Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein

@danagoldstein.bsky.social

New York Times reporter. I write mostly about education, writ broadly: how it impacts politics, culture, and family life. Enthusiastic fiction reader, home cook, mom.

4.7K followers544 following67 posts

Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

My deep dive on the "A.I.-driven" Alpha School, revealing their internal learning and enrollment data for the first time, just as the network expands into public education. There is a big gap between the marketing and reality. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

nytimes.comAlpha School Claims to Teach Kids Twice as Fast. Many Don’t Make It. (Gift Article)Alpha School, a private network, is spreading into public education. While its students’ test scores are high, some parents and educators say it doesn’t live up to the hype.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

Most American students are already using A.I. to generate writing. I took a step back to ask: What does cognitive science tell us about what writing *does* for us? Is there a way to teach and learn alongside this technology without degrading skills? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/u...

nytimes.comWhat Do Students Lose When They Stop Writing? (Gift Article)Educators are worried that many students can no longer write essays without A.I. And it’s costing more than just grammar skills.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

Important reporting from @natashanyt.bsky.social : Google turns on AI tools for young children in Google Classroom - some districts are caught unaware www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/b...

nytimes.comGoogle Turns On Gemini A.I. for Students Using Its Classroom App (Gift Article)Google enabled A.I. features for K-12 schools that have allowed student access to Gemini. Until this week, Google automatically enabled Gemini in Classroom only for students 18 or older.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

The decline in English-class book reading is very real. We did a deep dive, and found many teens are assigned just 1 or 2 books per year. Instead, kids are reading excerpts on a screen, like this one, 859 words of "Beloved."

Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

must-read for parents to understand how college prices are set -- and why, if you ask for more aid, you just might get it! scarcity is a myth -- most colleges have trouble filling their seats www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/b...

nytimes.comWho Decides How Much You Pay for College? Here’s How Tuition Costs Are Set.Schools turn to little-known consultants, owned by private equity firms, to find applicants and calculate scholarships. Here’s how that affects the price you pay.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

Essential reading for anyone who cares about education, for parents, and all citizens. I began using deep research AI over the past several months. It is challenging and reshaping my vision of what literacy and literate culture will be in our lifetimes. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

newyorker.comWill the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?Maybe not as we’ve known them. But, in the ruins of the old curriculum, something vital is stirring.

Dana Goldstein reposted

Jonathan Weisman
@jonathanweisman.bsky.social

Once a movement held at bay, the push to give taxpayer-funded vouchers to virtually any parent with a school-age child has secured wins in every major red state, Texas the latest and biggest. Now activists have their eyes on blue states, and Congress hopes to oblige. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/u...

nytimes.comSchool Vouchers Won in Texas. Next Up, the Nation.Choice laws have now passed in every major Republican state. Congress and President Trump are now aiming at blue states that have resisted vouchers for decades.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

President Trump just signed an order attempting to dismantle the Department of Education. Can he do that? What is likely to happen next -- and what does the agency actually do day-to-day? My explainer: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/u...

nytimes.comCan Trump End the Department of Education?President Trump signed an order calling for the agency to close, and has already gutted its staff and programs. Still, students may not see much change, at least at first.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

An important story by the great Alan Blinder, stepping back to look at the historic role of the American research university, and the sector's failure to address its critics and tell its own story www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/u...

nytimes.comTrump’s Battles With Colleges Could Change American Culture for a GenerationMany in higher education worry Trump’s efforts to bend academia to his will could end American leadership in research and science. Universities are not finding many allies to defend them.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

The latest on the case of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, the Brown Medicine doctor deported Friday night despite a valid visa. DHS says she had attended the Hezbollah leader's funeral. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/u...

nytimes.comDeported Professor Rasha Alawieh Attended Hezbollah Leader’s Funeral, D.H.S. SaysDr. Rasha Alawieh was detained in Boston and then deported after returning from a trip to Lebanon. The government says a judge’s order that she be allowed to stay in the U.S. came too late.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

Latest on the case of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, the kidney transplant specialist and Brown U professor detained and deported in potential defiance of a court order. Foreign doctors are crucial in her field, as there is a shortage of Americans: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/u...

nytimes.comBrown University Professor and Doctor Is Deported to Lebanon Despite a Judge’s OrderDr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and Brown University professor who had a valid visa, was expelled in apparent defiance of a court order.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

NEW: 5 years later, what did we learn about school closures for the next pandemic? We interviewed over a dozen education, health and political leaders about where they now stand, any regrets, and what should happen next time www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...

nytimes.comWould Schools Close in a Future Pandemic?Five years after the global Covid pandemic was declared, there is widespread agreement that closing classrooms was devastating for children. Here is what leaders say they may do next time.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

I keep hearing the question: What's the biggest impact of Trump education disruptions so far? My answer: Research. Data. Knowledge on how students are doing and how schools might improve. All of this is being decimated. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/u...

nytimes.comAre Schools Succeeding? Education Department Cuts Could Make It Hard to KnowAt least 800 education department research employees and outside partners have lost jobs. The cuts will decimate research and data collection.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

40% of students who start college don't finish. Some high schools that once pushed "college for all" are grappling with that reality, and providing teens with more career-focused learning. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/u...

nytimes.comSome Schools Rethink “College For All”The idea that every student should aim for a four-year college motivated a bipartisan movement for decades. Now even enthusiastic promoters of the idea are reconsidering it.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

1. Scoop: DOGE staffers embedded in the Education Department plan a new role for generative A.I., interacting with kids and parents who have questions about student aid, and potentially replacing many human call center workers www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u...

nytimes.comDOGE Proposes A.I. Bot as Replacement for Financial Aid HelpA new chatbot would answer questions from student borrowers. The idea comes from staffers with ties to the tech industry as they push further into the agency’s work.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

3. Some ED staffers are worried about a “severe degradation” in services. The DOGE folks bringing these ideas to the table have ties to ed tech and venture capital, and are not super-young, but executives in 30s/40s. Reported with the great Zach Montague www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u...

nytimes.comDOGE Proposes A.I. Bot as Replacement for Financial Aid HelpA new chatbot would answer questions from student borrowers. The idea comes from staffers with ties to the tech industry as they push further into the agency’s work.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

DOGE has cut nearly $1 billion in federal education research, affecting projects to understand challenges such as post-Covid academic recovery; disability issues; behavior problems; and the sharp rise in student absenteeism. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...

nytimes.comMusks’s DOGE Announces Millions in Cuts to Education Dept. Amid Legal PushbackElon Musk’s cost-cutting team said that it had “terminated” 89 of the department’s contracts, apparently targeting its research arm.
Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

While researching recent college completion stats, I encountered a typical A.I. search problem. Google A.I. says college dropouts surged during the pandemic, but the source it links back to shows federal data on high school dropouts, not college. This is why we need this transparent sourcing!

Dana Goldstein
@danagoldstein.bsky.social

Trump campaigned on a fundamental paradox: Shutting the Department of Education while also using its power to investigate/control schools on race, gender and civics. Turns out, he does have the appetite for a muscular fight to reshape public education. My story: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...

nytimes.comWith Sweeping Executive Orders, Trump Tests Local Control of SchoolsThe orders seek to encourage “patriotic education” and restrict discussions about racism and gender by threatening to withdraw federal funding. But schools are often resistant to change.

Dana Goldstein reposted

Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats
@adamlaats.bsky.social

What's the deal with Trump's ed order? It's a mess. Reality-show rules, but...for reality. As I told @danagoldstein.bsky.social: “To my mind, this executive order is a blast of steam ... dangerous especially because it can encourage local aggressive activism.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...

nytimes.comWith Sweeping Executive Orders, Trump Tests Local Control of Schools (Gift Article)The orders seek to encourage “patriotic education” and restrict discussions about racism and gender by threatening to withdraw federal funding. But schools are often resistant to change.