Education Department to Offer Nonbinding 'Toolkit' on Reading, AI and Classroom Discipline

The U.S. Department of Education plans to issue a nonbinding set of recommendations for schools focused on reading instruction, classroom discipline and the use of artificial intelligence, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in an interview published this week.

McMahon described the package as a "toolkit" that would catalog approaches that have worked in classrooms across the country and provide contacts for educators behind those strategies, rather than impose federal mandates. "My goal is then to put together a toolkit which we can deliver to states. … They’re toolkits to say, look, this is what’s worked here. This is how it’s worked," she said.

The toolkit would emphasize the "science of reading," McMahon said, promoting instructional methods aimed at getting children reading at an early age. She pointed to what she described as a renewed interest in "classical learning" and cited states including Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida as places where those methods have shown results. McMahon said the toolkit would include references on how to find and evaluate programs and examples of successful implementation.

The initiative comes as the department is undergoing a significant reorganization under President Donald Trump, who has sought to devolve many responsibilities to states and to reduce federal oversight of K-12 education. Even as the administration pursues those changes, McMahon said the federal government can still play a role by sharing evidence-based approaches.

McMahon also addressed artificial intelligence, saying the department supports equipping students to use new technology while acknowledging risks that must be managed. She cited a White House initiative encouraging students to present AI projects and said schools may need "guardrails" to prevent misuse, such as cheating on assignments through automated text-generation tools like ChatGPT. "It has all kinds of really, really good implications, but then some of the not-so-good implications start to pop up, and that’s when they have to be addressed," she said.

On school safety and discipline, McMahon said teachers have reported losing control of classrooms and that disciplinary policies have become too lax in some places. She urged that consequences for disruptive behavior are necessary to protect other students' ability to learn and said the department could elevate the issue so local school boards pay greater attention. She described classroom control and safety as priorities that the toolkit could help address through examples of effective policies.

McMahon also framed the toolkit as part of a broader push to emphasize merit in admissions and hiring, criticizing what the administration views as an excessive focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies. "Let’s start with merit," she said. McMahon said the federal role should include ensuring that programs encourage students to reach their abilities and that schools foster competition among states to adopt successful practices.

The proposed guidance follows declines in national student assessment results in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the Nation’s Report Card showed test-score declines for fourth- and eighth-grade students that had not fully recovered by 2022, an issue administration officials have cited in defending efforts to change instructional approaches.

McMahon reiterated support for school choice and greater parental involvement as part of the administration's education agenda. She said parents should be able to move children out of schools where they feel unsafe or where they believe instruction is failing, and she suggested the toolkit could help parents and local leaders identify effective programs.

The department has not released the toolkit or a timeline for its distribution, and McMahon said the recommendations would not be enforceable federal mandates. Education officials did not provide additional details on how the department would select the practices to include or how it would measure their effectiveness.

Advocates and critics of administration education policies have debated the emphasis on classical instruction, tighter discipline, limits on DEI initiatives and the handling of new technologies in schools. Supporters of the toolkit approach say collecting and sharing practical examples can help districts learn from peers, while opponents have questioned whether a federally produced list of model practices might influence local policy decisions despite being labeled nonbinding.

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. The interview with McMahon was published Sept. 7, 2025 in The New York Post, where she outlined the toolkit concept and discussed the administration's education priorities.