America's Children Are 'Ready To Learn' With PBS KIDS. Will the Trump Administration Listen?

Newsweek

16-05-2025

For the past 30 years and with broad bipartisan support in Congress, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has funded competitive Ready to Learn (RTL) grants, authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. RTL includes all kids in maximizing the benefits of publicly funded children's media, with proven evidence-based educational impact from PBS KIDS shows like Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. On the evening of Friday, May 2, the DOE abruptly terminated the 2020-2025 RTL grants, and a 2026 budget proposal eliminates the program altogether.
I am extremely proud of having served as an advisor for a decade on RTL grants to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS KIDS programming, digital games, and community outreach. RTL provides a safety net for U.S. children who are traditionally underserved educationally. The current federal administration just slashed those nets.
The 1-2-3 Sesame Street float heads down the parade route during The 97th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, on Nov. 23, 2023.
The 1-2-3 Sesame Street float heads down the parade route during The 97th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, on Nov. 23, 2023.In a statement, Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communication at the DOE, explained the Trump administration's rationale: We "cancelled 'Ready to Learn' grants to PBS that were funding racial justice educational programming for 5-8 year-old children. This is not aligned with Administration priorities. The Trump Department of Education will prioritize funding that supports meaningful learning and improving student outcomes, not divisive ideologies and woke propaganda."
In my capacity as a professor at Northeastern University, I teach an undergraduate course on youth and communication technology, in which students learn about the developmental psychology behind how children learn from media and the impact of technology on their lives.
The semester is over, but if we were still in class, I'd ask students to break down the DOE statement above based on what we've discussed and what they've read during the course.
In class, we study how history (including political, social, and economic factors) shapes the youth media landscape. RTL grants have traditionally been announced every 5 years and reflect federal priorities. In 2020 (during the first Trump administration), the DOE's RTL solicitation included a call for "literacy content [that goes] beyond vocabulary and basic reading skills" and programming exposing children to future career options. RTL-funded PBS KIDS shows like Work it Out Wombats! and Lyla in the Loop have equipped young learners with functional literacy and collaboration skills for a rapidly evolving global economy.
RTL ensures that underserved kids—such as those living in rural areas, young people from low-income households, and students with disabilities—have access to media that meets the highest standards of both education and entertainment. In our class on disabled young people and their media use, we learn how inaccessible digital experiences and disability stereotypes on TV can negatively impact their cognitive and emotional development. Many RTL-funded programs such as Hero Elementary feature and portray children with disabilities in a positive manner, and PBS KIDS digital games incorporate universal design principles that support learners of all abilities.
For our session on culture, race, and ethnicity in children's media, we discuss Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, which in part explains how children learn better when they can identify with characters on screen, with racial and ethnic identity potentially being one aspect depending on the child. Not all kids get the equal chance, though, to identify with characters in that respect. PBS KIDS series funded by RTL, like Molly of Denali, allow more children to learn in a meaningful and authentic manner.
On our day on educational media, we learn about the origins of Sesame Street, as well as its reception at the time of its debut in 1969. Despite the show being an instant hit, the public TV station in Mississippi refused to air the show because it depicted a racially integrated neighborhood. Letters from parents in Mississippi poured into the station, not wanting their kids to miss out on the Muppets. Maligning RTL programming as "woke propaganda" suggests a desire to turn back the clock on diverse representation.
And over the course of the semester, students in my course put together print guides for parents to help them support their children's learning from high-quality children's media, using PBS KIDS RTL outreach materials for caregivers, teachers, and community groups as models. In selecting a TV show to evaluate, students think critically about the evidence behind media's claims to be "educational." Most content created by random YouTubers and app developers cannot compare. Students frequently end up choosing to focus on RTL-funded shows like Super WHY! because PBS KIDS is the gold standard for promoting "meaningful learning" and "improving student outcomes" that the administration claims it is newly prioritizing.
In short, this decision from the DOE is purely punitive. Considering RTL's robust backing by both Republican and Democrat administrations, the only "divisive ideologies" being put forth seem to be coming from the DOE itself. While it is likely that the RTL termination will be challenged, the impact of dismantling important human and material infrastructure that helps to run RTL is already profound.
American's children stand at the ready to learn, but is the current Trump administration and Department of Education willing to listen to the desires of kids and parents, as well as decades of research?
Meryl Alper is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. She studies and teaches about the social, cultural, and health implications of media and technology for youth with disabilities. Her most recent book is Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2023).
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.