Step into my high school physics classroom this fall, and you’ll see students collecting data with force and motion sensors, sketching models on whiteboards, and engaging in discussions to explain how the world works. This is not usual for classrooms across the country. My hands-on, collaborative learning approach was shaped by a 10-week training course I completed through the American Modeling Teachers Association, funded by federal Title I dollars, in 2023.
But opportunities like that are vanishing.
Due to ongoing underfunding and the recent withholding of Title I funds by the Trump administration, teachers in Washington state districts like Franklin Pierce, Clover Park, and Tacoma are increasingly left to cover professional development, curriculum design, and lab equipment out of pocket. The consequences are quiet but profound…