Schools across the U.S. will soon be able to order free rapid COVID tests from the federal government. The administration’s initiative will make available millions of tests for school districts as they enter the winter months — a time when COVID activity is expected to peak. Already, emergency department visits and wastewater data indicate that cases are climbing in the U.S. Schools can begin ordering tests in early December, the administration said. While there have…
At first, the provenance of the math problems was a mystery. The chalky, pastel words, numbers and symbols appeared on sidewalks near a small park in San Diego not long after the COVID-19 shutdown began. Families taking walks paused to ponder the patterns. They discussed possible solutions. They took photos to share with others. Within a few days, teacher Traci Jackson, who lives a few blocks away, started receiving messages from friends and neighbors. “Is…
This article on climate change is a repost from KQED. Are you a kid — or do you know a kid — who is learning about climate change? It can be hard to know where to start. So we made a guide about how it’s changing the planet and how to deal with the big feelings you might have when you hear about it. Click here to print a paper version of this comic at home or…
A distinct post-pandemic pattern is emerging across the nation’s schools: test scores and attendance are down, yet more students are earning high school diplomas. A new report from Washington, D.C., suggests bleak futures for many of these high school graduates, given the declining rate of college attendance and completion. The numbers are stark in a March 2023 report by the D.C. Policy Center, a nonpartisan research organization. Almost half the students in the district –…
Sidhi Dhanda is a 17-year-old junior at Hopkinton High School in Massachusetts who wrote the following piece to mark the fifth annual Student Press Freedom Day. The event is meant to call attention to the fact that student journalism faces barriers to reporting on key issues. Only 16 states have laws that protect the First Amendment rights of student journalists and that mitigate the effects of the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hazelwood School…
Many migrants, especially unaccompanied youth, face uncertain paths in detention and after their release in local communities. Schools are often the first and sometimes the only places they can turn for resources. Research shows that everyday educators have been left to deal with the aftermath of recent political charades, as well as a broken immigrant system, racialized immigration surveillance, deplorable detention facility conditions, and lack of access to educational and social resources for young people.…
Schools nationwide are cutting bus service to account for a widespread bus driver shortage—and students are paying the price by missing school more often. Those are the main takeaways from a report published this month from HopSkipDrive, a private school transportation provider. The report includes results from a nationally representative survey of school and district leaders, transportation directors, counselors, and other employees. More than two-thirds of survey respondents said they see a link between driver…
New research from Boston University’s Wheelock Education Policy Center finds that teacher diversity increased in Massachusetts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The racial and ethnic diversity of teachers hired for the 2020-2021 Massachusetts school year increased. This was particularly true in schools serving the state’s highest concentrations of Black and Latinx students, where roughly 41% of newly hired teachers were people of color. These increases combined with lower turnover among Black and Latinx teachers resulted in…
A national group that seeks to curb chronic absenteeism is sounding an alarm after finding that the number of chronically absent students continued to surge even as pandemic closings abated. The organization, Attendance Works, believes that the number of students missing at least 18 days of school a year doubled to 16 million in 2021-22 from 8 million students before the pandemic. If correct, this means that one out of every three public school children…
Voting is one of the primary ways we participate in our democracy, but it can be hard to know how to talk to kids about voting, especially during a contentious election season. Election Day is a great opportunity to help your kids understand how our country works—and to talk about the values you believe in (no matter who you’re casting your ballot for). Wondering how to get started? Try these seven tips for kicking off…
