The Department of Education will issue an initiative that includes suggestions on how to improve reading, AI, and classroom discipline in an attempt to bolster student “excellence,” Secretary Linda McMahon told the New York Post in an interview published Sunday.
“My goal is then to put together a toolkit which we can deliver to states … to say, look, this is what’s worked here. This is how it’s worked,” McMahon said, adding that the recommendations will include contacts for the educators who implemented the successful strategies and can help other schools “take advantage of those best practices.”
Even though President Donald Trump intends to dismantle the majority of the agency and give education “back to the states” with less interference from the federal government, McMahon said one important goal from the federal level is to instill a culture of “excellence” for the next generation.
McMahon, who has been visiting schools that offer different learning techniques, said the “toolkits” are one of the ways the department can still be “most helpful.”
McMahon is particularly interested in concentrating on the “science of reading” and highlighting methods that get children reading from an early age.
Regarding artificial intelligence, McMahon pointed to the White House’s support for children being better equipped to make use of technology.
She added there may also need to be methods put in place to prevent cheating on homework assignments and essays via programs such as ChatGPT.
In addition, McMahon emphasized to the New York Post that discipline and safety inside the classroom has been degraded in recent years, and she’s hearing from educators who “don’t feel as though they have real control in their classrooms.”
She blames this on lax policies that have discouraged reporting misbehavior, stressing that “there must be consequences for disruptive behavior in the classroom to prevent other students from learning.”
But, McMahon insisted that the biggest way the federal government can instill a culture of excellence is by ensuring students know they are being accepted into schools — and into jobs — on their own merit, not because of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies.
She also stressed that school choice is of vital importance.
“The president is such a strong advocate for parental involvement and parents being in control of where their children go to school. That’s why he is such a strong proponent of school choice,” McMahon said, explaining that Trump believes that “children should not be trapped in failing schools, and failing schools may be a school in which that child doesn’t feel safe.”
She added that “parents should have the ability then to select another school for that … as there’s more and more parental involvement in interacting with their school and school boards, and having more and more control, you’ll see a lot of these policies change.”
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