elementary education

If your childhood vision of police is all pet rescues and tinfoil badges, Friendly’s “copaganda” did its job.

How you, your friends, and Lin-Manuel Miranda all learned this catchy, state-naming tune.

What should children learn in school? It's a question that's stirred debate for decades, and in 1974 it led to violent protests in West Virginia.

Even throwing off of a colonial power, representative institutions, Protestantism, and local autonomy in school decisions did not produce an egalitarian system.

What prioritizing white happiness tells us about race and K-12 education.

Margaret Wise Brown constantly pushed boundaries—in her life and in her art.

In October 1971, The Electric Company flipped a switch and hit the public TV airwaves, aiming to use sketch comedy and animated shorts to teach kids to read.

History classes made it seem like young girls wouldn't ever change the course of the world. These books taught them that they could.

This 1952 textbook serves as an example of the "patriotic history" that Donald Trump grew up with and calls for today.

The fight over free education is much older than you think.

"I look back now and realize I was teaching a lot of misconceptions."

A Native student explains why the holiday is a painful reminder of a whitewashed past.

The Cold War and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

DARE lost its once hegemonic influence over drug education, but it had long-lasting effects on American policing, politics, and culture.

It was never very effective at preventing drug use.

A new film dramatizes Shirley Chisholm's history-making bid to become the first Black woman president in 1972.

In the 1960s, Annette Gordon-Reed was the first Black child to enroll in a white school in her hometown. Now she reflects on having a new school there named for her.

Christopher Rufo's polemical attacks against Critical Race Theory are not a new phenomenon. Public schools have long been a battlefield for ideological warfare.

Consolidation aimed to bring cutting-edge reforms to rural schools. Instead, it hurt kids and communities.

Today’s special education system was shaped five decades ago, when parents fought for disabled children’s right to learn.

From grade school to college, students of color have suffered from the effects of biased testing.

State leaders went to great lengths to instill their gauzy version of the Lost Cause in young minds.

Leona Tate thought it must be Mardi Gras. Gail thought they were going to kill her.

Normalization of deviance is a useful concept that was developed to explain how the Challenger disaster happened.

What if America's inability to agree on its shared history—and how to teach it—is a cause of our polarization and political dysfunction, rather than a symptom?

In the 1960s, there was no grand vision behind the idea of a middle school. The problem that the model sought to solve was segregation.

Red-baiters deserve at least part of the blame for the shortage of affordable, high-quality pre-K.

Both the nation and the Church have depended on the energy and expertise of nuns. They’re vanishing. Now what?