U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who is dismantling the division she leads, said Tuesday that she supports the federal government’s role in ongoing national student testing and education research, but that she did not provide details about the Trump administration’s threats circulating across schools and universities in the country, including massive cuts in funding if diversity programs are not excluded.
Since she took the helm in early March, the education sector’s workforce has been cut in half, with research forces almost removed, and the civil rights sector has been significantly reduced. Features including student loans and financial aid are expected to be transferred to other institutions.
In an interview that lasted a little over 30 minutes, education entrepreneur Phyllis Rockett asked McMahon during a feature session at ASU+GSV, the Education Technology Conference in San Diego. McMahon said the US public school system continues to decline despite a huge amount of money defending positive action and overthrowing the department.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon will speak at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.
(Sandy Huffaker / for the Times)
“We’ve come to the point where we can’t keep doing what we’re doing,” he said, building his fortune as a professional business entrepreneur and serving on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year. “Let’s shake it up. Let’s do something different. It’s not through Washington’s bureaucracy. That’s not where it happens.”
She said the Department of Education has dropped significantly, which means more money will be needed to go to the state. However, McMahon did not provide a direct answer when asked her what guardrails she would introduce to ensure that the rocket was spent appropriately and effectively, as the historical role of the federal government in education was to address inequality and help students with special needs.
Dei needs to be eliminated
McMahon did not say how educational institutions should promote diversity if the arena is not at the level of women or people of color. The department is pressured all educational institutions to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusive efforts known as DEI.
“We know there is a sustained achievement gap between black and brown and low-income students,” Rockett said. “So, as a result, a lot of resources were being directed, so… when I hear “Oh, Day… that’s a bad thing,” it’s confusing.
In response, McMahon focused on opposing discrimination in all forms against anyone.
“I think discrimination is a bad thing,” McMahon said. “We should not have discrimination anywhere. …We will not take away anyone’s rights to serve the rights of others.”
McMahon also did not directly answer questions about her department’s letter last week ordering school districts and states to prove they removed all diversity, equity and inclusive programs. The administration characterizes these programs as discriminatory based on race.
Schools that continue such practices are in violation of federal civil rights laws and may face termination of federal grants and contracts, the letter said. The letter initially gave the state ten days to submit accreditation. According to the Associated Press, the Department of Education reported that it had extended its deadline to April 24th.
State leaders in Minnesota and New York states said they would not comply with the instructional department’s orders, which require signatures to be collected from the local school system. California education officials have shown they can defy the order by saying they have already proven regularly that they are compliant with federal law.
In another topic during the interview, McMahon pledges ongoing support for historically black universities and universities, usually called HBCUS, and points out that these schools do not restrict admission to black students.
She also targeted critics of President Trump.
“We’ve heard negative comments about beating the Ministry of Education,” she said, “but the word used was, “The president wants to remove education.” I don’t think he is absolutely committed to all children having a good education.
Support for national testing
McMahon said he supports advances in education testing a sample of fourth and eighth graders nationwide, or NAEP (a national assessment of NAEP, also known as the national report card). Tests are widely considered the best available criteria for measuring academic performance across state lines, as the testing programs employed in each state may vary considerably.
In late February, the Trump administration placed Peggy Kerr, the head of the NAEP program and a career employee at the agency, on vacation without explanation. The administration has also cancelled the 17-year-old long-term trend test. According to a report from Hechinger, the department’s research division, the Institute of Educational Sciences, or IES, has been reduced from over 175 staff members to less than 20 staff members.
The IES was founded in 2002 during the administration of Republican President George W. Bush to fund innovation and identify effective educational practices. Its largest division is the Statistical Institution, dating back to 1867.
Most of the department’s investigation and data collection was carried out by external contractors, with nearly 90 of these contracts cancelled, Hekinger reported.
“How do you plan to help you understand where you should invest your resources by using your data correctly in a transparent way?” Rocket asked McMahon.
McMahon suggested that we need to reimagined the Institute of Educational Sciences and benefit from the opinions of technology experts like conferences.
“I want to continue working with some technology advisors, and some of the people in this room may be able to give you some really good advice on this,” McMahon said. “Like any other program, money continues to grow. I always call it Mission Creep, but all of a sudden you look around and say, “Why are we doing this? Why are we studying this?”
“There’s a lot to see at IES,” McMahon continued, adding that she spoke in support of her research and testing with Trump.
“I said, ‘Look, this is what keeps us honest, because it’s comparing apples to apples,” she said. “Especially for NAEP. …We’re definitely going to keep the NAEP,” she said, “If we don’t, the state wants to keep the national tests because “If we don’t, the state can…manipulate a bit with their own results and their own tests.”
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