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Opinion: No Textbooks, Times Tables or Spelling Tests: Things My 6th Grader Didn’t Learn
My daughter recently completed sixth grade at our local public school. She had a wonderful experience with warm teachers and a positive school culture. Judging by her state test scores, she’s well on track academically. And yet, I’m left with a nagging sense of gaps in her education thus far. I’m far from the first […]
Opinion: From CA to DE, 17 Districts Are Working Together to Battle Chronic Absenteeism
Updated After nearly three decades working in education, I would hardly call myself naive. I’ve been a school counselor, principal and district superintendent. I’ve served or worked in rural, urban and suburban schools. Along the way, I’ve received recognition for closing learning gaps, increasing graduation rates and recruiting male teachers of color to the workforce. […]
Federal Grant Funds Professional Growth for Mississippi Delta STEM Teachers
Delta State University has launched a new program to help STEM teachers in the Delta. The Collaborative for Rural STEM Education program provides resources and professional development. Its funding comes from a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This year’s program has 22 teachers from 12 districts, including Clarksdale Municipal School District […]
Tennessee Governor Bets Big on Vouchers with Primary Endorsements. Will it Work?
(This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters) At the Halfway Market in Franklin, Tennessee, where locals come for a good hamburger and friendly conversation, Republican Brian Beathard works the crowd as a candidate for a high-profile legislative seat ahead of a pivotal session on the future of the […]
Indiana’s New ILEARN Test Scores Show Student Progress Remained Stagnant in 2024
New state standardized test results show stagnant progress among Hoosier students in grades 3-8, signaling a continued struggle to reverse widespread learning loss following the COVID-19 pandemic. New ILEARN scores show 41% of Indiana students who were tested earlier this spring were at or above proficiency standards in English and language arts (ELA), according to […]
NYC Planning a School Cellphone Ban for February, Principals Say
New York City, the nation’s largest school system, is considering a plan to ban cellphones in its roughly 1,600 schools starting in February, according to several principals briefed on the possible policy. Schools would have to come up with their own policies, principals told Chalkbeat, whether they collect devices at the start of the day […]
Unlikely Ed Allies Join Forces to Cut Chronic Absenteeism in Half by 2029
Three high-profile education advocacy and research groups crossed political lines in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to announce an ambitious goal: cutting chronic absenteeism in half over the next five years. For the first time, the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the left-leaning Education Trust and the national nonprofit Attendance Works joined forces to confront an issue that […]
Opinion: How to Talk to Kids About the Trump Assassination Attempt and Other Scary Topics
Unexpected questions are part of the job for parents — puberty, death, where babies come from are all dreaded but expected territory. But scary headlines and graphic imagery, like those that followed the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13, have left families scrambling, not knowing how to explain it to their […]
New Task Force to Create Road Map for AI Usage in Rhode Island
It’s been roughly two years since AI (artificial intelligence) became an inescapable topic of everyday conversation — much of it focused on the spectacular creative powers of generative AI, from making absurd images to college students’ essays. But the rapidly emerging set of technologies offers much more than novelty: In fact, Gov. Dan McKee thinks […]
Sununu Signs Bill To Provide Voting Law Information To New Hampshire Students
New Hampshire public and private high schools will soon be required to give voting information to students, under a law signed by Gov. Chris Sununu this month. House Bill 1014 requires that civics instruction “include information on the laws governing election and voting” in New Hampshire. That information would supplement what is currently required to […]
The Student-Led Music Group that Led Zeppelin Loves
Music teacher Diane Downs had no idea her music class students would end up performing for Ozzy Osbourne, or that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin would praise their cover of “Kashmir” on Facebook, saying “it’s too good not to share.” But the Louisville Leopard Percussionists, a music group made up of second- to 12th-graders began […]
Amid Book Bans and Board Elections, Maryland Schools Embrace Science of Reading
This is part one of a three-part series spotlighting school leaders across Maryland who have recently implemented high-quality literacy curricula. Frederick Briggs is Chief Academic Officer of Wicomico County Public Schools in Salisbury; below, he reflects on the process of adopting high-quality instructional materials with a strong focus on content knowledge during an age of […]
Advocates Fear Minnesota Students Will Again Be Subject to Restraint Used on George Floyd
When they voted earlier this year to let police officers use a dangerous form of restraint on students in schools, Minnesota Democratic lawmakers said they did so because they had brokered a compromise. A task force made up of law enforcement agencies, disability advocates and others would create a model policy aimed at minimizing the […]
Looking to Fall Applications, Ed Dept. Won’t Rule Out New Financial Aid Delays
The botched rollout of a revamped process to apply for federal financial aid could have long-lasting effects, with students receiving less money for college this fall and others so fed up they’re delaying their educations. Now, with the traditional Oct. 1 start of the next financial aid season less than three months away, the U.S. […]
An LA School Battles Chronic Absenteeism With Washers and Dryers
For most students, having clean clothes to wear to school is not a problem. But for many families at 112th St. S.T.E.A.M. Academy in Watts, a pair of clean pants and a shirt is such a struggle that it has become one of the main contributors to chronic absenteeism, which is when students miss 15 […]
Maryland Organization Touring State to Talk About Blueprint Education Reform Plan
A grassroots organization that advocates for education equity in Maryland could soon be in a jurisdiction near you to talk about the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan. The staff with Strong Schools Maryland has already visited four counties this summer – Dorchester, Anne Arundel, Garrett and Prince George’s – to talk about the […]
Students Speak Out: How to Make High Schools Places Where They Want to Learn
For many students, memories of remote instruction during the pandemic are now as blurry as a hazy background on Zoom. But the impacts are ever-present. One study found the rate of students chronically missing school increased so much that it will likely be 2030 before U.S. classrooms return to pre-COVID norms. Solving chronic absenteeism involves […]
Omaha Teacher Pension Fund Facing $1 Billion Shortfall; State Takeover Looms
LINCOLN — Omaha Public Schools, the largest school district in Nebraska, is less than 50 days from handing over management of its pension fund to the state. But a new state audit widened the scope of problems Nebraska could inherit from the Omaha School Employees Retirement System, leaders of the state retirement system were told […]
Opinion: ‘Just a Mom’ Starts Nonprofit to Help Kids — Like Her Daughter — Learn to Read
Eleven years ago, I sat in the guidance counselor’s office at my daughter’s school. My happy-go-lucky Lucy suddenly didn’t want to go to kindergarten, and I had found her one day hiding in the bathroom doing extra homework. She wasn’t moving as fast as other kids. Her self-esteem was taking a hit. Then came her […]
Project 2025 Would Cut Ed. Dept., Fulfill GOP K-12 Wish List Under Trump
An ambitious Republican agenda to transform the federal bureaucracy under a second Trump presidency would have considerable fallout in the world of education, reimagining the U.S. government as a guardian of parents’ rights and reconstituting decades-old programs to serve as vehicles for school choice. The full program, entitled Mandate for Leadership, is a roadmap for […]
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