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To prevent principal exodus, new partnerships offer $20K stipends, therapy
Free therapy and professional coaching. $20,000 stipends. These are some of the incentives and supports aimed at preventing an exodus of principals and school administrators taking on pandemic stressors and the nation’s divisive climate. Focused on problem solving, self-care and leadership skills, a handful of nonprofits run by experienced educators have launched support and training...
By Marianna McMurdock | July 28, 2022
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‘Long road to recovery’: Math, reading scores remain below pre-pandemic levels
The nation’s students showed small signs of academic recovery during the 2021-22 school year, but high absenteeism, quarantines and short-term closures “thwarted hopes of a strong comeback,” new data shows. Overall, the findings — from 8.3 million students in 25,000 schools — “point to a long road to recovery still ahead,” wrote researchers from nonprofit...
By Linda Jacobson | July 26, 2022
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As COVID-era tutoring need outpaces supply, California nonprofit offers AI-powered alternative
CK-12, a nonprofit focused on pairing educational content with the latest technologies, has fully embraced artificial intelligence, giving students and teachers using its free learning system access to an AI-powered tutor dubbed Flexi. Employing artificial intelligence, CK-12 engineers programmed Flexi to act as a tutor, responding to math and science questions, testing students’ knowledge, helping...
By Tim Newcomb | July 25, 2022
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Nearly 70% of homeless students in Los Angeles Unified chronically absent last year
Jennifer Kottke has worked with LAUSD homeless and foster care youth for more than 20 years — but she has never seen chronic absenteeism among these students become the crisis it did during the pandemic. While nearly half of all LAUSD students were chronically absent during most of the the 2021-22 school year, the numbers...
By Rebecca Katz | July 19, 2022
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Advocates fear LA schools’ Wi-Fi partnership with AT&T may not be enough to bridge digital divide
A $50 million partnership between LAUSD and AT&T California to provide thousands of students with high speed internet access is drawing concern from advocates. When Los Angeles district schools went remote at the start of the pandemic, the school system’s digital divide was thrown into sharp relief — making clear many low income students lacked...
By Veronica Sierra | July 12, 2022
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New Study: Black, special ed students punished at greater rate through pandemic
Despite a dramatic decline in suspensions as students moved to remote learning during the pandemic, Black children and those in special education were disciplined far more often than white students and those in general education, according to a recent New York University study. The report also indicates students’ behavior may have worsened this past academic...
By Jo Napolitano | July 11, 2022
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Ex-teacher’s mission: Making sure ed tech really works in the classroom
Katie Boody Adorno taught middle school math for five years, both in the Kansas City Public Schools and as a founding teacher at Alta Vista Charter Middle School. It was there she realized that ed tech solutions weren’t all she had dreamed of and weren’t always ideal for her students. She wanted more say in...
By Tim Newcomb | July 7, 2022
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Harris poll: Education political driver for parents ahead of midterm elections
A survey of more than 5,000 parents released today found education ranks high among their concerns ahead of the critical midterm elections — and that 82% would vote for someone outside their party if the candidate’s education agenda matched their own. The survey was conducted electronically in May by The Harris Poll on behalf of...
By Jo Napolitano | July 6, 2022
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How libraries came to be sanctuaries for LGBTQ kids
In May 2021, as efforts to ban books on LGBTQ topics from school libraries were gaining political steam, “Two Grooms on a Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding” was published. It is a children’s story about Michael McConnell’s 1971 marriage to a man, which was upheld as legal by the U.S. Supreme Court...
By Beth Hawkins | June 29, 2022
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New Ken Burns PBS documentary offers raw look at the youth mental health crisis
When brothers Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers set out to film a documentary about the mental health struggles of American youth, they knew they were tackling a pervasive problem unspoken about for far too long. What they didn’t realize were the lessons they’d come to uncover about themselves. Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental...
By Mark Keierleber | June 27, 2022