What The Education Community Will Be Talking About, Following & Supporting In 2017

There has been a lot of talk about big changes in U.S. education in 2017, particularly with new leaders taking over for the Trump government. Speculations have given rise to uncertainty because President-elect Donald Trump's education stance differ from the previous administration of President Barack Obama.

Local governments, on the other hand, are poised to also push new agenda to foster better education for American students. Experts believe that the following issues below will be hot topics for students, teachers, parents and the education community in 2017.

School choice will be in forefront of debates and discussion among education leaders. As Trump has chosen Betsy DeVos to head the Education department beginning 2017, many believe that she will be pushing for this agenda being a staunch supporter of charter schools, voucher programs and private religious schools.

The Washington Post highlights the Trump government's intention to spend $20 billion for charters and vouchers expansion. This could potentially leave public schools with little wiggle room to manage and operate, thus public school education's quality will continue to dwindle.

The Common Core education standards could finally end with DeVos as Education secretary. New York Post cites that she spoke about it in a recent meet with Trump supporters.

The pronouncement has left advocates hopeful that the choice in education standards will be given to local government. "When state and local leaders make their own decisions on school standards, they are much more likely to reach pragmatic decisions that will last," pro-Common Core Marc Porter Magee said.

Transgender issues in school could accelerate in 2017 as more and more students will likely register are transgender students. Some schools have already set up policies and guidelines to protect the rights of transgender, but its scope could still evolve as society's understanding also evolve.

Schools might shift from making suspension the default action in dealing with students who misbehave. In 2016, mindfulness reforms to replace punishments have seen a rise in schools and it could become one of the focus of discipline methods beginning this year.

Outgoing First Lady Michelle Obama impacted students' lunch program during her husband's term, paving the way for schools to tackle America's growing childhood obesity problem. Education advocates say schools must remain committed to keeping this program intact under the Trump government, according to Fortune. It must uphold the program by opposing policy changes to school lunches, should there be one.