Plus, recommended screenings for autismView in browser [link removed]

**Weekly Update**

**A newsletter from The Hechinger Report**

Donate [link removed]

**In this week's edition:** High costs and political attacks take a toll as fewer students come and top scholars leave U.S. universities [link removed]. New community efforts across the country are helping to connect more kids to essential therapies [link removed]. Plus, momentum grows to turn schoolyards into green spaces that can withstand climate change and where communities can gather [link removed].

[link removed]

A student is reflected in a rain puddle at the University of California, Berkeley. A top chemist is leaving Berkeley for a Chinese university to establish a new AI-powered institute to speed up the development of new materials — one of at least 85 American university faculty members who have moved to China since the start of 2024. Credit: Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

****Once globally preeminent, U.S. universities are sliding into decline****

The nation was distracted by other things when a quiet warning sounded: Support was diminishing for American academic research that had led to breakthroughs and innovation.

That familiar-sounding worry came not this year, but near the end of World War II, in a pivotal government study by the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development. 

The response then: infusions of government cash that would propel the U.S. higher education system into international preeminence over the subsequent decades.

American colleges and universities rose to the ranks of the best in the world. They attracted top scholars who won a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes. They helped drive the innovation economy. As trade deficits beset other industries, education became the sixth-largest U.S. services export. At their peak enrollment, international students brought in more than $40 billion a year.

Now, as a new academic year begins, American dominance in higher education globally is incontrovertibly in decline, according to data, international rankings and independent experts. 

The slide has been accelerated by a year and a half of funding cuts, restrictions on international students and curbs on what can be said or taught. But it began before those political challenges, with enrollment declines, lackluster returns on ever-rising prices and public mistrust. 

“It takes a while for all of these problems to trickle down, but they are beginning to trickle down,” said Eric Mlyn, a faculty fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University who studies academic freedom.

Read the story [link removed]

**Most kids miss recommended screening for autism, speech delays**

****

Twenty-five years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that parents of young children complete developmental screeners at regular visits to the pediatrician — often a crucial first step in diagnosing a child’s disability or delay. But a generation later, implementation remains spotty, with just over 36 percent of parents of young children nationally reporting having filled out a screener in the previous 12 months, according to the latest National Survey of Children’s Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. New York lags behind most states, with about 28 percent of parents saying they had been screened recently. Only Nevada, Florida, Arkansas and Missouri come in lower.

The last set of federal survey results is from 2024. Many experts say it provides the most comprehensive state- and national-level data on screening rates, but some note that it can also underestimate screening numbers since some parents might not remember filling out a form or know what it was for. “If you ask pediatricians if they are screening, you might get a different number,” said Dr. Liz Isakson, executive director of Docs for Tots on Long Island, which advocates for children through age 5. (One 2020 study focused on pediatricians, for instance, found that nearly two-thirds of them reported doing some developmental screening.) “But I think parents are always right,” Dr. Isakson added. “If they are getting screened and don’t know it, that’s a problem.”

In an effort to boost screening rates, a growing number of communities are taking a new approach: bringing the tool outside of doctor’s offices to libraries, zoos, farmer’s markets and other gatherings where parents with young kids congregate.

Read the story [link removed]

****Sponsor this newsletter****

****

When you sponsor a newsletter from The Hechinger Report, you reach educators, families and decision makers. Learn more from our sponsorship page [link removed] or email [email protected] mailto:[email protected].

****Turning school playgrounds into urban climate oases****

****

Momentum grows to turn schoolyards into green spaces that can withstand climate change and where communities can gather.

[link removed]

Close to 75 percent of U.S. residents who live in areas that have experienced the most nature loss are Black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, a think tank.  [link removed]

****Reading list****

****

Kids may learn more when AI makes them review mistakes [link removed]

A randomized experiment involved more than 6,000 Tennessee middle school students learning fractions

Tracking Trump: His actions on education [link removed]

The latest: The Justice Department sued three states — New York, Connecticut and Vermont — challenging their policies providing in-state tuition to undocumented students.

OPINION: Why investing in rural education can bolster local economies and help students build a future close to home [link removed]
[link removed]

Rural community colleges are building pathways and partnerships to help students find sustainable jobs

Invite others to sign up for our newsletters [link removed].

Donate [link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]

Copyright © 2026 The Hechinger Report, All rights reserved.

Click here to manage your newsletter preferences [link removed]

Sent to: [email protected]

Unsubscribe [link removed]

The Hechinger Report, 525 W 120th Street Suite 127, New York, NY 10027, United States