News Bureau

Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education might not be cataclysmic, but other changes on the Project 2025 agenda could have profound implications for public schools and their students, said Paul Bruno, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the U. of I.

Iowa’s 2021 law banning instruction on divisive topics negatively affected educators’ relationships with colleagues and thwarted progress on equity and inclusivity, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign education professor Gabriel Rodriguez and his team found in a recent study.

In a book club with a death row inmate, Rachel McMillian’s students explored the complexities and joys of Black life, including mass incarceration and the empowerment of education. McMillian is an education professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Release of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been fraught with glitches and delays, according to Stacy Bennett, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, and a senior research associate for the Office of Community College Research and Leadership. 

An extended strike by Chicago public school teachers seems unlikely thanks to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s union credentials, says Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at Illinois and co-author of the 2016 book “A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike.”

Numerous states have enacted laws that redefine tenure and academic freedom protections at their universities. Carol Symes, a professor of history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, discusses how these laws may fundamentally change teaching and research.

Before his service as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and science advisor in 2019, meteorology professor Kelvin Droegemeier developed an online course designed to give researchers from all disciplines the skills needed to navigate the complex landscape of scholarly endeavor. Droegemeier thought that there was a lot of valuable information in those videos, so he wanted to share them with a much broader audience. 

Some political figures seek to remove references to slavery from the study of American history, adding to the vast knowledge gaps that stem from the transatlantic slave trade. To better understand these histories, scholars and individuals are turning to genetic genealogy to discover and retrace descendant-family lineages. In a recent paper published in the journal American Anthropologist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology professor LaKisha David described these efforts. She spoke about the work to News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates. 

Elizabeth Hoiem, an information sciences professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, examines how children’s literature and material culture responded to industrialization and shaped the class politics of playful learning in her new book “The Education of Things.”

White teachers who worked at a school where the faculty was majority Black felt shocked, rejected, uncomfortable and anxious when race-related discussions arose, U. of I. education professor Jennifer L. Nelson found in a study of belongingness in the workplace.

Psychologists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explored the factors associated with students' sense of belonging at college and found that of the four factors they identified that contribute to it, cultural capital is a key element for those from marginalized groups.

An innovative pair of faculty members in education and engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are partnering to provide experiential learning projects that cultivate the collaborative skills engineering students need for educational and career success.

A new law requiring Illinois public schools to teach Native American history will help students learn about the Indigenous people who originally occupied the land, as well as the contemporary Native American community in the state, says Illinois history professor Rosalyn LaPier.

Recessions and other economic downturns usually portend cuts in states' higher education funding, and U. of I. professor Jennifer Delaney and other experts explore the implications in the new book, "Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education."

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will lead a National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute focused on developing learning technologies that will accelerate youths' STEM learning and broaden diversity in related occupations.

Fundamental changes are needed in colleges’ career and disability services so that students with disabilities can access job opportunities aligned with their skills and aspirations, said Chang-kyu Kwon, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Direct college admissions systems benefit both students and postsecondary institutions, according to Jennifer Delaney, a professor of higher education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Revenue from collegiate sports TV networks may decrease cross-subsidization of athletic programs by other units at these colleges, but athletic programs' spending also seemed to increase, scholars Jennifer Delaney and Tyler Kearney found.

The Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is accepting applications from neurodiverse students who will be incoming freshmen in the 2023 fall semester.

Educational psychology professor Kaylin Ratner found in a study of more than 200 adolescents that feeling a sense of purpose had a significant impact on teens' emotional well-being.

A new Illinois law makes Illinois children up to age 3 who are involved with the state’s child welfare agency automatically eligible for early intervention services. Special education professor Catherine Corr was on the working group that proposed policy changes for the law.

By broadening access to higher education in their local geographic area, regional public universities increase the economic and social mobility of the residents in their counties, says new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists.

The teacher shortages plaguing primary and secondary schools in the U.S. could be game-changers for people entering the field, according to Nancy Latham, an associate dean in the College of Education.

A team of psychologists, led by scholars at the U. of I. proposes training future psychologists to dismantle racism and systemic oppression in society -- while addressing their discipline's legacy of racist theories and practices.

Chrystalla Mouza has been appointed dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign effective Aug. 15, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

The Illinois Neurodiversity Initiative, a pilot program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will provide autism-specific support to freshmen with autism.

Revenue from promise scholarships may not be used to support student-related programs and services, U. of I. education scholars found when they analyzed the spending patterns of colleges that received the funding.

I-Ready, a virtual summer camp for college-bound high school students on the autism spectrum, is being offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Deadline to register has been extended to May 16.

Cultivating a love of math – and inspiring the next generation of numbers-oriented professionals – may start with activities that promote enjoyable parent-child experiences, say U. of I. researchers.

Despite California’s push for computer science education, race and gender disparities persist among the high schools offering these courses, the students enrolled in them and the teachers.

A new book, "Dangerous Ideas on Campus: Sex, Conspiracy and Academic Freedom in the Age of JFK," explores how the prevailing moral values of the 1960s affected protections for scholars at the U. of I.

Middle and high schools in Illinois are invited to participate in the 2022 Illinois Youth Survey, an online anonymous survey that assesses alcohol, drug and tobacco use among eighth, 10th and 12th grade students.

A new book by education professor Jon Hale examines the complex history of the school choice movement in the U.S., which was overshadowed by racism and resistance to desegregation.

Many K-12 students in Illinois are not receiving the computing education needed to succeed in the workforce they'll enter after high school graduation, according to a new report by U. of I. scholar Raya Hegeman-Davis.

Online learning engagement can be increased by nearly one-third by simply prompting students to share course ideas instead of personal details.

A new book written and illustrated by two recent alumnae of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign introduces third graders to the nuts and bolts of automotive mechanics and engineering.

Some at-risk college students' motivation increased while living at home and learning remotely during the pandemic, despite concerns many would be negatively affected, researchers at the U. of I. found in a new study.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education Dean James Anderson, physics professor Nadya Mason, chemistry professor Nancy Makri and materials science and engineering professor Kenneth Schweizer have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation.

Fear of reprisals from outraged parties on social media and unspoken rules about acceptable discourse on college campuses constrain what faculty members teach, research and discuss, says sociology professor Ilana Redstone.

A new resource is available to help guide teachers and school administrators as they reopen schools amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assembled by researchers and experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The K-12 Shield Playbook is based on the SHIELD Illinois program used to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic at the university.

Adopting a new electronic health records system doubled the amount of cognitive effort clinicians at two urgent care clinics expended during the first six months after implementation, researchers found in a recent study.

Few educational leaders emerge from college and professional development programs fully prepared to address the systemic racism they encounter in public education, according to a study by U. of I. scholar Nathan Tanner.

According to a new commentary in Disability and Health Journal, people with disabilities who rely on service dogs often are prohibited from bringing their working dogs into teaching and research laboratories. This one barrier can stop them from pursuing careers in science, says Joey Ramp, a researcher in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and lead author of the commentary. Ramp spoke about the issue with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates.

Educational history professor Jon Hale discusses how Freedom Schools promote civil rights and educational equity and the implications for Illinois in funding these schools as part of the state's education reform initiative.

U. of I. scholars are coordinating online parenting seminars and activities for students and staff members at two Illinois school systems that will explore the role of social and emotional learning in healing racial wounds. 

The Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse lends computer tablets and Wi-Fi hotspots to families of infants and young children who need them to conduct online sessions with their children's therapists during the pandemic.

When COVID-19 forced the U. of I. to go to online-only instruction last spring, a team led by bioengineering professor Karin Jensen created a test to remotely assess students' ability to culture cells in the laboratory.

Experts say media multitasking negatively impacts learning, but many students believe they're immune to these effects because they're good multitaskers, according to a review paper by U. of I. professor Shelly J. Schmidt.

While many academic institutions are searching for ways to prevent sexual assault and sexual coercion among their faculty members, staff and students, they are failing to address the most common forms of gender-based harassment, say experts who study harassment and discrimination at work and in academic and health care settings. 

In an opinion published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the experts focus on behaviors that communicate derision, disgust or disrespect for members of one sex or gender group.

Teens attending the virtual summer camps hosted by the College of Engineering used the video-sharing medium TikTok to learn the principles of biomechanics and the techniques of motion-capture analysis.