Rob Schläpfer

Learning isn’t fun. It’s hard work for almost all of us, especially at the beginning. Education is a novel, human-created accelerator of our brains. The goal is to ensure that every child is literate, numerate, widely read, and knowledgeable — none of which comes naturally to us or can be obtained without significant effort. Read the new investigation on The Science of Learning from the Oregon Education Project. open.substack.com/pub/oregonedpr…

What If Ed Tech Does More Harm Than Good? I chat with Jared Cooney Horvath, author of “The Digital Delusion,” at ⁦@educationweek⁩. edweek.org/technology/opi…

@horvick “People of color” break traffic laws at higher rates than other “groups”. There is plenty of data on that. The intuition that disparate outcomes are always due to different treatment is a common fallacy .

Today, the Portland Police released traffic count stops for Q1 2026. There were 8,142 drivers stopped this quarter. The most since the pandemic. 46% of those stopped were drivers of color.

Schools are prioritizing emotional assessment, such as “empathy, self-awareness, and sense of belonging,” over academic courses, while parents are often left out of key curriculum conversations.  Transparency in education matters.

A rare piece of good news from the international climate bureaucracy: The committee that developed the GHG emissions scenarios used in the IPCC's climate models has removed the three most unrealistic and alarmist scenarios: RCP8.5, SSP5-8.5, and SSP3-7.0. These scenarios, especially RCP8.5, have been widely used to generate catastrophist climate predictions and justify anti-fossil-fuel policies.

What Schools Should Do to Pump Up the Deflated Math Skills of Older Students edweek.org/teaching-learn…

"By contrast, Republicans have asked whether—given that student debt has gotten so out of control—the federal government shouldn’t take steps to reduce how much gets lent out in the first place." bit.ly/3QPtYKe

New data revisions are changing the story of Oregon’s post-pandemic recovery. The state is now 7,200 jobs below pre-pandemic levels, a sharp shift from earlier data that showed a gain of ~39,000 jobs. The takeaway: Oregon’s recovery has been more fragile than it appeared. Read the full report: bit.ly/4watIWn

Read NAS Policy Director Teresa Manning's critiques of the anti-intellectual culture of law schools. Activist students are trading debate for intimidation, undermining the very legal system they are supposed to join: amgreatness.com/2026/04/30/ucl…

What is even more chilling than some of Justice Jackson’s jurisprudence is the fact that she is often cited as the model for Democrats seeking to pack the Court with an instant majority if they retake power. This and other dissents show why Democrats are confident that packing the court will yield lasting power. jonathanturley.org/2026/05/05/bas…

Justice Jackson recently said that “I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do.” For some of her colleagues, that cathartic benefit is coming at too high a cost for the Court. jonathanturley.org/2026/05/05/bas…

@PriscillaWest77 @TheInterim_News It needs to be framed from the perspective of neurobiology and cognitive psychology, not philosophy. Cheers.

Fair critique. This Broadside was written for non-specialists as an accessible overview of how SEL/TSEL was developed, embedded, and scaled globally in service of the equity agenda. I map the architecture: who built it, how it spread, and how to recognize it. The flawed assumptions about human nature beneath this movement deserve their own treatment—but that’s a different book. Right, @thepalmerworm?

Grateful to @TheInterim_News for this thoughtful review of my broadside. Thank you for helping it reach new readers across the border!

@ConjectureInst @astupple @peterboghossian Rubbish. Kids have no idea.

Kids should be pursuing their interests from the beginning. All of their education and learning be in support of what they're interested in. ~Conjecture Institute Cofounder @astupple w/ Advisor @peterboghossian

Recently, Ret. Justice Stephen Breyer made the case for civic education to "reduce polarization and strengthen citizenship," something the nation clearly needs. In his 2021 Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. BL, opinion, he wrote that classrooms are the "nurseries of democracy."

Leer fortalece el cerebro: la lectura desarrolla regiones clave como el lóbulo temporal izquierdo y el giro de Heschl, esenciales para el lenguaje y la empatía. Mejores lectores tienen áreas cerebrales más grandes, y leer activamente moldea estas estructuras con el tiempo. La caída de la lectura recreativa podría afectar la cognición y la empatía colectiva. @NeuroscienceNew sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Trump’s recent firing of all 24 members of the National Science Board is important move against woke science and will help restore the prioritization of discovery over dogma. | @AndrewCFollett nationalreview.com/2026/05/trump-…

“The Court has now ruled that you cannot simply assume discrimination from the outcome of the vote. You must prove it.” The Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision marks a shift in how the Voting Rights Act is applied in redistricting cases, requiring clear proof that race, not politics, drive redistricting decisions. CRA Legal Fellow Benjamin Osborne takes up this argument in his latest op-ed for @ChroniclesMag.

Hey Siri, what is an incomplete verdict?

@RightNowOregon “Climate stress” is utter bullshit.

Oregon Trees Face Another Difficult Year as Climate Stress Intensifies rightnoworegon.com/2026/05/04/ore…

Justice Alito has officially had enough of Justice Jackson.