Families across the world have been troubled by the news and images from Russia’s invasion and the war in Ukraine. When our children turn to us to help them understand scary news, we might feel afraid of saying too much—or not enough—and so avoid a conversation that could be a powerful way to help children learn about themselves and the world. Here’s what a handful of child development experts say about what parents, teachers, and…
Recent world events have been unsettling and heartbreaking, especially for refugee and immigrant families. At the start of the year, 1,500 Afghani refugees arrived in Massachusetts for relocation. The invasion of Ukraine resulted in more than 2 million refugees fleeing the country in the past weeks. Currently, there are also 20k Ukrainian families living in Massachusetts, and research indicates that the rates of PTSD (50-90%) and major depressive disorder (6-40%) in refugee children and adolescents…
The Massachusetts school mask mandate officially ended Monday, but some districts, including in the state’s largest cities of Boston, Worcester and Springfield, have decided to keep indoor mask mandates for students and staff in place for the time being. Governor Charlie Baker and state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced early in February that they were lifting the statewide indoor mask mandate effective Feb. 28, but individual school districts could decide on their own masking requirements.…
2021 featured an unprecedented number of weather disasters in the United States, including a deep freeze in Texas, bouts of scorching temperatures in the normally temperate Pacific Northwest, a continuation of severe wildfires in California, and historic flooding in the New York area from Hurricane Ida. Today’s children are likely to live through more severe weather events; one study estimates children who are currently 6 years old will experience, on average, three times the number…
Many school districts, and many parents, say they don’t want classrooms to close again, but can American public schools really handle omicron? Several major school systems have said they would not shift districtwide to remote learning, or would do so only if forced to by public health officials. But the looming Omicron wave could challenge the rickety infrastructure that has kept schools running this year. Some classrooms are closing temporarily, as more people test positive…
Most years, we might have wished that education was more present in the news. This year, though, gave truth to the old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Here are the best and worst pieces of education news in 2021, listed in no order of importance. The obvious choice for worst piece of education news: the COVID-19 pandemic that sickened and killed countless numbers of our students and members of their families, along with…
As the omicron variant rapidly spreads, more colleges are adopting policies to discourage—or in some cases ban—students from being on campus in January. Generally, the colleges that are acting start up the first week in January. Institutions with later starts tend to be waiting to decide. DePaul, Harvard and Stanford University students won’t have in-person classes the first weeks of the semester, those universities announced; Pennsylvania State University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and…
The number of school disruptions due to COVID-19, including school closures early ahead of the holiday break or announcing temporary returns to virtual learning next week, is on the rise – nearing the total number of disruptions recorded in late August, when schools were struggling to reopen against the backdrop of the delta variant. The increased interruptions, as reported by Burbio, which has been tracking school responses to the coronavirus, is due to both increasing…
The vaccination of children ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19 is well under way. California has become the first state to announce that it will add this vaccine to its list of the shots required for all school children, and a handful of districts in 14 states are making similar moves, starting with vaccine mandates for student-athletes to participate in sports. Because almost every child attends school, vaccine mandates have been uniquely effective against diseases like…
In the wake of the pandemic, which shined a spotlight on the essential nature of early childhood education and care, universal kindergarten is poised to become a reality in California. Championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and several lawmakers, the $2.7 billion universal kindergarten program will be gradually phased in over the next five years, until it includes all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year. Currently, transitional kindergarten, or TK, serves about 100,000 children,…
