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Tara García Mathewson

Education Reporter

Contact Latest Stories

Tara García Mathewson is an award-winning reporter who primarily investigates the use of technology in education. She has been writing about schools for more than a decade, first as a local reporter in Chicago’s northwest suburbs and then nationally.

Tara came to CalMatters through its merger with The Markup, an investigative newsroom that challenges the technology industry to serve the public good. Before that, Tara worked at The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit newsroom focused on innovation and inequality in education, where she explored the “Future of Learning” in K-12 schools and helped establish Hechinger’s investigative team, primarily covering punitive school discipline.

Tara has been recognized for her beat reporting as well as features and investigations into the educational technology industry, school discipline, and other topics. Her work has appeared in a variety of regional and national news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine, USA Today, and Wired.

She grew up in rural western New York and studied journalism and sociology at Northwestern University. She speaks English and Spanish and lives in New York City.

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Latest Stories

Two students sit at a round classroom table focused on writing. One is writing on white paper while the other holds a bright orange sheet with notes. A bottle of water and an energy drink sit on the table. A whiteboard with faint writing and a canister of cleaning spray are visible in the background.
Higher Education
It’s not just about cheating. How AI is quietly eroding college students’ networks
Chatbots may give students quick answers when they have questions, but they won’t help students form relationships that matter for college and life success.
By Tara García Mathewson • July 16, 2025
A lively elementary school classroom is filled with students engaged in various activities. Two children sit across from each other, one reading aloud from a book while the other leans in, listening attentively with a smile. In the background, a teacher assists a student wearing a headscarf at a desk, while other students stand and interact. The walls are covered in colorful educational posters and student artwork, and the classroom is furnished with bookshelves, desks, and storage bins, creating a vibrant learning environment.
K-12 Education
Trump is withholding $800 million from California schools. How kids will be affected
California districts have not received Congressionally appropriated money for after school programs, academic enrichment, English-learner services, teacher professional development and migrant education.
By Tara García Mathewson and Carolyn Jones • July 1, 2025
An illustration in pink and dark purple tones that shows the silhouette of a student holding a piece of paper as they stand in the middle of a cyberspace grid. A white paper with highlighted text can be seen in the background behind the student as pink boxes with exclamation points float around.
Higher Education
Costly and unreliable: AI and plagiarism detectors wreak havoc in higher ed
Colleges and universities renew Turnitin subscriptions year after year even though its flawed detectors are expensive and require students to let the company keep their papers forever.
By Tara García Mathewson • June 26, 2025
An instructor wearing a mask stands at the front of a classroom, gesturing while speaking to students seated at round tables. A projected slide behind the instructor displays a chart titled “Creating Your Synthesis Chart,” outlining how to organize sources and main ideas. The image is framed by two blurred vertical objects in the foreground, giving the perspective of someone observing through a narrow space.
Higher Education
Why are California colleges paying different prices for the same AI plagiarism tool?
Experts say companies often base their pricing on what they think colleges are willing to pay.
By Tara García Mathewson • June 26, 2025
A row of children's books in Spanish and English lined up on a shelf on the classroom wall.
CalMatters en Español
California quiere más niños en clases bilingües pero no invertirá lo suficiente para ampliarlas
Sólo un proyecto de ley invierte en programas de educación bilingüe y su enfoque en los materiales de instrucción está muy lejos del cambio sistémico que piden los defensores.
By Tara García Mathewson • March 17, 2025
A row of children's books in Spanish and English lined up on a shelf on the classroom wall.
K-12 Education
California wants more kids in bilingual classes — but won’t spend enough to expand them
Just one bill invests in bilingual education programs and its focus on instructional materials is a far cry from the systemic change advocates have called for.
By Tara García Mathewson • March 17, 2025
A pixelated 8-bit style illustration in purple, pink and yellow tones that shows a student using a laptop with several icons — a medical bag, a graduation cap, an art color palette and brush, music notes, science testing tubes and a book — around her that represent different careers. Several tex bubbles can also be seen throughout the illustration. Faced with a shortage of counselors, California schools are offering AI chatbots to more students. They're offering advice on college and career options. Illustration by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters; iStock
K-12 Education
AI chatbots can cushion the high school counselor shortage — but are they bad for students?
The more students turn to chatbots, the fewer chances they have to develop real-life relationships that can lead to jobs and later success.
By Tara García Mathewson • March 4, 2025
A pixelated 8-bit style illustration in purple, pink and yellow tones that shows a student using a laptop with several icons — a medical bag, a graduation cap, an art color palette and brush, music notes, science testing tubes and a book — around her that represent different careers. Several tex bubbles can also be seen throughout the illustration. Faced with a shortage of counselors, California schools are offering AI chatbots to more students. They're offering advice on college and career options. Illustration by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters; iStock
CalMatters en Español
Los programas de inteligencia artificial pueden amortiguar la escasez de consejeros en las preparatorias, pero ¿son buenos para los estudiantes?
Cuanto más recurran los estudiantes a los chatbots de Inteligencia Artificial, menos posibilidades tendrán de desarrollar relaciones en la vida real que puedan conducir a empleos y al éxito posterior
By Tara García Mathewson • March 4, 2025
Photo illustration of an open laptop showing a blurred browser window; an enlarged sign of a red circle with a white line is obscuring the browser window and sticking out of the laptop screen
K-12 Education
Online censorship in schools is ‘more pervasive’ than expected, new data shows
Nationally representative survey data from The Center for Democracy & Technology finds schools subjectively and broadly block students from information online.
By Tara García Mathewson • January 16, 2025
Photo illustration of an open laptop showing a blurred browser window; an enlarged sign of a red circle with a white line is obscuring the browser window and sticking out of the laptop screen
CalMatters en Español
La censura de Internet en las escuelas es ‘más generalizada’ de lo esperado según muestran nuevos datos
Los datos de una encuesta representativa a nivel nacional del Centro para la Democracia y la Tecnología concluyen que las escuelas bloquean de manera subjetiva y amplía el acceso de los estudiantes a la información en línea.
By Tara García Mathewson • January 16, 2025

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