Our team is always seeking the latest news in the field of education. As advocates for a high-quality education for ALL students, we know we have to stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on in the education spheres of our nation…from the White House to the local public school district, from new legislation to the small acts of bravery and kindness made by a single teacher, from the milestones and celebrations to the hazardous injustices affecting many of our nation’s students.

Here are the stories that we’ve been talking about this week.

Senate ‘almost certain’ it will not cut aid programs, GOP leader tells DeVos via Education Dive

Lawmakers are not expected to pass cuts President Donald Trump proposed to federal student aid programs, a high-ranking senator told U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said it’s “almost certain” legislators won’t agree to trim programs such as Federal Work-Study, which Trump suggested reducing in his draft budget for the 2021 fiscal year.

Education Dept. Reverses Plan to Cut Rural School Funding via The New York Times

Facing a bipartisan backlash led by Republican lawmakers, the Trump administration is backing off a bookkeeping change that would have drastically cut federal funds for rural schools — at least for a year.

Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, will allow states to more easily qualify for funding under the Rural and Low-Income School Program, after hundreds of districts faced cuts when the department abruptly began using eligibility requirements it had not enforced in 17 years.

Racially integrated high schools often conceal segregated classes, new study shows via Chalkbeat

A truly integrated high school is hard to find. That’s the conclusion of a new North Carolina study that takes a look at two kinds of integration: whether students of different races and ethnicities attend the same schools, and whether those students actually sit in the same classrooms.

What it finds is troubling, if not surprising. Across the state, even when high schools appear racially integrated, their classrooms are often racially segregated.

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One thing to read this weekend

Inequitable Opportunity to Learn: Student Access to Certified and Experienced Teachers via Learning Policy Institute

Decades of research show that access to fully certified and experienced teachers matters for student outcomes and achievement. Yet, providing all students with equitable access to such teachers has long been a struggle in U.S. schools. Recent teacher shortages have exacerbated these inequities in access, which disproportionately fall on students of color. This is especially concerning since achievement gaps between students of color and white students are substantially explained by inequitable access to qualified teachers.

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Did any of these articles particularly speak to you? We would love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below: