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As schools push for more tutoring, new research points to its effectiveness — and the challenge of scaling it to combat learning loss

During the two years that COVID-19 has upended school for millions of families, education leaders have increasingly touted one tool as a means of compensating for lost learning: personalized tutors. As a growing number of state and federal authorities pledge to make high-quality tutoring available to struggling students, a new study demonstrates positive, if modest, results from...
By Kevin Mahnken | February 7, 2022
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Pfizer requests FDA authorize COVID shots for kids under 5

Children under 5 years old may be eligible for coronavirus shots as soon as the end of February — much earlier than previously expected. On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they requested the Food and Drug Administration authorize a two-dose regimen of their vaccine for children under 5. Meanwhile, the companies will continue to research the...
By Asher Lehrer-Small | February 3, 2022
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Commentary: Young people facing challenges need schools & services to work together to support and nurture them as they build their futures

When I first saw West Side Story, one moment brought me back to my high school principal’s office. The Jets were singing, “We ain’t no delinquents, we’re misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good!” I could have said the same thing when my principal was suspending me for truancy. He told me I would never...
By Mishaela Durán | February 2, 2022
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As Omicron recedes, Los Angeles parents begin sending kids back to school in growing numbers

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Even as Omicron surged through Los Angeles early last month, Hilda Avila knew she would send her son back to his public middle school when classes resumed. “As a parent, it is my responsibility to teach my...
By Veronica Sierra | February 1, 2022
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Video: Former Mayor Villaraigosa talks with leading school advocates about movement to enshrine ‘quality education’ as a constitutional right

The U.S Constitution says nothing about education; none of the 25 amendments does either. In Minnesota, the home of former State Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, the state constitution — ratified in 1857 — only requires “a general and uniform system of public schools.” Page thinks the education provision is way overdue for an overhaul....
By LA School Report | January 31, 2022
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College Board announces streamlined, digital SAT as more universities go test-optional during pandemic

The SAT will be given to students virtually beginning next year, according to the College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns and administers the test. The change, revealed Tuesday morning, is designed to make the SAT easier to take during a period when hundreds of colleges and universities have dropped the test as an admissions...
By Kevin Mahnken | January 27, 2022
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Senior White House Education Advisor on how schools can access COVID testing to curb Omicron amid ‘supply crisis’

The Omicron surge may be peaking in some regions across the U.S., but schools are still buckling under the weight of high student and staff caseloads — and as school leaders labor to keep their doors open, many districts have found themselves running short on a relied-upon resource: COVID tests. There is a “COVID test...
By Asher Lehrer-Small | January 26, 2022
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‘Government speech’ or private prayer?: Supreme Court takes case of football coach fired over giving thanks after games

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of a Bremerton, Washington, high school football coach who was fired after he refused to stop holding post-game prayers on the field. Joseph Kennedy sued his school district in 2016, claiming officials denied him his constitutional right to religious freedom. The district said students felt pressured to...
By Linda Jacobson | January 25, 2022
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L.A. parents express 5 concerns about how LAUSD handled remote learning and other issues during the pandemic

Updated Jan. 26 This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Los Angeles families are divided along racial lines and income levels over how well the Los Angeles Unified School District handled remote learning and other issues during the pandemic, a new poll shows....
By Veronica Sierra | January 24, 2022
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From mask mandates to Omicron, Ed Secretary Cardona finishes a ‘very, very difficult’ first year

The former teacher gets high marks for building bridges to disenchanted educators and shepherding billions of dollars in federal relief funds to schools. But critics say his department has been slow to meet a fast-changing pandemic and reluctant to embrace a newly visible constituency: parents. When Education Secretary Miguel Cardona toured South Bend, Indiana’s Madison...
By Linda Jacobson | January 20, 2022