For a few weeks in the spring of 2016, nearly all the eighth grade students at a small public school affiliated with Columbia University agreed to stay late after school to study math. They were preparing for a critical test, the New York State’s Regents examination in algebra. Half of the kids came from families that lived below the poverty line in Harlem and upper Manhattan. They attended a selective middle school and were advanced…
While active shooter drills have become common practice across much of the country, some experts and parents worry they may do more harm than good, particularly if they involve simulation. One of those critics is Dr. David Schonfeld, director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. He spoke to NPR’s Steve Inskeep about how high-intensity drills can harm students’ mental health, and shared what alternatives he would…
Since 1990, the U.S. government has designated the month of May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, celebrating the heritage, achievements, and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States. The month of May was chosen to mark the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States on May 7, 1843, as well as the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.…
Last fall, one of Chanea Bond’s ninth grade students told her that he was going to “SOB” next semester. She was confused. A quick Google search didn’t yield a definition that made sense to Bond. So, she asked her student to clarify. The answer? He was going to ‘stand on business,’ a slang term used to express a person’s promise to take care of their responsibilities. This semester, Bond, who teaches in North Texas, created…
Many children have trouble paying attention in class at some point in their academic career. When this happens, especially with young students, it leaves parents wondering why their child can’t focus—and whether he or she could have a learning difficulty. It’s important to know that not every student who has a hard time focusing in school has a learning difficulty such as ADD or ADHD. In some cases, the concentration issues children have in school…
Dyslexia presents itself in various ways, but a student’s age strongly factors into the symptoms teachers may observe. Students with dyslexia in grades K-5 struggle to remember letter names and sounds. Recognizing sight words also poses a problem. When reading aloud, these students may substitute words and confuse letters with similar appearances or sounds. For example, students commonly mix up the letters b and d. Students in grades 6-12 may have a hard time recalling…
When your child is younger, you as a parent have a lot of control over his social life, selecting whom he should interact with, the length of the interaction and where the interaction takes place. That changes when your child reaches school age. Suddenly, these decisions about friendships— with whom to be friends, how much time to spend with a friend and how to spend that time together — are made largely on his own…
It is never too early to start practicing good money habits–in fact, the earlier teenagers are exposed to financial education, the better the chance they will become financially savvy. This is an important life lesson in general, but especially if college is on the horizon for your teenager. Becoming a college student is probably one of the most exciting and immediate milestones for high school students; teenagers feel a sense of freedom, and it’s often…
At its core, active learning relies on a collaborative, student-centered approach. As Vanderbilt University professor Cynthia J. Brame explains, “active learning approaches also often embrace the use of cooperative learning groups, a constructivist-based practice that places particular emphasis on the contribution that social interaction can make.” One would think that students embrace such a model, but an unexpected complication of creating a learning environment around active methods is sometimes a show of student resistance. After…
What is economics? An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations? The task of managing a household? The study of man in the ordinary business of life? When theorists and philosophers through the ages have offered very different definitions, how are parents meant to define economics for kids when they ask? Your children might well be wondering about the economy, right now. The current cost of living crisis means the state…
