NAEP Scores Released

According to a press release from the National Center for Education Statistics:

The Nation’s Report Card shows that the nation’s fourth- and eighth-graders are not making the level of progress needed to regain ground lost during the pandemic, although there are some signs of progress. Grade 4 mathematics scores improved between 2022 and 2024, a two-point gain that follows a 5-point decline from 2019 to 2022... Eighth-grade scores in mathematics showed no significant change. The most notable challenges evident in the 2024 data are in reading comprehension. Reading scores dropped in both fourth and eighth grades since 2022, continuing declines first reported in 2019, before the pandemic.

Catholic school scores, however, outperformed those in public schools. Other private school scores are not available because of insufficient participation in the assessments.

President Trump Issues School Choice Executive Order

President Trump issued an executive order this week under the heading of "Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families." The order requires the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services to consider ways that existing federal programs can be used to support school choice. The order also instructs the secretaries of Defense and Interior to provide school choice options for military families and students eligible to attend Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools.

The order puts federal agencies on a pro-school choice footing, but it remains to be seen to what extent scholarships can be provided without legislation.

Supreme Court Will Hear Oklahoma Religious Charter Case

The United States Supreme Court has announced that it will hear oral arguments on a case CAPE Outlook has been following for over two years. After two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma attempted to establish the nation's first religious charter school, a convoluted saga ensued, ultimately arriving at a decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court striking down the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as unconstitutional. The highest court in the land will now hear the appeal of that decision in a case that could have profound implications for private education nationwide. Stay tuned...

Major School Choice Legislation Reintroduced in Congress

Federal school choice legislation that passed out of a House committee last year has been reintroduced on Capitol Hill, this time with genuine prospects for success. The Educational Choice for Children Act is based on tax credit scholarship programs that have had considerable success at the state level. Under the bill, private donors would contribute to scholarship granting organizations, which would use those privately donated funds to give scholarships to low and middle-income families for private school tuition. The federal government would then give a tax credit to the donor.

The new congressional leadership is supportive of this legislation. President Trump has said he would sign it. Vice President Vance was a Senate cosponsor.

You can help pass this important legislation by visiting CAPE's Take Action page, which allows you to contact your representative and senators.

In Other News...

► Title IX Update

As reported in the previous edition of CAPE Outlook, a federal court struck down the Biden Administration Title IX regulations. The Trump Administration has now confirmed that its Title IX enforcement will revert to the terms of the Trump regulations from 2020 that the Biden regulations had attempted to overturn.

► Immigration Raids & Private Schools

For private schools wondering what the Trump Administration's new immigration policies might mean for them, Fisher Phillips has released some information that may be helpful.

► Funding Freeze

When the Administration issued a freeze on spending earlier in the week, there was considerable confusion over whether it applied to federal education programs like Title I. Some clarification then came from an Education Department spokesman: “The temporary pause does not impact Title I, IDEA, or other formula grants." The freeze has been temporarily blocked by two judges' orders.