WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a raft of executive orders April 23 aimed at reforming education policy in the United States, including mandates to bring artificial intelligence into K-12 schools and to go after “woke ideology” in accreditation of universities.
The orders also take aim at foreign gifts by colleges and universities and create a White House initiative to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs.
Here’s a look at some of the measures the president announced at the White House.
More AI courses and certifications for high schoolers
The AI order, reported first by USA TODAY, calls for the U.S. Education and Labor Departments to create avenues for high school AI courses and certification programs and collaborate with states to promote AI in education.
Trump asked the Education Department to prioritize AI in discretionary grant programs for teacher training, the National Science Foundation to promote research on the use of AI in education, and the Labor Department to offer more AI-related apprenticeships.
Trump’s order prioritizes the integration of AI into schools to promote proficiency among youth.
“This is a big deal, because AI seems to be where it’s at,” Trump said before he signed the order in the Oval Office.
‘Woke’ accountability for accreditation programs
Another measure aims to overhaul accreditation of colleges and universities, calling on the Justice Department and the Education Department to root out “unlawful discrimination and ideological overreach,” according to a White House summary. It asks the programs to use “denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition” for poor performance or violations of federal civil rights law by accreditors.
“Accreditors have also abused their authority by imposing discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-based standards, violating Federal law,” the White House news release says.
“This Executive Order builds on that legacy by reforming the accreditation system to prioritize student outcomes, eliminate unlawful discrimination, promote academic freedom and intellectual inquiry, and restore accountability.”
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Removing guidance addressing racial bias in school discipline
A third Trump order rolls back guidance on school discipline issued by the Obama administration, in a measure Trump said will remove racial bias from schools.
In 2014, Obama-era federal officials noted that students of color and those with disabilities “are generally suspended and expelled at higher rates than their peers,” often for minor offenses, and encouraged schools to better understand why that was the case.
Some school administrators said they interpreted the Obama-era guidance as an order to soften discipline, and blamed subsequent school shootings on what they felt was an inability to remove dangerous kids.
Obama-era officials said the guidance was intended to ensure that Black students were not singled out, for instance, by disciplinary policies banning braided hair. In issuing that original guidance, Obama-era officials noted that young Black men are suspended at far higher rates than would otherwise be expected under ostensibly race-neutral policies.
A new take on disparate impact liability
A fourth mandate targets what’s known as “disparate-impact liability,” a legal theory that suggests neutral policies that lead to different outcomes for different races or sexes are actually discriminatory.
Under Obama, the two policies were intended to reduce racial bias and discrimination that exists due to systemic racism. Trump contends the polices themselves were discriminatory because they tried to police the outcome before it happened.
“Disparate-impact liability undermines civil-rights laws by mandating discrimination to achieve predetermined, race-oriented outcomes, contradicting the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and treatment,” Trump said in his executive order. “This Executive Order restores the true promise of the Civil Rights Movement—a system that does not differentiate between Americans based on race and where success is determined by individual merit, free from discriminatory practices that prioritize group outcomes over personal achievement.”
Expanding apprenticeships and workforce development
Trump’s fifth order aims to revamp “our country’s reindustrialization needs and equip American workers to fill the growing demand for skilled trades and other occupations” and “unlock the limitless potential of the American worker.”
The Departments of Labor, Commerce and Education will have 90 days to develop a report with strategies on helping advance American workers, identifying skills and needs of U.S. employers and education programs that will target them.
The objective, according to a White House news release, is “to fully equip the American worker to produce world-class products and implement world-leading technologies.”
Revoking advisory council and setting forth new aims for Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Trump states in another order that his administration values HBCUs’ value and impact “as beacons of educational excellence and economic opportunity that serve as some of the best cultivators of tomorrow’s leaders in business, government, academia, and the military.” His mandate on these institutions is focused on expanding their reach through private-sector partnerships and professional development opportunities “to build a pipeline for students that may be interested in attending HBCUs and promote affordable degree attainment.”
The executive order revokes a Biden-era initiative at HBCUs and calls for the Environmental Protection Agency administrator to terminate the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions Advisory Council.
Disclosures about foreign influence at U.S. universities
The seventh order seeks transparency through disclosures about the “purposes of foreign money flowing to American campuses.”
The president outlined in his mandate that he opened investigations into 19 campuses during his first term, which led universities to “report $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds.” He said the Biden administration did away with these efforts at transparency.
“It is the policy of my Administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation,” Trump says in the White House news release.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump issues mandates on HBCUs, school discipline, foreign gifts
The post Trump issues mandates on HBCUs, school discipline, foreign gifts, accreditation appeared first on USA TODAY.
