School Controversies

This article has been updated to reflect 2026 data and recent developments.

Climate change has never been a consistent part of the school science curriculum. Some teachers have touched on the subject, but few have delved into the matter with the depth it requires for thorough understanding. Sometimes it is presented as a controversial theory, and at other times it is taught as irrefutable fact. Now, national and state science standards have helped streamline the educational approach to the subject of climate change.

About the New Standards

The science standards were created as a result of a partnership between the National Research Council and organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Science Teachers Association. The non-profit group Achieve was also a part of the collaboration. Standards introduce the concept of climate change at a much younger grade and continue to expand on the subject throughout middle and high school. The standards, known as the Next Generation Science Standards, were released in 2013 and continue to influence science education in 2026. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides information about the framework and standards that resulted from this work.

This video from Teacher TV offers an overview of climate change.

Until then, the only effort to establish national science standards was in 1996, when the National Science Education Standards were published by the National Research Council.

As Common Core Standards take their place in public schools across the country, some are left wondering how these new standards will impact the education students have received in the past. Of particular concern is the shift the Common Core Standards seems to promote from the reading of classic fiction to nonfiction within the classroom. The worries over how the standards will change the standard English class have accelerated and snowballed into some wringing their hands over the disappearance of Shakespeare and other classic literary writers from the classroom. However, proponents of the new national education standards are adding their two cents to the discussion, saying the worries are unfounded and simply untrue in some cases.

This video explains the relevance of studying Shakespeare.

What are the Common Core Standards?

The Common Core Standards were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, as an effort to find a viable alternative to the failed policies of No Child Left Behind. The first draft of the standards was released in 2009, according to the website for the ASCD. According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the purpose of the Common Core Standards was to raise the bar on the education standards across the country, in order to prepare students for the rigors of higher education or the workforce after graduation.

The standards were created with input from hundreds

A controversy in a Michigan middle school has been resolved, but questions still remain over why a performing arts teacher was severely disciplined after allowing a student to play a marriage equality song in her classroom. The teacher, Susan Johnson, from Centennial Middle School, allowed the song after checking with the student to be sure it fit within the guidelines of the school district. However, the song offended at least one classmate, whose complaint eventually led to the teacher’s disciplinary action. Was the teacher merely defending a student’s freedom of speech, or was she in violation of district policy? The answer to that question appears to depend on who you ask.

The video offers an overview of freedom of speech in public schools.

“Same Love” Subject of Controversy

According to CBS Detroit, Johnson allowed a student in one of her eighth-grade performing arts classes to play the song “Same Love” by rapper Macklemore during class. Prior to granting permission, Johnson asked the student if the song contained any inappropriate language or references to violence. The student responded that it did not. In fact, “Same Love” is a song about marriage equality, depicting the life of a gay man from beginning to end. Some of the lyrics in the song include:

• “Can’t change, even if I tried…”
• “No freedom ‘til we’re equal…”
• “We become so numb to what we’re saying…”
• “If I was gay, I would think

Ongoing debates over equity at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) in Fairfax County, Virginia, continue to shape national conversations about fairness in selective public school admissions as of 2026. Thomas Jefferson High School, consistently ranked among the top public high schools in the country, has faced sustained scrutiny from civil rights groups, policymakers, and courts over its admissions policies and demographic changes. Advocacy organizations have raised concerns about representation, though admissions policy changes since 2020 have significantly increased enrollment of Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students. The issue now centers more broadly on whether Fairfax County’s academic pipeline provides equitable preparation and access to advanced coursework for all student groups.

This TED Talk discusses racial discrimination in public schools.

Federal Civil Rights Complaint Filed

Legal challenges to TJHSST’s admissions policies have progressed through federal courts, including a closely watched 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the revised, race-neutral admissions process to remain in place. The complaint alleges that Fairfax County “…essentially operates a network of separate and unequal schools,” which leaves out Latinos, blacks, and disabled students. The complaint further alleges that “for decades, these students have been grossly and disproportionately underrepresented in admission to the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.”

The civil rights complaint was filed by the Coalition of Silence, an advocacy group formed by a former school board member of Fairfax County Public Schools.

Prompting an investigation into an extensive cheating scandal rocked Atlanta schools, public schools in the nation’s capital first came under fire for allegedly cheating on standardized tests. However, a comprehensive investigation into the Washington D.C. cheating issue has revealed that while cheating did occur in some classrooms, the issue was centralized to a small number of classes, rather than hundreds of schools, as previously thought. Still, evidence of any cheating raises questions about the validity of standardized testing and how those scores are used to determine funding, teacher raises and performance evaluations.

Three District of Columbia Schools Cited in Investigation

A report at USA Today states that just three D.C. schools have been found guilty of cheating on standardized tests known as the DC-CAS in April 2011. The reports were limited to three classrooms within these three schools, which represents a very small number of the 5,089 classrooms that actually took the tests. The findings were announced by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

“The confirmed cases of impropriety represent a very small percentage of public schools and classrooms in D.C.,” Hosanna Mahaley, superintendent of D.C. schools, told USA Today.

This video reports on cheating on standardized tests in the D.C. public schools.

The three schools were classified as “critical” as a result of the investigation, which meant there was solid evidence found of fraud or test tampering in the