In a multi-part series, reporters at WLRN in South Florida examine the complex story of what’s transpired since the state created the first all-charter school district.
A three-year investigation from @WLRN looks at what happens when school choice is flipped on its head, when the alternative becomes the only option. #Chartered#tellEWAhttps://t.co/tqt5z72RcE
For WHYY, Kevin McCorry and Avi Wolfman-Arent spent the summer at a North Philadelphia rec center, offering a glimpse into the lives of children in the city’s most distressed neighborhoods.
The 74’s Mark Keierleber examines the surreal journey of Julia Keleher, Puerto Rico’s former education secretary now facing charges in a federal corruption probe.
For the Washington Monthly, Anne Kim raises questions about the growing trend of summer “pre-college” programs at the nation’s most prestigious universities.
As the LeBron James-affiliated I Promise School enters its second year, leaders look to build on their success while feeling pressure to meet high expectations, reports Jennifer Pignolet of the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com.
For NJ Advance Media, Kelly Heyboer and Adam Clark reveal how a web of red tape allows some teachers to work for years after they have been accused of serious misconduct.
A school in Georgia is under fire for a policy prohibiting hairstyles popular among black students, reports Marlon A. Walker for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Amid a national discussion on desegregation, Jefferson County Public Schools may have found a model that balances diversity with equitable school choice, reports Olivia Krauth for Insider Louisville.
NEW: Is a proposed #JCPS assignment plan the key to equity or a step backwards?
With changes to Title IX looming at the federal level, students at the University of Nebraska are pushing for reforms locally, reports Chris Dunker for the Lincoln Journal Star.
“I could not understand why my concerns weren’t being taken seriously, and as a result, I felt crazy for bearing my concerns."
'Dear UNL' pushing for local reforms of Title IX office, investigations amid national uncertainty. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/pEIzmnKrru
Can increasing teachers’ pay solve the problem of teacher shortages? For The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Marlon A. Walker explains why there’s reason to be skeptical.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Eric Kelderman and Dan Bauman detail how a series of missteps have led one university to the brink of financial ruin.
Long a poster child for America’s prison problems, California’s prison system has developed a promising new educational approach that may serve as a blueprint for other states, reports Wayne D’Orio for The Hechinger Report.
Recidivism rates for prisoners who take any college courses are 43 percent lower than those who are released without taking classes. @waynedorio's latest on how California’s overhaul of prison education offers a blueprint for other states. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/gGvRiSxRCcpic.twitter.com/nLzdBTZjqJ
— The Hechinger Report (@hechingerreport) July 17, 2019
In an investigation for EdSurge, Emily Tate examines a disturbing side of the thriving online English-tutoring market.
NEW: For the past six months, I've been investigating a troubling yet little-known dark side to the thriving online English-teaching industry. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/GgzwZ7Unxo
For The Washington Post, Jessica Contrera chronicles a hate crime at a Maryland high school, and the emotional reckoning that followed.
Can you commit racist acts without being racist? @mjcontrera's piece about Maryland high schoolers' hate crime is so good that I forced myself to slow down reading so that I didn't miss a word. She's my pick for this week's #tellEWA. https://t.co/RUUuYQsqoq
Latino children make up nearly half of Boston’s public school students, yet the collective voice of their parents does not loom large in the system, reports Bianca Vázquez Toness for WGBH.
Read about how Latino parents in Boston are dramatically underrepresented in school decisions. #tellEWAhttps://t.co/9HIztvFyVX
— BiancaVázquezToness (@biancavtoness) July 10, 2019
The principal saw a swastika first. It was inky black, spray
painted on a trash can just beside the entrance to the high
school. David Burton switched off the engine of his SUV, unaware,
even then, of the magnitude of what he was about to see.
For NOLA.com and The Times Picayune, Wilborn Nobles III explores the complex state of school discipline reform in New Orleans where expulsions are down but suspensions are up.
In project that took him from Oklahoma to England — and supported in part by an EWA Reporting Fellowship – Ben Felder explores the promise of higher education programs in prisons in a series for The Oklahoman.
Higher education as a tool to reduce recidivism. In this three-part series @TheOklahoman looked at two programs in Oklahoma and traveled to England, where an aggressive vocational training program has shown signs of success #tellewahttps://t.co/4ZqsiYRDVCpic.twitter.com/XOLPvFyfcT
The nation’s seventh-largest school district is embarking on a massive effort to address students’ challenges outside the classroom, reports Jacob Carpenter for the Houston Chronicle.
For The Christian Science Monitor, Stacy Teicher Khadaroo examines a historic vote at Georgetown University and what it reveals about the national dialogue over a call for reparations for slavery.
A GU272 descendant student on hearing of the yes vote: “I cried a little bit. I thanked the ancestors. Because this is really for them, you know?”
A plan to close a predominantly black high school in Michigan is unfolding as the first crisis of Gretchen Whitmer’s governorship, writes Jennifer Chambers for The Detroit News.
Twenty-six percent, or about 600 students, at Oroville Union
High School District were chronically absent during the 2017-18
school year, according to an EdSource analysis of California
Department of Education data.
Statewide, more than 700,000 students, or about 11 percent, were
chronically absent. About 10 percent of the 1,000 districts
statewide had rates near the level of Oroville Union High’s or
significantly higher. Most of those districts were in rural
areas, the analysis found:
That’s how Victor Orduna describes his life as a teenager in
southwest Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood. And he isn’t talking
about partying with friends or other high-school high-jinks.
Orduna is referring to his schedule. The now 19-year old would
wake up around 6:30 a.m., head to his high school until the late
afternoon, and then clock in for his job at a local supermarket,
where he’d bag groceries until 10:30 p.m. Some weekends, Orduna
worked the late shift at a pizzeria, slinging pizzas and cooking
burgers until 1:30 a.m.
There’s not much Barack Obama and Betsy DeVos see eye-to-eye on.
But the 44th president of the United States and the Trump
administration’s controversial education secretary have found
some common ground.
Obama and DeVos — as well as many local, state and federal
politicians — have heralded the idea of students taking college
courses and earning college credits while still in high school.
Sharon Braat is glad she’s going to college in the Netherlands
and not the U.S.
It’s not just the nearly-free tuition her country offers. It’s
the practical and hands-on classes aimed at her career. In her
case, it also includes real work for actual businesses while in
school.
“Our system is better for preparing you for where you want to
go,” she said. “You feel like you’re in a company… If you screw
up, you can screw up big time. It’s the real world.”
Rio Lacanlale and Amelia Pak-HarveyLas Vegas Review-Journal
Thousands of records examined by the Las Vegas Review-Journal
show a yearslong history of abuse and neglect allegations at
Northwest Academy, a private boarding school for at-risk youth.
Betsy DeVos hinted Monday that should President Donald Trump get
re-elected in 2020 that she might not serve as education
secretary during his second term.
“I’m not sure my husband would be OK with that,” said DeVos of
her husband, Dick DeVos, a former Michigan gubernatorial
candidate, after hesitating before delivering her response.
Sabika Sheikh, a Muslim exchange student from Pakistan with
dreams of changing the world, struck up an unlikely friendship
with an evangelical Christian girl. The two became
inseparable—until the day a fellow student opened fire.
Max Eden didn’t even want to read about Parkland. He saw the news
on Valentine’s Day, after a dinner date with his girlfriend at a
little French place in Washington, D.C., taking an Uber home.
There was the gut-punch—“oh shit, another school shooting”—then
the queasy afterthought that none of this hits as hard as it used
to. He knew what would follow. For a few angry weeks, Democrats
would demand gun control and Republicans would call for arming
teachers. He decided he’d sit it out this time, ignore the news
as much as possible.
The story of our communities can in many ways be told through the
lens of the school districts that serve our children. More than
organizations that enable learning, school districts are
geographic boundaries that serve as magnifying lenses that allow
us to focus on issues of race and wealth. They are both a
statement of “what is” and “what could be” in our society.
On their face, the allegations describe public officials being
bought — and for a pittance. Drinks in a hotel lobby.
Airfare reimbursement for a meeting. A $4,000 “personal payment”
appearing just before a mid-level functionary inks a government
contract for the consultant offering the so-called perks.
Indeed, the legal complaints filed in South Carolina, Georgia,
and Nevada have resulted in a string of juicy headlines. And
later, though ostensibly unrelated, in the resignations of two of
the state employees named.
A growing body of recent research asserts that a black
man in the classroom is both rare and critically needed in
American public schools.
Since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than
half of the student population in U.S. public schools, yet
about 80 percent of teachers are white and 77 percent of them are
female. People of color make up about 20 percent of
teachers; a mere 2 percent are black men.
Like many people coming out of prison, Perry Cline never thought
he’d get a college degree.
Cline, a 51-year-old black man and Chicago native, just graduated
from college. He has a bachelor’s degree in social work. He also
co-founded a non-profit to help those battling addiction, and he
recently landed a job as a case manager at a substance abuse
treatment facility in Champaign, Illinois.
In North Carolina, where minority students make up 52 percent of
the traditional public school body, 80 percent of teachers are
white. For students of color, especially black and Hispanic boys,
that means they may seldom – or never – have a teacher who looks
like them during their kindergarten through 12th grade years.
Malcolm Gay, Eric Moskowitz, and Meghan E. IronsThe Boston Globe
Over the past year, the Globe has tracked down 93 of the 113
valedictorians who appeared in the paper’s first three “Faces of
Excellence” features from 2005 to 2007. We wanted to know, more
than a decade later, how the stories of Boston’s best and
brightest were turning out.
The question is no longer “should we arm teachers?” Now, it’s
“how many armed teachers are already out there?” GQ flew down to
Ohio to embed with the men and women behind FASTER Saves Lives, a
group that has trained thousands of teachers from all across the
country how to shoot to kill.
Next year, the Common Application used by hundreds of colleges
and universities will stop asking potential students
about their criminal histories. Despite legislative efforts in
Illinois, most campuses in the state continue to
ask the question. Nationwide, roughly two-thirds of colleges
and universities that completed a 2009 survey reported
asking prospective students about their criminal histories.
On a bulletin board at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New
York, a flier advertised a storytelling event for
first-generation students to share their experience in their own
words.
The event was part of a larger project headed by Senior Associate
Dean of Students Luis Inoa. Inoa spent the summer working with a
first-gen Skidmore student to research the best practices in
first-gen student support at liberal arts colleges around the
country. He discovered that storytelling, in particular, is very
powerful.
West Virginia unveiled a campaign this year for 60 percent of
adults ages 25 to 64 to have earned a degree or certificate by
2030. But in this county of fewer than 19,000 residents, just 38
percent of recent high school graduates sought more education,
according to the latest available data from the West Virginia
Higher Education Policy Commission. That’s well below the
statewide rate of 55 percent. And in 2016 just 8 percent of
McDowell County residents of working age held an associate degree
or higher, compared to 31 percent statewide.
On a sunny Saturday in October, about 500 prospective students
and their families gathered on the campus of the University of
Texas at El Paso for Orange and Blue Day. They met with
representatives from financial aid, admissions, and various
academic departments in a festival-like atmosphere spread across
campus.
The university uses events like this to make college more
inviting for families sending their first-ever student to
college.
The University of Virginia can seem like a textbook college
campus: white columns and porticos, long lawns and statues of
Thomas Jefferson and Homer.
In 2017, though, UVa’s Rotunda steps were transformed into a
maelstrom as white supremacists carried torches and attacked
protesters. For months, the school was roiled by protests
and political soul-searching.
In order to meet its top educational goal, Idaho will need to
reinvent itself. And rethink success.
State leaders want more high school graduates to continue their
education — to prepare young adults for a changing labor market,
and to help Idaho compete economically. This ambitious aim runs
headway into hard realities.
On a recent Friday, Kenith Britt joined a group of Marian
University faculty members who were courting a student athlete
over lunch. A young African-American man with a GPA of 3.99, the
prospective student wanted to study engineering, like his father.
Britt gave his standard pitch for Marian’s brand-new Klipsch
Educators College, the Indianapolis program where he is dean.
“You can become a teacher, or you can become a teacher,” he joked
at the end. “Those are your choices.”
Beatriz Alvarado, Thyrie Bland, Jason Gonzales, Leigh Guidry, Rick Hampson, Bracey Harris, Lori Higgins, Joe Hong, Austin Humphreys, Kristen Inbody, Annysa Johnson, Byron McCauley, Amanda Oglesby, Kelly Ragan, Meg Ryan, Lindsay Schnell,Devi Shastri and Alden WoodsUSA TODAY
It’s shortly after dawn when Edward Lawson, one of America’s
3.2 million public school teachers, pulls his car into the
parking lot of Thomas Elementary in Racine, Wisconsin. He cuts
the engine, pulls out his cell phone and calls his principal.
They begin to pray.
Lawson is a full-time substitute based at a school with full-time
problems: only 1 in 10 students is proficient in reading and
math.
Allison Ross and Mandy McLarenLouisville Courier Journal
The littlest learners in Jefferson County Public Schools were
suspended more than 7,600 days last year — the equivalent of 21
years — as the district’s use of its harshest punishment on
elementary students skyrocketed.
JCPS is doling out suspensions at a higher rate — in one case, at
roughly five times the rate — than its peer districts across the
country, a Courier Journal investigation has found.
On November 8, 2016, while the rest of the world anxiously
awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, a subset
of voters with a keen interest in education had their eyes on
Massachusetts. This was the day Bay Staters would vote on Ballot
Question 2, a proposal to raise the state’s cap on public charter
schools by up to 12 new schools per year.
Every year, first-generation students across the country step
onto college and university campuses that are different from
their hometown in every way. Even for those financially and
academically prepared, social and emotional challenges can
influence their ability to stay and graduate.
This is the first of a four-part special report, “Far From Home.”
The mid-June clouds stark white and heavy with impending rain,
Darby Dugay listened for the splatter of falling drops, noting
that the foul weather might delay her basketball practice.
Nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey submerged coastal Port
Arthur, the rain still brings the 17-year-old’s heart rate up,
especially when water overflows the long-neglected drainage
ditches lining the neighborhood’s sidewalks.
Huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM-packed curriculum,
gadgets everywhere: Willie Brown Middle School was supposed to
set the bar. Then it opened.
David Jackson, Jennifer Smith Richards, Gary Marx and Juan Perez Jr.Chicago Tribune
They were top athletes and honor-roll students, children
struggling to read and teenagers seeking guidance.
But then they became prey, among the many students raped or
sexually abused during the last decade by trusted adults working
in the Chicago Public Schools as district officials repeated
obvious child-protection mistakes.
Their lives were upended, their futures clouded and their pain
unacknowledged as a districtwide problem was kept under wraps. A
Tribune analysis indicates that hundreds of students were harmed.
College students’ views on the First Amendment are important for
another reason as well: Students act as de facto arbiters of free
expression on campus. The Supreme Court justices are not standing
by at the entrances to public university lecture halls ready to
step in if First Amendment rights are curtailed. If a significant
percentage of students believe that views they find offensive
should be silenced, those views will in fact be silenced.
In early January, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced his
intention to make a public college education tuition-free for
most students in the state. The proposal has breathed life back
into the free college movement, which supporters feared would
lose momentum under the incoming presidential administration.
Instead, momentum has simply relocated (back) to the state level.
Tennessee and Oregon already have their own “free college”
initiatives, and just this week, Governor Gina Raimondo proposed
a version for Rhode Island.
Higher education issues took a more prominent role in the 2016
elections than any time in recent memory, college affordability
and student debt levels catapulted higher education to the top of
domestic policy concerns. Both major party nominees for
president, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton,
included higher education proposals in their policy agendas, with
Clinton offering the most expansive, ambitious higher education
plan than any other major party candidate in decades.
States are now deeply engaged in developing plans for their
federal education spending for the next several years. Decades of
experience and education research indicate that states must
strengthen and organize the educator workforce to implement
change successfully. Now is the time to rethink systems and
strategies and to focus funds and efforts on what matters most
for learning: great teachers and leaders for every student and
school.
Systemic challenges in the educator workforce require thoughtful
and bold actions, and ESSA presents a unique opportunity for
states to reaffirm, modify, or improve their vision of educator
effectiveness. This GTL Center discussion guide focuses on one
challenge that states face as part of this work: defining
ineffective teacher in the absence of highly qualified teacher
(HQT) requirements.
Numerous studies show large differences between economically
advantaged and disadvantaged parents in the quality and quantity
of their engagement in young children’s development. This
“parenting gap” may account for a substantial portion of the gap
in children’s early cognitive skills. However, researchers know
little about whether the socioeconomic gap in parenting has
increased over time. The present study investigates this
question, focusing on income- (and education) based gaps in
parents’ engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with
preschool-aged children.
August 23 – 29
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
In a multi-part series, reporters at WLRN in South Florida examine the complex story of what’s transpired since the state created the first all-charter school district.
For WHYY, Kevin McCorry and Avi Wolfman-Arent spent the summer at a North Philadelphia rec center, offering a glimpse into the lives of children in the city’s most distressed neighborhoods.
Aug 16 – Aug 22
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
The 74’s Mark Keierleber examines the surreal journey of Julia Keleher, Puerto Rico’s former education secretary now facing charges in a federal corruption probe.
For the Washington Monthly, Anne Kim raises questions about the growing trend of summer “pre-college” programs at the nation’s most prestigious universities.
Aug 9 – Aug 15
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
For APM Reports, Chris Julin examines the challenges facing the country’s growing number of homeless students.
As the LeBron James-affiliated I Promise School enters its second year, leaders look to build on their success while feeling pressure to meet high expectations, reports Jennifer Pignolet of the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com.
Aug 2 – Aug 8
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
For NJ Advance Media, Kelly Heyboer and Adam Clark reveal how a web of red tape allows some teachers to work for years after they have been accused of serious misconduct.
A school in Georgia is under fire for a policy prohibiting hairstyles popular among black students, reports Marlon A. Walker for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
July 26 – Aug 1
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
Amid a national discussion on desegregation, Jefferson County Public Schools may have found a model that balances diversity with equitable school choice, reports Olivia Krauth for Insider Louisville.
With changes to Title IX looming at the federal level, students at the University of Nebraska are pushing for reforms locally, reports Chris Dunker for the Lincoln Journal Star.
July 19 – July 25
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
Can increasing teachers’ pay solve the problem of teacher shortages? For The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Marlon A. Walker explains why there’s reason to be skeptical.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Eric Kelderman and Dan Bauman detail how a series of missteps have led one university to the brink of financial ruin.
July 12 – July 18
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
Long a poster child for America’s prison problems, California’s prison system has developed a promising new educational approach that may serve as a blueprint for other states, reports Wayne D’Orio for The Hechinger Report.
In an investigation for EdSurge, Emily Tate examines a disturbing side of the thriving online English-tutoring market.
June 28 – July 11
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
For The Washington Post, Jessica Contrera chronicles a hate crime at a Maryland high school, and the emotional reckoning that followed.
Latino children make up nearly half of Boston’s public school students, yet the collective voice of their parents does not loom large in the system, reports Bianca Vázquez Toness for WGBH.
Teen Hate Crime: Swatiskas, Racist Graffiti Divide A Maryland High School
The principal saw a swastika first. It was inky black, spray painted on a trash can just beside the entrance to the high school. David Burton switched off the engine of his SUV, unaware, even then, of the magnitude of what he was about to see.
June 21 – June 27
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
For NOLA.com and The Times Picayune, Wilborn Nobles III explores the complex state of school discipline reform in New Orleans where expulsions are down but suspensions are up.
In project that took him from Oklahoma to England — and supported in part by an EWA Reporting Fellowship – Ben Felder explores the promise of higher education programs in prisons in a series for The Oklahoman.
June 14 – June 20
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
The nation’s seventh-largest school district is embarking on a massive effort to address students’ challenges outside the classroom, reports Jacob Carpenter for the Houston Chronicle.
For The Christian Science Monitor, Stacy Teicher Khadaroo examines a historic vote at Georgetown University and what it reveals about the national dialogue over a call for reparations for slavery.
June 7 – June 13
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
A plan to close a predominantly black high school in Michigan is unfolding as the first crisis of Gretchen Whitmer’s governorship, writes Jennifer Chambers for The Detroit News.
The Rivard Report’s Emily Donaldson examines how a lack of paid maternity leave can create challenges for Texas teachers planning a family.
May 31 – June 6
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week
Despite privacy concerns, America’s schools are increasingly monitoring students’ online lives, reports Education Week’s Benjamin Herold.
WAMU’s Jenny Abamu continues exploring schools’ use of restraint and seclusion, and why it often goes unreported.
For USA Today, Erin Richards and Matt Wynn examine how teachers’ salaries stack up to the cost of living in cities across the country.
Lost Days: Poverty, Isolation Drive Students Away From School In California’s Rural Districts
Twenty-six percent, or about 600 students, at Oroville Union High School District were chronically absent during the 2017-18 school year, according to an EdSource analysis of California Department of Education data.
Statewide, more than 700,000 students, or about 11 percent, were chronically absent. About 10 percent of the 1,000 districts statewide had rates near the level of Oroville Union High’s or significantly higher. Most of those districts were in rural areas, the analysis found:
More High-School Students Are Using This Hack to Get a Head-Start on College — but the Poorest Students Are Being Left Behind
“That was wild.”
That’s how Victor Orduna describes his life as a teenager in southwest Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood. And he isn’t talking about partying with friends or other high-school high-jinks.
Orduna is referring to his schedule. The now 19-year old would wake up around 6:30 a.m., head to his high school until the late afternoon, and then clock in for his job at a local supermarket, where he’d bag groceries until 10:30 p.m. Some weekends, Orduna worked the late shift at a pizzeria, slinging pizzas and cooking burgers until 1:30 a.m.
Inside the Nationwide Effort to Tackle the $1.5 Trillion Student-Debt Crisis — With the Help of High-School Students
There’s not much Barack Obama and Betsy DeVos see eye-to-eye on.
But the 44th president of the United States and the Trump administration’s controversial education secretary have found some common ground.
Obama and DeVos — as well as many local, state and federal politicians — have heralded the idea of students taking college courses and earning college credits while still in high school.
Pathways to Prosperity: Cleveland Can Learn From European Approach to Education, Training
Sharon Braat is glad she’s going to college in the Netherlands and not the U.S.
It’s not just the nearly-free tuition her country offers. It’s the practical and hands-on classes aimed at her career. In her case, it also includes real work for actual businesses while in school.
“Our system is better for preparing you for where you want to go,” she said. “You feel like you’re in a company… If you screw up, you can screw up big time. It’s the real world.”
Deserted in the Desert
Thousands of records examined by the Las Vegas Review-Journal show a yearslong history of abuse and neglect allegations at Northwest Academy, a private boarding school for at-risk youth.
DeVos Might Not Serve as Ed. Secretary If Trump Re-elected
Betsy DeVos hinted Monday that should President Donald Trump get re-elected in 2020 that she might not serve as education secretary during his second term.
“I’m not sure my husband would be OK with that,” said DeVos of her husband, Dick DeVos, a former Michigan gubernatorial candidate, after hesitating before delivering her response.
Faith, Friendship and Tragedy at Santa Fe High School
Sabika Sheikh, a Muslim exchange student from Pakistan with dreams of changing the world, struck up an unlikely friendship with an evangelical Christian girl. The two became inseparable—until the day a fellow student opened fire.
A Search For Answers, A Search For Blame
Max Eden didn’t even want to read about Parkland. He saw the news on Valentine’s Day, after a dinner date with his girlfriend at a little French place in Washington, D.C., taking an Uber home. There was the gut-punch—“oh shit, another school shooting”—then the queasy afterthought that none of this hits as hard as it used to. He knew what would follow. For a few angry weeks, Democrats would demand gun control and Republicans would call for arming teachers. He decided he’d sit it out this time, ignore the news as much as possible.
(Report) Nonwhite School Districts Get $23 Billion Less Than White Districts Despite Serving the Same Number of Students
The story of our communities can in many ways be told through the lens of the school districts that serve our children. More than organizations that enable learning, school districts are geographic boundaries that serve as magnifying lenses that allow us to focus on issues of race and wealth. They are both a statement of “what is” and “what could be” in our society.
3 States Tried to Shutter Failing For-Profit Online Charter Schools. A Suspicious Pattern of Allegations, Accusations, and Legal Complaints Quickly Followed
The 74
On their face, the allegations describe public officials being bought — and for a pittance. Drinks in a hotel lobby. Airfare reimbursement for a meeting. A $4,000 “personal payment” appearing just before a mid-level functionary inks a government contract for the consultant offering the so-called perks.
Indeed, the legal complaints filed in South Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada have resulted in a string of juicy headlines. And later, though ostensibly unrelated, in the resignations of two of the state employees named.
Only Two Percent Of Teachers Are Black Men, Yet Research Confirms They Matter
A growing body of recent research asserts that a black man in the classroom is both rare and critically needed in American public schools.
Since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in U.S. public schools, yet about 80 percent of teachers are white and 77 percent of them are female. People of color make up about 20 percent of teachers; a mere 2 percent are black men.
From Prison To College: How A Formerly Incarcerated Student Overcame The Odds To Graduate
Like many people coming out of prison, Perry Cline never thought he’d get a college degree.
Cline, a 51-year-old black man and Chicago native, just graduated from college. He has a bachelor’s degree in social work. He also co-founded a non-profit to help those battling addiction, and he recently landed a job as a case manager at a substance abuse treatment facility in Champaign, Illinois.
North Carolina’s Teacher Diversity Gap
In North Carolina, where minority students make up 52 percent of the traditional public school body, 80 percent of teachers are white. For students of color, especially black and Hispanic boys, that means they may seldom – or never – have a teacher who looks like them during their kindergarten through 12th grade years.
An Epidemic of Untapped Potential
Over the past year, the Globe has tracked down 93 of the 113 valedictorians who appeared in the paper’s first three “Faces of Excellence” features from 2005 to 2007. We wanted to know, more than a decade later, how the stories of Boston’s best and brightest were turning out.
When You Give a Teacher a Gun
The question is no longer “should we arm teachers?” Now, it’s “how many armed teachers are already out there?” GQ flew down to Ohio to embed with the men and women behind FASTER Saves Lives, a group that has trained thousands of teachers from all across the country how to shoot to kill.
Why Illinois Won’t ‘Ban The Box’ On College Applications
Next year, the Common Application used by hundreds of colleges and universities will stop asking potential students about their criminal histories. Despite legislative efforts in Illinois, most campuses in the state continue to ask the question. Nationwide, roughly two-thirds of colleges and universities that completed a 2009 survey reported asking prospective students about their criminal histories.
Far From Home: Different Stories, With Common Threads
On a bulletin board at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, a flier advertised a storytelling event for first-generation students to share their experience in their own words.
The event was part of a larger project headed by Senior Associate Dean of Students Luis Inoa. Inoa spent the summer working with a first-gen Skidmore student to research the best practices in first-gen student support at liberal arts colleges around the country. He discovered that storytelling, in particular, is very powerful.
District Sends Teachers on Home Visits to Help Get More Students to College
West Virginia unveiled a campaign this year for 60 percent of adults ages 25 to 64 to have earned a degree or certificate by 2030. But in this county of fewer than 19,000 residents, just 38 percent of recent high school graduates sought more education, according to the latest available data from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. That’s well below the statewide rate of 55 percent. And in 2016 just 8 percent of McDowell County residents of working age held an associate degree or higher, compared to 31 percent statewide.
Far From Home: Demystifying the College Experience
On a sunny Saturday in October, about 500 prospective students and their families gathered on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso for Orange and Blue Day. They met with representatives from financial aid, admissions, and various academic departments in a festival-like atmosphere spread across campus.
The university uses events like this to make college more inviting for families sending their first-ever student to college.
Rally Had Minor Impact on Admissions as UVa Addresses Financial Needs and Its Own History
The University of Virginia can seem like a textbook college campus: white columns and porticos, long lawns and statues of Thomas Jefferson and Homer.
In 2017, though, UVa’s Rotunda steps were transformed into a maelstrom as white supremacists carried torches and attacked protesters. For months, the school was roiled by protests and political soul-searching.
Hitting the ‘60 Percent Goal’ Won’t Just Take Work. It Requires a Transformation.
In order to meet its top educational goal, Idaho will need to reinvent itself. And rethink success.
State leaders want more high school graduates to continue their education — to prepare young adults for a changing labor market, and to help Idaho compete economically. This ambitious aim runs headway into hard realities.
A Little Finland, a Little Canada, a Lot of Moxie: Why One Indianapolis Teachers College Is Betting It Can Train More Successful Educators After a Radical Reboot
On a recent Friday, Kenith Britt joined a group of Marian University faculty members who were courting a student athlete over lunch. A young African-American man with a GPA of 3.99, the prospective student wanted to study engineering, like his father.
Britt gave his standard pitch for Marian’s brand-new Klipsch Educators College, the Indianapolis program where he is dean. “You can become a teacher, or you can become a teacher,” he joked at the end. “Those are your choices.”
Teachers in America: No Matter Where They Work, They Feel Disrespect
It’s shortly after dawn when Edward Lawson, one of America’s 3.2 million public school teachers, pulls his car into the parking lot of Thomas Elementary in Racine, Wisconsin. He cuts the engine, pulls out his cell phone and calls his principal. They begin to pray.
Lawson is a full-time substitute based at a school with full-time problems: only 1 in 10 students is proficient in reading and math.
Louisville Elementary School Student Suspensions Are Soaring
The littlest learners in Jefferson County Public Schools were suspended more than 7,600 days last year — the equivalent of 21 years — as the district’s use of its harshest punishment on elementary students skyrocketed.
JCPS is doling out suspensions at a higher rate — in one case, at roughly five times the rate — than its peer districts across the country, a Courier Journal investigation has found.
Why Suburban Districts Need Public Charter Schools Too – Progressive Policy Institute
On November 8, 2016, while the rest of the world anxiously awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, a subset of voters with a keen interest in education had their eyes on Massachusetts. This was the day Bay Staters would vote on Ballot Question 2, a proposal to raise the state’s cap on public charter schools by up to 12 new schools per year.
Far From Home: Issues Facing First-Gen College Students
Every year, first-generation students across the country step onto college and university campuses that are different from their hometown in every way. Even for those financially and academically prepared, social and emotional challenges can influence their ability to stay and graduate.
This is the first of a four-part special report, “Far From Home.”
Trauma Lingers for Harvey Survivors Returning to School in Port Arthur
The mid-June clouds stark white and heavy with impending rain, Darby Dugay listened for the splatter of falling drops, noting that the foul weather might delay her basketball practice.
Nearly a year after Hurricane Harvey submerged coastal Port Arthur, the rain still brings the 17-year-old’s heart rate up, especially when water overflows the long-neglected drainage ditches lining the neighborhood’s sidewalks.
How the Startup Mentality Failed Kids in San Francisco
Huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM-packed curriculum, gadgets everywhere: Willie Brown Middle School was supposed to set the bar. Then it opened.
Betrayed: Chicago Schools Fail To Protect Students From Sexual Abuse
They were top athletes and honor-roll students, children struggling to read and teenagers seeking guidance.
But then they became prey, among the many students raped or sexually abused during the last decade by trusted adults working in the Chicago Public Schools as district officials repeated obvious child-protection mistakes.
Their lives were upended, their futures clouded and their pain unacknowledged as a districtwide problem was kept under wraps. A Tribune analysis indicates that hundreds of students were harmed.
Views Among College Students Regarding the First Amendment: Results From a New Survey
College students’ views on the First Amendment are important for another reason as well: Students act as de facto arbiters of free expression on campus. The Supreme Court justices are not standing by at the entrances to public university lecture halls ready to step in if First Amendment rights are curtailed. If a significant percentage of students believe that views they find offensive should be silenced, those views will in fact be silenced.
As Cuomo Proposal Rekindles Free College Movement, New Research Provides Ammunition for Skeptics
Brookings Institution
In early January, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced his intention to make a public college education tuition-free for most students in the state. The proposal has breathed life back into the free college movement, which supporters feared would lose momentum under the incoming presidential administration. Instead, momentum has simply relocated (back) to the state level. Tennessee and Oregon already have their own “free college” initiatives, and just this week, Governor Gina Raimondo proposed a version for Rhode Island.
Higher Education: 2016 Elections Wrap-Up and 2017 Federal Policy Preview
American Association of State Colleges and Universities
Higher education issues took a more prominent role in the 2016 elections than any time in recent memory, college affordability and student debt levels catapulted higher education to the top of domestic policy concerns. Both major party nominees for president, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, included higher education proposals in their policy agendas, with Clinton offering the most expansive, ambitious higher education plan than any other major party candidate in decades.
Time for Action Building the Educator Workforce Our Children Need Now
Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
States are now deeply engaged in developing plans for their federal education spending for the next several years. Decades of experience and education research indicate that states must strengthen and organize the educator workforce to implement change successfully. Now is the time to rethink systems and strategies and to focus funds and efforts on what matters most for learning: great teachers and leaders for every student and school.
Teacher Effectiveness in the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Discussion Guide
Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
Systemic challenges in the educator workforce require thoughtful and bold actions, and ESSA presents a unique opportunity for states to reaffirm, modify, or improve their vision of educator effectiveness. This GTL Center discussion guide focuses on one challenge that states face as part of this work: defining ineffective teacher in the absence of highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirements.
Changes in Income-Based Gaps in Parent Activities with Young Children from 1988-2012
American Educational Research Association
Numerous studies show large differences between economically advantaged and disadvantaged parents in the quality and quantity of their engagement in young children’s development. This “parenting gap” may account for a substantial portion of the gap in children’s early cognitive skills. However, researchers know little about whether the socioeconomic gap in parenting has increased over time. The present study investigates this question, focusing on income- (and education) based gaps in parents’ engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with preschool-aged children.