Almost 1/3 of students who considered visiting a school counselor about out of school issues said they ended up not doing so because they didn't think their issues were "big enough to bother someone with" or they felt like they were being judged. 51% of students in they survey said if they seek help, they fear school staff might treat them differently.
Parents and teachers have expressed strong support for incorporating social-emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 schools. A recent poll shows that 94% of teachers say students do better in school when SEL is integrated into the classroom, and 2/3 of teachers said that over the past 2 years, a student or parent had requested mental health or social-emotional support.
In recent interviews, educators throughout the country have reported that children (especially Brown and Black children and those whose families are considered low-income) are behind academically and interventions are needed. Teachers say they aren't given enough resources to support individual support for these students. One solution being considered it to take a more developmental approach by moving away from rigid grade-level expectation and looking instead at the development continuum.
In today's world, education heavily relies on strong and reliable access to internet both at school and at home. This poses as a challenge due to the millions of students throughout the US who don't have access to internet at home, especially students of color who are disproportionately affected. There are three divides that cause the lack of availability; an absence of availability of local broadband infrastructure, the lack of affordable internet, and unequal access to devices.
The Harvey Mudd Homework Hotline is a free, phone-call center that helps guide K-12 students through methods and formulas so that callers can come to the right answer. This is just one of the many college-based homework hotlines available to K-12 students throughout the United States.
There has been an increase in liaisons in the Boston-area districts between families (mostly bi-lingual) and school districts. These assistants have been there to support families in many ways from large disasters like house fires to day-to-day activities. They are now assisting families in the transition from elementary school to middle school and several other education-related endeavors.
According to a new study by Amplify, 1 in 3 K-3 students will not be reading at grade level by the end of the year unless there are major interventions. This data and many other studies like it indicate a need for systemic intervention and creative solutions to close these gaps for kids.
In the past two years since the emergence of the pandemic, some states and districts began emphasizing the value of SEL for student success through social media and additional platforms. Experts recommend coordinating SEL with mental health support as part of an overall wellness program for students.
Deep analysis of data can help educators make informed decisions to address inequities in learning. Many districts, however, are plentiful in data, but don't know what to do with all of it. The need for tools to disaggregate data increases as districts collect more and more data and are seeking possible solutions to education-related inequity.
With project-based learning being a collaboration-focused practice, children tend to feel more comfortable and secure in sharing and academically challenging themselves. As students collaborate, classes begin to showcase their individual skills and how each person contributes. This allows students to learn how to work in a group while still enhancing their individual skills.
A study by Massey and colleagues indicates that when children have recess in a safe environment that includes positive interactions with adults, they have fewer problems with executive function and better behavior in the classroom. This can be supported by brain science which shows that aspects of recess decrease stress and improve executive function throughout the day.
Students are frustrated, stressed, and anxious this school year and are in need of additional support with their social-emotional and health needs. According to a survey, low student engagement is the most widespread problem teachers are dealing with.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has been promoting robust tutoring strategies, urging school districts to explore ways to get tutoring to their students that is cost-effective and scalable. Oftentimes, this type of support is out of reach for low-income families, but much of the budget from the American Rescue Plan will soon be released in hopes to aid in this issue.
Many Massachusetts childcare and early education centers will soon be given access to some of the state's supply of COVID-19 rapid tests. This is in effort to maintain the new "test-and-stay" program designed to allow classrooms to remain open during the pandemic.
A recent study finds that although schools are trying to accommodate both in-person and online learning, teachers are exhausted trying to manage both. Students are also showing that they are learning less through this hybrid approach, leading certain districts to split the two and allow for fully in-person and fully online learning to be done separately.
Participants from the Collaborating School Districts Initiative found ways to expand and sustain high-quality SEL programming despite cut-backs in local leadership and budget. Key recommendations from the report include the importance of forming communities of practice, setting goals, and measuring progress, in addition to recognizing that SEL is a journey.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are stretching into 2022 and will likely continue to affect schools for years to come. The follow 8 trends will be critical in the next few years: 1. addressing learning and enrollment loss 2. how schools communicate with stakeholders 3. continued unpredictability of education funding 4. meeting social-emotional and mental health needs of students 5. maintaining staff stability 6. internet access and cybersecurity 7. censorship in schools 8. education policy 'ping pong'
Texting parents has been proven to be an easy and inexpensive way to communicate student attendance and decrease absences. Research shows that texting about attendance is more effective if messages include more information and provide motivation to parents.
The Covid-19 pandemic has tremendously impacted students' learning throughout the United States. Research conducted by Stanford University indicates that there has been significant learning loss in both math and reading for students, making it more important than ever for educators to create a comprehensive learning plan to combat further decline in the future.
"Reading Recovery" was considered one of the breakout stars of the federal investing in innovation program after a study found the literacy program helped struggling first graders gain significant ground in reading. However, new findings show that by third or fourth grade, former Reading Recovery students performed much worse than their peers who didn't participate in the program. Reading Recovery has shown significant benefits in prior students, but can be the most expensive to maintain.
