Laura Edghill
WORLD
Michigan, United States
Contact Laura
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Laura:
When affirmative action goes too far
The chances of Asian American or white students getting into Yale University are one-tenth to one-fourth of those of comparably qualified African American applicants, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded Thursday. → Read More
Excused absences for college freshmen
More first-year college students than ever put their plans on hold this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Freshmen classes shrank by 16.1 percent nationally and 22.7 percent at community colleges, the survey found. → Read More
Deviceless distance learning
U.S. suppliers have mostly caught up to the demand for masks and toilet paper since the start of the pandemic, but now tens of thousands of schoolchildren are suffering from the shortage of another item: laptop computers. → Read More
The price of accountability
Serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar is serving a de facto life sentence in prison, but his victims are still fighting for justice. The female gymnasts who accused and brought down Nassar, a former sports doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, want to hold accountable the institutions that propped up their abuser. → Read More
Online school defrauds taxpayers
Oklahoma state investigators claim an online charter school pocketed millions in taxpayer funds by inflating its enrollment and tricking parents into participating in the alleged fraud. Epic Charter Schools’ founders, David Chaney and Ben Harris, face accusations of enrolling “ghost students” who received little or no instruction because they already attended private schools → Read More
Campus healthcare crisis
Lawsuits filed last week against Ohio State University and UCLA claim the schools did not do enough to protect students from sexual abuse by campus doctors. The accusations echo those at several other universities across the country and raise troubling concerns about the safety of students who seek care at campus health centers. → Read More
Permanent record
A recent graduate from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who became a well-known school safety activist after the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting there, received a letter last month from Harvard University revoking his admission over racist comments he had made when he was 16 years old. The student, Kyle Kashuv, now 18, provoked a new round of public → Read More
A long road to recovery
State and local officials in Texas, Florida, and Colorado all took steps this week to respond to the needs of communities rocked by school shootings that occurred years or even decades ago. → Read More
Much ado over the gender gap in STEM
The results of a recent assessment of eighth graders’ engineering and technology knowledge prompted headlines boasting that girls “beat,” “outshine,” “best,” and “ → Read More
Searching for security
In the 20 years since the shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., school safety has become a $2.7 billion industry that is still growing, according to IHS Markit. Schools across the country are spending millions of dollars developing training protocols, hiring armed guards, and installing metal detectors and security cameras. Texas and Florida even → Read More
Educating while armed
Florida last week became the latest state to allow more teachers to carry guns in their schools. A bill passed Saturday by the state legislature expands the existing school guardian program that was enacted after the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 17 people died. Originally, only teachers who also served in an → Read More
Equal but not fair
An advisory board tasked with finding ways to desegregate the nation’s largest school district wants to do away with New York City’s gifted and talented programs for elementary students. The suggestion has parents, politicians, and education officials in an uproar at the prospect of shuttering a successful program rather than figuring out how more people can benefit from it. → Read More
Men’s school redefines ‘male’
Atlanta’s all-male, historically black Morehouse College announced Saturday that starting in 2020 it would open admission to female students who identify as men. The school’s newly released gender identity policy states that “in recognition of our changing world and evolving understanding of gender identity, Morehouse will now consider for admission applicants who live and → Read More
Higher ed exposed
In the wake of a college admissions bribery scandal, several students last week sued eight elite universities for passing them over to admit the less-qualified children of the wealthy. But legal experts say justice could be hard to come by for students who feel schools treated them unfairly because they weren’t rich. “It’s tough to see these succeeding,” said Kyle → Read More
A Christian college’s courtroom drama
A March court date looms over two Christian organizations—Bryan College and the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA)—in a conflict laced with Hollywood scenarios like sex crimes and contentious boardroom deals. → Read More
Tax credits and school choice: A win-win duo?
U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos introduced a bold plan last week to offer $5 billion annually in tax credits that would expand school choice. Accompanying legislation sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., aims to give parents more choices for their children’s education without diverting funds from public schools. “What’s → Read More
A ‘finger-in-the-eye’ strike
West Virginia teachers unions celebrated a dubious win last week, returning educators and students to their classrooms after a two-day strike that temporarily shuttered 54 of the 55 public school districts in the state. → Read More
The college question
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. reasserted his demand for free college for all when he released his education platform last week. Sanders joins other high-profile 2020 Democratic contenders such as Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joe Biden in their campaign claims that four-year → Read More
Covington Catholic in the clear
An independent report released last week appears to clear Covington Catholic High School students of any wrongdoing in a widely publicized confrontation with a Native American protester after last month’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. → Read More
The lowdown on lockdowns
In the year since the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., schools across the country have revisited their active shooter protocols, trying to come up with the best way to prepare for the worst. Seventeen people were killed in the Feb. 14, 2018, rampage, the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. Shooting suspect and former → Read More