This article wraps up our in-depth coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. For more analysis and backstage reports from Cleveland & Philadelphia, see our RNC and DNC archives. We knew from the first primary debates last fall that 2016 wasn’t likely to be the education election. Candidates had other pressing things to talk...

Long before Donald J. Trump came one election away from becoming the most powerful man on Earth, he played at being the most powerful man at P.S. 70 in the Bronx. Memories of Trump’s tone-deaf “Principal for a Day” performance at the poor New York City elementary school — where he offered to buy a select group of kids...

By Max Marchitello  Although it was light on ideas, the four days of the Republican National Convention were nevertheless exciting at times. A few states staged a walkout in an attempt to secure a roll call vote. From Florida to Washington, we debated what does or does not count as plagiarism. We pretended to be...

LGBT advocates are looking to reach and persuade conservative voters tonight with a prime-time TV ad about transgender discrimination that’s set to air on Fox News around the time Donald Trump is accepting the Republican party’s nomination for president. The ad features a transgender woman from North Carolina who is prevented from using a restroom that corresponds...

By Kirsten Schmitz Donald Trump has promised to make America great again. One thing he says he won’t look to change? Social Security. While maintaining the Social Security status quo might seem at the very least unobtrusive, it neglects an opportunity to extend coverage to the over 1 million teachers and 6.5 million government workers whose jobs...

By Max Marchitello The Veep-stakes are over! The pick is in. Mike Pence, the sitting governor of Indiana, will run as Donald Trump’s vice president. Although he has only been governor for a few years, Pence also served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Putting those records together, Bellwether Education Partners’ Max Marchitello takes stock of what...

The 2016 presidential campaign has hardly lived up to the ideal of a civil exchange of ideas facilitating a peaceful democracy. But a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests that the acrimony from the campaign trail may be having a broader, negative effect on society — particularly in American schools. An online survey of...

How to explain the baffling rise of Donald Trump, the bullying, narcissistic real estate mogul dominating the Republican presidential primaries? How did a celebrity talk-show host with so little grasp of public policy — or good manners — come so close to becoming the GOP nominee? Economic anxiety is clearly a big part of the...

As the presidential primaries enter their hothouse phase, one 2016 election lesson is clear: the United States’ demographic shifts are more politically important now than in other recent contests. Of course, this new diversity has been coming for some time — much of it driven by immigration patterns and low birth rates among native-born Americans....

The sum of $7,500 may be chump change for Donald Trump, but it has bought him another round of immeasurable bad press. One day after LA Unified announced it was pulling its annual fundraiser golf tournament for its Beyond the Bell program from Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, two corporations stepped forward yesterday, each donating...