Education Department

The Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into whether states that have banned mask mandates are discriminating against students with disabilities who could be at a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

As the second school year disrupted by the pandemic winds down, summer school plans are taking shape around the country

The U.S. Education Department is temporarily relaxing the rules of a student loan forgiveness program that’s meant to help people with disabilities but that critics say carries overly burdensome rules

Many are concerned about COVID-19 cases really taking off during the next several months, especially with the holidays. But the state argues facts not fear should guide whether school districts switch to fully remote learning. In an apparent message to superintendents, the state education commissioner and public health acting commissioner wrote in part that: “In-person education is too important for…

A scathing report from the Trump administration on Tuesday concluded that top U.S. universities have “massively underreported” funding they accept from China, Russia and other nations described as “foreign adversaries.”

A federal judge has held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt of court for violating an order to stop collecting loans from thousands of former for-profit college students. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim issued the ruling Thursday in San Francisco. She also fined the Education Department $100,000. Kim previously ordered DeVos to stop collecting federal loans from former Corinthian Colleges...

The office of an African American employee of the U.S. Department of Education was vandalized earlier this week, and other employees have expressed concern that the attack may have been racially motivated. African art figurines were found beheaded, with their limbs removed, and a school desegregation poster was damaged, according to Education Department employees and a congressional aide. The incident...

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I questions Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about cuts to Special Olympics funding proposed President Donald Trump’s latest budget plan.

The Education Department is unveiling a mobile program intended to make it easier for students to apply for federal financial aid.

The Trump administration is granting only partial loan forgiveness to the vast majority of students approved for help because of fraud by for-profit colleges, according to preliminary Education Department data obtained by The Associated Press. The figures demonstrate the impact of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ new policy of tiered relief, in which students swindled by for-profit schools are compensated based...

A federal court has ruled that the Education Department violated privacy laws with regard to students defrauded by the Corinthian for-profit college chain. In a break with Obama administration policy, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced in December that some students cheated by the now-defunct schools would only get a part of their federal student loan forgiven. In order to determine...

Puerto Rico’s Department of Education announced Thursday that it will close 283 schools this summer following a sharp drop in enrollment amid the island’s long economic slump and the continued departure of families after Hurricane Maria. Education Secretary Julia Keleher said there would be no layoffs, with teachers and other employees being reassigned to other schools as part of a...

The Education Department wants to narrow the scope of civil rights investigations at schools, focusing on individual complaints rather than systemic problems, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. Under the Obama administration, when a student complained of discrimination in a particular class or school, the education agency would examine the case but also look at whether the...

Education Department officials opened formal negotiations on Monday to rewrite federal rules meant to protect students from fraud by colleges and universities. The talks with university representative and student advocates are taking place as the department faces criticism for delaying consideration of tens of thousands of loan forgiveness claims from students who say they were defrauded by for-profit colleges. The...

Students who attended for-profit colleges filed more than 98 percent of the requests for student loan forgiveness alleging fraud by their schools, according to an analysis of Education Department data published Thursday. The study by The Century Foundation represents the most thorough analysis to date of the nearly 100,000 loan forgiveness claims known as borrower defense received by the agency...

The Education Department is considering only partially forgiving federal loans for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, according to department officials, abandoning the Obama administration’s policy of erasing that debt. Under President Barack Obama, tens of thousands of students deceived by now-defunct for-profit schools had over $550 million in such loans canceled. But President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is...

The Education Department announced Wednesday that it will change two key Obama-era rules governing student loan forgiveness in cases involving fraud and misconduct by universities. The department said it will convene special committees to rewrite Borrower Defense to Repayment and Gainful Employment regulations. The rules were introduced last year as the department was processing claims from thousands of students who...

The Education Department is getting social media criticism after misspelling the name of a prominent African-American sociologist.

The company that runs ITT Technical Institute announced Tuesday it was shutting down academic operations at all of its campuses and thousands of its employees will lose their jobs. The move comes a more than a week after the federal government banned the for-profit school from enrolling students who use federal loans to pay for classes. “It is with profound...