can go to hell,鈥� said one patron at B-Man鈥檚 140 Tavern, a biker bar on the outskirts of town that鈥檚 known as a hub for local gossip. A police department dispatcher said she didn鈥檛 know anything about the case beyond the highlights that made the local news and the executive director of the local public access television station said he was similarly out of the loop. 

To people who knew Lane, the indictment was a shock. Neighbors, former classmates and a college professor described him as a soft-spoken gamer and a skilled computer programmer. 

One former classmate, Quinton Brien, said Lane didn鈥檛 鈥渟eem interested in school鈥� and recalled the high schooler selling nicotine vapes to his underage classmates. His class portraits appear in the regional high school yearbook, but he doesn鈥檛 show up as participating in any sports teams or extracurricular clubs. 

High school friend Pia Bogieczyk said Lane is 鈥渒ind of goofy鈥� and introverted. The two bonded over the video games Minecraft and Fortnite, Bogieczyk said, and although her friend was a computer wiz, she didn鈥檛 expect him to get caught up in cybercrime. 

鈥淚 figured he would be good enough at computer stuff to do that, if that makes sense,鈥� she told 社区黑料, but 鈥淚 didn’t think he would be using his skills for malicious purposes.鈥�

On X, attributed to Lane offers insights into his personality 鈥� and his connections. The profile features a hatred of Hallmark Christmas movies, a disclosure of being 鈥渕entally ill,鈥� a love for video games and a deep interest in anime 鈥� especially a dystopian Japanese cartoon about a lonely girl who immerses herself in an interconnected and increasingly strange digital world. 

The account also for Conor Fitzpatrick, who was a New York teenager when he , an online community where hackers sold stolen data and hacking tools. Fitzpatrick was and in September was for launching what federal officials called 鈥渙ne of the world鈥檚 largest English language hacking forums.鈥� BreachForums, which has suffered several data breaches itself, has been  

Cyble analysts found these online aliases鈥� forays into hacking began with benign efforts to identify and report computer security flaws before progressing over several years to leaking original data breaches 鈥渁nd ultimately to extortion.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥楢 notch in his hacking belt鈥�

When federal officials announced , the Department of Justice accused the teenager of using stolen credentials in September 2024 to hack into PowerSchool鈥檚 computer network and transfer sensitive files to a leased server in Ukraine. On the night he leased the server, Lane told his girlfriend he was 鈥済onna be on the laptop鈥� because 鈥淚 just need to actually make $ for a second,鈥� according to the sentencing report.

About three months later, in December, PowerSchool officials received a demand for about $2.85 million in Bitcoin to prevent sensitive student and teacher data 鈥� including the Social Security numbers of children as young as 5 鈥� from being leaked 鈥渨orldwide.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淔inal note, we fully intend to destroy your company and bankrupt it to the point of no absolute return if the ransom is not paid,鈥� the hacker warned PowerSchool, according to the sentencing memo. The attack cost the company more than $14 million, according to the court documents, including the ransom payment and identity theft services for the students and teachers who were victimized. 

The cybercrime was 鈥渁 serious attack,鈥� U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a press release, and that Lane 鈥渋nstilled fear in parents that their kids鈥� information had been leaked into the hands of criminals 鈥� all to put a notch in his hacking belt.鈥�&苍产蝉辫; 

In interviews with federal law enforcement after they searched his college dorm, Lane initially “fabricated a story about receiving packages of cash,” denied engaging in extortion “and only admitted his conduct when faced with his indisputable text messages,” according to charging documents. 

The PowerSchool data breach made international headlines earlier this year in part because it encompassed highly sensitive records about students, including their mental health and . The company, acquired by the Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital for $5.6 billion last year, operates a digital platform that helps schools track students鈥� attendance, grades and other data. More than 18,000 educational institutions globally and 90 of the 100 largest U.S. school districts rely on PowerSchool software, the company claims. 

The company, which has faced criticism for delays in notifying affected students and educators about the ransomware attack, was hit with dozens of lawsuits over its failure to keep sensitive data secure. In September, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against the vendor, accusing it of about the strength of its cybersecurity features. 

PowerSchool is 鈥渃ommitted to protecting student data and ensuring the safety of our systems,鈥� a company spokesperson said this week in a statement to 社区黑料.

鈥淔ollowing the 2024 security incident, we promptly notified our customers and provided ongoing updates as new information became available,鈥� the statement reads. 鈥淲e continue to work closely with affected districts and law enforcement to ensure transparency and accountability.鈥�

PowerSchool , but quickly backtracked to disclose it paid the cybercriminals an unspecified extortion demand to keep students鈥� sensitive records from spreading online. 

Then, local school leaders in several states . In May, district administrators reported receiving ransom demands for cryptocurrency payments to stop their stolen PowerSchool records from being exposed. In North Carolina, the state education department received a demand from a threat actor a cybercrime group that鈥檚 taken credit for .

That email, obtained by the cybersecurity blog , and CyberScoop, have raised questions about 尝补苍别鈥檚 , which at one point operated BreachForums. Cybersecurity analysts have 鈥渓oosely knit band of primarily English-speaking miscreants鈥� involved in hacking, extortion and 鈥渞eal-life violent crime for a price.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Medhe of Cyble said his researchers have found no evidence that ShinyHunters had a role in the PowerSchool hack, noting that anybody can 鈥渃reate a fake email account鈥� and pretend an alliance with an international cybercrime syndicate. But the evidence makes clear that Lane 鈥渨asn鈥檛 acting alone,鈥� he said, theorizing that it鈥檚 only 鈥渁 matter of time鈥� before federal officials announce the indictment of his unnamed co-conspirator. 

After organizations fall prey to a data breach, it鈥檚 common for them to experience 鈥渟econdary victimization” where stolen records are leveraged multiple times by different hackers, said Yanna Papadodimitraki, a research associate at the . 

鈥淒ata can never be taken back in many ways,鈥� she said. 鈥淧robably, the students and the teachers will be having quite a lot to deal with in the years to come.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥�Social relationships, albeit online, are key鈥�

The PowerSchool breach may be 尝补苍别鈥檚 biggest cyberattack, but the Cyble threat intelligence report indicates his entry into cybercrime began closer to home. 

The Lane-identified hacker aliases g0re and netsaosa for a cyberattack on the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association website, which stalled the release of the statewide brackets for upcoming  tournament games. The association that oversees high school sports was targeted, the threat actor at the time, because 鈥淚 was bored.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

When the hacker alerted the group to vulnerabilities on their site, 鈥渢hey ignored me. ignored me. ignored me.鈥�

Lane was 16 at the time. 

Lane is far to get caught up in organized cybercrime. The trope of a teenage hacker tapping away in his parents鈥� basement is . Indeed, many of the most devastating hacks in recent memory 鈥� including   鈥� have led to the . 

鈥淢ost of these criminals tend to have a better understanding of the local businesses, the local institutions, and what type of sensitive data they are likely to hold,鈥� Medhe said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e most likely to target some of these institutions that they know about before going global.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The pathway to cybercrime for teens often begins in video gaming communities devoted to cheat codes that are used to modify the playing experience and gain an advantage, by the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom. Such digital meetups can serve as a first stop before they move on to criminal forums that dispense 鈥渓ow-level hacking tools鈥� and where 鈥渟ocial relationships, albeit online, are key.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The thrill of the chase and accumulating internet points in cybercrime forums 鈥� not money 鈥� are often prime motivators, according to the British law enforcement agency, which found that just a small number of hackers work their way up the ranks to 鈥渢he very technically skilled cybercriminal.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

, published in 2023 by researchers in the Netherlands, identified two dozen 鈥渞isk factors for cyber-offending,鈥� such as being a young male with 鈥渓ow self-control and deviant peers.鈥�

Youthful hackers generally turn to online communities 鈥渘ot only as a way to build expertise, but to gain a reputation, gain insights from others and buy and sell services,鈥� said Thomas Holt, the director of the Michigan State University Center for Cybercrime Investigation & Training, and the entry points and motives for teen hackers. In , Holt found young people 鈥渨hose peers used drugs, shoplifted and played computer games were more likely to engage in hacking.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淣ow you can pay for a denial of service attack, as an example, whereas 20 years ago you鈥檇 have to know how to run it yourself,鈥� Holt said, referring to a type of attack that overwhelms a computer network鈥檚 capacity and renders it unable to function. 鈥淎ll you need is an internet connection and some forums 鈥� maybe some YouTube videos 鈥� to become proficient, at least in today鈥檚 world.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Papadodimitraki of the , whose research focuses on youth delinquency, has questioned the role video games play in cybercrime. Her own work points to many of the same factors that are correlated with other crimes, including poverty, trauma, poor social connections and school exclusion. 

鈥淏ut what we seem to be seeing when it comes to gaming and cybercrime is an overall interest in technology,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o gaming is just a part of that.鈥�

BreachForums user logs leaked in 2023 show the g0re account was created using a VPN to mask the hacker鈥檚 identity, according to a Cyble analysis of the data breach. The account, researchers found, was among the earliest BreachForums members, with User ID 17. The user鈥檚 鈥渓ast recorded activity,鈥� researchers found, pointed to the IP address of the Lane household in Sterling, Massachusetts. The lapse suggests 鈥渙perational security degradation over time,鈥� they wrote, and may have played a part in 尝补苍别鈥檚 ultimate capture.

Lane is accused of going to elaborate lengths with an Illinois-based co-conspirator to cover their tracks so that investigators “will literally find nothing.” Prosecutors allege Lane used an 鈥渁nonymized email address鈥� to communicate with breach victims and Signal, the encrypted messaging app, to communicate with the co-conspirator. The two discussed directing their criminal proceeds to cryptocurrency wallets, transferring those funds to anonymous virtual credit cards and wearing masks and gloves when taking that money from ATMs. They also talked about using money mules to withdraw the cash for them.

The Cyble threat intelligence report notes Lane was also active on Telegram, the privacy-branded messaging app that鈥檚 become a popular hangout for cybercriminals. 

“The sophistication and planning involved in his crimes and the steps he took to conceal his identity鈥攊ncluding identifying which victims to target, gaining access to their networks, negotiating ransom payments with professional cybersecurity companies, hiding the flow of funds from the ransom payments to himself and others 鈥� belies any argument that Lane was too young to understand what he was doing was wrong,” prosecutors allege.

Calling the cops

On one online forum similar to BreachForums, which is still in operation, PowerSchool exploits have been a subject of discussion for years 鈥� with student users seeking ways to change their grades and stay out of trouble with their parents. 

In one post, a user gave forum members instructions on how to spoof 鈥渢he painfully evil grade checking website,鈥� albeit temporarily, to 鈥渟how off or to prove to your mom that you鈥檙e a good student.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The trick was a hit.

鈥淥MG dude i love you,鈥� one user wrote. 鈥淭his just saved my xbox till my school calls home.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Bogieczyk, who played the video game Minecraft with Lane while in high school, recalled him taking Advanced Placement Computer Science courses and finding them 鈥渏ust really easy.鈥� She said she hasn鈥檛 visited Lane since the indictment but she has friends who have. One of his preoccupations, she said, has been his online reputation. News of his indictment led to 鈥渉ate online,鈥� including social media posts and negative comments on news articles. 

One of 尝补苍别鈥檚 former Assumption University professors, who asked not to be identified because he wasn鈥檛 authorized by the university to speak, said Lane was 鈥渧ery quiet鈥� in class and was surprised to learn the student, whose progress reports show he was an adept computer programmer, stood accused of a cybercrime. 

The professor said he received a general email from university administrators notifying the school community of FBI activity on campus related to cybersecurity. After news of the indictment broke, the instructor said he got an email from 尝补苍别鈥檚 personal account explaining why he was absent from class and that law enforcement had confiscated his devices.

Officials at Assumption University, a small, Catholic college with about 1,600 undergraduate students and a tiny computer science program, didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment. 尝补苍别鈥檚 sentencing report notes he was attending Assumption on a partial scholarship, expected his college internships to pay off his student debt and aspired to work for Google.

In Sterling, the Lanes were described as 鈥渘ice neighbors鈥� who generally kept to themselves. A conversation with one neighbor was interrupted when two local police officers pulled onto the tree-lined street. Someone concerned about their privacy 鈥� Matthew Lane or his parents 鈥� had called in a complaint. 

鈥淭hey just called and they don鈥檛 have any comment and they just don鈥檛 want you here anymore,鈥� Officer Steve Mucci said. 鈥淵ou headed out?鈥�

Abby had been since birth. She and her siblings were granted the freedom to chart their own educational pathways as self-directed homeschoolers and, more recently, as students at the , an alternative private school in Framingham, Massachusetts, that since 1968 has embraced noncoercive, democratic education with no curriculum, tests, grades, or homework. It has inspired the growth of dozens of Sudbury-model schools around the world.

No, I told her. Traditional schooling, with its standardized curriculum and testing mandates, is not an option. 

After all, I had spent the previous several months crisscrossing the country visiting founders of emerging schools and similar models, such as microschools, learning pods, and homeschooling collaboratives. The majority of these founders were former public school teachers who felt that their creativity and autonomy were stifled within a conventional classroom. They left to build something different. Parents left, too. Frustrated by frequent testing and a one-size-fits-all curriculum, the parents I interviewed pulled their children out of traditional schools and enrolled them in these alternative ones because they wanted more freedom and flexibility in education. 

No, I wasn鈥檛 going to allow Abby to give up that freedom.  

Gratefully, for her and me, I soon realized my error: If educational freedom is truly my top value, then Abby deserves the freedom to choose the educational option that is right for her. We all deserve that freedom.

Students, parents, and teachers today have more K-12 education options than ever and they are increasingly able to find the best fit. For Abby, our traditional public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is undoubtedly right for her. It is clear to me now that this is where she belongs, while my other children currently have no interest in attending a conventional school. When my ninth grader joined the other 2,000 high schoolers earlier this month, she quickly felt at home in the large, bustling environment with access to hundreds of clubs and activities, a wide assortment of academic offerings, a talented team of educators and a breathtakingly diverse group of fellow students from across our city. She loves it.

But for some children and teens, a traditional school may not be the best fit. They may be lost in large schools, feeling either held back or left behind by a curriculum meant for the masses. Others may confront bullying or feel unsafe in a conventional classroom. Some may struggle with anxiety and depression, or have special learning needs, and desire a smaller, more personalized learning environment. Some kids might just want a change. Now, there are many more of these personalized learning environments to choose from, and they are more accessible than ever.

in Arizona is an example. One of the dozens of innovative schools I spotlight in my book, it was founded in 2021 by Tamara Becker. She was a public school teacher and administrator for nearly 30 years who became attracted to microschools during the COVID pandemic due to their small size, individualized curriculum, and focus on each child鈥檚 academic growth and emotional wellbeing. 鈥淢icroschools are the wave of the future because they provide an environment focused on the child, not the system,鈥� said Becker, who runs one of Adamo鈥檚 microschools out of her home in Queen Creek, a suburb of Phoenix.

Adamo currently enrolls more than 70 K-8 learners across multiple locations, who are all taught by certified teachers, including Becker. One-third of her students are neurodiverse or have special learning needs ranging from dyslexia and dysgraphia to ADHD and autism. Her students have grown both academically and socio-emotionally since joining Adamo, and all of them attend the microschool using the state鈥檚 education savings account (ESA) program. Becker ensures the tuition is fully covered by the ESA program, so that no parent has to pay out of pocket.

In 2022, Arizona became the first state to enact a school choice policy enabling every K-12 student in the state to be eligible to access a portion of state-allocated education funding to use toward a variety of approved educational expenses, including microschools like Adamo. More than a dozen states have since followed Arizona鈥檚 lead.

Microschools and other creative schooling options are spreading quickly in states like Arizona where students can often attend tuition-free, but they are appearing all across the country as more families look for low-cost, highly-individualized alternatives to traditional schools 鈥� both public and private.

More students today are able to enjoy an educational environment that is right for them. For Abby, that is shifting from homeschooling and alternative education to a traditional public school. For others, it could be the opposite. As parents, we should look at our children鈥檚 distinct educational needs and interests, and say 鈥測es鈥� when they want a change.

Saugus鈥檚 policy change goes against a torrent of federal and state initiatives aimed at limiting educational access to newcomers, particularly those in the country illegally. The Trump administration has detained and deported K-12 students and recently barred undocumented preschoolers from Head Start and older students from career, technical and adult education. In many states, those federal directives have been put on hold pending a Sept. 3 hearing.

The Saugus school registration requirement was challenged in court last year by Lawyers for Civil Rights, Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Anderson & Kreiger LLP. The state attorney general鈥檚 office also aided in the effort. 

鈥淲e are ecstatic,鈥� said Erika Richmond Walton, an attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights, who added that her group will continue to monitor school enrollment to ensure every family can register 鈥渨ithout fear or unnecessary hurdles.鈥�

Neither district officials nor multiple Saugus school board members responded to 社区黑料’s requests for comment. They鈥檝e stated previously that their enrollment procedures followed the law. 

Richmond Walton said the school鈥檚 turnaround came as a shock: In a recent admissions policy directive, it omitted the census clause. The instead centered on proof of residence and the district鈥檚 desire to ferret out anyone not living within its borders.

鈥淚t did come as a surprise to me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a fight we had been fighting for well over a year.鈥�

The new development in the Saugus case coincides with the state鈥檚 recent adoption of the , which affirms the educational rights of immigrant children and students with disabilities. Undocumented students鈥� right to attend school is already enshrined in the landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, but that ruling is under attack in some conservative states.听

鈥淭his law comes at a time of rising federal threats to civil rights,鈥� Massachusetts Advocates for Children said about the state鈥檚 initiative, which was signed by Gov. Maura Healey on Aug. 5. 鈥淲hile federal protections for immigrant students and students with disabilities are in jeopardy, Massachusetts has taken a bold stand to ensure that those rights remain protected here at home.鈥�

In Saugus, Walton said the district required families to fill out a census form as part of a local headcount conducted every year. In order to comply, she said, they had to get the document from town hall. Once they did, she said, the town would initiate an inspection of their living quarters. 

A family with an elementary-aged child was barred from completing the form because they were heating their home with space heaters, she said. In another case, one family was doubled up with another, and the one that sought to enroll a child was not the leaseholder, which disqualified them. Both were eventually allowed to attend school when Massachusetts Advocates for Children intervened.

Adam Strom, executive director of Boston-based , said the district鈥檚 reversal is critical.

鈥淚t protects something fundamental: every child’s right to attend school,鈥� Strom said. 鈥淣o student should have their education held hostage by discriminatory policies.鈥�

Students of all ages have been targeted for deportation across the country since the start of the year. Some have been in federal detention for weeks, with while others have been . 

Earlier this summer, on his way to volleyball practice was detained by immigration agents before winning his release. 

The Saugus school district served in 2023, up from 2,297 in 2021. Nearly 30% of the student body was identified as Hispanic or Latino two years ago, up from 20.6% in 2021. 

Just under 10% were English learners in 2023, up from 6.3% two years prior. 

The school superintendent鈥檚 secretary, Dianne Vargas, told 社区黑料 a year ago that the census requirement was waived for incoming immigrant students.听

But, she said then, the district did require other forms of paperwork meant to protect these students鈥� welfare so the district could 鈥渕ake sure they are with a parent or guardian 鈥� that they actually have someone who is caring for them so we don鈥檛 have doubling up and people aren鈥檛 passing children around.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The vast majority of infants and a plurality of toddlers in Massachusetts live in child care deserts, new state data show. Despite the recent increases in early education system capacity, sizeable gaps remain between available seats and the overall number of children, and program capacity falls short for tens of thousands of young children in each early education age group across the state.

Around 59,000 (70 percent) of infants, around 43,000 (43 percent) of toddlers, and around 10,000 (5 percent) of preschoolers in Massachusetts live in an access desert. The state defines this as areas where for every three children there is only one child care slot, though there are regions particularly in central Massachusetts where the ratio is greater than ten children to one slot.

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Enrollment differences between regions, student age groups, and income levels paint a picture of a system struggling to meet potential demand and that is most available to those at the highest income brackets.

鈥淲e know the need is considerable, so we know that growth is good, but it doesn’t tell us whether or not that growth is particularly responsive to where child and family need is perhaps strongest and greatest,鈥� Tom Weber, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, said at a recent聽聽focused on improving early education data practices. 鈥淥r is it in fact responsive to other environmental factors, like the rules and policies that we put in place or where we have decided presently to concentrate our public funding?鈥�

The data were presented at the second meeting of the Data Advisory Commission on Early Education and Care, an entity created in the state budget signed in July 2024 to better understand the gaps in the child care landscape. Comprised of state, education, and business leaders, the commission鈥檚 goal is to improve the quality of data collection on child care needs, figure out how best to use it, and make sure the public has access to it.

Coming out of the peak of the Covid pandemic, which shuttered centers and placed much of the child care burden on parents juggling remote or essential in-person work, enrollment and capacity have been on the rise, researchers with the Department of Early Education and Care noted.

Over the last two years, the early education and care system has added about 17,000 new seats, bringing the total capacity of licensed center-based care, licensed family child care, and state-funded programs to 259,744. Care options for infants and toddlers have the fewest overall seats compared to other age groups, but their capacity has risen the most 鈥� 5 percent over the last year compared with 3 percent growth for preschoolers and 1 percent growth for school-age children.

While all regions of the state have seen increased capacity since 2023, the rate of growth slowed in central and southeast Massachusetts over the past year 鈥� regions already struggling with accessible child care. Enrollment in formal care for newborns to 5-year-olds peaks at 56 percent in the Boston area and northeast Massachusetts, with the least (48 and 47 percent) in central and southeast Massachusetts, respectively.

In families earning less than half of the average median income, 51 percent of children are enrolled in formal care. That drops to between 37 and 35 percent for families making half to 100 percent of the standard income, and spikes to 66 percent at the highest wage brackets of more than 150 percent of the standard income.

鈥淲e see the highest enrollment rates or those who have higher financial resources,鈥� said Michelle Saulnier, a data analyst at the early education department. 鈥淭his is an opportunity for us to maybe conclude that those who are in the higher income bracket may be a closer measure to parent preference and demand for enrollment in formal care,鈥� she said.

Essentially, the families with the most resources are enrolling about two-thirds of their children in formal care, which can give education researchers clues about how many children may need spots to meet true demand.

Research published last year from Professor Jeffrey Liebman at the Harvard Kennedy School that 80 percent of families surveyed who were not currently using formal care would use it if they could afford it. Plus, 70 percent of those currently using it would use more hours if it were more affordable.

Ashley White, research director for the early education department, noted that the state collects information on child age, care type, and region for those using child care financial assistance programs. But there are still holes in data on family income, race and ethnicity, country of origin, disability status, and household language. Improvements to systematically collecting that information would bolster the data sets, White said.

The department does not currently collect data on early intervention for developmental delays, though partner groups and sister agencies focused on these interventions have some relevant data聽that the early education department can aggregate.

There are similar data gaps for families on wait lists for licensed programs, making it hard to gauge the demand for the different types of child care and where it would make sense to add seats. 聽Across the state, data on children and families is generally limited to those accessing care funded through the grant program that supports child care providers, so White said there is a need to 鈥渢hink creatively鈥� about how best to gather information on education and care needs outside of the C3 program.

The state is also the family portal and case management system for child care financial assistance programs, which at the moment involves a number of different tools and applications. Some parts involve more of an open notes field, which makes it hard to capture and sort information systemically. A better digital intake process would let them collect more 鈥済ranular鈥� data, unify the experience for families, streamline care management, and improve operational efficiency.

鈥淚 think one of the wonderful things about the family portal is that it’s going to allow us to collect more information earlier in the process and have to do less verification and going back to families and asking for them to update information,鈥� White said. 鈥淪o we’ll know more initially than we ever have before.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

In the fall of 2016, as her daughter struggled through a disastrous first two weeks in middle school, Emily Harding-Morick searched for a way out.

In class, students sat in desks far apart from one another, with barely a moment to chat between periods. During breaks, monitors herded them through the halls with no time to find a bathroom.

鈥淪he was just so unhappy,鈥� the mother recalled.

That鈥檚 when Harding-Morick called Kenneth Danford.

The veteran educator wasted no time, telling her 13-year-old, 鈥淵ou know, yesterday could be your last day of school.鈥�

They were stunned, but Danford persisted: 鈥淵ou don’t have to go back.”

That began a journey that has become increasingly routine in this region: Harding-Morick disenrolled her daughter from middle school and she joined North Star Teens. Guided by Danford, North Star鈥檚 co-founder, she spent a year there studying, relaxing and socializing with a small group of like-minded teenagers. Her mother joined its board, eventually becoming its chair.

At its most basic, North Star is a small, private homeschooling collective for middle- and high-schoolers who know they don鈥檛 want to go to school anymore, but aren鈥檛 sure what comes next.

As more families question the value of school 鈥� and as states and the federal government increasingly offer taxpayer dollars for other options 鈥� models like North Star鈥檚 could take root beyond western Massachusetts鈥� Pioneer Valley. As it nears three decades in operation, Danford is moving to replicate it.

For 29 years, the private, non-profit center 鈥� don鈥檛 call it a school 鈥� has been a refuge for kids who chafe at the stress, loneliness or bullying of school. They spend a few months or a few years here, catching their breath as they prepare for life after graduation.

With an enrollment of 65, it offers rigorous, one-on-one tutoring; small, personalized classes in history, math, writing and the arts, and extracurriculars like weekly hiking club excursions. This year, young people designed and taught three courses on Dungeons & Dragons.

Or 鈥渕embers,鈥� as they鈥檙e called, can simply show up and read a book, sit with friends, take the public bus into nearby Amherst or curl up on the couch with a bowl of ramen. All that鈥檚 required is a weekly check-in with an advisor and regular conferences with families.

But that freedom comes with a healthy dose of self-examination. Danford regularly reminds members, 鈥淵ou’re accountable to yourself. Is this the life you want?鈥�

With a tuition scale that slides from $10,000 annually down to whatever a family can afford, North Star has been a quiet presence in the region since its founding in 1996. It has moved three times since then, but in 2015 landed in a faded two-story structure on State Highway 116 that once housed a used furniture store and a Subway sandwich shop. 

North Star functions like a gym, social club or even a religious institution: Attendance is encouraged but optional. Members can take classes or not. There are no grades, no transcripts or tests, no roll call and no diploma. 

Most who seek refuge here have good reason: They鈥檝e been bullied or they鈥檙e on the autism spectrum and seeking a smaller, calmer venue. Or they鈥檙e LGBTQ and simply don鈥檛 feel comfortable at school.

鈥淪ome of them are just your non-conformist, skateboarder-poet-musician kids who think, 鈥楽chool?鈥� They roll their eyes,鈥� said Danford. 鈥淲e tend not to get your football player, cheerleader, sports team kids who want to be popular in school. But we get all the kids they pick on.鈥�

Marley Bernstein, 16, faced years of bullying at a school she said was ill-equipped to stop it. So she stopped going, missing 120 days last year and 64 this year.

She arrived at North Star in late May, filing paperwork to pursue a GED. 

鈥淚 feel better being here,鈥� she said one recent morning in the large common room. 鈥淚t’s nice to just sit. You can walk around, you can kind of do whatever you want and not have to look over your shoulder every two minutes.鈥�

Nearby, friends Asha Morbyrne and Tasha Harris chatted. Tasha confided that 鈥渁 lot of people here are traumatized,鈥� to which her friend replied, 鈥淎 lot of people. Middle school is a violent place.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Both 13, they confided that they鈥檙e here mostly to spend time together, occupying their days slurping ramen and rough-housing in the dance studio upstairs.

鈥淭his is, like, the only place I have a functioning friend group,” said Asha. 

“Same!” said Tasha.

But beneath the apparent slacking, Danford said, is often a quiet purpose. Last fall, Asha wrote a short play that she recently produced at a local theater, while Tasha learned to swim and is a regular on Thursday hikes.

Others arrive seemingly ready for anything. Joshua Wachtel began teaching at North Star in 2010, and last year brought along his stepson Lysander Woodard, who wanted an alternative to sixth grade.

The 12-year-old is trying a bit of everything. He joined a recent service learning trip to Washington, D.C., and is getting tutoring via Khan Academy. He took all three D&D classes, as well as one on the Star Wars canon taught by an adult.

鈥淭he freedom is nice,鈥� Lysander said.

Danford urges supporters and skeptics alike to look past the unusual structure and 鈥渒eep your eyes on the prize.鈥� It isn鈥檛 regular attendance or even being a member of the community, he said. 鈥淭he prize is independent control of your life.鈥�

Flipping the unschooling paradigm

A powerfully built Gen Xer from Ohio, Danford got straight As in high school in Shaker Heights, a prosperous Cleveland suburb. He cut his teeth teaching social studies in public middle schools in the Washington, D.C., area and in Amherst, but soon grew weary of micromanagement from administrators. 

He left to earn his master鈥檚 degree, and was considering leaving education altogether when he read Grace Llewelyn鈥檚 seminal 1991 guide . Subtitled 鈥淗ow to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education,鈥� it changed his thinking about student agency, offering a template for young people searching for a different kind of education outside of school, a strategy often called 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Most unschoolers were younger, returning to school by ninth grade. But to Danford, high school was where kids could benefit most from its freedom as they separate from parents and find themselves as individuals.

He essentially flipped the paradigm: 鈥淚f you made it through elementary school, why don’t you quit while you’re ahead? Make it to sixth grade and then quit. Unschool the rest of the way.鈥�

It helps that the state of Massachusetts takes a hands-off approach to homeschoolers and largely stops supervising them once they鈥檙e 16.

鈥淵ou don’t like school?鈥� he tells prospective members, 鈥淒on’t go back. Don’t ever go back in the building. Send someone in to get your books. I help families write a homeschooling plan. Do it tonight, this week.鈥�

鈥業 just could not stop crying.鈥�

For Trixie Lawless, enrolling in North Star was a no-brainer. Her mother had worked there as a teacher and knew its benefits. But she had to persuade her father.

By sophomore year, she鈥檇 spent a lot of time skipping classes at her high school in Amherst. 鈥淚 enjoyed my day,鈥� she said, reading, writing short stories, taking in movies or museums.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥業’m homeschooling right now. If I just had a math tutor, I would be fine.鈥欌��

But skipping all those classes meant pointless makeup work and the black mark of unexcused absences. While it was mostly worth it, the prospect of another year in school eventually took a toll.

While visiting family last summer in Connecticut, she recalled, 鈥淚 just could not stop crying.鈥� Even for Trixie, this was a shock. She can usually hide her emotions, 鈥渆ven when I’m feeling really horrible. So when it got to that breaking point, where it was like, 鈥業 can’t even keep up with myself anymore,鈥� that was the first time I’d ever really let it through.鈥�

Her father took notice. Trixie enrolled in the fall. 

Having time to herself in a community of people who all want to be here, she said, is 鈥渟o much nicer. It definitely wouldn’t be for everyone, but it has given me the space I knew I needed to feel better.鈥�

She鈥檚 now studying for the GED with plans to start classes at Greenfield Community College in the fall. After a year at North Star, she鈥檚 beginning to appreciate how different members experience the center. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 about how you fill the space 鈥� a lot of people here do that by playing video games and organizing D&D campaigns.鈥� She does it by oversubscribing to English and writing classes. 鈥淚t’s a place for people who know what works for them.鈥�

Second-generation members

By now, the center has been around long enough that it鈥檚 beginning to serve the children of its original members. One even teaches there: Aaron Damon-Rush arrived at North Star in 2011, when he was just 11, and stayed for seven years. He went on to attend nearby Hampshire College and returned in 2022 as alumni coordinator. Now 25, he teaches courses in film, game design and other disciplines.

At North Star, he took classes in psychology and criminal justice, learning about the morality of the death penalty and victims鈥� rights when he was just 12. 鈥淭hat was a huge, mind-blowing experience for me,鈥� he said.

In lieu of finals and graduation, each member sits for a meeting with their parents and a handful of staffers where they review the year. They often find it鈥檚 their best year of schooling, even though they鈥檙e technically not in school. Parents speak tearfully of their kids opening up about classes for the first time, Danford said.

鈥淚t is all fantastic, even the hard cases,鈥� he said.

As North Star nears its 30th anniversary, Danford, who鈥檚 59, is nearly two-thirds of the way through what he calls a 45-year plan: In the first 15 years, he built it; in the second, he worked to make it run increasingly without him. Now he鈥檚 planning to step away so he can write, speak and consult with other educators who want to create something similar. 

A network of centers, loosely affiliated with North Star, already boasts about a dozen locations worldwide. And Danford continues to offer the same message to weary young people who show up at his door.

鈥淛ust take the year, breathe, wonder what you should be doing,鈥� he said. 鈥淢eanwhile we’re gonna unlock the door and give you a couch 鈥� and we’ll be nice to you. Turns out that’s really healthy and responsible.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

While most mainstream educators would say letting young people 鈥渄o nothing鈥� for a year is out of the question, he sees it differently: In the unschooling world, he said, 鈥渢here’s no such thing as 鈥榙oing nothing.鈥� 鈥�

That finding comes from a hodgepodge of state documents and research reports. With the caveat that those sources may count things in slightly different ways and at different time periods, the pattern that emerges is consistent. 

In fall 2020, the country was still in the thick of the COVID pandemic. The economy was on uncertain footing, many schools stayed remote and teacher turnover rates fell. That is, more educators stayed put. 

But as the world began to open up, teachers started leaving in higher numbers, first in 2021 and then again in 2022. That fall, the country hit modern highs in the percentage of teachers leaving their positions. 

But those moves were temporary. Last year, Wall Street Journal (and former 74) reporter Matt Barnum found that teacher turnover rates in 2023 for each of the 10 states for which he was able to find data. Not all the changes were big, but the trends were all falling. 

For fall 2024, the current school year, I was able to find data from six states: Colorado, Delaware, Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and Massachusetts. All but Texas experienced year-over-year declines in teacher turnover. 

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey shows similar trends nationally. For a broad category that includes all state and local government education employees, employee quit rates surged in 2022, fell in 2023 and then decreased again in 2024. Similarly, the American School District Panel from found turnover rates falling among teachers and principals in the fall of 2023 and 2024. Notably, the biggest declines were seen in the places where turnover had surged the most during the initial pandemic years. 

You could squint at the data closely and note that turnover rates are still a bit higher than where they were pre-pandemic. But zoom out, and the numbers look broadly similar to historical trends. For example, Dan Goldhaber and Roddy Theobald looked at from 1984-85 to 2021-22 and found that total turnover, including teachers who left the profession, switched schools, or left teaching but stayed in education, has ranged from about 14% to 20% in Washington since the mid-1980s. It did indeed hit a modern peak (of 19.8%) in 2021-22, but Goldhaber and Theobald鈥檚 in Washington showed turnover was again starting to fall in 2023.听

How should we put these figures in context? First, despite its recent surge, public education has maintained than any other industry except for the federal government. In any given month, less than 2% of public education employees leave their jobs, compared with rates twice that high in the private sector. 

Within public education, teachers tend to have lower turnover rates than other employees do. Colorado, for example, has published by role since 2007. The chart below shows the results. Teachers (in red) tend to have similar turnover rates as principals (light blue), but those are much lower than the turnover rates in other roles. Paraprofessionals, in dark blue, typically have turnover rates that are 10 to 15 percentage points higher than teachers do. 

How should we square this with soft data coming out of teacher surveys? Those results are messier, but they could fit the same basic trajectory. One high-quality study out of Illinois found that teacher working conditions worsened substantially from 2021 to 2023. And research looking at a range of survey and pipeline indicators suggested that the state of the profession was as of data ending a couple years ago. More recently, Education Week鈥檚 Teacher Morale Index a significant rebound in 2024-25 over the prior year.  

None of this is to say that policymakers should be content with the status quo. And indeed, there continue to be problem spots. Rural schools, those in low-income areas and certain teaching roles, especially in special education, tend to have higher turnover rates than others. But those call for more specialized and tailored solutions rather than universal policies.  

Moreover, policymakers can at least take heart that the worst of the teacher turnover surge appears to be in the rearview mirror. 

And yet, systematic and regular use of data is at the heart of successful schools. In a from Education Reform Now, we surveyed 53 principals, assistant principals and superintendents across Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas and Georgia to understand the strategies central to the success of their high-performing, high-poverty spotlight schools. Despite a wide range of geographies and school models, all of them agreed: Data is key.

While DQC鈥檚 polling indicates that most teachers struggle to access and mobilize the data they need, 100% of the leaders from the “spotlight schools” we surveyed agreed that data and assessments are very important for professional development. This highlights how these schools have invested in building data literacy so that all their educators understand what the data means and how to use it to help students succeed. 

During follow-up interviews, “data” was the most frequently mentioned word, with administrators describing extensive use of both academic and non-academic data to shape a wide range of decision-making.

But what does effective data use actually look like in practice? Here are five ways schools are leveraging data:

1. Daily instruction

Quick and can be used to briefly assess students at the end of lessons to gauge their understanding of the material covered. This serves as live data to help teachers adjust instruction in real-time. At IDEA Carver Academy in San Antonio, Texas, administrators design end-of-lesson quizzes 鈥� exit tickets 鈥� to monitor content mastery consistently across classes. Teachers discuss the data with one another during daily 鈥渆xit ticket huddles鈥� to determine appropriate instructional adjustments.

2. Interventions

Implementing tests to evaluate student learning throughout the year allows educators to identify which children need extra help, inform how they are grouped, shape instructional priorities during intervention blocks and monitor progress.

Several spotlight schools in Massachusetts leverage data cycles to shape WIN (鈥淲hat I Need鈥�) time 鈥� a type of small-group instruction. Nicole Mack, executive director of Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, uses 鈥淛une data to start the first round of interventions during the second week of school. 鈥hen we do five intervention cycles across the course of the year, where our administrative team does the review of our data to identify the kids that should go into the different interventions,鈥� such as tutoring or extended learning time.

In Texas, administrators are guided by Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (), which serve as specific, detailed standards that are aligned with the state鈥檚 standardized exams. At Ortiz Elementary in Brownsville, Principal Julie Pe帽a says, 鈥淲e monitor data on a regular basis to help identify the TEKS that have not yet been mastered and plan targeted instruction. 鈥� If students are missing a TEKS, then we regroup the students and we make sure that we’re giving them lessons that are geared toward learning those skills. So if a student is falling behind, they are asked to participate in tutorials, they are asked to come on Saturdays and they’re given the reviews targeted to what it is that they’re missing.鈥�

3. Professional development

Both academic and non-academic data can be leveraged to pinpoint professional development sessions that address key shortcomings, evaluate the effectiveness of these sessions and identify educators who may benefit from further coaching or support. For example, at IDEA Carver Academy, administrators collect data through “cultural and instructional observations鈥� each week using the 鈥� a benchmarked tool designed to objectively evaluate what teachers are doing well and how they can improve, Principal Laura Flack says. These rubrics, alongside classroom climate, exit ticket and disciplinary data, are then 鈥渞eviewed, and professional development is created to address areas of need across the campus.鈥�

4. Chronic absenteeism

As schools navigate unprecedented levels of chronic absenteeism, it is vital to collect detailed data to properly identify, diagnose and monitor the issue. For example, Rocky Mountain Prep charter schools in Denver have teams that collect attendance data each morning and call the families of each student who is absent. Teachers are notified of the total absences for the day, how many students came to school after their parents were called and who teachers should follow up with.

5. Student and family empowerment

Data isn鈥檛 just a tool for educators 鈥� it also empowers students to take an active role in their learning and helps parents better support their children鈥檚 academic growth. At Eastside Elementary School in Grady County, Georgia, Principal Chiquila Wright reports that students have one-on-one 鈥渄ata talks鈥� with their teachers to discuss their interim test scores. Families are engaged through trainings that teach parents how to 鈥渦nderstand their child鈥檚 assessment scores and how to support growth at home.鈥�

Data is not a new concept. However, it is one that is too often underutilized in education. Children cannot learn and schools cannot thrive based on subjective observations and good intentions alone. The data revolution is already here, and it鈥檚 time students reaped the benefits.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez is one step closer to becoming the top education official in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted during a public meeting on Tuesday to recommend Martinez to be the next commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Nine of 11 members of the Massachusetts board voted for Martinez. The other two abstained. Both said earlier in the meeting that they supported candidate Lily Laux, the former deputy commissioner of school programs at the Texas Education Agency.

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The board will now send its recommendation to the Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, who must give final approval and is also currently serving as the department鈥檚 interim commissioner. However, Tutwiler, who also sits on the board, said he supports Martinez and voted yes for him.

Martinez, without cause in December, was for the Massachusetts job and one of 42 people who had applied. If he takes the job, he will be responsible for overseeing and providing state support for Massachusetts鈥� roughly 400 school districts. He would also become the first Latino to have the job, according to a press release from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

鈥淭his is someone who has had progressive experience in increasingly larger and more complex organizations with significantly increased, let鈥檚 say, political situations that they have to balance,鈥� said Matt Hills, the board鈥檚 vice chair, during the meeting. 鈥淏ut at the end of the day, this is someone who has been able to lead large organizations to get pretty significantly positive results in key education priorities that we have.鈥�

Several board members said they were impressed by Martinez鈥檚 leadership experience 鈥� with some generally noting controversy he鈥檚 faced 鈥� as well as his interest in students from low-income households and those learning English as a new language. Another noted she was impressed that he was able to raise teacher salaries in Chicago, which most recently came after with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Martinez鈥檚 firing was fueled in part by a tense disagreement with Mayor Brandon Johnson and

Board member Martin West said he was concerned about Martinez鈥檚 lack of state experience relative to Laux, but he found through Martinez鈥檚 interview that district leadership is 鈥渋n some ways more similar to the state role in terms of the levers available for driving change.鈥�

Board member Ericka Fisher said she felt Martinez was the sort of candidate who 鈥渃an stay standing and continue fighting the good fight鈥� in the face of the education climate both in Massachusetts and under the Trump administration.

The board鈥檚 decision comes after it interviewed Martinez and two other finalists at an hourslong public meeting last week. Martinez attended that meeting in person and spoke about a variety of topics, including serving English learners, students with disabilities and efforts to expose students to early college programs.

In a statement, Martinez said he is 鈥渉onored鈥� to be selected for the job and that Chicago and CPS will 鈥渁lways hold a special place in my heart.鈥�

鈥淚 am committed to finishing the school year strong here and will leave CPS in mid-June with a deep sense of pride and optimism for its future, knowing the district is in strong hands and moving in the right direction,鈥� Martinez said.

Once the education secretary finalizes the board鈥檚 recommendation, Martinez plans to accept the job after negotiating terms of his contract, according to a source close to the CEO.

The Massachusetts board chair previously said she hoped to have a commissioner in place by July 1, according to Jackie Reis, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Per his CPS contract, a firing without cause allows Martinez to stay at the district through June.

Before CPS, Martinez was the superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District and held various education roles in Nevada.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat.听Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

When a ransom note landed in the inboxes of high school leaders in Somerset, Massachusetts, the district hired consultants to negotiate 鈥� unsuccessfully 鈥� with the hackers. 

The district wound up paying a ransom to resolve the July 2020 cyberattack, according to documents obtained by 社区黑料 through public records requests. In the eyes of the cybersecurity company brought in to consult, the school system got a good deal. 

The hacker, who used an encrypted email service and the name Kristina D Holm, threatened to leak 50 gigabytes of data if Somerset school officials didn鈥檛 hand over 60 bitcoin which, at the time, was worth about $660,000. 

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 reach an agreement we will start leaking your private data,鈥� the hacker wrote, noting that for bitcoin they would also offer 鈥渁 list of security measures鈥� to prevent future breaches. The note also provided documents to prove the writer had infiltrated district servers. 

that Coveware, a cybersecurity company that specializes in negotiating with hackers, got the ransom down to $200,000 after the firm made a $170,000 counteroffer. An obtained by 社区黑料 describes the ransom payment as being for 鈥渢echnical consultant services and remediation.鈥�

鈥淭ypically in situations where they drop very significantly and within range of our budget, we would recommend accepting the offer as we have seen these groups take offers away if they think we are nickel and diming them on the price,鈥� Coveware incident response director Garron Negron wrote in a July 30 email ahead of the payment. 

The district didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment for this story. 

Records show that Beazley, the school district鈥檚 cybersecurity insurance provider, approved the ransom payment and was a key player in selecting third-party vendors like Coveware for Somerset Berkeley’s incident response.

Six days after the attack, school officials contacted lawyers with the firm BakerHostetler to assess the cyberattack鈥檚 impact and its data breach reporting obligations, but it wasn鈥檛 until November 鈥� four months later 鈥攖hat the firm told them a 鈥減rogrammatic review of the files鈥� had been completed. 

鈥淏aker reviewed a sample of documents for each of the largest hit counts and helped narrow the scope for manual review,鈥� staff attorney Damon Durbin wrote, adding that the preliminary review uncovered at least two Social Security numbers. Once the district approved a statement of work, Durbin wrote, consultants would 鈥渃onduct the review and produce a notification list that Baker will review with the District in order to determine notification obligations.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The school district reported the hack to local and federal law enforcement, records show, but not until after lawyers were on the scene. 

William Tedford, then the Somerset Police Department鈥檚 technology director, requested in a July 31 email that the district furnish the threat actor鈥檚 bitcoin address 鈥渁s soon as possible,鈥� so he could share it with a Secret Service agent who 鈥渙ffered to track the payment with the hopes of identifying the suspect(s).鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淭here will be no action taken by the Secret Service without express permission from the decision-makers in this matter,鈥� Tedford wrote, adding that officials with the state police cybersecurity program had also offered to help. 

鈥淎ll are aware of the sensitive nature of this matter, and information is restricted to only [the officers] directly involved,鈥� said Tedford, who was promoted to department chief in August 2024. 

While law enforcement seemed willing to follow the school district鈥檚 lead, the incident did open Somerset Berkeley to police scrutiny. In early August, Tedford pressed school officials about sexual misconduct allegations that the threat actor claimed to have stumbled upon and attempted to use as leverage during ransom negotiations.

The hacker wrote: 鈥淚 am somewhat shocked with the contents of the files because the first file I chose at random is about a predatory/pedophilia incident described by young girls in one of your schools. This is very troubling even for us. I hope you have investigated this incident and reported it to the authorities, because that is some fucked up stuff. If the other files are as good, we regret not making the price higher.鈥�

Tedford asked if the accusation was legitimate and if the police had been notified.

鈥淚 need to cover these bases now that we have been made aware of this claim,鈥� Tedford wrote in an Aug. 3 email. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear the attorneys don鈥檛 want law enforcement involved, and that鈥檚 fine, but this is a different issue.鈥�

In an emailed response, district Superintendent Jeffrey Schoonover said the police department is 鈥渨ell aware of that situation,鈥� which was related to an incident during an out-of-town show choir event. 

鈥淎fter a thorough investigation, no charges were filed,鈥� Shoonover wrote, adding in a later email that an officer 鈥渋nterviewed dozens of kids鈥� in response to 鈥渢his entire unfortunate event.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

In August 2020, the district was working on its talking points to the public and it鈥檚 clear the consultants weren鈥檛 far away. 社区黑料 obtained a draft FAQ in which school officials were crafting their answer to the question: Why was the community not advised when this cyberattack first happened? 

They answered that they would 鈥渉ave preferred to notify the public earlier鈥� but couldn鈥檛 鈥渢o ensure the privacy of student records,鈥� that they were unsure what, if any, records may have been compromised and that they were encouraged to 鈥渨ait to release any information until the investigation鈥� was further along. In red italics next to the text are the words: Pending revisions from consultants. 

Somerset Berkley was 鈥渦nable to provide any further information鈥� about whether the district paid a ransom, the document also notes.

The until September, when Schoonover wrote in a letter that data breach victims would be contacted once its investigation was finalized 鈥� but he didn鈥檛 divulge the $200,000 ransom payment. 

The district submitted to Massachusetts regulators in December 2020 鈥� five months after the incident 鈥� and disclosed that 85 commonwealth residents had their information exposed. Stolen records include Social Security, driver鈥檚 license and credit card numbers. 

Results from the 2024 (NAEP) showed that only a third of students are reading at grade level. On the International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international assessment of math skills in 64 countries, American math achievement dropped 18 points for fourth graders and 27 points for eighth graders between 2019 and 2024. In both grades, American students were outperformed by peers in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and many European nations. 

Lawmakers need to take action to drastically improve student outcomes, and President Donald Trump鈥檚 promises to put parents in the driver鈥檚 seat and ensure states are in control of their education policymaking could be good steps in that direction. But a few federal K-12 education policies are mission-critical and should remain in place to fuel this effort. 

One is the federal requirement that all states administer annual tests that measure learning for every student in third to eighth grades and once in high school. This critical backstop protects states from powerful special-interest groups seeking to eliminate the transparent information about student achievement that state tests provide.       

Massachusetts鈥� November election results demonstrate the power of these groups. The Massachusetts Teachers鈥� Association reportedly contributed over $7 million to the campaign to eliminate the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), which measures 10th graders鈥� knowledge of English, math and science as a graduation requirement. 

Although most students pass the MCAS on their first attempt, the union pointed to the achievement gap among groups of students surfaced by test results as a reason to eliminate it. In November, voters approved a ballot measure to eliminate the MCAS as a graduation requirement, effectively weakening high school diplomas for all students in the commonwealth.

Unlike report cards and observations, which are subjective, statewide assessments are the only source of objective and comparable information about student performance. These exams provide policymakers and the American public with important insights on America’s readiness as a nation to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. 

These assessments also supply parents with transparent information about how well their child is being served. State tests provide apples-to-apples comparisons about the performance of a school relative to others 鈥� information that is essential for enabling families to make informed decisions about what鈥檚 best for their children.

Arguments against testing often focus on the ways in which educators respond to assessments by narrowing the curriculum, but those issues point to a lack of instructional leadership, which is not resolved by eliminating a test. Others complain about the inability of annual state tests to provide timely data to help inform day-to-day instruction. While very important, this is not the purpose of yearly assessments. Rather, a continuum of tests, including benchmarking exams and daily knowledge checks, ought to be used to inform school- and classroom-level instruction.

Finally, there are those who simply don鈥檛 like the results of the assessments and seek to eliminate them rather than using them to ensure learning for all students. This is a little like blaming a thermometer for a fever. As a nation, America cannot afford to hide from the truth. The nation’s education system needs to improve, and assessments are the way to measure progress. 

Without statewide assessments, parents, educators and policymakers lose access to clear, comparable information about student performance. This will not prepare children better; it will hurt them. It will not empower parents to make informed choices about their children鈥檚 education, but rather obscure critical information. The federal requirement for states to administer annual assessments provides important cover against special interests’ efforts to eliminate transparency.

Now more than ever, all students should have access to an education that will prepare them for the 21st century. As the Trump administration works to connect the dots among education, the workforce and the economy, it can empower state leaders and parents by continuing the federal requirement for statewide annual assessments. This federal role is the best way to protect systems from special interest groups and ensure policymakers, parents and the American public have the clear, transparent, meaningful data they need about how well students are learning.

Many stories also picked up on the fact that achievement gaps are growing, as lower-performing students have fallen further behind. For instance, in eighth grade math, the scores for the top 10% of students rose 3 points, while the bottom 10% fell 5 points.

But these national numbers are hiding the fact that achievement gaps are growing in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. While they vary in magnitude, the extent of the divergence playing out in schools across the country is alarming. 

Before going into those state-level results, it鈥檚 important to acknowledge that this is a uniquely American problem. The separation between the higher- and lower-performing students in the United States has over the last decade, and there鈥檚 no signs yet of that slowing down. 

Last spring, I did an analysis that showed that before 2013, achievement scores were rising, and those gains were broadly shared across student performance levels. 

Consider the left side of the graph below, which shows the NAEP results in eighth grade math, updated through 2024. It is clear that something happened around 2013: On average, scores fell a little bit, but lower-performing students (in red) fell off a cliff. 

Meanwhile, the scores of higher-performing students (in blue) suffered a bit in the wake of COVID-19, but they improved noticeably last year, while the lowest performers did not.

A similar pattern shows up across a wide range of national and international tests, grade levels and subject areas. 

It is also evident in state after state. After the latest results came out, I looked to see how these gaps were changing at the state level. I looked specifically at eighth grade math, and the numbers were shockingly bad. In fact, in every state, the achievement gap has grown over the last two years. 

But those short-term changes don鈥檛 explain the full extent of what has happened to American children over the last decade. Each state has seen its achievement gap increase significantly.

To see the full state-level results, check out the table below, which shows the changes from 2013 to 2024. It breaks down the gains (or losses) for students at the 90^th percentile, the midpoint of all students in the state (the median) and the bottom 10^th percentile. It also shows how much these groups have diverged over time and the gap that has grown. 

And those gaps have increased in every state, most dramatically in Massachusetts, California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In all of these, the gap widened by 20 points or more.

How meaningful are these changes? Depending on the year, the average student gains about 10 points per year on the NAEP math tests. As a rough comparison, that means  achievement gaps have grown by the equivalent of one to two years鈥� worth of schooling. That鈥檚 substantial.

These gaps may seem daunting, and policymakers might be tempted to throw up their hands. But they should take heart from the fact that this recent period of academic stagnation is unusual. Until about a decade ago, small but steady gains were the norm. When researchers M. Danish Shakeel of the University of Buckingham and Paul Peterson from Harvard University looked at this question a few years ago, they that, 鈥渁verage student achievement has been increasing for half a century. Across 7 million tests taken by U.S. students born between 1954 and 2007, math scores have grown by 95% of a standard deviation, or nearly four years鈥� worth of learning.鈥� They found smaller but still positive results for reading and a narrowing of gaps across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic status. 

In other words, progress is possible. At the moment, American achievement scores are falling and gaps are growing, but it wasn鈥檛 that long ago when the data were going in a much more positive direction.

Jill Norton, an education policy adviser in Massachusetts, has a teenage son with dyslexia and ADHD. Shelley Scruggs, an electrical engineer in the same state, also has a teenage son with ADHD. Both students go to the same technical high school.

But last fall, Norton and Scruggs advocated on opposite sides of a Massachusetts ballot referendum scrapping the requirement that high school kids pass a standardized state test to graduate.

Norton argued that without the high bar of the standard exam, kids like hers won鈥檛 have an incentive to strive. But Scruggs maintained that kids with learning disorders also need different types of measurements than standardized tests to qualify for a high school diploma.

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Voters approved the referendum last November, 59% to 41%, ending the Massachusetts requirement. There and in most other states, Scruggs鈥� position against testing is carrying the day.

Just seven states now require students to pass a test to graduate, and one of those 鈥� New York 鈥� will end its Regents Exam as a requirement by the 2027-28 school year. Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia still require testing to graduate, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a group that opposes such mandates.

In Massachusetts, teachers unions favored getting rid of the exam as a graduation requirement. They argued it forced them to teach certain facts at the expense of in-depth or more practical learning. But many business leaders were in favor of keeping the test, arguing that without it, they will have no guarantee that job applicants with high school diplomas possess basic skills.

State by state, graduation tests have tumbled over the past decade. In 2012, half the states required the tests, but that number fell to 13 states in 2019, . The trend accelerated during the pandemic, when many school districts scrapped the tests during remote learning and some decided to permanently extend test exemptions.

Studies have found that such graduation exams disadvantage students with learning disabilities as well as English language learners, and that they aren鈥檛 always a good predictor of success in careers or higher education.

An oft-cited 2010 by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin may have ignited the trend to scrap the tests. Researchers鈥� review of 46 earlier studies found that high school exit exams 鈥減roduced few of the expected benefits and have been associated with costs for the most disadvantaged students.鈥�

Some states began to find other ways to assess high school competency, such as grades in mandatory courses, capstone projects or technical milestones.

鈥淢inimum competency tests in the 1980s drove the idea that we need to make sure that students who graduate from high school have the bare minimum of skills,鈥� said John Papay, an associate professor of education at Brown University. 鈥淏y the mid-2000s, there was a reaction against standardized testing and a movement away from these exams. They disappeared during the pandemic and that led to these tests going away.鈥�

Despite the problems with the tests for English learners and students with learning disabilities, Papay said, the tests are 鈥渟trong predictors of long-term outcomes. Students who do better on the tests go on to graduate [from] college and they earn more.鈥�

Papay, who remains neutral on whether the tests should be required, pointed out that high school students usually have many opportunities to retake the tests and to appeal their scores.

Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, a think tank and advocacy group for underserved communities, noted that in many states, the testing requirements were replaced by other measures.

The schools 鈥渟till require some students or all students to demonstrate competency to graduate, but students have many more options on how they could do that. They can pass a dual credit [high school/college] course, pass industry recognized competency tests. 鈥�

鈥淎 lot of states still have assessments as part of their graduation requirements, but in a much broader form,鈥� she said.

Massachusetts moves

Scruggs said her son took Massachusetts鈥� required exam last spring; he passed the science and math portions but fell 1 point short in English.

鈥淗e could do well in his classes, but if he didn鈥檛 pass the three tests, he wouldn鈥檛 get his regular diploma,鈥� Scruggs said. 鈥淗ow do you go out into the working world, and you went to school every day and passed your classes, but got no diploma?鈥�

Her son has taken the English test again and is awaiting his new score, she said.

Norton, by contrast, said the exam, called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, gave her son an incentive to work hard.

鈥淚 worry that kids like him 鈥� are going to end up graduating from high school without the skills they will need,鈥� Norton said. 鈥淲ithout the test, they will just be passed along. I can鈥檛 just trust that my kid is getting the basic level of what he needs. I need a bar set where he will get the level of education he needs.鈥�

Students in Massachusetts still will have to take the MCAS in their sophomore year of high school, and the scores will be used to assess their overall learning. But failing the test won鈥檛 be a barrier to graduation beginning with the class of 2025. The state is still debating how 鈥� or whether 鈥� to replace the MCAS with other types of required courses, evaluations or measurements.

High school students in Massachusetts and most states still have to satisfy other graduation requirements, which usually include four years of English and a number of other core subjects such as mathematics, sciences and social studies. Those requirements vary widely across the country, however, as most are set by individual school districts.

In New York, the State Education Department in 2019 began a multiyear process of rethinking high school graduation requirements and the Regents Exam. The department decided last fall to phase out the exit exam and replace it with something called a 鈥淧ortrait of a Graduate,鈥� including seven areas of study in which a student must establish proficiency. Credit options include capstone projects, work-based learning experiences and internships, as well as academic achievement. Several other states have moved recently to a similar approach.

Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, an advocacy group that works to limit standardized testing, said course grades do a better job of assessing students鈥� abilities.

鈥淪tandardized tests are poor ways of incentivizing and measuring the kinds of skills and knowledge we should have high school kids focusing on,鈥� Feder said. 鈥淵ou get 鈥榯eaching to the test鈥� that doesn鈥檛 bear much of a relationship to the kinds of things that kids are being asked to do when they go on to college or the workplace.鈥�

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association union, said phrases such as 鈥渢eaching to the test鈥� disrespect teachers and their ability to know when students have mastered content and competency. The high school tests are first taken in the 10th grade in Massachusetts. If the kids don鈥檛 pass, they can retake the exam in the 11th or 12th grade.

鈥淓ducators are still evaluating students,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mirage to say that everything that a student does in education can be measured by a standardized test in the 10th grade. Education, of course, goes through the 12th grade.鈥�

He added that course grades are still a good predictor of how much a student knows.

Colorado鈥檚 menu

Several of the experts and groups on both sides of the debate point to Colorado as a blueprint for how to move away from graduation test requirements.

Colorado, which made the switch with the graduating class of 2021, now allows school districts to choose from a menu of assessment techniques, such as SAT or ACT scores, or demonstration of workforce readiness in various skill areas.

A state task force created by the legislature recently to the education accreditation system to 鈥渂etter reflect diverse student needs and smaller school populations.鈥� They include creating assessments that adapt to student needs, offering multilingual options, and providing quicker results to understand student progress.

The state hopes the menu of assessment options will support local flexibility, said Danielle Ongart, assistant commissioner for student pathways and engagement at the Colorado Department of Education.

鈥淒epending on what the student wants for themselves, they have the ability to show what they know,鈥� she said in an interview. In particular, she said, the menu allows for industry certificates, if a student knows what type of work they want to do. That includes areas such as computer science or quantum computing.

鈥淚t allows students to better understand themselves and explain what they can do, what they are good at, and what they want to do,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

From abortion to taxes to private school choice, many issues divide along party lines. But as youth suicide, self-harm and related challenges remain at crisis levels, mental health can and must remain a bipartisan issue.听

The most recent from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paints a grim picture of the state of mental health among kids and teens in America. According to the survey, nearly all indicators of poor mental health, including suicidal thoughts and behaviors, worsened between 2013 and 2023. In fact, in 2023 alone, 20% of students seriously considered suicide and almost 10% made an attempt. These numbers are deeply concerning, particularly as mental health issues are affecting younger and younger children.

At , the mental health provider I co-founded to offer telehealth services to students, families and educators, more and more young people are being referred by their school counselors. The differ based on age, but common challenges include anxiety, coping, family and relationship issues, and depression. What is abundantly clear is that there are not enough targeted resources 鈥� whether in schools or communities 鈥� to address this crisis. 

In an era of ever-increasing political polarization at the federal level, state capitals are the most promising venues for sustained, rapid, bipartisan action on youth mental health that is tailored to local needs. Here are four state lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, who are working to expand mental health resources with efficient, effective solutions:

Before being elected to the Indiana state Senate in 2012, Republican was the director of law enforcement for the state Department of Natural Resources. He witnessed firsthand how the challenges the department faced daily were directly connected to gaps in mental health services that have existed for years and been further amplified since COVID. Since then, Crider has pushed for mental health reform. In 2023, he led efforts to pass , which built out a system of for children and adults, and he is looking to expand these efforts next year in partnership with the Indiana Mental Health Roundtable.

State Sen. has been a mental health advocate since joining the Colorado State House in 2017. A Democrat, in 2018 she authored , which expanded access to youth suicide prevention programs and lowered the age of consent for minors to seek outpatient psychotherapy services. During the pandemic, she authorized legislation creating the program, which provides up to six free sessions of virtual or in-person therapy to all kids in Colorado. Last year, she was able to extend the funding for iMatter for another decade, and as the incoming president pro tem of the Colorado Senate, she is poised to continue her advocacy for youth behavioral health.

State Rep. , Republican of Georgia, has a deep personal connection that has inspired him to become a leading voice in mental health. After , his son was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and while his family was able to afford care, he saw that most Georgians couldn鈥檛. That led him to spearhead efforts to pass in 2022, the Mental Health Parity Act, which dramatically expanded mental health insurance coverage across the Peach State. More recently, Jones led the charge to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health coverage, which will increase the number of providers in the state. 

In his first budget session as chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery, Massachusetts Democratic state Sen. established a pilot program for school-based telehealth services. These are now available in the Somerville and Agawam school districts, in partnership with Cartwheel, Boston Children’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program.

Lawmakers all over the country from different backgrounds are supporting mental health legislation and advocating for solutions. Beyond the examples cited above, there has been bipartisan support for investment in school-based mental health solutions in Pennsylvania, with $100 million annually going toward a mental health and school safety fund; in Arizona, $2 million has been appropriated for a rural telehealth pilot; and Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida are creating a per-pupil mental health allotment. The work continues, across the aisle, to build out successful solutions to the ongoing mental health crisis.

Correction: The Colorado state senator’s last name is Michaelson-Jenet.

Jill Norton, an education policy adviser in Massachusetts, has a teenage son with dyslexia and ADHD. Shelley Scruggs, an electrical engineer in the same state, also has a teenage son with ADHD. Both students go to the same technical high school.

But this fall, Norton and Scruggs advocated on opposite sides of a Massachusetts ballot referendum scrapping the requirement that high school kids pass a standardized state test to graduate.

Norton argued that without the high bar of the standard exam, kids like hers won鈥檛 have an incentive to strive. But Scruggs maintained that kids with learning disorders also need different types of measurements than standardized tests to qualify for a high school diploma.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

Voters last month approved the referendum, 59% to 41%, ending the Massachusetts requirement. There and in most other states, Scruggs鈥� position against testing is carrying the day.

Just seven states now require students to pass a test to graduate, and one of those 鈥� New York 鈥� will end its Regents Exam as a requirement by the 2027-28 school year. Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia still require testing to graduate, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a group that opposes such mandates.

In Massachusetts, teachers unions favored getting rid of the exam as a graduation requirement. They argued it forced them to teach certain facts at the expense of in-depth or more practical learning. But many business leaders were in favor of keeping the test, arguing that without it, they will have no guarantee that job applicants with high school diplomas possess basic skills.

State by state, graduation tests have tumbled over the past decade. In 2012, half the states required the tests, but that number fell to 13 states in 2019, . The trend accelerated during the pandemic, when many school districts scrapped the tests during remote learning and some decided to permanently extend test exemptions.

Studies have found that such graduation exams disadvantage students with learning disabilities as well as English language learners, and that they aren鈥檛 always a good predictor of success in careers or higher education.

An oft-cited 2010 by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin may have ignited the trend to scrap the tests. Researchers鈥� review of 46 earlier studies found that high school exit exams 鈥減roduced few of the expected benefits and have been associated with costs for the most disadvantaged students.鈥�

Some states began to find other ways to assess high school competency, such as grades in mandatory courses, capstone projects or technical milestones.

鈥淢inimum competency tests in the 1980s drove the idea that we need to make sure that students who graduate from high school have the bare minimum of skills,鈥� said John Papay, an associate professor of education at Brown University. 鈥淏y the mid-2000s, there was a reaction against standardized testing and a movement away from these exams. They disappeared during the pandemic and that led to these tests going away.鈥�

Despite the problems with the tests for English learners and students with learning disabilities, Papay said, the tests are 鈥渟trong predictors of long-term outcomes. Students who do better on the tests go on to graduate [from] college and they earn more.鈥�

Papay, who remains neutral on whether the tests should be required, pointed out that high school students usually have many opportunities to retake the tests and to appeal their scores.

Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, a think tank and advocacy group for underserved communities, noted that in many states, the testing requirements were replaced by other measures.

The schools 鈥渟till require some students or all students to demonstrate competency to graduate, but students have many more options on how they could do that. They can pass a dual credit [high school/college] course, pass industry recognized competency tests. 鈥�

鈥淎 lot of states still have assessments as part of their graduation requirements, but in a much broader form,鈥� she said.

Massachusetts moves

Scruggs said her son took Massachusetts鈥� required exam last spring; he passed the science and math portions but fell 1 point short in English.

鈥淗e could do well in his classes, but if he didn鈥檛 pass the three tests, he wouldn鈥檛 get his regular diploma,鈥� Scruggs said. 鈥淗ow do you go out into the working world, and you went to school every day and passed your classes, but got no diploma?鈥�

Her son has taken the English test again and is awaiting his new score, she said.

Norton, by contrast, said the exam, called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, gave her son an incentive to work hard.

鈥淚 worry that kids like him 鈥� are going to end up graduating from high school without the skills they will need,鈥� Norton said. 鈥淲ithout the test, they will just be passed along. I can鈥檛 just trust that my kid is getting the basic level of what he needs. I need a bar set where he will get the level of education he needs.鈥�

Students in Massachusetts still will have to take the MCAS in their sophomore year of high school, and the scores will be used to assess their overall learning. But failing the test won鈥檛 be a barrier to graduation beginning with the class of 2025. The state is still debating how 鈥� or whether 鈥� to replace the MCAS with other types of required courses, evaluations or measurements.

High school students in Massachusetts and most states still have to satisfy other graduation requirements, which usually include four years of English and a number of other core subjects such as mathematics, sciences and social studies. Those requirements vary widely across the country, however, as most are set by individual school districts.

In New York, the State Education Department in 2019 began a multiyear process of rethinking high school graduation requirements and the Regents Exam. The department decided last month to phase out the exit exam and replace it with something called a 鈥淧ortrait of a Graduate,鈥� including seven areas of study in which a student must establish proficiency. Credit options include capstone projects, work-based learning experiences and internships, as well as academic achievement. Several other states have moved recently to a similar approach.

Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, an advocacy group that works to limit standardized testing, said course grades do a better job of assessing students鈥� abilities.

鈥淪tandardized tests are poor ways of incentivizing and measuring the kinds of skills and knowledge we should have high school kids focusing on,鈥� Feder said. 鈥淵ou get 鈥榯eaching to the test鈥� that doesn鈥檛 bear much of a relationship to the kinds of things that kids are being asked to do when they go on to college or the workplace.鈥�

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association union, said phrases such as 鈥渢eaching to the test鈥� disrespect teachers and their ability to know when students have mastered content and competency. The high school tests are first taken in the 10th grade in Massachusetts. If the kids don鈥檛 pass, they can retake the exam in the 11th or 12th grade.

鈥淓ducators are still evaluating students,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mirage to say that everything that a student does in education can be measured by a standardized test in the 10th grade. Education, of course, goes through the 12th grade.鈥�

He added that course grades are still a good predictor of how much a student knows.

Colorado鈥檚 menu

Several of the experts and groups on both sides of the debate point to Colorado as a blueprint for how to move away from graduation test requirements.

Colorado, which made the switch with the graduating class of 2021, now allows school districts to choose from a menu of assessment techniques, such as SAT or ACT scores, or demonstration of workforce readiness in various skill areas.

A state task force created by the legislature recently to the education accreditation system to 鈥渂etter reflect diverse student needs and smaller school populations.鈥� They include creating assessments that adapt to student needs, offering multilingual options, and providing quicker results to understand student progress.

The state hopes the menu of assessment options will support local flexibility, said Danielle Ongart, assistant commissioner for student pathways and engagement at the Colorado Department of Education.

鈥淒epending on what the student wants for themselves, they have the ability to show what they know,鈥� she said in an interview. In particular, she said, the menu allows for industry certificates, if a student knows what type of work they want to do. That includes areas such as computer science or quantum computing.

鈥淚t allows students to better understand themselves and explain what they can do, what they are good at, and what they want to do,鈥� she said.

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In 2020, for example, 10 states had graduation rates of 90% or higher, but only five did in 2022, according to Tuesday鈥檚 analysis from the , a network of nonprofits working to improve student outcomes. 

But the report suggests that the full impact of COVID school closures on graduation rates has yet to be realized. This year鈥檚 seniors, for example, were seventh graders when the pandemic hit in March, 2020 and likely spent much of eighth grade learning remotely or in a cycle of on-again, off-again in-person learning. 

That鈥檚 why the pandemic鈥檚 effects on graduation rates and college enrollment could have a 鈥渓ong tail,鈥� the report says. 

鈥淕raduating from high school is a long process,鈥� said Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, which supports the Grad Partnership. 鈥淚t’s the younger kids that may be more impacted.鈥�

The pandemic disturbed a trend of rising graduation rates that began in 2011, driven largely by gains among minorities. But an overall increase following the pandemic was due to state and local efforts to minimize the impact of the COVID emergency rather than actual educational improvement, Balfanz said.

State and local decisions to relax grading policies, accept late work and drop exit exam requirements gave the appearance that more students were meeting expectations. That鈥檚 why additional information, like whether ninth graders have earned enough credits to advance to 10th grade, chronic absenteeism data and the rates of students taking advanced courses have become increasingly valuable indicators of whether students are on track. 

Meanwhile, states and districts varied widely on how deeply COVID affected families, how long schools were closed and whether they were equipped to respond to the crisis. 

鈥淲e know some schools took extraordinary efforts to make sure their seniors graduated,鈥� Balfanz said. 鈥淥thers may not have had that capacity.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Some students lacked stable Wi-Fi at home or had to go to work when parents were sick, while other families had the resources to hire tutors and form pods or attended schools that reopened in the fall of 2020.

Ohio saw the largest increase in rates between 2019 and 2022 鈥� from 82% to 86.2%, while New Jersey saw the greatest decline, from 90.6% to 85.2%. But actions in two large states 鈥� and 鈥� actually pushed the national rate to an all-time high, from 85.8% in 2019 to 86.6%.

Both states waived graduation requirements, like required courses and exams, for students. Meanwhile, New Jersey鈥檚 stricter definition of on-time graduation for students with disabilities likely contributed to the drop, the report said. 

At the district level, rates varied widely. Of the nearly 7,000 districts included in the analysis, about a third saw higher graduation rates in 2022 than in 2019, while roughly the same percentage saw a decline. Rates were stable in about 38% of districts.

But the data, Balfanz said, suggests that districts should start as soon as students enter high school to make sure they鈥檙e making progress toward graduation. 

 As part of their state accountability systems, six states currently monitor whether ninth graders are having a successful first year in high school. Data from five of those states 鈥� Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon and Washington 鈥� shows significantly fewer students were on track in 2021-22 than in 2018-19.

鈥淭hese students may bear more of the brunt of the pandemic鈥檚 impact on high school graduation rates than students who experienced the pandemic as 10th and 11th graders,鈥� the report said.

Chronic absenteeism, which remains in some states, is also tougher to get under control at the high school level than in earlier grades and is 鈥渢he wild card for a prolonged period of pandemic impacts on educational attainment,鈥� the report said. 

鈥楬ybrid and weird鈥�

Adam Larsen, assistant superintendent of the Oregon Community School District in Illinois, west of Chicago, remembers how much students who were seventh graders when schools shut down struggled in their freshman year. 

鈥淭hat eighth grade year was hybrid and weird. We had social distancing and no vaccine,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ocially, they just didn’t mature. Freshman year tried to be normal, and they weren’t ready for normal.鈥�

The Oregon district also offers an afterschool mentoring program, called Hawks Take Flight, designed to prevent students from falling so far behind, because of absenteeism or missing work, that they can鈥檛 graduate on time. 

At the weekly sessions, students talk about what鈥檚 getting in their way. If they meet their goals for the week, they earn prizes.

鈥淥ur graduation rate has been high and remains high because of the amount of support that we put in there,鈥� Larsen said. 鈥淲e have made it impossibly hard for students to fail unless they’ve chosen to fail.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥楳ake the diploma meaningful鈥�

The way districts used their $190 billion in pandemic relief money also determined whether students received enough help to keep up with their work. 

Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, in Fall River, Massachusetts, near the border with Rhode Island, hired virtual tutors, conducted home visits and 鈥渓ooked at the crisis as an opportunity to use funds to support students,鈥� said Andrew Rebello, who was principal at the school until this past August. 

In 2021, without any diploma expectations waived, the school hit a record 98% . Massachusetts, however, just changed those expectations. In the general election, voters decided to scrap the requirement that students pass exams in English, science and math in order to graduate.

The vote is a sign that the shift toward waiving high-stakes tests wasn鈥檛 limited to the pandemic.

Harry Felder, executive director of FairTest, which advocates against standardized testing, celebrated the outcome. 鈥淧arents, educators and policymakers realize that these tests fail as drivers of education that our young people need to thrive in the modern world.鈥� he said in a . 

But Rebello, now assistant superintendent in another district, said he thinks the state needs to add a different requirement to 鈥渕ake the diploma meaningful.鈥�

The growing backlash against high-stakes testing also creates the opportunity for a fresh 鈥渃onversation about what really matters for high school graduation rates,鈥� Balfanz said. 

While shows that getting good grades and taking rigorous courses might be greater predictors of success in college than a single test score, there are also concerns that no longer reflect subject mastery. 

鈥淭his is a huge debate,鈥� Balfanz said. 鈥淏ut, post-pandemic, we do need to revise what we expect of our kids.鈥�

As state officials move closer to considering changes to admission policies governing vocational high schools, including potentially requiring the use of a blind lottery system to award seats, the temperature of the debate is getting turned up.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has held a series of four hearings over the past month, including two this week, and a subcommittee of the board has been tasked with studying the issue further before potential changes are considered. But it鈥檚 clear that, , the issue is coming to a head 鈥� and one side in the debate will not be happy with the outcome.

At issue is big disparities in voc school enrollment of lower-income students, English learners, special needs students, and students of color. Under state regulations adopted in 2003, the schools had been using selective admission criteria that considered applicants鈥� middle school grades, attendance and discipline record, and a recommendation in awarding seats.

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Vocational schools have grown markedly in popularity in recent years, and there are many more applicants each year than seats available. Nearly half of the roughly 20,000 middle school  students who applied in 2023, or about 8,500 students, did not get admitted.

Under pressure from civil rights and education advocates, the state board modified the regulations in 2021 to make use of the criteria optional. It also said excused absences can鈥檛 factor in the attendance measurement and only major discipline infractions can be considered. The new regulations also warned that schools cannot use any admissions criteria that have a disproportionate impact on the enrollment of demographic groups protected by state and federal law unless they can show they are 鈥渆ssential to participation鈥� in the school鈥檚 program, and that there are not other equally effective standards that would not have such an effect.

Many schools tweaked their admission scoring rubric, but nearly all retained selective standards for accepting students. Critics said the changes the state made did not go far enough, and they called on officials to mandate the use of a lottery to award seats.

Russell Johnston, the state鈥檚 acting education commissioner, said in the recent hearings that the disparities have persisted in the years since the changes. In 2024, 鈥渁cross the board admittance rates were lower in nearly all the schools for specific student populations,鈥� he said 鈥� pointing to rates for English learners, special needs students, students of color, and low-income students.

鈥淲e are having a discussion that goes beyond legal compliance,鈥� Johnston said. 鈥淭his is a question that鈥檚 really about access to public education.鈥�

Critics say the selective criteria are locking out some of the students who would benefit most from voc schools鈥� focus on applied, hands-on learning 鈥� those who may have struggled academically in the traditional classroom setting during middle school or had attendance problems as a result. Given the high demand for vocational schools, leaders at these schools say it鈥檚 important to ensure that these seats go to students who are ready to take on the demands of their combined program of academic and vocational courses.

Testifying at Monday night鈥檚 hearing, Stephen Zrike, superintendent of the Salem Public Schools, said there are homeless students or those arriving from other countries who will never have a chance at gaining admission to the regional vocational school 鈥� Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School 鈥� under selective admission criteria.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe that public schools should have admission criteria that put up barriers for the most marginalized students,鈥� he said.

At Tuesday鈥檚 state board meeting, Heidi Riccio, the superintendent of Essex North Shore, defended screening applicants based on discipline history, saying it鈥檚 a safety issue for schools. 鈥淭his is essential in a vocational school that gives students weapons upon arrival,鈥� she said, referring to the use of chainsaws and nail guns at the schools. What鈥檚 more, she said, traditional  high schools like Salem High also use discipline history in admissions.

Salem High School鈥檚 website does say serious discipline infractions could lead to a student being disqualified from pursuing a particular vocational pathway, but this isn鈥檛 an admissions standard for acceptance 鈥� it applies to student behavior while in a vocational course. In an interview on Tuesday, Zrike, now in his fifth year as Salem superintendent, said all high schools are able to access vocational courses. He called raising the policy a 鈥渞ed herring,鈥� and said, in practice, that there hasn鈥檛 been a single student expelled from a voc program at Salem High during this time in the district. 鈥淣obody is being restricted from [vocational programs] here,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to protect the status quo,鈥� Zrike said of vocational schools鈥� effort to maintain use of selective admission criteria. 鈥淚 get charged up about this because it鈥檚 so obvious to me 鈥� the inequities here.鈥�

Patrick Tutwiler, Gov. Maura Healey鈥檚 secretary of education, who sits on the board, seemed to share that view.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to look at that data, as an educator, as a man of color, as a leader in this state who leads with a set of core values, principally anchored in this idea of equity,鈥� Tutwiler said at the hearing held last Friday. 鈥淲e talk a lot about this idea that our job is to create conditions for all students to realize their dreams, and when you look at slides that clearly show a lack of access for certain students, that鈥檚 hard to look at.鈥�

鈥淚 feel a moral obligation to continue this conversation in earnest, but more importantly, to do something about it,鈥� he added. 鈥淎nd I hope my colleagues on the board feel the same way.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

In early 2021, the district was back in school after closing for the pandemic, but my teachers were fried. We serve approximately 1,300 students in four schools and three off-campus sites, including a program for 18- to 22-year-olds with a high level of special needs and pre-K-12 programs for those with social-emotional disabilities and autism. We were all waiting to see if we would get a vaccine for the coronavirus, and everybody was a mess.  

To help teachers de-stress, I took a 200-hour teacher training in mindfulness, social-emotional learning and yoga with . Educators can integrate these practices into their classrooms and use them to support their own mental and physical health. Everyone who completes the course is certified to teach yoga, so when I finished, I offered my stressed-out teachers a class on Fridays. We met in the library. Everybody spread out and brought their own mat, giving us enough physical distance that we could take our masks off. 

When the first six-week session was done, all 10 teachers said they wanted to continue 鈥� and learn to teach yoga themselves. Today, the district has about 46 educators who are certified Breathe for Change facilitators, and our program serves a dual purpose. It helps the teachers help themselves, which empowers them to build a culture of care and trust with their students. And it benefits our students in a variety of ways.

The schools where teachers regularly implement these strategies have seen a significant decrease in chronic absenteeism. At Colegrove Park Elementary, the rate dropped 11% last year, which put the school in the top 10 for attendance statewide. In recognition of this achievement, Colegrove Park was awarded a from the NBA champion Boston Celtics.

One teacher told me that since she started using mindfulness strategies in her fourth-grade classroom, 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had a significant disciplinary referral this year.鈥� That鈥檚 huge in a district where 71% of the students are identified as high-need. As a former science teacher, I love this kind of qualitative evidence that the program is working. 

At Drury High School, one creative teacher came up with the idea of giving students facing discipline a choice: They could sit in detention or participate in mindfulness and yoga practice. So many took her up on it that the school started offering yoga regularly for all students. 

I asked the football coach to co-present with me to all the teaching assistants, and to see him stand there and say, 鈥淚 know you need this, because I need this,鈥� was amazing. He talked about his football players and said, 鈥淚 need them in the zone. And for me to get them into the zone, they have to quiet their mind and be fully present to me so they can hear me and understand what I expect from them.鈥� That was a very powerful moment.

The young adults in our 18- to 22-year-old transition program have also been heavily involved. Many of these students are unable to communicate verbally and will always need some level of supervision in their lives. Teachers use yoga breathing techniques to help calm students who become agitated, and the physical movements provide a form of exercise for those who struggle with physical fitness and control.

The program has also grown beyond the district, through partnerships with other community groups and local nonprofits. For example, we offer a free community yoga class at the library twice a week, which primarily draws senior citizens. The class has a limit of 15 people and is always full. I have seen regular attendees progress from not being able to touch their toes to doing full Sun Salutations. Just after the pandemic, I did a session at the library for parents while their kids went off to a reading. It helped them relax and become more comfortable being around other people again. And I鈥檝e done modified yoga sessions for breast cancer survivors, who often lose mobility in their upper body. We have also partnered with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts to develop a graduate-level course for educators in social-emotional learning, and we have a map to provide evidence-based curriculum for all grade levels. 

For next year, my goal is to step back from leading this initiative and have our core group of certified instructors implement practices in the classroom and train their colleagues. I鈥檓 getting to the point in my career where I鈥檓 thinking about the legacy I will leave to this district that I鈥檝e loved and served. These yoga and mindfulness practices will be an important part of that.

In a ruling denying immediate relief to the student, filed Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson said nothing about the case suggests teachers at Hingham High School were 鈥渉asty鈥� in concluding that the student and a classmate had cheated by relying on AI. He also said the school didn鈥檛 impose particularly heavy-handed discipline in the case, considering that the students had violated the school district鈥檚 academic integrity rules.

An attorney for the family on Friday noted the ruling is merely preliminary and that 鈥渢he case will continue鈥� with more discovery. But a former deputy attorney general who follows AI in education issues said the likelihood of the family winning on the merits in a trial 鈥渓ook all but over.鈥�

After an Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher last fall flagged a draft of a documentary script as possibly containing AI-generated material, the pair received a D on the assignment and were later denied entry into the National Honor Society. The group鈥檚 faculty advisor said their use of AI was 鈥渢he most egregious鈥� violation of academic honesty she and others had seen in 16 years.

Jennifer and Dale Harris, parents of one of the students, sued the district and several school staffers in September, alleging that their son, a junior at the time and a straight-A student, was wrongly penalized. If the judge didn鈥檛 order the district to quickly change his grade, they said, he鈥檇 risk not being admitted via early admission to elite colleges.

He has not been identified and is referred to as 鈥淩NH鈥� in court documents.

The complaint noted that when the students started the project in fall 2023, the district didn鈥檛 have a policy on using AI for such an assignment. Only later did it lay out prohibitions against AI. But in court testimony, district officials said Hingham students are trained to know plagiarism and academic dishonesty when they see it. 

While he earned a C+ in the course, the student scored a perfect 5 on the AP US history exam last spring, according to the lawsuit. He was later allowed to reapply to the Honor Society and was inducted on Oct. 15. Ultimately, the school鈥檚 own investigation found that over the past two years, it had inducted into the Honor Society seven other students who had academic integrity infractions, said Peter S. Farrell, the family鈥檚 attorney.

In his ruling, Levenson said the case centered around simple academic dishonesty, and that school officials could reasonably conclude that the students鈥� use of AI 鈥渨as in violation of the school鈥檚 academic integrity rules and that any student in RNH鈥檚 position would have understood as much.鈥�

The students, he said, 鈥渄id not simply use AI to help formulate research topics or identify sources to review. Instead, it seems they indiscriminately copied and pasted text that had been generated by Grammarly.com鈥� into their draft script. 

Levenson said the court doesn鈥檛 really have a role in 鈥渟econd-guessing the judgments of teachers and school officials,鈥� especially since the students weren鈥檛 suspended. Farrell on Friday said he expected the case to continue, but Benjamin Riley, founder of , a think tank that investigates AI in education, said the judge鈥檚 ruling suggests the family鈥檚 chance of winning in a trial are slim. Riley, a former deputy attorney general for California, said the issue at the core of the case isn鈥檛 鈥渢he whiz-bang technology of AI 鈥� it’s about a student who plagiarized and got caught. The judge’s decision explains at length and in detail how the school district had academic integrity policies in place, as well as a fair process for resolving any issues arising under them.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Everyone in the district, he said, 鈥渇ollowed these rules and imposed an appropriate (and frankly light) punishment. As is often the case, few will see the diligent and quiet work of thoughtful educators at Hingham Public Schools, but I do 鈥� and I’m hoping they felt good when this decision came down. They should.鈥�

Had the family not sued the district, Farrell said, it wouldn鈥檛 have come to light that he had been 鈥渢reated differently than other students admitted to National Honor Society鈥� who had academic integrity infractions on their record. He also noted that the school admitted the student into the National Honor Society within a week of a hearing in the case last month. 鈥淭he timing of that action was not a coincidence.鈥�

Hingham Public Schools did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The measure, which does not eliminate the administration of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam, but rather its role as a graduation requirement, passed with of voters in support and 41% opposed, with 96% of votes reported as of Wednesday afternoon. The 鈥測es鈥� vote was particularly strong in western Massachusetts, while towns and cities in the greater Boston area were more likely to vote against it, according to reporting from . In Weston, one of the state鈥檚 wealthiest communities, 2 in 3 voters cast ballots in opposition, according to the Globe. 

Students still must meet the state鈥檚 course requirements of gym and American history and civics, along with locally determined measures, set by the some 300 school districts. 

When asked about next steps at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Maura Healey, who was a of the measure, said 鈥淭he Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be out with guidance shortly on that 鈥� But the voters spoke on that question. And I don鈥檛 know what will come as of just yet.鈥�

In response to a question about her willingness to entertain bills that would overturn the measure, Healey said, 鈥淚鈥檒l review anything that comes to my desk, but I鈥檓 not going to engage in hypotheticals.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Those who wanted to keep the requirement and see the ballot measure defeated 鈥� including Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and the National Parents Union 鈥� argued that the MCAS is a high-quality assessment that is necessary to hold schools accountable, communicate progress with students and their parents, and establish consistent academic expectations statewide.

Those in favor of the ballot measure 鈥� backed by the statewide 鈥� argued that the testing requirement narrowed curriculum, forcing teachers to 鈥渢each to the test.鈥� Each year, more than 700 students 鈥� including many English language learners and students with disabilities 鈥� are unable to graduate because they didn鈥檛 pass the MCAS or because they didn鈥檛 meet local district requirements.

Historically, approximately 70,000 10th graders sat for at least one of the three MCAS exams each year. Based on state policies, students had to earn a passing score on all three exams to earn a diploma. Those who didn鈥檛 could try again at least four times and some students were able to participate in an appeal process or an alternative pathway. Ultimately, the vast majority of students 鈥� about 99% 鈥� met the requirements.

鈥淲ith this election victory, voters have welcomed a new era in our public schools,鈥� said Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy in a following the announcement that voters approved Question 2. 鈥淭his is the beginning of more holistic and thorough assessments of student work.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Leading the charge on the ballot measure, the union poured $7.7 million into its campaign as of Oct. 1 and opponents spent $1.2 million, according to reporting from the .

John Schneider, the chair of , a coalition opposed to the ballot measure, said in a statement that, 鈥淓liminating the graduation requirement without a replacement is reckless. The passage of Question 2 opens the door to greater inequity; our coalition intends to ensure that door does not stay open.鈥�

This point was echoed by the president of the , Keri Rodrigues, in an interview with 社区黑料 Wednesday afternoon.

鈥淚 think it’s a strong signal about what we’ve been warning about: that we’re going to watch the inequities in Massachusetts kind of just go wider and wider and wider鈥� as more affluent districts largely maintain high standards and others lower theirs.

Rodrigues said she and other advocates will immediately begin calling for legislation that implements new statewide graduation requirements based on , a state-recommended program of study, which includes the successful completion of four credits of English, math and a lab-based science, along with a number of other requirements.

James Peyser, former state education secretary, is similarly concerned about the new lack of regulation. 鈥淲e had [a graduation standard],鈥� he told 社区黑料. 鈥淚 think it was working well, and I鈥檓 disappointed that the ballot question passed because it replaces something 鈥� something that’s working 鈥� with nothing. But we need to fill that void as quickly as possible.鈥�

A third measure in Colorado, appeared headed for defeat. 

Despite the growing popularity of such programs with conservative lawmakers, the results continued the trend of voters, when given the chance, rejecting the idea of allowing public funds to pay for students鈥� tuition at private schools. 

鈥淭hese bills are super unpopular, even in rural Trump country,鈥� said Joshua Cowen, a Michigan State University professor and outspoken voucher opponent. 

He was particularly surprised by the results in Kentucky, where voters defeated , 65% to 35% even though former President Donald Trump won the presidential contest there by the same margin. The measure would have allowed state funds to pay for students to attend anything other than a traditional public school. 鈥淚n an election that seems to be turning on 鈥榃hat has the government done for my family?,鈥� a lot of conservative voters in deep rural parts seem to be asking 鈥榃hat would vouchers do for my family?鈥� 鈥�

In Nebraska, a law, passed last year, that created a private school scholarship program. Support Our Schools Nebraska, a union-backed group, led the campaign to get the referendum on the ballot. In Colorado, a state that would create a right to school choice was failing to reach the 55% threshold to win. Criticized for its vague wording, the initiative could pave the way for voucher legislation in the future. 

Like public school supporters in other states, opponents argue that vouchers drain funding from state budgets and are more likely to serve families who never attended traditional schools. In Colorado, Christian homeschooling families because the initiative also acknowledged the rights of students. They viewed that language as a threat to parental rights.

But school choice advocates say families deserve options outside of the public system. 

“The results from these three states are disappointing and discouraging, especially in light of what other states like Florida have shown school choice can do for students and families over the long haul,鈥� said Ben DeGrow, a senior policy director at ExcelinEd, a nonprofit that advocates for private school choice.

鈥淥pponents have once again shown they can unsettle enough voters with rhetoric that ultimately denies students needed educational opportunities.鈥�

Nevertheless, he doesn鈥檛 expect the movement to slow down. In addition to Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott and wealthy conservative donors worked hard to elect pro-voucher members to the House, DeGrow said Tennessee and Idaho are also likely states to push for private school choice programs next year. 

While choice initiatives drew significant attention this election year, there were also several other contentious ballot measures affecting education. 

Florida

A measure that would have required school board candidates to state their political party, failed to win 60% of the vote 鈥� the required threshold for the measure to pass. Backed by the legislature and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the measure received just 55%, according to unofficial results. 

鈥淗onestly, I thought more people would vote no,鈥� said Sue Woltanski, a school board member in Monroe County, Florida, who has written about the influence of conservative candidates endorsed by DeSantis and Moms for Liberty. 鈥淲here I live, people are so tired of the division in the community and seemed to be turned off by the hyper-politicization of school boards in particular.鈥�

But Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, which has focused on culture war issues, like trans students in girls sports and sexually explicit library books, said she didn鈥檛 understand why anyone would be opposed to candidates disclosing their political affiliation.

鈥淧eople want to say, 鈥榃ell, the school board isn’t political,鈥� but the teachers unions have politicized school board races for years,鈥� she said. 鈥楴inety-nine percent of the that teachers unions give go to Democrats. I just think more information is good for voters.鈥�

Massachusetts

Voters approved a proposal, sponsored by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, to relax high school graduation requirements, with a vote of 59% to 51%. Tenth graders would still have to take state exams in English, science and math, but they wouldn鈥檛 have to earn a passing score to receive a diploma.

The measure highlighted the debate between opponents of high-stakes testing and those who argue states have lowered the bar for achievement in the aftermath of the pandemic, leaving students less prepared for college. 

鈥淣ow watch inequities grow wider,鈥� Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union and a Massachusetts resident, , noting how voters in towns known for high-performing schools rejected the measure. 鈥淢ay the odds be ever in your favor, kids.鈥�

California

Voters approved a $10 billion bond issue 鈥� $8.5 billion of which will go to school districts for new construction and renovation projects. Some districts are also likely to use the funds for teacher housing as a way to ease shortages, but they鈥檒l have to come up with local matching funds in order to receive the money.

Voters rejected the last statewide bond issue in 2020, meaning some schools have gone without , but opponents argued it didn鈥檛 make sense to spend billions on upgrades when student enrollment is declining.

The following are remaining results:

• With almost 90% saying yes, Arkansas voters overwhelmingly approved that would allow students attending vocational and technical schools to be eligible for the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. 

• With a vote of 54%, approved a on firearms and ammunition to take effect April 1, 2025. The tax is expected to raise roughly $39 million a year, with $1 million going toward a school violence prevention program, staff training and facility upgrades to improve safety. Another $3 million would expand access to youth behavioral health programs.

• New Mexico voters approved a to fund upgrades and materials for school libraries, as well as early childhood education centers at both the state school for the blind and the school for the deaf.

• , voters approved a measure to increase from 4% to 5% the cap on investment earnings the state can transfer from the State School Fund to education. Local school councils of parents and educators decide how to use the funds. 

A affecting education funding was dropped from the ballot because it wasn鈥檛 published in a state newspaper 60 days before the election. The initiative that would have removed a state constitutional requirement that all revenue from income taxes and intangible property, like capital gains and royalty payments, be spent on education, children and people with disabilities.