2024 was a busy one in the education world, from the Biden administration’s administrative changes to Title IX and the subsequent legal fights challenging their legality to the continued decline in student outcomes.
Here are some of the biggest education headlines published in 2024 based on their impact on students, parents, teachers and taxpayers.
Biden admin finalizes Title IX rule changes to redefine sex discrimination
In April, the Biden administration’s Department of Education issued its final notice of proposed rulemaking, expanding the reach of the federal antidiscrimination law governing higher education institutions and K-12 schools.
Specifically, the rules expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and added other protections for pregnant students. The new rule was slated to take effect on Aug. 1.
Chalkboard reported that the changes for administrative costs alone would cost an estimated $98,505,145 in the first year of implementation on training for school staff and legal costs.
Here’s where the Biden administration can’t enforce Title IX rules
Because of legal challenges from states and private organizations like Moms for Liberty and Young Americans for Freedom, federal courts across the country blocked the implementation of the updated guidance ahead of the implementation deadline, some in the final hours.
Currently, injunctions have blocked the rule in over half of U.S. states and thousands of K-12 schools, colleges and universities where members of the challenging organizations or their children attend.
In August, the Supreme Court told the Department of Justice that the Department of Education, led by Secretary Miguel Cardona, could not enforce the rule in the states where courts of appeals had enjoined the rule from going into effect.
The rule has continued to be implemented piecemeal in states without court orders and in school districts, even where specific schools have been prevented from implementing the updated rules.
Critics of the expansion say that it will remove spaces for biological girls in schools. Critics also say the law will require schools to allow transgender athletes to compete on female sports teams, which they say raises the risk of injury and creates unfair competition.
Proponents of the rule change say that they are necessary to protect students with alternate gender identities, which the Department of Education argues is protected by Supreme Court decisions for transgender employees.
Litigation is ongoing, with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals hearing oral arguments earlier this month regarding the court’s block on the Department of Education’s rule.
President-elect Donald Trump says he will undo much of Biden’s changes to Title IX.
Report: 8th-grade students need whole school year to reach pre-pandemic performance
A national education organization that administers test scores found in July that students are still behind academically compared to pre-pandemic achievement levels. The NWEA found that some middle school students were an entire school year behind where they were before school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NWEA found that students, on average, were behind an entire semester compared with their pre-pandemic comparison groups.
Post-COVID US students score decade lows on international math, science test
More recently, an international assessment showed that U.S. students performed worse than they had in decades, in some cases receiving the lowest scores ever in 2023, the first assessment since 2019.
Chalkboard also covered the ongoing issues with virtual credit recovery programs from providers like Edgenuity and Edmentum. You can see that coverage below:
‘Get them out of the school’: Tennessee educators used online courses to remove problem students
Chicago Public Schools invokes equity in virtual learning, but research says it isn’t fair
Detroit students finished online credit recovery courses 20 times faster than recommended
Research: Online credit recovery courses are prone to cheating, not challenging
• A version of this story, and the stories linked above, first published at Chalkboard News which, like The Center Square, is published by the Franklin News Foundation.