# Vax Rates, ESAs, and Cell Phone Bans: 12 Charts That Defined Education in 2025 These research findings captured the K–12 world at the start of President Trump’s second term. December 09, 2025 Kevin Mahnken Le plus ça change… The past year marked the beginning — or re-beginning — of a new, old era in American schools: the Trump administration’s second term, which promised an explosion of school choice programs, further rollbacks on controversial content in classrooms, and a radical reduction in the federal government’s intervention in public schools. There was a new sheriff back in town. To one extent or another, those priorities have all been embraced as predicted. But they were also the K–12 hallmarks of President Trump’s first term, however, the somewhat muddled results of which were largely overwhelmed by the chaos of COVID. Even beyond the pendulum lurches between presidencies, many of the perennial debates over education policy, politics, and governance in the United States seem to carry echoes of the distant past: Will the U.S. Department of Education cease to exist? Too bad we can’t ask Ronald Reagan. Yet education research shows clearly how the renewed fervor of the second MAGA wave has, in some senses, fulfilled the hopes and anxieties embedded in the first. While educators previously warned that fear of immigration authorities could depress school attendance among English learners, multiple studies now persuasively link ICE and Border Patrol operations with rising absenteeism in local schools. Early evidence from states implementing voucher-like programs suggest an enthusiastic uptake among families that could have barely been dreamt of in the 2010s. And the president’s prior wariness of vaccines has now gone national, with county-level analyses of MMR shots revealing unmistakable downward movement since 2020. Indeed, this fruitful year for social science came even as the White House made good on campaign commitments to [liquidate Education Department staff](https://www.the74million.org/article/back-to-the-dark-ages-education-research-staggered-by-trump-cuts/), cancelled dozens of contracts with research firms, and rescinded grants that had been awarded through the National Science Foundation. It remains to be seen to what extent these steps will limit the public’s insight into how schools perform and children learn, but the early signs are foreboding. For now, though, it’s worth reviewing the empirical insights that taught us the most about education in 2025. Welcome to the year in charts. *Continue reading at* [*the74million.org*](https://www.the74million.org/article/12-charts-that-defined-education-in-2025/?utm_source=The+74+Million+Newsletter&utm_campaign=03745f056b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_07_27_07_47_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_077b986842-03745f056b-177413880). See also:- [ COVID-19 Impact ](/focus-areas/covid-19-impact) - [ In the News ](/cepr-in-the-news) - [ Education Recovery Scorecard ](/projects/education-recovery-scorecard) - [ 2025 ](/year/2025) - [ K12 ](/sector/k12) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)