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‘Battle of the Minds’: Students compete in LAUSD’s 43rd Decathlon
The gym was silent as the next question was presented. Each team gathered at their station, and each member focused intently, while spectators in the stands quietly whispered to themselves trying to decipher the answer. This was the scene at LA Unified’s annual Academic Decathlon held last month — where students spend countless hours training...
By Kailee Bryant | March 26, 2024
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Stress leading cause why Black and Latino students leave college
A new report has found Black and Latino students continue to be more likely than their white peers to leave postsecondary education even as college enrollment has slowly increased since the pandemic. The report from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation surveyed more than 14,000 respondents in the fall of 2023 — including about 6,000 enrolled...
By Joshua Bay | March 25, 2024
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Opinion: Americans have yet to accept COVID’s tragedy — and are taking it out on schools
In my District of Columbia neighborhood, everything pretty much ground to a halt on Friday, March 13, 2020. My kid won the school’s bilingual spelling bee in a crowded auditorium buzzing with speculation that the school probably wasn’t reopening next week. Hours later, an announcement from administrators confirmed it: our pandemic had begun. By March...
By Conor Williams | March 22, 2024
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March Madness: If the tournament celebrated colleges for moving grads up the income ladder, both California State University Long Beach & San Diego State would make the Sweet 16
With all that’s going wrong around the world, and given the nation’s increasing disillusionment with higher education, it is a special treat for basketball fans to be able to turn their attention to March Madness. For us, it’s time to celebrate athletes and their schools by turning our attention to our alternative bracket to the...
By Jorge Klor de Alva | March 21, 2024
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Meet the STEM Superstars: Four inspiring teen inventors who set out to tackle cancer, anxiety, suicide & more
Thursday is officially Pi Day, offering Americans the annual opportunity to geek out over math, geometry and all things STEM. (It’s also recently become #DressForSTEM Day, celebrating women in science — more on that below) In honor of 3.14, we recently canvassed the country, searching out STEM students with noteworthy projects and inventions. You can...
By LA School Report | March 20, 2024
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New California legislation would mandate ‘science of reading’ to improve child literacy
With a majority of California third graders unable to read at grade level, proposed legislation would mandate teachers use the phonics-based science of reading. Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and 13 co-authors have proposed a bill that would update the state’s English curriculum with the science of reading – research that has found the best...
By Angelina Hicks | March 19, 2024
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On-the-job training prevails as students’ disinterest in college grows
A new study has found more than 80 percent of high schoolers value on-the-job training over other postsecondary options, including a four-year degree — laying bare students’ interest in immediate employment and disdain for a college education. The study, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, surveyed more than 1,700 high school juniors and seniors, with 83 percent saying...
By Joshua Bay | March 18, 2024
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Journalist Natasha Alford on race, identity & her new memoir, ‘American Negra’
In Natasha Sonia Alford’s newly released memoir, American Negra, she describes an early childhood memory of being the new kid at school: “What are you?” another student asked. “I’m Puerto Rican and Black,” she responded, noting these were “the only words I had at the time to explain my identity in terms that made...
By Amanda Geduld | March 14, 2024
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Job focused community college programs grow — but grim transfer trend continues
A new report has found community college enrollment grew nationwide — but few students are transferring to four-year institutions as their interest in immediate employability rises. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found community colleges led overall undergraduate enrollment growth in the fall of 2023 by 2.6 percent, or 118,000 students, compared to the previous...
By Joshua Bay | March 13, 2024
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Parent poll: It’s the economy — not culture wars— worrying them & cell phones OK
This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox. Parents from across the political spectrum support providing public funds directly to families for resources like tutoring, internet access and mental health care, according to a...
By Amanda Geduld | March 12, 2024