When students are unwell — whether they have a run-of-the-mill
cold, a chronic illness, or a mental health condition like
depression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — it is
more
difficult for them to learn. Many more students face chronic
physical and mental health challenges than in years past, making
this a vital area about which education reporters should learn.
Student health encompasses a wide range of issues that include
physical and mental health diseases, the consequences of risky
sexual behavior, food and housing insecurity, and the effects of
personal and community violence. Layered over these issues are
the health threats that loom large from the spread of the
coronavirus in communities, child care facilities, and schools.
These concerns have an effect from preschool classrooms to
university lecture halls and dorms, and, in many cases,
disproportionately harm Black and Hispanic students who are more
likely than their white counterparts to experience chronic
illnesses, sexually transmitted diseases and community violence.
The leading chronic physical illnesses for students are asthma,
diabetes and obesity. One out of 12 school children has
asthma; childhood obesity has more than tripled since the
1970s to one in
five school-aged children. And about 187,000 U.S. children
and adolescents have
diabetes.
Access to school nurses is essential in helping to manage these
and other conditions, and to avoid emergency room visits and lost
days of school. Yet many schools don’t have a nurse on campus
every day. A lack of funding has created a shortage of school
nurses as districts struggle to come up with money to hire them.
And when they do, salaries for school nurses are often lower than
for nurses working in other settings. Though the National Association of School
Nurses has lobbied for dedicated federal funding for nurses
in schools, the majority are funded through regular and special
education funding.
One-quarter of schools nationally do not have a nurse, either
full- or part-time.
Other major threats to student health and safety are suicide,
which increased 56% between 2007 and 2017 among those ages 10-24,
and other forms of
violence, which can have long-lasting
mental health effects for victims and witnesses. In addition,
about 20% of
U.S. students reported being bullied, with many encountering it
online
or via text. Hunger and homelessness remain major problems for
college students and among
students in the pre-K-12 system.
The following information will help journalists find reliable
data and understand more about the health issues facing students
at all levels.
Updated March 2021
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.
Adolescence on the Mind: Helping Teens Out of the Pandemic
Building social connections outside the family, especially with peers, is key to healthy adolescent development. Yet isolation wrought by the pandemic has curtailed social opportunities.
What works to help adolescents overcome such setbacks? What do surveys of students in high school and middle school show about the impact of the past year?
Two national experts answered these and other questions during a May 5 session at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
The participants were:
Knowing and Addressing Students’ Social and Emotional Needs
The pandemic has interrupted social interactions and hurt student well-being. Understanding students’ social and emotional needs will be crucial in the coming year.
What new methods are emerging for gauging social and emotional needs, competencies and learning? How has the pandemic affected SEL and what does that mean for teaching and learning?
Speakers addressed these and other issues at a May 3 session at the Education Writers Association’s 2021 National Seminar.
The participants were:
How Kids Think
Evolving science around adolescent brain development has implications for mental health and education
(EWA Radio Episode 269)
How do adolescents learn to make healthy choices? When does the desire for status and respect most influence the teenage brain?
Children, Schools, and Guns
Millions of young people experience trauma related to gun violence, and the harm is overlooked in statistics about campus shootings or community incidents (EWA Radio Episode 267)
America’s gun violence crisis is leaving its mark on multiple generations of young people, who don’t need to be victims or even direct witnesses to shootings to suffer lasting harm.
Teenage Sleep Affected By Remote Learning, Later School Time
Sleep-deprived adolescents — forced for generations to wake for school before the chimes of their circadian clocks — have had an unexpected break amid the anxiety and losses of the pandemic. Remote learning has allowed many of them to stay in bed an extra hour or more, providing a “natural experiment” that sleep experts hope will inform the long and stubborn debate over school starting times.
Read the full story here.
74th EWA National Seminar
Virtual, May 2-5, 2021
The Education Writers Association’s 74th National Seminar will focus on the theme of “Now What? Reporting on Education Amid Uncertainty.” Four afternoons of conversations, training and presentations will give attendees deeper understanding of these crises, as well as tools, skills and context to help them better serve their communities — and advance their careers.
To be held May 2-5, 2021, the seminar will feature education newsmakers, including leaders, policy makers, researchers, practitioners and journalists. And it will offer practical data and other skills training.
Investigative Reporters: What to Do When The Story Changes
Three strategies for piloting journalistic projects through news and change.
It’s hard enough these days for journalists to get the time, resources and editorial support they need to pursue ambitious projects. So when the story changes, or news, of, say, a pandemic breaks, reporters may fear that their story and hard work will be abandoned.
But reporters who build good rapport with their editors, stay organized, and work out ways to incorporate new developments into their stories can save and even elevate their projects, according to teams of journalists from The Washington Post and APM Reports.
What Education Reporters Need to Know About the Science of COVID-19
As scientific understanding of the novel coronavirus continues to evolve, states, school systems, and higher education institutions must weigh what is known — and unknown — about the risks to guide decision-making. What’s the appropriate threshold to reopen or close schools? What safety precautions are most important on campuses? The list of questions goes on.