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After year of ‘peril’ for democracy, scholars release new framework for history and civics in schools

2020 was the year that U.S. history, and clashing perspectives on it from left and right, became a campaign issue. First, President Trump and his fellow Republicans attacked the New York Times’s controversial 1619 Project, accusing its authors of dishonestly tearing down American ideals in a history curriculum that has been adopted in thousands of...
By Kevin Mahnken | March 3, 2021
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Influx of unaccompanied minors along southern border could pose test for schools

Thousands of English language learners could be headed for American public schools in the coming months due to recent changes in U.S. immigration policy and devastating natural disasters in Central and South America. Their arrival could pose a challenge for local school systems, particularly poor districts that might not have enough teachers or space to...
By Jo Napolitano | March 2, 2021
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A pre-COVID education study with big implications for remote learning during the pandemic: When parents take over, children give up easier

* One lace loops to make the trunk. A squirrel runs around the tree, jumps into a hole at the bottom, and comes out the other side. Pull it though and… huzzah! * Teaching a child to tie their shoes isn’t always easy. If you’ve embarked on this painstaking task, watching as little fingers fumble...
By Asher Lehrer-Small | March 1, 2021
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Virtual art classes, outdoor vocational programs: How jails and prisons are evolving amid the pandemic

This article, which originally appeared at The Marshall Project, is being co-published here via the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. When his father died last year of an overdose, Rodney Watson thought he would miss the funeral and his last chance to say...
By Keri Blakinger, The Marshall Project | February 25, 2021
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Blatz: Biden must make student loan forgiveness a priority — not just for graduates, but for the economy and for long-term fairness

There is a lot of talk about student loan debt forgiveness right now, but this is actually less about canceling debt and more about investing in workers and the economy while developing sustainable solutions to underlying, systemic problems. Education is a fundamental driver of economic development because it is all about investing in people, and...
By Jennifer Blatz | February 24, 2021
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Learning loss in California: New analysis digs into how students — particularly English learners — are falling behind during the pandemic

When leading assessment providers released data in November on pandemic-related learning loss, the news wasn’t as dreadful as some had predicted. But new attempts to dig deeper into the results from two states now show that many students, particularly those in the elementary grades, have made far less progress than they would have in a...
By Linda Jacobson | February 23, 2021
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Student survey: 1 in 4 high school seniors had their post-graduation plans changed by the pandemic

COVID-19 is changing what students plan to do after high school, with those more affected by the pandemic more likely to have altered their post-graduation expectations, a new student survey reveals. One in four high school seniors said their postsecondary plans had changed since the start of the pandemic, an increase from 18 percent of...
By Laura Fay | February 22, 2021
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An educator’s view: Virtual teaching takes work. 5 remote learning lessons from an online high school principal

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many educators learned very quickly that online learning takes work. In the spring, teachers and administrators had to take on the near-impossible task of moving all their classes and interactions online with no warning. Fall brought its own uncertainties, as districts around the country struggled to reconcile the need to...
By Megan Bowen | February 18, 2021
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Developing: Los Angeles teachers union decries new CDC guidelines on reopening schools, demands teachers and school staff be vaccinated before returning to classrooms

Shortly after the Centers for Disease Control unveiled new federal guidance surrounding reopening schools for in-person learning — guidance that prioritizes masking and social distancing as key strategies and outlines a new color-coded system for measuring surrounding community spread — the union representing more than 35,000 Los Angeles teachers pushed back against the suggestion that...
By LA School Report | February 17, 2021
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Inside the new CDC guidance on reopening classrooms: Masks and social distancing key safety strategies, vaccinations not a precondition for in-person learning

Students — even those in high school — can return to classrooms full time in communities with low to moderate spread of COVID-19 as long as schools enforce universal mask wearing and 6 feet of distance between students, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in updated school reopening guidance. The agency also...
By Linda Jacobson | February 16, 2021