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Q&A: How ed tech tools track kids online — and why parents should care
As technology becomes more and more ingrained in education — and as students become increasingly concerned about how their personal information is being collected and used — startling new research shows how schools have given for-profit tech companies a massive data portal into young people’s everyday lives. The report, led by researchers at the University of Chicago and...
By Mark Keierleber | September 22, 2023
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Soaring chronic absenteeism in California schools is at ‘pivotal moment’
As a new school year gets underway in California, districts are desperately trying to lure thousands of missing, tardy and truant students back to the classroom in what many view as a pivotal moment for education in California. In 2021-22, 30% of students in California’s public schools were chronically absent, an all-time high and more...
By Carolyn Jones, CalMatters | September 21, 2023
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Opinion: AI can grade a student essay as well as a human. But it cannot replace a teacher
Can computers be trained to give feedback on student writing as well as a human can? To assess essay elements like convincing evidence and well-crafted conclusions? I’ve been working on these questions for years together with a group of colleagues since long before the advent of ChatGPT. After working with hundreds of data scientists from...
By Perpetual Baffour | September 20, 2023
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Commentary: The future is STEM — but without enough students, the U.S. will be left behind
In 2022, the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering report sounded an alarm. The report showed that the United States is falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM fields. According to the foundation, America no longer produces the most science and engineering research publications — that’s China. We no longer produce the...
By Mark Schneider | September 19, 2023
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Q&A: Rock pioneer Steven Van Zandt on The Beatles, The Stones and challenging our ‘antiquated’ approach to school
Steven Van Zandt is not only one of the busiest men in show business. The composer, arranger, guitarist and longtime Bruce Springsteen sideman is also a transformational educator. A record producer and music historian, Van Zandt has been a member of two well-known rock bands: Springsteen’s legendary E Street Band and the influential Southside Johnny...
By Greg Toppo | September 18, 2023
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New data: School shootings surge to a record high — two years in a row
Despite heightened concerns about campus safety since the pandemic, in many ways America’s public schools are safer today than they were a decade ago, federal campus crime data released Wednesday reveal. Yet in one startling way, they’ve grown exponentially more dangerous: An unprecedented growth in school shootings. There were a record 188 school shootings resulting...
By Mark Keierleber | September 14, 2023
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KIPP middle and high school students have far higher college completion rates
A new study reveals vastly improved college enrollment and completion rates for students who attended both KIPP middle and high schools as compared to a similar group of children who applied for enrollment but were not selected in the network’s lottery system. KIPP middle and high school students were 31 percentage points more likely to...
By Jo Napolitano | September 13, 2023
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Enrollment continues to decline in LAUSD, a trend many large public school districts are also experiencing
Between the harsh winds of a hurricane and the hectic second week of school, Los Angeles Unified school district officials are hoping for one thing this year — higher enrollment. LAUSD, like other big city school districts such as New York City and Chicago, are now admitting 4-year-olds, a plan that will certainly help boost...
By Nova Blanco-Rico and Balin Schneider | September 12, 2023
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Opinion: Outraged over admissions policies at Harvard? Take a look at the public schools
Last week, I sat down and read the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, the landmark case that overturned many affirmative action policies at the nation’s elite universities. The case has generated significant outrage. The right was outraged that Harvard wants to use (and did use) race as a factor in its admissions decisions. The left...
By Tim DeRoche | September 11, 2023
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What Gen Z teens are asking about education, work and their future
Debates about education policy and the workplace are typically carried out by people far removed from high school classrooms. There’s good reason for that, since age and experience often bring clearer insights not visible to the young. But education today is in a time of disruption and transition. In many respects, it’s not meeting the...
By Bruno Manno | September 7, 2023