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In March Madness social mobility women’s tourney, Sac State wins big
For the last six years, I have drawn up a parallel bracket that plots the winners and losers in the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament — aka March Madness — not by how the schools have done on the court, but by how well they have made upward mobility possible for their students. Now, for the first...
By Jorge Klor de Alva | March 23, 2023
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Analysis: As schools close for 3-day walkout, could L.A. strike accelerate learning loss?
The vast majority of Los Angeles Unified School District employees will not be at work for most of this week, leading to the closure of schools. SEIU Local 99, which represents 30,000 support workers, called a strike because of what it calls unfair labor practices by the district. United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents 32,000...
By Mike Antonucci | March 21, 2023
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Flores: LAUSD’s workers deserve more — and the city’s 420,000 public school students deserve better
No worker in America should succumb to poverty-wages, be denied health care, or experience homelessness. And no child should be the victim of labor disputes. But that is exactly what is happening in Los Angeles – and the temptation is to pick sides as we see the tensions play out between SEIU and LAUSD. But...
By Yolie Flores | March 20, 2023
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If March Madness were about social mobility, UC Santa Barbara would be making the Final Four
Once again, March Madness has taken hold of much of the nation as this month’s NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament gets off the ground. As we have done over the past six years, we take this opportunity, when the nation is focused on figuring out which colleges produce the best basketball teams, to examine...
By Jorge Klor de Alva | March 16, 2023
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Analysis: Elementary educators must understand science in order to teach it
Imagine a classroom of curious elementary students grasping clipboards, eager to conduct an experiment to see if the small car they built can protect their egg “passenger” in a head-on collision. It’s a lesson that not only reinforces their understanding of engineering design, but also offers practical examples of physics in action. And it’s fun....
By Heather Peske | March 14, 2023
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Commentary: Well-trained teachers, hands-on lessons, quality tests: Fixing science education
Americans are skeptical of science. Public ambivalence has shown itself clearly in concerns over the safety and necessity of vaccines and in the dismissal of public health guidance designed to curtail the spread of COVID-19. None of this is surprising, given the anemic state of science education in the U.S. Far too many young people...
By Margaret Honey | March 13, 2023
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3 steps school districts can take to address the student mental health crisis
The nation’s schools are facing a crisis. The pandemic slowed student learning, and schools and families are eager to see academic improvement as quickly as possible. Access to trained school counselors can help students succeed in their classes, but there are too few counselors supporting too many kids with too varied challenges. This problem predates...
By Laura Smith | March 8, 2023
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How schools and programs around the country are making teaching more diverse
As a little girl growing up in El Salvador, Aracely Valdes loved school and dreamed of becoming a teacher. Yet, when she enrolled in the Fort Worth, Texas, public schools at age 15, a new immigrant who spoke no English, the path to fulfilling her dream was far from clear. Then, in her final year...
By Lynn Olson | March 2, 2023
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Opinion: Ye, Kyrie Irving show why schools need to teach Black history of the Holocaust
The past year has seen several prominent Black celebrities making anti-semitic remarks. Rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) proclaimed in an interview with Alex Jones, “I like Hitler … I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.” Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving promoted on social media a film that included elements of Holocaust denial. Whoopi Goldberg stated...
By Jessica Trisko Darden | February 9, 2023
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Analysis: Schools have been adding teachers even as they serve fewer students, federal data show
Just before the winter holidays, the National Center for Education Statistics released new data on school staffing in the 2021-22 academic year. The data are provisional, but they represent the best look yet at how school staffing levels have changed over the course of the pandemic. As I forecast in September, the new data show that schools have been...
By Chad Aldeman | February 2, 2023