The majority of Illinois’ public school districts are underfunded, including Chicago Public Schools—even though our state government promised we’d be at full funding by 2027. Meanwhile, the Trump adm...

Our reporting has shown how easily people — some with questionable backgrounds — have founded their own private schools in barns, strip malls and other places. That led us to an experiment: If the hur...

Public policy changes like capping residential electricity rate increases at 5% per year could help Illinois navigate a challenging climate, study says.

Before you accept a single federal voucher dollar, look at what’s happened in my state.

Some in the public education sphere hope to use the tax credit to pay for everything from SAT prep to field trips. Others worry the money won’t materialize on a large scale.

The Department of Defense notified millions of current and former U.S. military personnel that their personal information had been stolen in a months-long breach.

AI integration “I believe that it is a horrible mistake,” senior Elly Hanlon said in response to the recent partnership between DGS’s district 99 and the generative artificial intelligence (AI) model ...

See where Chicago Public Schools Board of Education candidates stand on student privacy, screen time, and human-centered learning.

Student hospitalized during Survival Challenge on wilderness ranch; police investigation is ongoing; other concerning incidents re student safety and privacy; one guide fired; also Little B. Diddies

Schools, Jobs, and Safety: Why Black Folks Are Leaving Chicago

The new program lasts about eight months and comes months ahead of Chicago’s first elected school board.

Something I now tell our fellows all the time is: there is not one answer to solving public education. But there is a lot of wisdom and a…

We Should Empower the Community with Participatory Budgeting Instead

I’m writing this as I sit in the Dallas Airport waiting for my flight back to Saint Paul. I have just participated in the Council of the…

Data-center spending is greater than that for canals, railroads and grid combined—creating jobs and stock-market wealth, while boosting inflation and crowding out housing.

In 1990, Ms. Morello founded Parents for Rock and Rap, a group that sought to protect the free speech of musicians in the face of a censorship movement.

For at least the past fifty years*, conservatives have made substantial efforts to dismantle public education, through a variety of policies, practices, and story-lines: budget cuts, vouchers, charter...

Alpha School, the for-profit AI-powered private school network that has expanded throughout the country, says it plans to open a location at the former

“A science experiment that’s been framed as a school” - “pretty much a concentration camp” - “cool the first few months and then it just becomes shit”

A new private school in Chicago is embracing artificial intelligence as part of its educational model, even as debate over AI use continues nationwide.

AI tools can translate school materials for non-English-speaking parents, but there are challenges around privacy and accuracy.

YouTube video by Mazie Hirono

Parent advocates are spreading the research-backed message: Kids need to move during the school day.

An FAQ about why EdTech companies need, want, and collect your child's data and what you can do about it Note from Emily: This essay was originally posted on my website in April 2025. I have lightly e...

Tech startup AltSchool wants to push the boundaries of classroom data collection and personalized learning. But are schools ready for the big data revolution?

The Writing Center’s dismantling evokes a broader pattern of institutions treating human learning and connection as costs to cut, not values to protect.

Convocation address at University of Maine - Augusta (9/18/26)

The program manager of Utah Fits All, the state's school choice program, release a report on how families spent their voucher dollars.

The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...

Taking action for the public good