Colorado educators reflected on challenges they faced during the
past school year, with the goal of helping improve K-12
education, reports Jenny Brundin for
Colorado Public Radio.
Texas school leaders are seeking ways to support first-year
educators who lost student-teaching opportunities and other
training due to the pandemic, reports Silas
Allen for Fort-Worth Star-Telegram.
Student teaching was disrupted last year along with everything else. How will Fort Worth schools support their first-year teachers? https://t.co/MIG4asZoEg#tellewa
With many students needing academic intervention after the
pandemic, school district officials in Columbus and Cleveland,
are turning to “mastery” learning as a strategy to catch them up.
The mastery, or “competency” approach lets students learn at
their own pace, making sure they fully understand key skills
before moving on.
That could be a good fit when students return to school in the
fall after making drastically different progress online or in
very limited in-person classes.
A records request showed only two people emailed the Alabama
superintendent about critical race theory, yet he drafted a
resolution targeting the teachings of the academic framework in
K-12 schools, Trisha Powell Crain reports for
AL.com.
This is how you do it: @Trish_Crain used #FOIA to determine only 2 (!) people contacted Alabama state superintendent w/ concerns about critical race theory. (He pushed resolution slamming it, anyway.) She's my pick for this week's @EdWriters' #tellEWA. https://t.co/yTVjSB1DFc
Talia Richman of The Dallas Morning
News covers Texas educators’ concerns about a new bill
that would require them to disclose their lessons and activities
online.
Yessika Magdaleno, owner of a home-based child care program in
Orange County, Calif., is a problem-solver by nature. When she
opened her program 20 years ago, she attracted families by
expanding her hours to nights and weekends to accommodate those
with non-traditional work hours.
When Rydell Harrison started a new job as a school superintendent
in southwestern Connecticut last August, he was excited to join a
community that seemed committed to diversity and equity.
Two Boston Globe reporters separately
highlighted the lack of educators of color in leadership and
Boston Public Schools’ alleged coverup of racially charged text
messages from former employees.
California colleges intend to address learning loss by offering
tutoring and academic counseling for incoming freshmen this fall,
Larry Gordon reports for
EdSource.
Melissa Korn and Andrea FullerThe Wall Street Journal
Lured by the aura of degrees from top-flight institutions, many
master’s students at universities across the U.S. took on debt
beyond what their pay would support, the Journal analysis of
federal data on borrowers found.
Undergraduate students for years have faced ballooning loan
balances. But now it is graduate students who are accruing the
most onerous debt loads. Unlike undergraduate loans, the federal
Grad Plus loan program has no fixed limit on how much grad
students can borrow—money that can be used for tuition, fees and
living expenses.
Michigan health officials recommended continued mask-wearing and
other COVID-19 safety measures for the upcoming school year,
reports Jennifer Chambers and Craig
Mauger for the Detroit News.
The pandemic’s effects highlighted inequities for migrant
students who were already prone to learning loss, explains
Janine Zeitlin for USA TODAY
Network-Florida.
'We had to work twice as hard.' How the pandemic magnified inequities for Florida's migrant students. A deep look at enrollment, attendance data w/first-person narratives from students, parents. #tellewa@EdWritershttps://t.co/Jvy4oysK65
In Chicago and across the country, there is growing evidence that
this year has hit Black and Latino boys harder than other
students. Amid rising gun violence, a national reckoning over
race, bitter school reopening battles and a deadly virus
that took the heaviest toll on Black and Latino communities,
the year has tested not only these teens, but also the school
systems that have historically failed many of them.
It has severed precarious ties to school, derailed college plans
and pried gaping academic disparities even wider.
Olivia Krauth live-tweeted the first protest
against critical race theory at Kentucky’s largest school
district for the Courier Journal, showing how
misinformation was widespread among the crowd.
While history and literature seem like obvious battlegrounds for
schools to address the effects of racial discrimination, some
might question whether math — where achievement depends on
precise calculations — is the appropriate venue for such fights.
Those devoted to greater equity say the middle grades are a
period when many Black and Hispanic students begin to turn off of
math, only to continue struggling through high school. But the
suggestion that answers to math problems are subjective became
easy fodder for culture war conservatives.
At the height of the pandemic, even when her school discouraged
it, Chicago public high school teacher Anna Lane traveled to her
students’ homes to stand on porches and listen to their
struggles. Using money she helped raise through a mutual aid
fund, she often brought groceries or cash assistance so their
families could pay their bills.
Special education services slowed or stopped after the pandemic
began, “devastating” families who watched their children’s skills
backslide, reports Cory Turner and
Rebecca Klein for NPR.
"I just watched my child not learning and going backwards. I'm just sad for her." Superb teamwork by @NPRCoryTurner & @rklein90 on students missing vital special ed services amid pandemic. The dynamic duo are my pick for this week's @EdWriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/zJu3WlMtbo
After nearly 100 anti-maskers packed a school board meeting,
forcing the meeting to shut down, a Georgia school district is
bringing in more security, writes Alia Malik for
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
An anti-mask crowd shut down a Georgia school board meeting for 40 minutes last month, leading to an increase in security for tomorrow's meeting #tellEWAhttps://t.co/VEaS6dFwX1
Georgett Roberts and Selim AlgarJune 15, 2021 | 4:47pm | UpdatedNew York Post
A growing legion of black parents in Queens say the Department of
Education has failed their kids through mismanagement and neglect
— fueling an exodus out of the public school system.
Fed-up families in District 29 — a primarily black area
which includes Hollis, Rosedale, and Cambria Heights — said the
DOE has long tolerated abysmal math and English proficiency
rates, despite high per-student spending.
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to
college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly
affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed
the need to provide more support for students going from high
school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County
aims to do just that.
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to
college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly
affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed
the need to provide more support for students going from high
school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County
aims to do just that.
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to
college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly
affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed
the need to provide more support for students going from high
school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County
aims to do just that.
Donna St. George and Valerie StraussThe Washington Post
Deanna Nye is not ready to send her children back into classrooms
come fall, even though she knows the worst of the pandemic may be
over. Her 8-year-old twins have medical conditions that put them
at greater risk, she said, and her eldest son thrives in virtual
learning.
But in New Jersey, learning remotely will no longer be an option.
“All we want is the choice,” said Nye, a New Jersey mother of
three who has joined with other parents to protest the state
action.
While many parents grappled over the past year with whether to
send their children to public school online or in-person, others
considered a pandemic-era education imbued with religion.
One example: Inquiries, applications and transfer requests at St.
Augustine High School in North Park were at an all-time high this
academic year, said the school’s director of admissions, Paul
Sipper.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Concord University in
Athens, W.Va., the 24-year-old English teacher did something rare
among her peers: She returned home to Welch to teach at Mount
View High School, from which she graduated in 2014. “People my
age and older usually don’t come back to the county,” Ms. Keys
told me. “A lot of our kids want to go away.”
BY MARY NIEDERBERGERPITTSBURGH INSTITUTE OF NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
Advocating for accommodations has been a constant, but largely
quiet, struggle for college students with disabilities since the
Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. The law
requires colleges and universities to provide equal access to
students with disabilities by providing accommodations that
remove barriers to their participation.
The part of President Joe Biden’s proposed education budget with
the most potential to break new ground might be the pitch for new
“equity grants” to change how education funding works nationwide.
It’s an ambitious proposal that highlights longstanding concerns
that disadvantaged students often don’t get the resources they
need and deserve.
But a variety of challenges, from the political to the practical,
might mean it never gets off the ground.
With just a few months to go until the start of the 2021-2022
school year, school districts nationwide are planning to offer
families the option to keep their children learning
remotely.
But new findings suggest that among many families, demand for
remote or hybrid learning may not be so great.
A plan to give California’s community college system $170 million
for faculty is dividing finance officials and professors,
explains Mikhail Zinshteyn for Cal
Matters.
Interesting and context-loaded explainer from @mzinshteyn on why proposed $170 million for new community college faculty isn't being cheered by all. (Also bonus points for using the verb "grouse.") He's my pick for this week's #tellEWA. https://t.co/RcB2AEuY00
Education leaders are scrambling to recruit teachers after North
Carolina lawmakers required districts to offer summer school,
reports Ann Doss Helms of WFAE.
#tellEWA North Carolina has lots of students who need extra help, lots of teachers who are exhausted from the past year, millions in federal COVID relief money and a mandate to do summer school. The result? Bidding wars for teachers.https://t.co/7kw7jamych
Human bodies react swiftly when they overheat. Blood rushes to
the skin, trying to find cool air. Sweat seeps out of the skin
and evaporates, dissipating body heat. But these processes have a
cost: they reduce blood circulation, which means our most
important organ, the brain, gets less blood.
“And with reduced brain blood flow, we have reduced brain
function,” said Tony Wolf, a researcher at Penn State University
who studies how the body reacts to heat. In short, heat can lower
our cognition.
But it doesn’t take a PhD to know this. Just ask middle school
students.
Alden Woods and Agnel PhilipThe Arizona Republic and ProPublica
For years, federal law has required all school systems to
publicly report how well they help children learn. But the
federal government’s own Bureau of Indian Education has failed to
do so, despite repeated warnings about the quality of education
Native American children receive in its schools.
The Justice Department in a court filing Tuesday said it can
“vigorously” defend a religious exemption from federal civil
rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to
discriminate against LGBTQ students, a move that surprised some
LGBTQ advocates who said the wording went further than just an
obligation to defend an existing law.
In the filing, the Biden administration said it “shares the same
ultimate objective” as the conservative Christian schools named
in the case.
The number of Indiana students enrolled in programs for
disabilities declined this school year — the first dip in at
least four years and the latest sign of the disruption caused by
the pandemic.
The drop was especially pronounced among preschool children with
special needs. About 14,000 preschoolers had diagnosed
disabilities, down more than 11% — or about 1,800
students — from last year, according to an annual count of
students with disabilities approved Wednesday by the Indiana
State Board of Education.
The School Committee is considering suing a local woman
who filed some 200 requests for public records
over how race and gender issues are integrated
in classroom curriculums. The committee’s
chairwoman said Wednesday the requests were part of a national
strategy of a “racist group.”
It’s a manufactured crisis, creating intense emotions and heated
debate entirely out of thin air. But the furor and fear of
teaching critical race theory to Utah school kids doesn’t show
any signs of dissipating. In fact, it’s likely headed to your
local school district.
On Thursday, the Utah School Board met yet again to debate
the latest rendition of its rule governing how schools teach
issues of race, equity and diversity, making various tweaks along
the way.
Teaching students about the Tulsa Race Massacre and other
unpleasant aspects of history could be derailed because of a new
Oklahoma law, reports Tawnell D. Hobbs of
The Wall Street Journal.
“It has been a dirty little secret.” For decades, Oklahoma students weren’t required to learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre in school, and now there’s fear a new law jeopardizes progress made to teach about it. #tulsa#greenwood#tellewahttps://t.co/fnPXsmMIk6
USA Today’s Lindsay Schnell
tells the story of a first-generation college student’s struggle
to stay in school throughout the pandemic.
She dropped out of college — then lied to her parents about it. Inside a first-generation student’s life during COVID. By @Lindsay_Schnell, with many thanks to #tellewahttps://t.co/OFfbJmOm78
One of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history
took place in his hometown, and State Sen. Kevin Matthews, who
now leads the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial
Commission, never heard a word of it in school.
“That’s a very common experience of a lot of Oklahomans,” said
Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public
schools.
It took Jasmine Lane five years to discover and fulfill her
passion for English literature and teaching — but a year and a
half to burn out.
“I have been navigating majority [or all] white spaces for a very
long time. … In a state with 96% of its teaching staff being
white, choosing teaching was to be no different,” the 27-year-old
high school teacher in Minneapolis wrote in her blog this
winter. But the abuse and isolation of this last year were too
much, she wrote.
Kate Taylor and Amelia NierenbergThe New York Times
Many students have fallen behind this year because of remote
learning and other pandemic-related disruptions, leaving
districts to wrestle with the question of whether struggling
students should automatically move up, or if it would be better
for some of them to repeat a grade.
Nada Atieh and Kristan Obeng
spent four months tracking hundreds of students who dropped
contact with schools in three California counties for USA Today
Network-California.
Back when I still worked for USA Today Network-California, @nadatieh_RS and I spent four months tracking "lost kids" in Tulare, Shasta and Tehama counties. Proud to have worked with you, Nada! #tellEWAhttps://t.co/MYLdh6zrMQ
Chris Quintana of USA TODAY
chronicles a veteran’s experience with a for-profit college and
examines what critics call a breakdown in the rules intended to
protect students from predatory for-profit schools.
His family hadn't attended college, so the hard sell this vet received from Argosy University didn't strike him as weird. Then it closed, leaving him indebted & homeless. @CQuintanaDC on how for-profits target 1st gen students. With many thanks to #tellewahttps://t.co/kJ0AYI1Bdw
Kendrick Harrison served the country in the Army, and the
38-year-old had hoped the country would serve him in turn.
It seemed like a fair trade. Harrison had been given
opportunities to enroll in college straight out of high school.
But propelled by his family legacy and civic duty, he enlisted in
the military instead.
In a Missouri courtroom in 2008, Stanley Andrisse realized that
he wasn’t seen as human. The case being fought that day centered
around a drug trafficking charge—Andrisse’s third felony
conviction. Not long ago, he was a college student churning
through sweat-soaked undergraduate years funded by a football
scholarship at Lindenwood University. Now, he was facing a
bifurcated future, one path leading to a burgeoning career and
the other stopping at gray, cinder block walls.
The lesson today, class, is how to turn bipartisan legislation
encouraging teaching of civics into an ideological food fight.
The legislation in question seemed noncontroversial at
first, even boring. It would authorize $1 billion a year in
grants to pay for more civics education. The goal was to better
balance a test-driven K-12 education system that focuses heavily
on math and reading with a subject — civics — that has gotten
less attention and far less money in recent years.
Civics is critical, backers say, to maintaining a functioning
democracy.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, just 41% of community
colleges were affordable for the average Pell grant recipient,
according to an analysis released this month by the National
College Attainment Network. That’s down from 49% during the
2014-2015 academic year.
Early childhood advocates, lawmakers and the governor are pushing
to gradually expand transitional kindergarten (TK) to
all the state’s 4-year-olds. But the moves are raising issues,
such as the viability of the child care system and whether
expanded TK might be too academic for younger 4-year-olds.
U.S. News & World Report’s Lauren
Camera covers the uptick in wealthy parents pulling
their kids from public schools, which is further exacerbating the
inequities plaguing urban public school systems.
"... when public goods are scarce, the privileged are almost always able to use their money or social capital to get the best version of what is available." Must-read via @laurenonthehill, my pick for @edwriters' #tellEWA. https://t.co/ag2RNBGApA
Temporarily suspending the admissions exam at some Boston schools
increased the diversity of accepted applicants, new data shows,
reports James Vaznis of The Boston
Globe.
Marta W. Aldrich of Chalkbeat
Tennessee covers a legislative measure that would ban
classroom discussions about systemic racism.
Great context by @marta_w_aldrich "The legislature approved Tennessee’s academic standards, which include topics such as slavery and civil rights. Those standards also ask students to “critically examine” sources, not simply memorize facts." #tellEWAhttps://t.co/Iwt5Lw99xM
Texas college officials are cautiously planning a return to
normal campus life this fall, reports Brayden
Garcia and Valeria Olivares for
The Dallas Morning News.
Hi #EWA21! I wanted to share a story I worked on w @bjgarcia27 recently.
We included how universities want campuses to look like they did before the pandemic, but also how some students aren't sure what to expect after being online for so long. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/tWvbqaQOkd
According to U.S. Census data, just 17% of Hispanics in the San
Antonio Metropolitan Area have a bachelor’s degree, well under
half the rate of degree attainment for San Antonio’s white and
Asian population. San Antonio’s Black population falls in
between, but is also less likely to have a college degree.
A USA TODAY NETWORK reporting team in Wisconsin
covers all the ways high schools are adapting their plans for
pandemic-era proms.
At one WI prom this year, students, dressed in gowns and suits, will gather for dinner and entertainment — but no dancing. In another, dancing will be permitted, but the DJ has been instructed to only play social distancing-friendly songs. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/lZzDZ7MG05
Trisha Powell Crain of AL.com
reports on a summer learning program that is focused on the
individual needs of English learners.
Hey there, @EdWriters. Happy to share this story of how a north Alabama school district has focused summer learning efforts to improve educational outcomes for English learners. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/KFSypNMQo2
The Christian Science Monitor’s Chelsea
Sheasley gathers perspectives on the shift from school
resource officers to safety specialists in Minneapolis Public
Schools.
Authorities restraining children using techniques like those
used against George Floyd is commonplace in Minnesota schools,
the 74’s Mark Keierleber
reports.
The murder of George Floyd has put national attention on police use of force. But thousands of Minnesota youth are subjected to similar physical restraints at school each year @The74#TellEWAhttps://t.co/yloMW3w9q3
Faculty members at a private Oregon university call for the
university president and board chair to resign after the latter
two allegedly made anti-Semitic comments, reports Meerah
Powell of OPB.
The 74’s Asher Lehrer-Small dives deep into a fellowship that helps Rhode Island paraprofessionals transform their experiences into teaching certifications and diversifies the teacher workforce.
.@The74's @small_asher might be an @edwriters New to the Beat rookie, but he knows how to craft a snappy read. Great use of descriptive details, voices, data on efforts to diversify Rhode Island's teacher workforce. He's my pick for #tellEWA. https://t.co/28bxXdNtY7
In a weeklong Idaho Education News series, Sami Edge explores youth access to mental health services in Idaho schools and the challenges that COVID-19 poses for school-based mental health efforts.
More school districts are turning to digital surveillance to keep tabs on students during remote learning. That has some families, educators, and privacy experts concerned, reports Education Week’s Stephen Sawchuk.
Amid rise in remote learning, schools are ramping up digital surveillance tools for teachers -- but at what cost to student privacy and trust? Characteristically fine work here by @educationweek's @Stephen_Sawchuk. He's my pick for this week's #tellEWA. https://t.co/kuXp7jXXkI
Emily Tate of EdSurge explains why some guidance counselors are taking steps to address their implicit biases, and how that could improve services for students going forward.
“We all make mistakes, and we’ll make more mistakes. But if we are dutiful,” one school counselor says, “we will be better going forward.” #TellEWAhttps://t.co/ZcqhooWeI6
#tellEWA Member Stories (July 16-22)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Colorado educators reflected on challenges they faced during the past school year, with the goal of helping improve K-12 education, reports Jenny Brundin for Colorado Public Radio.
Texas school leaders are seeking ways to support first-year educators who lost student-teaching opportunities and other training due to the pandemic, reports Silas Allen for Fort-Worth Star-Telegram.
Helping Students Learn at Their Own Pace: Why Some Ohio Schools Are Adopting a ‘Mastery’ Approach in Hopes of Closing COVID Learning Gaps
With many students needing academic intervention after the pandemic, school district officials in Columbus and Cleveland, are turning to “mastery” learning as a strategy to catch them up.
The mastery, or “competency” approach lets students learn at their own pace, making sure they fully understand key skills before moving on.
That could be a good fit when students return to school in the fall after making drastically different progress online or in very limited in-person classes.
#tellEWA Member Stories (July 9-15)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
A records request showed only two people emailed the Alabama superintendent about critical race theory, yet he drafted a resolution targeting the teachings of the academic framework in K-12 schools, Trisha Powell Crain reports for AL.com.
Talia Richman of The Dallas Morning News covers Texas educators’ concerns about a new bill that would require them to disclose their lessons and activities online.
An Oral History of Early Childhood Educators During the Pandemic
Yessika Magdaleno, owner of a home-based child care program in Orange County, Calif., is a problem-solver by nature. When she opened her program 20 years ago, she attracted families by expanding her hours to nights and weekends to accommodate those with non-traditional work hours.
Critical Race Theory Battles are Driving Frustrated, Exhausted Educators out of their Jobs
When Rydell Harrison started a new job as a school superintendent in southwestern Connecticut last August, he was excited to join a community that seemed committed to diversity and equity.
#tellEWA Member Stories (July 2-8)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Two Boston Globe reporters separately highlighted the lack of educators of color in leadership and Boston Public Schools’ alleged coverup of racially charged text messages from former employees.
California colleges intend to address learning loss by offering tutoring and academic counseling for incoming freshmen this fall, Larry Gordon reports for EdSource.
‘Financially Hobbled for Life’: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off
Lured by the aura of degrees from top-flight institutions, many master’s students at universities across the U.S. took on debt beyond what their pay would support, the Journal analysis of federal data on borrowers found.
Undergraduate students for years have faced ballooning loan balances. But now it is graduate students who are accruing the most onerous debt loads. Unlike undergraduate loans, the federal Grad Plus loan program has no fixed limit on how much grad students can borrow—money that can be used for tuition, fees and living expenses.
#tellEWA Member Stories (June 25-July 1)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Michigan health officials recommended continued mask-wearing and other COVID-19 safety measures for the upcoming school year, reports Jennifer Chambers and Craig Mauger for the Detroit News.
The pandemic’s effects highlighted inequities for migrant students who were already prone to learning loss, explains Janine Zeitlin for USA TODAY Network-Florida.
COVID At School: Boys Fell Behind More Than Girls. Can They Catch Up?
In Chicago and across the country, there is growing evidence that this year has hit Black and Latino boys harder than other students. Amid rising gun violence, a national reckoning over race, bitter school reopening battles and a deadly virus that took the heaviest toll on Black and Latino communities, the year has tested not only these teens, but also the school systems that have historically failed many of them.
It has severed precarious ties to school, derailed college plans and pried gaping academic disparities even wider.
#tellEWA Member Stories (June 18-24)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
A high schooler was vindicated after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a student’s right to free speech, explains Emily Tate of Ed Surge.
Olivia Krauth live-tweeted the first protest against critical race theory at Kentucky’s largest school district for the Courier Journal, showing how misinformation was widespread among the crowd.
Can Right Answers Be Wrong? Latest Clash Over ‘White Supremacy Culture’ Unfolds in Unlikely Arena: Math Class
While history and literature seem like obvious battlegrounds for schools to address the effects of racial discrimination, some might question whether math — where achievement depends on precise calculations — is the appropriate venue for such fights. Those devoted to greater equity say the middle grades are a period when many Black and Hispanic students begin to turn off of math, only to continue struggling through high school. But the suggestion that answers to math problems are subjective became easy fodder for culture war conservatives.
In Chicago’s Poorest High Schools, 20% Of Grades Were Fs
At the height of the pandemic, even when her school discouraged it, Chicago public high school teacher Anna Lane traveled to her students’ homes to stand on porches and listen to their struggles. Using money she helped raise through a mutual aid fund, she often brought groceries or cash assistance so their families could pay their bills.
#tellEWA Member Stories (June 11-17)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Special education services slowed or stopped after the pandemic began, “devastating” families who watched their children’s skills backslide, reports Cory Turner and Rebecca Klein for NPR.
After nearly 100 anti-maskers packed a school board meeting, forcing the meeting to shut down, a Georgia school district is bringing in more security, writes Alia Malik for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
How NYC Has Failed Black Public School Students In Queens
A growing legion of black parents in Queens say the Department of Education has failed their kids through mismanagement and neglect — fueling an exodus out of the public school system.
Fed-up families in District 29 — a primarily black area which includes Hollis, Rosedale, and Cambria Heights — said the DOE has long tolerated abysmal math and English proficiency rates, despite high per-student spending.
Pandemic Saps College Enrollment, Counselors Fight Back
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed the need to provide more support for students going from high school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County aims to do just that.
Read the full story here.
Pandemic Saps College Enrollment, Counselors Fight Back
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed the need to provide more support for students going from high school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County aims to do just that.
Read the full story here.
Pandemic Saps College Enrollment, Counselors Fight Back
Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed the need to provide more support for students going from high school to college. A new counseling program in Riverside County aims to do just that.
Read the full story here.
Virtual Learning Ending For Some Schools Across The Us, Increasing For Others
Deanna Nye is not ready to send her children back into classrooms come fall, even though she knows the worst of the pandemic may be over. Her 8-year-old twins have medical conditions that put them at greater risk, she said, and her eldest son thrives in virtual learning.
But in New Jersey, learning remotely will no longer be an option. “All we want is the choice,” said Nye, a New Jersey mother of three who has joined with other parents to protest the state action.
Enrollment at Local Catholic Schools Has Surged
While many parents grappled over the past year with whether to send their children to public school online or in-person, others considered a pandemic-era education imbued with religion.
One example: Inquiries, applications and transfer requests at St. Augustine High School in North Park were at an all-time high this academic year, said the school’s director of admissions, Paul Sipper.
A Fading Coal County Bets on Schools, but There’s One Big Hitch
Hard hit by the decline of mining, a rural area in West Virginia is trying to attract teachers in a comeback effort. What’s lacking are jobs for the graduates.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Concord University in Athens, W.Va., the 24-year-old English teacher did something rare among her peers: She returned home to Welch to teach at Mount View High School, from which she graduated in 2014. “People my age and older usually don’t come back to the county,” Ms. Keys told me. “A lot of our kids want to go away.”
Leveling the Playing Field
College students with disabilities face journeys of self-advocacy
Advocating for accommodations has been a constant, but largely quiet, struggle for college students with disabilities since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. The law requires colleges and universities to provide equal access to students with disabilities by providing accommodations that remove barriers to their participation.
There Are Big Funding Gaps Affecting High-Poverty Schools. Can Biden Close Them?
The part of President Joe Biden’s proposed education budget with the most potential to break new ground might be the pitch for new “equity grants” to change how education funding works nationwide. It’s an ambitious proposal that highlights longstanding concerns that disadvantaged students often don’t get the resources they need and deserve.
But a variety of challenges, from the political to the practical, might mean it never gets off the ground.
New RAND Survey Suggests Support for Continuing Remote Schooling This Fall is Limited — Among White Families
With just a few months to go until the start of the 2021-2022 school year, school districts nationwide are planning to offer families the option to keep their children learning remotely.
But new findings suggest that among many families, demand for remote or hybrid learning may not be so great.
#tellEWA Member Stories (June 4-10)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
A plan to give California’s community college system $170 million for faculty is dividing finance officials and professors, explains Mikhail Zinshteyn for Cal Matters.
Education leaders are scrambling to recruit teachers after North Carolina lawmakers required districts to offer summer school, reports Ann Doss Helms of WFAE.
How the U.S. Lets Hot School Days Sabotage Learning
Human bodies react swiftly when they overheat. Blood rushes to the skin, trying to find cool air. Sweat seeps out of the skin and evaporates, dissipating body heat. But these processes have a cost: they reduce blood circulation, which means our most important organ, the brain, gets less blood.
“And with reduced brain blood flow, we have reduced brain function,” said Tony Wolf, a researcher at Penn State University who studies how the body reacts to heat. In short, heat can lower our cognition.
But it doesn’t take a PhD to know this. Just ask middle school students.
The Bureau of Indian Education Hasn’t Told the Public How Its Schools Are Performing. So We Did It Instead.
For years, federal law has required all school systems to publicly report how well they help children learn. But the federal government’s own Bureau of Indian Education has failed to do so, despite repeated warnings about the quality of education Native American children receive in its schools.
Biden Justice Department Says Its Interests Align With Conservative Christian Schools Concerned About Religious Liberty
The Justice Department in a court filing Tuesday said it can “vigorously” defend a religious exemption from federal civil rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students, a move that surprised some LGBTQ advocates who said the wording went further than just an obligation to defend an existing law.
In the filing, the Biden administration said it “shares the same ultimate objective” as the conservative Christian schools named in the case.
Indiana Sees 11% Drop In Preschoolers With Disabilities During Pandemic
The number of Indiana students enrolled in programs for disabilities declined this school year — the first dip in at least four years and the latest sign of the disruption caused by the pandemic.
The drop was especially pronounced among preschool children with special needs. About 14,000 preschoolers had diagnosed disabilities, down more than 11% — or about 1,800 students — from last year, according to an annual count of students with disabilities approved Wednesday by the Indiana State Board of Education.
Rhode Island School Board May Sue Woman Over Race Theory Public Record Requests
The School Committee is considering suing a local woman who filed some 200 requests for public records over how race and gender issues are integrated in classroom curriculums. The committee’s chairwoman said Wednesday the requests were part of a national strategy of a “racist group.”
Utah Board of Education’s Rule Pushes the Critical Race Theory Debate to Local School Districts
It’s a manufactured crisis, creating intense emotions and heated debate entirely out of thin air. But the furor and fear of teaching critical race theory to Utah school kids doesn’t show any signs of dissipating. In fact, it’s likely headed to your local school district.
On Thursday, the Utah School Board met yet again to debate the latest rendition of its rule governing how schools teach issues of race, equity and diversity, making various tweaks along the way.
#tellEWA Member Stories (May 28-June 3)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
The New York Times’ Eliza Shapiro tells the stories of essential school staffers who worked in NYC school buildings throughout the pandemic.
Teaching students about the Tulsa Race Massacre and other unpleasant aspects of history could be derailed because of a new Oklahoma law, reports Tawnell D. Hobbs of The Wall Street Journal.
#tellEWA Member Stories (May 21-27)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Meghan Mangrum of The Tennessean covers a historic $1 billion “continuity of operations” budget request from Metro Nashville Public Schools.
USA Today’s Lindsay Schnell tells the story of a first-generation college student’s struggle to stay in school throughout the pandemic.
Why Weren’t Black Wall Street, Tulsa Race Massacre Taught In Schools?
One of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history took place in his hometown, and State Sen. Kevin Matthews, who now leads the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, never heard a word of it in school.
“That’s a very common experience of a lot of Oklahomans,” said Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public schools.
Teachers Suffer From ‘Racial Battle Fatigue’ After A Year Of Pandemic And Police Killings
It took Jasmine Lane five years to discover and fulfill her passion for English literature and teaching — but a year and a half to burn out.
“I have been navigating majority [or all] white spaces for a very long time. … In a state with 96% of its teaching staff being white, choosing teaching was to be no different,” the 27-year-old high school teacher in Minneapolis wrote in her blog this winter. But the abuse and isolation of this last year were too much, she wrote.
Should Every Student Move Up to the Next Grade?
Many students have fallen behind this year because of remote learning and other pandemic-related disruptions, leaving districts to wrestle with the question of whether struggling students should automatically move up, or if it would be better for some of them to repeat a grade.
#tellEWA Member Stories (May 14-20)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Nada Atieh and Kristan Obeng spent four months tracking hundreds of students who dropped contact with schools in three California counties for USA Today Network-California.
Chris Quintana of USA TODAY chronicles a veteran’s experience with a for-profit college and examines what critics call a breakdown in the rules intended to protect students from predatory for-profit schools.
Online College Promised Army Veteran A Future But Left Him Homeless
Kendrick Harrison served the country in the Army, and the 38-year-old had hoped the country would serve him in turn. It seemed like a fair trade. Harrison had been given opportunities to enroll in college straight out of high school. But propelled by his family legacy and civic duty, he enlisted in the military instead.
Meet The Scientists Building A Prison-to-STEM Pipeline
In a Missouri courtroom in 2008, Stanley Andrisse realized that he wasn’t seen as human. The case being fought that day centered around a drug trafficking charge—Andrisse’s third felony conviction. Not long ago, he was a college student churning through sweat-soaked undergraduate years funded by a football scholarship at Lindenwood University. Now, he was facing a bifurcated future, one path leading to a burgeoning career and the other stopping at gray, cinder block walls.
Civics Legislation Caught in Debate Over Race in Education
The lesson today, class, is how to turn bipartisan legislation encouraging teaching of civics into an ideological food fight.
The legislation in question seemed noncontroversial at first, even boring. It would authorize $1 billion a year in grants to pay for more civics education. The goal was to better balance a test-driven K-12 education system that focuses heavily on math and reading with a subject — civics — that has gotten less attention and far less money in recent years.
Civics is critical, backers say, to maintaining a functioning democracy.
More Than Half of Community Colleges Are Not Affordable For Low-income Students
During the 2018-2019 academic year, just 41% of community colleges were affordable for the average Pell grant recipient, according to an analysis released this month by the National College Attainment Network. That’s down from 49% during the 2014-2015 academic year.
Read the full story here.
Should California Offer Transitional Kindergarten to All 4-year-olds?
Early childhood advocates, lawmakers and the governor are pushing to gradually expand transitional kindergarten (TK) to all the state’s 4-year-olds. But the moves are raising issues, such as the viability of the child care system and whether expanded TK might be too academic for younger 4-year-olds.
Read the full story here.
#tellEWA Member Stories (May 7-13)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
U.S. News & World Report’s Lauren Camera covers the uptick in wealthy parents pulling their kids from public schools, which is further exacerbating the inequities plaguing urban public school systems.
Temporarily suspending the admissions exam at some Boston schools increased the diversity of accepted applicants, new data shows, reports James Vaznis of The Boston Globe.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Apr. 30 – May 6)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Marta W. Aldrich of Chalkbeat Tennessee covers a legislative measure that would ban classroom discussions about systemic racism.
Texas college officials are cautiously planning a return to normal campus life this fall, reports Brayden Garcia and Valeria Olivares for The Dallas Morning News.
Why Hasn’t San Antonio Closed its Latino College Gap?
According to U.S. Census data, just 17% of Hispanics in the San Antonio Metropolitan Area have a bachelor’s degree, well under half the rate of degree attainment for San Antonio’s white and Asian population. San Antonio’s Black population falls in between, but is also less likely to have a college degree.
Read the full story here.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Apr. 23-29)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
A USA TODAY NETWORK reporting team in Wisconsin covers all the ways high schools are adapting their plans for pandemic-era proms.
Trisha Powell Crain of AL.com reports on a summer learning program that is focused on the individual needs of English learners.
The Christian Science Monitor’s Chelsea Sheasley gathers perspectives on the shift from school resource officers to safety specialists in Minneapolis Public Schools.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Apr. 16-22)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Authorities restraining children using techniques like those used against George Floyd is commonplace in Minnesota schools, the 74’s Mark Keierleber reports.
Faculty members at a private Oregon university call for the university president and board chair to resign after the latter two allegedly made anti-Semitic comments, reports Meerah Powell of OPB.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Apr. 9-15)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
The 74’s Asher Lehrer-Small dives deep into a fellowship that helps Rhode Island paraprofessionals transform their experiences into teaching certifications and diversifies the teacher workforce.
In a weeklong Idaho Education News series, Sami Edge explores youth access to mental health services in Idaho schools and the challenges that COVID-19 poses for school-based mental health efforts.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Apr. 2-8)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
More school districts are turning to digital surveillance to keep tabs on students during remote learning. That has some families, educators, and privacy experts concerned, reports Education Week’s Stephen Sawchuk.
Emily Tate of EdSurge explains why some guidance counselors are taking steps to address their implicit biases, and how that could improve services for students going forward.