WASHINGTON — The Department of Education is not completely relinquishing its influence despite moves to dismantle the entire agency — and it’s looking at issuing a “toolkit” of suggestions for educators to draw inspiration from to bolster student “excellence.”
The initiative won’t be a “mandate,” but a set of recommendations with examples of successful strategies for reading, AI and classroom discipline that have already worked at schools across the country, Education Secretary Linda McMahon told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“My goal is then to put together a toolkit which we can deliver to states. … They’re toolkits to say, look, this is what’s worked here. This is how it’s worked,” McMahon said.
The DOE recommendations will also include contacts for the educators behind the successful strategies, who can help other schools “take advantage of those best practices.”
The department has been in flux under President Trump as he has brought measures to dismantle the majority of the agency and give education “back to the states” with less interference from the federal government.
Even with the shakeup, one goal from the federal level is still to instill a culture of “excellence” for the next generation, McMahon said.
Test scores took a dive after the COVID-19 pandemic and results for fourth and eighth graders still hadn’t recovered by 2022, per results from the Nation’s Report Card, which measures test scores from those two grades every two years.
The Trump administration has also taken issue with the “woke” curriculum being taught in schools, including a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and gender issues.
McMahon, who has been touring a variety of schools that offer various learning techniques, said the “toolkits” are one of the ways the department can still be “most helpful.”
Science of reading
McMahon is particularly interested in focusing on the “science of reading” and spreading the word about teaching methods that get children reading from an early age.
“I think as much as anything, it will be spelling out some of those programs, or how to find them, or references to what are the best applications of these programs,” McMahon said.
She said that “classical learning” methods for reading, math and science have been successful in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.
“What I’m seeing now is a great return to classical learning,” she noted.
“We’ve tried a lot of things. You know, No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, and I believe they were done with the best of intentions, but they were not successful. But what we have clearly seen is the science of reading is successful.”
AI
On artificial intelligence, McMahon pointed to the White House’s support for children being better equipped to make use of technology, citing first lady Melania Trump’s initiative for students to present their own AI projects to the White House.
But, she said, there may need to be guardrails put in place to prevent cheating on homework assignments and essays via programs like Chat GPT.
“It has all kinds of really, really good implications, but then some of the not-so-good implications start to pop up, and that’s when they have to be addressed,” McMahon added.
Classroom safety and discipline
McMahon also believes that discipline and safety inside the classroom is not being talked about.
She believes that discipline 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.
“There must be consequences for disruptive behavior in the classroom to prevent other students from learning,” she said.
“And I think that’s something that’s, you know, overlooked from time to time, but it is an issue, and teachers need to have the ability to have that control.”
While it won’t issue mandates on school safety, the department could “bring it to the forefront” so school boards are more aware of the issue.
End of DEI
But, McMahon said the biggest way the federal government can instill a culture of excellence is by making sure students know that they’re getting accepted into schools — and later into jobs — by their own merit and not due to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies.
“Let’s start with merit,” she said. “I’m not just talking about necessarily entering into college, but I’m saying, let’s make sure that the programs that are being offered at all of our schools are encouraging our students and helping them rise to the level of their abilities, and encouraging them to know what those abilities are. And I think that’s how we actually get to a point of real excellence in our schools.”
The president has been at war with several Ivy League universities, including Columbia and Harvard, over their curriculum and hiring practices. Critics say instruction too often favors liberal thought, and hiring and admissions rely on DEI policies or quotas.
McMahon believes that states will begin to compete on education — as governors seek to implement the best strategies to improve their schools.
She hopes the DOE’s new toolkits will help jumpstart that competition.
Another component is school choice, a policy that Trump supports.
“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,” she said.
“He 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,” McMahon explained.
“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.”