This month, my three science of learning insights revolve around metacognition, an often misunderstood aspect of learning.
1. Metacognition requires concentration and quiet because attention is a filter, not a spotlight.
There’s a lot of district-level focus on metacognition: planning, monitoring, and reflecting on one’s thinking as a way to move students through productive struggle. Here’s a quick point to understand about metacognition and students’ attention: Noisy classrooms that boast high engagement might actually be counter-productive to metacognition. Carl Hendricks, professor of Applied Learning Sciences at Academia University in the Netherlands, points out that students rarely suffer from boredom or attention shortages, they suffer from attention surplus – too much stimuli that has to be actively filtered out. Why does this matter? Because attention is not limitless. That filter has a narrow bandwidth, easily clogged by noise and distraction. If classroom talk is not purposeful, it can be the most powerful distractor of all. The job of teaching is not just to provide something worth noticing, but to protect students from everything that isn’t worth their attention at the moment.
So, how can you use this information? The solution isn’t to eliminate all talk or stimulation, it’s to be intentional about what demands attention. Teachers whose instruction is grounded in the science of learning create what we might call “attentional architecture”: environments where what is important stands out precisely because what’s unimportant is de-emphasised through well-designed instruction. Read more about what Dr. Hendricks says about it here.
2. Metacognition requires both awareness and an “attack plan.”
When we keep in mind that the main work of metacognition is task analysis, the “attack plan” begins with the move I call Size It Up/Break It Down in Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power. Third grade teachers and researchers, Grace Douglas, Alison Hardy, Katie MacLean, and Sarah Powell (University of Texas at Austin) say that word problems are notoriously challenging for students who have difficulty with mathematics. According to one analysis, word problems make up over 90 percent of the items on high-stakes math tests, so figuring out how to help students improve is an important instructional goal. What students find most difficult in word problems isn’t just the words, but grasping what’s going on in each problem, then translating the scenario into computation, and keeping all this in working memory as they solve the problem slows down computing the answer. “When we reinforce the ineffective keyword strategy,” say Douglas, Hardy, MacLean, and Powell from the study, “we are setting students up for failure, particularly with inconsistent problems.” What’s a better way to solve word problems? Rather than beginning with circling key words, the authors recommend beginning with a metacognitive attack strategy, like this:First, you have to understand the problem. After understanding, make a plan (convert to a computation problem).Carry out the plan. Look back at your work. How could it be better?How to use this information? There are variations on developing an “attack” strategy, but they have one thing in common: the first step is urging students to take the time to just understand what’s going on, because most students skip this stage. Make this an activity where students talk to each other about what they think is going on in the word problem. This is especially helpful in supporting multilingual students. The second step is choosing a simple attack strategy, ideally with a catchy mnemonic that students can remember. But it all begins with metacognition. Check out the article here.
3. Instructional Illusions: The Illusion of Being Student-Centered
In his new book, Instructional Illusions, Carl Hendricks outlines ten common traps we fall into when it comes to teaching in ways that go against the science of learning. One he points out is the illusion of being student-centered when in reality we structure instruction around teacher-led processing masquerading as student-centered instruction. The most evident sign that we’ve fallen into this trap is over-scaffolding where the teacher is doing most of the cognitive work in the classroom to move students through a lesson. Hendricks suggests that to shift toward an authentically student-centered classroom, we have to help students develop metacognitive awareness of what they already know about a subject, no matter how unrelated it might seem. Why is this a key to a student-centered classroom? Because, as Hendricks points out, there are two principles of learning: Learners come to understand new information in reference to what they already know. My simple way of saying it is: all new learning must be coupled with existing knowledge. Like LEGOs. If a student doesn’t practice metacognitive awareness of what they know, their brain’s synapses aren’t prepped for incorporating new information. How to use this information? Rather than front-loading information we call “background knowledge,” give students time to surface all the ways they might know something about the topic from their everyday lives – movies, songs, memes. Help them make their schema explicit by starting with metacognitive awareness.
2 Quotes: Thinking About Metacognition
Metacognition has many facets, from self-awareness and reflection to understanding our own learning processes and thought patterns. Here are two quotes indirectly related to the topic. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein Einstein reminds us that innovation begins with being aware of our current thinking. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past This quote captures Proust’s insight that true discovery and understanding come from deepening our awareness of what’s already available around us.
1 Juicy Resource
Here is a great resource: the How Learning and Teaching Happen website, hosted by Academia University of Applied Sciences. There, you’ll find several free resources that can help you authentically begin incorporating the science of learning. Start with this super helpful, free How Learning and Teaching Happens Implementation Guide. It’s really juicy.
Yet the plan covers only about half the district’s needs, Superintendent Thomas Taylor acknowledged
Montgomery County schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor wants to replace Eastern Middle School, renovate Sligo Middle School and close Silver Spring International Middle School as part of a major plan to tackle the district’s aging facilities.
If his proposal is approved, several elementary school buildings could also be replaced by 2031, as could Damascus High School.
Many other campuses should also be on the list for major renovations, the superintendent said, but there just isn’t enough money to cover everything.
“There’s hard truths coming,” Taylor said during a Monday presentation in which he ran through the data that guided his capital improvements program recommendations.
Taylor is asking for a $2.7 billion investment in campus infrastructure over six years. He warned that the enormous figure covers only half of the district’s actual facility needs.
His recommendations are far from a done deal. The school board must sign off on it, and then county government.
As Taylor ran through the numbers, Council Vice President Will Jawando listened near the front of the district’s Rockville boardroom. He said the county must balance competing interests for funds.
Taylor’s presentation was “realistic about the need,” Jawando said. “As far as what we can afford, that’s a different question, right?”
Complaints about campus infrastructure have long dogged Montgomery County Public Schools leaders. The district operates more than 230 buildings, some built more than a half century ago.
“This is a big ask,” Taylor said. “It’s a big ask because our needs are really significant.”
Earlier this year, staff members at a school board meeting decried building conditions they said made them sick. Parents regularly tell board members about problems at their kids’ campuses, from broken HVAC systems to mold.
The school district has more than $740 million worth of overdue HVAC projects alone, Taylor said.
The school district’s old strategy for dealing with facility issues was burying its head in the sand, said Taylor, who has led the district since 2024. That led to a system in which the majority of county public schools need repairs or are functionally unreliable, according to a recent report from the comptroller’s office.
“It took us two decades to get into this mess. It’s going to take two decades to get out of this mess,” Taylor said.
Those who will be stuck waiting on their campus’ turn for renovations are sure to feel frustrated.
“I would love to include them if funds would allow for that,” Taylor said. “They don’t.”
Brigid Howe, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said she feels for students at schools on the cusp, like Magruder and Wootton high schools, which need repair but don’t make it onto the high-priority list.
Those campuses “have real needs,” she said, “and are having to wait yet again.”
Other changes could be coming too. Taylor said he wants the district to do an elementary school boundary study after it finishes the process at the secondary level.
Shortly before the meeting, Taylor spent 15 minutes on a Zoom call with Silver Spring International Middle School families to give them a heads-up about his proposal.
He rattled through the campus’ myriad problems: poorly designed staircases, subpar bathrooms and other “really scary” issues. He said it’s no longer a tenable learning environment.
“All of that being said, it’s still not the worst facility in Montgomery County Public Schools,” Taylor said.
The superintendent said his plan to close the school will not affect current SSIMS students.
School parents asked how the district will keep their children safe on campus until then. They’ve raised concerns about mold, leaky ceilings, broken railings and other problems that have lingered for years.
“We will continue to make improvements to SSIMS as a building, but just know that it won’t be sweeping, big changes” because it’s not worth pumping that much money into the building and needs are even greater elsewhere, Taylor told them.
The building could eventually be used as a “holding school” for students while their own campuses are undergoing renovations.
Silver Spring International Middle School operates out of what was the original Montgomery Blair High School building, constructed in the 1930s.
That history now “haunts” the facility, Taylor said.
The school board will host community listening sessions over the next several weeks.
The global rise in unhappiness over the past decade has been well-documented, yet many leaders have overlooked it because they rely on economic indicators while ignoring daily emotional health.
This oversight matters because negative emotions do not just reflect distress; they narrow people’s focus and erode their coping capacity. When these feelings become chronic, they leave individuals and societies more vulnerable to instability.
As the world’s mood has soured, it has also become less stable, with rising political unrest, more conflicts and higher death tolls.
The Global Peace Index, which tracks the absence of violence and conflict across 163 countries, shows riots, strikes and antigovernment demonstrations rose 244% from 2011 to 2019 — notably, even before the pandemic.
In 2024, adults worldwide reported high levels of daily distress:
39% felt a lot of worry, 37% felt stress, 32% experienced physical pain, 26% felt sadness 22% felt anger.
All are higher than they were a decade ago. Gallup’s inaugural State of the World’s Emotional Health 2025 report, based on 145,000 interviews across 144 countries and areas, reveals that daily distress may serve as an early-warning signal of fragility, with direct implications for health systems, stability and global development.
The report reveals:
Negative emotions remain elevated. Worry, stress, physical pain, sadness and anger are all higher than they were a decade ago.
Positive emotions are steady. Daily experiences of laughter, enjoyment and feeling well-rested held at long-term averages.
Peace shapes emotions. High levels of anger and sadness go hand in hand with weaker peace on the Global Peace Index, which tracks conflict, and the Positive Peace Index, which gauges the institutions that sustain stability.
Explore the full report to see where distress is deepening, where wellbeing persists and what it could mean for global stability, offering leaders a new way to read risk and to build more stable, healthier societies.
Political changes can create uncertainty and stress, not just for adults but for children as well. Shifts in policies, leadership, and societal discussions can impact their sense of stability, leading to feelings of anxiety, confusion, or fear. During these times, it’s key to provide children with the emotional support and reassurance they need to navigate their feelings in a healthy way.
Understanding Children’s Emotional Responses to Political Changes
Learning about children’s emotional responses to political changes is key for addressing their feelings and supporting their mental health during these times. Children may react with anxiety when they sense that their normal routines and environments are disrupted. Such responses might be more pronounced in children who overhear conversations among adults or see distressing news reports.
They could become unusually clingy, experience stomachaches, or have trouble sleeping. Fear can also manifest, especially when children sense hostility or tension around them, even if they don’t fully grasp the political issues at play. Younger children, in particular, may feel confused about what they see and hear because their cognitive abilities to process complex events are still developing.
Children’s perception of political changes varies significantly across different developmental stages, affecting how they absorb and react to what’s happening. For example, toddlers and preschoolers may not understand the specifics of political events but can pick up on cues from adult conversations and the overall emotional climate at home. Maintaining a calm environment helps reassure them.
The Impact of Politics on Children
Politics can have a significant impact on children, shaping their views and experiences in various ways. From policies and laws that directly affect their lives to the overall political climate in their communities, children are constantly influenced by the world of politics. Here’s the various ways in which politics can impact children:
Political policies and laws can greatly impact the daily lives of children, from education to healthcare and beyond.
The political climate in a community can shape a child’s understanding of diversity, inclusion, and social issues.
Media coverage of political events and campaigns can expose children to complex ideas and ideologies at a young age.
Children from politically involved families may feel pressure to conform to certain beliefs or values.
Political discussions and debates in schools can help children develop critical thinking skills and learn about different perspectives.
It is important for adults to be mindful of the impact of politics on children and to have open and age-appropriate conversations with them about current events and political issues. By understanding the influence politics can have on children, we can help encourage and support them in handling the complex world of politics.
Providing Reassurance and Stability
In today’s society, political changes are inevitable. These changes can have a significant impact on children, causing them to feel confused, anxious, and even afraid. As parents, it is our responsibility to help our children understand these changes and provide them with a sense of security and stability. One way to do this is by nurturing strong emotional connections within the family. Here are some tips to help you do just that:
Communicate openly and honestly with your children about political changes and their potential impact.
Encourage your children to share their thoughts and feelings about these changes without judgment.
Validate your children’s emotions and let them know that it is okay to feel scared or uncertain.
Take the time to listen to your children and address any concerns or questions they may have.
Engage in activities as a family that promote bonding and togetherness, such as game nights, movie nights, or outdoor adventures.
Create a safe and welcoming home environment where your children feel comfortable expressing themselves.
Lead by example and show your children how to handle political changes in a calm and respectful manner.
Remind your children that no matter what happens in the world, they are loved and supported by their family.
By following these tips, you can help cushion the effects of political changes on your children and strengthen the emotional connections within your family. As always, your love and support are the most important things you can provide for your children during these uncertain times.
A Call to Action for Supporting Children
This call to action for support involves everyone — parents, teachers, community members, and political figures. In your community, rally behind initiatives that prioritize children’s mental health support during political transitions. A unified approach can significantly strengthen efforts to establish safe environments where children thrive despite ongoing changes. Foster dialogues with local leaders and school boards to make sure that the well-being of children is at the forefront of policy discussions. Advocate for school programs that address emotional intelligence and stress management, as these can provide children with important tools to express their emotions.
Your individual efforts, combined with those from community organizations, can also uplift children in need. Non-profits that focus on child mental health, like those occasionally involved in clothes distribution, play a key role in providing necessary resources and support. Lending your time or resources to such organizations not only strengthens social safety nets but empowers children through collective efforts during political shifts. Facilitating conversations about these non-profits within your networks spreads awareness and potentially garners more support.
Conclusion
Supporting children through political changes is not just critical; it’s a shared responsibility that ties us all together. From the quiet moments of reassurance at home to the concerted efforts of community initiatives, every action counts. Crisis times can lead to heightened anxieties in children, which is why focusing on their mental well-being becomes indispensable. Donations and clothes distribution play a pivotal role here, offering practical support while fostering a sense of belonging and security. When children face uncertainty, knowing they have a robust and caring network can make all the difference.
Can you visualize the profound impact of your involvement? With a little help from everyone, at Josie’s Closet Inc, we can lay a solid foundation for the peaceful future our children deserve. Even small contributions of time or resources can extend a safety net for children whose families need a bit of extra support. By supplying them with necessities like clothing and guidance, we not only address immediate needs but build lasting connections and empower these young minds.
Now is the time to make a tangible difference. Take action now! Support children’s mental health by donating to Josie’s Closet and help us create a stable, nurturing environment for children in need during political changes. Your support provides key resources that guarantee that children can stand resilient and hopeful as they cope with their complex world. Reach out to info@josiescloset.org for more ways to get involved and lead your children on this meaningful journey.
RAND– The newsletter for policy people Oct. 2, 2025
About one in seven people ages 18 to 24 in the United States are disconnected, meaning they are not engaging in school, training, or work. That’s according to a new RAND paper that explores what the evidence says—and doesn’t say—about this phenomenon.
Disconnection has enormous costs for individuals and for society. In the short term, disconnected youth earn about $12,000 less per year than their peers. And over the long term, they are unlikely to be on a path toward economic prosperity.
Who is disconnected? Here are some of the takeaways:
Overall, young men are more likely to be disconnected than young women.
But other factors—such as family status, race/ethnicity, and disability status—generally are more important than sex in explaining rates of disconnection.
Community factors are also important. For example, rates are higher in areas where fewer adult men are employed.
Young veterans, especially female veterans, have high rates of disconnection.
Most disconnected youth have at least a high school degree. This suggests that education alone isn’t enough to protect young people from disconnection.
So, what might help disconnected youth secure a brighter future? There is no one-size-fits-all solution, the authors write. Addressing this issue will likely require multiple carefully designed policies and programs.
High school seniors had the worst reading scores since 1992 on a national test, a loss probably related to increases in screen time and the pandemic. Their math scores fell as well.
The reading skills of American high school seniors are the worst they have been in three decades, according to new federal testing data, a worrying sign for teenagers as they face an uncertain job market and information landscape challenged by A.I.
In math, 12th graders had the lowest performance since 2005.
The results, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, long regarded as the nation’s most reliable, gold-standard exam, showed that about a third of the 12th-graders who were tested last year did not have basic reading skills.
It was a sign that, among other skills, they may not be able to determine the purpose of a political speech. In math, nearly half of the test takers scored below the basic level, meaning they may not have mastered skills like using percentages to solve real-world problems.
The test scores are the first of their kind to be released since the Covid-19 pandemic upended education. They are yet another sign that adolescents are struggling in the wake of the virus, when schools were closed for months or more. They also arrive at a time when Americans overall are abandoning printed text for screen time and video-dominated social media, which experts have linked to declining academics.
The NAEP test results indicate “a stark decline” in performance, said Matthew Soldner, the acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the arm of the federal Education Department that administers the tests.
Only about a third of 12th graders are leaving high school with the reading and math skills necessary for college-level work, he added.
The findings echo grim statistics on the recent achievement of younger children.
For about 10 years, declines have been most pronounced among low-performing students, indicating that the floor of academic achievement has fallen. NAEP scores among top 12th-graders — those at the 90th percentile or above — have not changed significantly over the decades these exams have been given, in either reading or math.
Test score drops were probably caused in part by the disruptions of the pandemic, including illness, school closures and remote learning. The seniors included in the new federal data were in 8th grade when the virus transformed daily life in March 2020. Millions of teenagers spent a year or more learning online.
Even so, data from previous testing shows that learning declines — especially among struggling students — began several years before the pandemic. Experts have pointed to a wide range of possible explanations.
Over the last decade, both adults and children began to replace reading time with screen time, social media and, increasingly, streaming video. And over the same period, the federal government and many states relaxed policies that were intended to hold schools and teachers accountable for student learning.
Among Republican policymakers, much of the energy in education policy has shifted away from raising test scores, and toward providing parents with private-school vouchers. Many elected Democrats have focused more on social supports for students, like nutrition and mental health counseling, than on academic rigor.
The new test data also includes 8th-grade science scores. Performance in 2024 declined, with 38 percent of students scoring below the basic level, compared with 33 percent in 2019.
NAEP exams are given to representative samples of students across the country, and are considered more challenging than the state standardized tests that public schools prepare students for.
The NAEP results are widely scrutinized by educators, policymakers and researchers. They provide one of the few nationally comparable snapshots of student performance, in a country where much education policy is set at the local level.
The achievement declines cut across demographic divides of race, class and sex. One of the few brights spots was in science among 8th graders who were not proficient in English. That group’s performance improved between 2019 and 2024.
Some experts said that in response to declining achievement, policymakers should look to a few states that have shown recent improvements in NAEP test scores for younger children. State-by-state results are not available for the 12th-grade level.
“There’s a road map out there from states like Louisiana and Tennessee, focused on high-dosage tutoring, high-quality curriculum and clear information for parents on where their kids stand,” said Marc Porter Magee, chief executive of 50CAN, an education advocacy group. “What’s missing now is the political will to bring it to every state.”
Other experts have urged a top-to-bottom rethinking of how education is delivered.
D. Graham Burnett, a historian of science at Princeton, said that with the ubiquity of screens, it seems inevitable that in the future, fewer people will engage with lengthy texts.
But he argued that the cultural inheritance passed down through the generations in printed books and articles could continue through speech, performance, memorization, recitation and other age-old forms of learning.
“It’s important that we not throw out reading,” he said. “But we have to work with where we are, and people are not going to get dumber. We are going to carry forward the tradition in powerful ways, and we’re going to do it in ways that are unrecognizable to our grandparents. That’s always been the case.”
Still, some worry the NAEP results have implications for American companies as they seek skilled employees, and for American workers as they seek good jobs.
Margaret Spellings, who served as education secretary under President George W. Bush and now leads the Bipartisan Policy Center, said declining achievement was “an economic emergency that threatens our work force and national competitiveness.”
The release of the NAEP test data on Tuesday is the first since President Trump decimated staffing at the Education Department as part of his push to abolish the agency. The National Center for Education Statistics now has only three full-time employees, according to Dr. Soldner; earlier this year there were about 100. The administration fired the agency’s widely respected leader, Peggy Carr.
Before the test scores were released, administration officials sought to project the idea that the agency was running adequately, telling reporters that it was on schedule to deliver NAEP exams in 2026 and 2028 and planned to hire about 10 people to help with the testing program.
In a statement, Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said the latest test scores “confirm a devastating trend.” “The lesson is clear,” she continued. “Success isn’t about how much money we spend, but who controls the money and where that money is invested.”
Ms. Spellings said the test results raised questions about Mr. Trump’s priorities.
“The current conversation in Washington is a distraction from our most urgent priority of better preparing our students,” she said in a statement. “This is not the right moment to talk about closing the Department of Education. When your house is on fire, you don’t talk about making renovations.”
MyScore needs you to understand first principles. First up, humans have an inside and an outside. They are connected. What goes on inside affects outside. What goes on outside affects inside. Pretty simple- but fundamental.
Second, if the outside is in flux, don’t expect inside to be unaffected. Troubled times produce troubled people.
That means human beings are always having to adjust to change.
Fourth, what evolution has given us as our early warning system for the future is how we feel. Fear sees future as threat. Anxiety sees uncertainty. Hope sees future as promise. Love feels future as welcome.
SEL isn’t merely management or regulation- words that mean stability. No. It teaches us how to use our emotions to navigate into a future that is always changing, always asking us to grow up.
AmeriCorps is under siege. What happens in the communities it serves?
By:Ashley Murray-August 18, 20256:33 am Maryland Matters
Maryland judges ordered some funds restored, but programs hobbled as uncertainty clouds their ability to plan, move forward
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Daniel Zare worked one-on-one as an AmeriCorps member with students going through rough times in school, lightening teachers’ workload in the classroom.
At AmeriCorps Project CHANGE, based in Silver Spring’s Sligo Middle School, Zare was one of several in his group who tracked adolescents’ emotional and social wellbeing over months using a system dubbed “My Score.” They then helped support the kids who were struggling the most.
In April, though, the program screeched to a halt. That’s when the Trump administration abruptly canceled nearly $400 million in active AmeriCorps grants across the United States that fund volunteers who embed in communities, in exchange for a small stipend and education award.
“All the work that we had culminating toward the end of the year, the relationships that we built with teachers and students and officials, it just completely went kaput because we were told we weren’t allowed to go to work at all,” Zare, 27, told States Newsroom.
Like so many longstanding federal programs and institutions severely reduced or dismantled as part of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency project, AmeriCorps — and its nonprofit partners — are now assessing the damage and seeking a way forward.
AmeriCorps programs that survived last spring’s DOGE cuts are slowly beginning a new year of service amid major uncertainty over whether they will be able to continue their work in classrooms, food banks, senior centers and other community hubs.
Winners and losers among states
AmeriCorps, a federal agency signed into law in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton, places roughly 200,000 members across the United States at 35,000 service locations, according to current agency data.
Members serve in schools, local governments and with a wide range of nonprofits that focus on health, disaster relief, environmental stewardship, workforce development and veterans.
The staffers, who pledge to “get things done for America,” are paid a modest living allowance that hovers around the poverty line. Some, but not all, can get health insurance while in the program.
Members who complete their service term, which usually lasts from 10 to 12 months, receive an education award that can be used to pursue a degree, earn a trade certificate or pay student loans.
AmeriCorps federal dollars reach programs via a couple routes. In many cases, grants flow from AmeriCorps to governor-led state and territorial commissions that divvy them up according to local priorities. In other cases, federal dollars flow straight to a program via a competitive grant process.
Kaira Esgate, CEO of America’s Service Commissions, said when the Trump administration ordered the cuts in April, some states lost large portions of their AmeriCorps portfolio, while other states fared better.
“There were no real clear trend lines around what or who got terminated and why,” said Esgate, whose member organization represents all 49 state commissions (South Dakota doesn’t have one) and the commissions for the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Abby Andre, executive director of The Impact Project, an initiative of Public Service Ventures Ltd., a private corporation that launches and scales solutions to strengthen public service and communities., has been collecting data and plotting on an interactive map where AmeriCorps programs have been canceled. Andre, a former Department of Justice litigator, has also worked with her team to build other maps showing where federal workforce cuts have been felt across the country.
“AmeriCorps is a really great example of the federal dollars being kind of invisible in communities. Communities often don’t know that a local food bank or a senior center are supported by AmeriCorps volunteers and AmeriCorps money,” said Andre, who taught administrative law at the Vermont Law School after working under President Barack Obama and in Trump’s first administration.
Andre said communities with a lack of social services, including in rural areas, will likely feel the biggest losses without an AmeriCorps presence because the agency “facilitates pennies-on-the-dollar type services through volunteer work.”
“It’s not as though if these community services folded, those communities would have the money to fund equal or better services through the private market,” she said.
Losing trust
The Maryland Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism gave the green light to Project CHANGE to keep its program, which serves Montgomery County in suburban Washington, D.C., running through the upcoming school year.
Paul Costello, director of Project CHANGE, is now scrambling to launch a new AmeriCorps cohort after receiving the news on July 22 that the initiative had been funded. He estimates members won’t be able to begin until almost a month into the school year.
Paul Costello, director of Project CHANGE at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, reads student self-assessments of their confidence levels, hopefulness and excitement for learning. Costello’s program places AmeriCorps members in classrooms to help students with emotional and social challenges. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
“Sadly, AmeriCorps, as a brand name, is badly damaged, I think. I mean, I’ve got a meeting on Wednesday with a major partner who told us two weeks ago ‘We thought you were dead,’” Costello told States Newsroom in an Aug. 11 interview.
Costello’s program not only places service members in Montgomery County Public Schools, where Zare served, but also with partners including Community Bridges, Montgomery Housing Partnership and Family Learning Solutions.
The nonprofits respectively focus on helping adolescent girls from diverse backgrounds, children whose families live in community-developed affordable housing units and teens eyeing college and career paths.
The county’s school system is the largest in the state and serves a highly diverse population. About 44% of the system’s 160,000 students qualify for free and reduced meals, and close to 20% are learning English while continuing to speak another language at home.
Costello’s 18 cohort members embedded in those schools and nonprofits this past academic year were suddenly yanked in April when the government cut his grant. The partners, which had planned and budgeted to have the members through June, were thrown into “total chaos,” Costello said.
“So some of them are so desperate, they rely on their members. They had to dig into their pockets to keep them on as staff. And then we go back to them this year and say, ‘You want members this year?’ AmeriCorps has made no attempt to make them whole. So they’ve been screwed,” Costello said.
AmeriCorps did not respond to States Newsroom’s questions about nonprofits losing money.
Legal action
The federal courts granted some relief to members and organizations who abruptly lost living allowances and contractually obligated funding.
A Maryland federal district judge ordered in June that funding and positions be restored in 24 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia that sued the agency.
Another district judge in the state also handed a win to more than a dozen nonprofits from across the country that sued to recover funding they were owed.
But for many it was too late, and AmeriCorps’ future still feels shaky.
After suddenly losing his living allowance in April, Zare had to leave Silver Spring.
“I was renting a room off of Georgia (Avenue), and I was not able to pay rent there anymore, so I actually moved back to my mom’s in Germantown for the time being,” he told States Newsroom in August, referring to another Maryland suburb.
Hillary Kane, director of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development, said by the time the court orders were issued, many of her AmeriCorps members had already found other positions and she had completely let go of one of her full-time staffers.
While the court injunctions were “welcome news,” reinstating the programs remained “questionable,” Kane wrote in a July 21 update for Nonprofit Quarterly.
Kane’s organization is a member of the National College Attainment Network, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that was among the successful plaintiffs.
Other organizations that joined the lawsuit are based in California, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Virginia.
The Democratic-led states that won reinstatement for AmeriCorps members include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Going forward?
Kane got news on July 10 that PennSERVE, Pennsylvania’s state service commission, reinstated funding for her AmeriCorps program that places members in four West Philadelphia high schools to mentor students on their post-graduation plans.
The late notice meant Kane could only begin recruiting new members in mid-July.
“And so our start date has to be a bit fluid,” Kane told States Newsroom during a July 22 interview. “We have to essentially recruit people into this one-year cohort position, and say, ‘We’re hoping to start September 2, but we’re not 100% sure. Can you kind of just roll with it?’ It’s an awkward position to have to be in.”
The AmeriCorps pledge hangs at Project CHANGE at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
Other AmeriCorps programs have not fared so well, as the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget continues to withhold funds that were appropriated by Congress for the ongoing fiscal year.
Trump signed legislation in March that extended the $1.26 billion for AmeriCorps for the full 2025 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
Kane said the most “insidious” part of the recent AmeriCorps storyline is that programs that receive grants directly from the federal agency are being strung along by OMB.
“So there are agencies who have been theoretically awarded money, but they’re like, ‘Is it actually going to happen? Should I spend all this money and then not be able to bill the federal government to reimburse me if OMB is going to hold it hostage?’”
Programs at risk include 130 recently expired contracts for AmeriCorps Foster Grandparent and Senior Companions programs that support roughly 6,000 senior citizen volunteers across 35 states. The programs are eligible for just over $50 million for the new service year, which should be off to a start.
Congress pleads with budget office
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators pressed the executive branch agency on Aug. 1 to release the funds.
“Further delays in grantmaking will have immediate and irreversible consequences for programs, AmeriCorps members, and communities,” the senators wrote in a letter to OMB Director Russ Vought.
Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in signing the letter. All are members of the Senate National Service Caucus.
The White House and AmeriCorps did not respond for comment.
The Republican-led Senate Committee on Appropriations voted on July 31 to preserve $1.25 billion in AmeriCorps funding for fiscal year 2026. Collins chairs the committee.
U.S. House appropriators, which for the last two years under Republican leadership have sought to cut AmeriCorps funding, are expected to debate its budget in September. But it’s almost certain Congress will have to pass a stopgap spending bill when the end of the fiscal year arrives to stave off a partial government shutdown, so a final decision on funding may not come for months.
Change for everyone
Zare never did have a chance to say goodbye to all his students in April.
And even though the option was on the table, he did not sign up to serve a third year with AmeriCorps.
Before he applied and earned a spot with Project CHANGE, Zare was working odd jobs, including as a utilities contractor for Comcast. He had also earned his associate’s degree.
Former AmeriCorps service member Daniel Zare, 27, visits Project CHANGE at Sligo Middle School on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he mentored students before federal government cuts in April. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
“I don’t think there’s any other program to take someone like me who was working a couple of different jobs and put them in an environment like this, to see firsthand as an American citizen how our classrooms operate and what position I would need to be in to actually be of benefit,” Zare told States Newsroom.
Zare is now freelancing and debating his next move, whether that’s a new job or further higher education.
“AmeriCorps is something that I’m always going to cherish because a lot of the people there still help me,” he said.
Editor’s note: D.C. Bureau Senior Reporter Ashley Murray served in AmeriCorps in 2009-2010.
Maryland public school students made modest gains in math and English language arts, but significant gaps remain between demographic groups, the latest test results show.
The Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which students took this spring, showed nearly 51% of students were proficient in language arts, an increase from about 48% in the 2023-24 school year.
The results mark the third straight year of language arts increases, gains that are being attributed in part to the “science of reading” curriculum that State Superintendent Carey Wright brought with her from Mississippi, where test scores rose significantly while she was superintendent there.
Fourth grade was the only level that saw their overall scores go down, form 49.3% in the 2023-24 school year to 48.4% in 20240-25, according to results reviewed Tuesday by the state Board of Education.
Math scores also rose, but they remained far behind language arts: About 26.5% of students were proficient in math, versus 24% in the previous school year.
The board approved a revision of math standards, and parts of a math policy will be implemented this year, which should help improve student outcomes, said Tenette Smith, chief academic officer with the state Department of Education.
“We are seeing progress, but there’s still important work” to be done, Smith said.
The data are from tests taken by students in the spring in grades three through eight in math and language arts. Language arts is also assessed in 10th grade. Student proficiency is also measured in specific math courses and in science for students in fifth and eighth grades.
At least two board members expressed concerns about the gaps between student groups, specifically Black and Latino students.
The biggest gap, according to the exam results, came in eighth grade science.
A look at student proficiency among student demographics who took the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program exam last school year. Click here for full-size chart. (Screenshot from Maryland State Department of Education)
About 62% of Asian students were proficient in that subject last school year, compared to 53% in the 2023-24 school year. White student proficiency rose from 40% to nearly 49% in the same period. While other student groups also made progress, they still trailed:
Latino students went from 11.7% proficiency in 2023-24 to 17.1% last school year;
Black students rose from 12.3% in 2023-24 to 17% last school year.
Board member Alverne “Chet” Chesterfield asked why the same “set of folks still underperforming.” That was echoed by board member Nick Greer, who noted that the same concern was expressed last year and who asked what strategies will be looked at in the near future to help close those achievement gaps.
With the exception of language arts, the proficiency level for students with disabilities and multilingual students didn’t reach double digits.
“What we need to be doing as a state and as superintendents and principals … is identifying those specific children that were still struggling regardless what subgroup they’re in,” said Wright, the state superintendent, during a briefing with reporters Tuesday afternoon. “You’ve got to look at individual children, because each child’s needs are very individual, and that’s what we’re expecting schools to do.”
School systems vary
Worcester County, which recorded the second-highest proficiency level in math at 39.3% in 2023-24 school year, moved into first place last year with a rate of 47.7%. Despite a drop from 69.4% two years ago, Worcester County still had the highest English proficiency last year, at 68.5%.
A map of Maryland that shows percentage of students rated proficient on the English language arts exam in all 24 school districts. Click here for a full-size map. (Screenshot from Maryland State Department of Education)
One reason for that jurisdiction being the best in Maryland comes from consistent leadership, said state board President Joshua Michael. Worcester County school board member Jon Andes also was the school system’s superintendent from 1996 to 2012.
“This is a school district over decades that has had very few superintendents,” Michael said. “So there is a level of instructional coherence in that district. There’s a level of continuity in leadership.”
Just behind Worcester in math proficiency is Howard County, which recorded its students’ proficiency in math at 42%, pu from 41.1% two years ago.
Carroll County students had the second highest proficiency in English at 66.5%. Students in Dorchester County saw the biggest increase in English scores, rising from 33.7% to 41.3%.
Although Somerset County recorded the lowest student proficiency in math last school year at 10.1%, that was an improvement from the 9.8% recorded two years ago.
Despite the gains, lawmakers missed an opportunity to make scores even higher in the future, said Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of Maryland READS, in an interview Tuesday.
The General Assembly approved a training program within the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act during this year’s 90-day legislative session. But no funding was attached to the program educators call a “coaching program.”
“We will not see as dramatic improvement in reading instruction in 2026 as we could have,” Brennan-Gac said. “Had the legislature funded that program, they would have been able to establish the coaching program this summer, train the coaches and begin to have them supporting teachers in the classroom this year, which means by the spring, when the MCAP scores were administered, students are more likely to have had better reading instruction and have reading proficiency rates increase.
“So next year, we will probably, hopefully see the same continued weak trend instead of a dramatic improvement,” she said. “So, if we want to see that dramatic improvement, then we have to get the coaching funded.”
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