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Critics call ‘consumer reports’ of school curriculum slow to adapt to science of reading
When Tami Morrison, a teacher and mom from outside Youngstown, Ohio, discovered Superkids, she thought she’d found the perfect way to help young children learn to read. Kids like her daughter Clara, a second grader, glommed on to its rich characters; she’s especially fond of Lily, who wears her black hair in a short bob...
By Linda Jacobson | May 20, 2024
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Report: State by state, how segregation legally continues 7 decades post-Brown
Seventy years after the Supreme Court outlawed separating public school children by race, a new report breathes life into an old question: how the most coveted public schools are able to legally exclude all but the most privileged families. In the first of its kind state-by-state breakdown by nonprofits Available to All and Bellwether Education,...
By Marianna McMurdock | May 16, 2024
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What’s the right goal for student achievement? Is 50% proficiency enough? 63%?
New York City districts with above-average reading scores have asked for flexibility from Chancellor David Banks’s new literacy curriculum mandates. This raises an important question for school leaders nationwide: What’s the right goal for student achievement? Is 50% of students reading and writing proficiently good enough? Is 63%? What is the right number? Edwin Locke...
By David Wakelyn | May 15, 2024
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Who you know: Social capital is key for first-gen students’ career success
A growing New York nonprofit is using a newly released report to cement data around the axiom that social capital — or who you know — is key for first-generation college graduates searching for their first job. The report by Basta, an organization that connects first-generation college graduates with careers, tracks the experiences of young...
By Lauren Wagner | May 9, 2024
Schools After COVID: 6 Ways For Districts to Better Engage Parents Amid Concerns About COVID Learning Loss
74 Interview: Why Social Media is Being Blamed for the Youth Suicide Crisis
Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss
Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States
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LA’s charter school wars are headed to court. Here’s what’s at stake
The California Charter Schools Association last month filed a lawsuit against LA Unified over its controversial new policy barring charters from using classrooms in certain district school buildings. It’s unclear if the CCSA will prevail in court, but the suit is already making an impact on the nation’s second-largest district. LAUSD’s new colocation rules were...
By Ben Chapman | May 8, 2024
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Can school choice improve civil society? New study shows it can
Looking at our country in 2024, it seems like Americans can barely talk to each other anymore, much less understand and navigate differences to come up with solutions that benefit us all. Heading into another election cycle, everyone from talking heads on television to community leaders are worrying about bringing American adults together. But it’s...
By Denisha Allen | May 7, 2024
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How well do schools, families communicate? Study sees parent-district disconnect
A few weeks ago, many were pointing out the four-year anniversary of the last “normal” week of our lives. Some pandemic-era reflections acknowledged the “silver linings” like more time with family, flexible work arrangements, gratitude for one’s health. With respect to education, however, it’s harder to find such perspectives, as stunted K-12 academic achievement poses...
By Jon Deane | May 6, 2024
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Survey: Many Gen Zers say school lacks ‘sense of purpose’ and isn’t ‘motivating’
Pursuing her passion for a career in medicine, California high schooler Ella Mayor found fulfillment working as a part-time pharmacy technician — tapping into skills she could never practice in school. Mayor, a 12th grade student at Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley, said she is often just going through the motions in her...
By Joshua Bay | May 2, 2024
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5 questions schools and universities should ask before they purchase AI tech products
Every few years, an emerging technology shows up at the doorstep of schools and universities promising to transform education. The most recent? Technologies and apps that include or are powered by generative artificial intelligence, also known as GenAI. These technologies are sold on the potential they hold for education. For example, Khan Academy’s founder opened...
By George Veletsianos, The Conversation | May 1, 2024
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LAUSD schools roll out science of reading and training, state lawmakers reject mandate
Los Angeles Unified is pushing ahead with district-wide lesson plans based on the science of reading even after state lawmakers rejected legislation requiring the curriculum. About half of the 434 elementary schools in the nation’s second-largest school system have already adopted lessons aligned to the phonics-based science of reading, according to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. The...
By Ben Chapman | April 30, 2024