Social & Education News, Opinion & Analysis Darke County Ohio

Social & Education News, Analysis & Opinion
The views expressed on this page are solely those of the author and do not

necessarily represent the views of County News Online

EdSurge… Virtual Office Hours Get More Students in the Door. Will They Be Here to Stay? By Rebecca Koenig - Oct 22, 2020 - From professors to advisers to career counselors, colleges employ many people responsible for coaching students on how to meet their goals. But students don’t always take advantage of opportunities to receive this personalized guidance. Now that the pandemic has pushed many of these meetings into virtual spaces, though, some faculty... read more.

DA District Administration… Are millions of students really missing school? By: Matt Zalaznick
October 22, 2020 - As many as 3 million of the country’s most marginalized students may not have returned to school—online or in-person—since the COVID closures in March, a new analysis suggests. English-language learners, homeless and disabled students, and children in foster care are among the groups that have had the most trouble accessing school since... read more.

Center for American Progress… 5 Interesting Ways Governors Are Spending CARES Act GEER Funds on Higher Education, By Bradley D. Custer - October 26, 2020 - Tucked into March’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was $3 billion for governors to spend on educational institutions hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as Congress remains mired in debates over whether to award additional stimulus, recently... read more.

Education Dive… Relationships, equity remain essential for curriculum to connect in remote learning, Roger Riddell - Oct. 28, 2020 - Dive Brief: Focusing on relationships with students, families and staff is key to making curriculum connect in remote learning, education consultant Brianna Hodges and Future Ready Schools Director of Innovation Thomas Murray, who share a keynote at the 2021 Future of Education Technology Conference, tell District... read more.

Education Dive… How are educators keeping young students engaged online? Lauren Barack
Oct. 28, 2020 - Dive Brief: It’s been a challenge to shift kindergarten online, as that particular year of school is a huge leap for young students discovering not only how to actually be in school — and all that entails — but also developing new skills such as learning how to read, Edutopia reports. But there are steps educators can take to ease the transition, both to school and... read more.

NPR Ed… Are The Risks Of Reopening Schools Exaggerated? Anya Kamanetz
October 21, 2020 - Despite widespread concerns, two new international studies show no consistent relationship between in-person K-12 schooling and the spread of the coronavirus. And a third study from the United States shows no elevated risk to childcare workers who stayed on the job. Combined with anecdotal reports from a number of U.S. states where... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Students who counted on work-study jobs now struggle to pay their bills, By Matt Krupnick - October 22, 2020 - The 20 hours a week Perla Ortiz worked in the St. Edward’s University admissions office last year was the glue that kept her academic life together. Paid through the federal work-study program, the $1,500 she earned per semester covered the cost of books, groceries and other necessities. Now admissions has gone virtual because of Covid-19... read more.

EdSurge… K-12 Class Sizes Have Ballooned With Online Learning. It’s Not a Good Thing. By Stephen Noonoo - Oct 21, 2020 - When leaders at Megan Claffey’s Colorado district decided to give parents a choice between online and hybrid learning, they didn’t expect many to choose the all-online option. But instead of the 100 or so families they had planned for, more than 2,800 opted to keep their kids home full time. Without an influx of new teachers, Claffey and her... read more.

Education Dive… Pandemic has shaken colleges' future enrollment prospects: survey, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Oct. 19, 2020 - Dive Brief: More than half of college enrollment officers said in a recent survey they expect the pandemic to significantly affect how they build their applicant pools going forward. The National Association for College Admission Counseling, in conjunction with software company Salesforce, surveyed nearly 400 admissions officers in... read more.

Education Dive… Ed Dept civil rights data shows restraint, seclusion, sexual assault on the rise, Kara Arundel - Oct. 20, 2020 - A bevy of statistics about school enrollment, discipline practices, academic offerings and more from the 2017-18 school year was released by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights as part of the biennial Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The self-reported collection from 17,604 public school districts... read more.

Education Dive… Principals get candid about COVID-19's toll on students and teachers, Kara Arundel - Oct. 23, 2020 - Dive Brief: Principals’ greatest COVID-19-related concerns right now center on overwhelmed teachers, tight budgets and equity in instruction, according to school leaders who spoke during a virtual Capitol Hill briefing Oct. 22 hosted by the American Federation of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals... read more.

Deep Dive… The fight to vote: 4 ways to weave 100 years of women's suffrage into curricula, Lauren Barack - Oct. 14, 2020 - Teri Finneman is not a fan of history textbooks that reduce the women’s suffrage movement to a few stories about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. To Finneman, an expert of suffrage history and an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kansas, the history is a rich stew of protest and struggle — one that... read more.

Education Dive… 3 COVID-19 education trends set to persist post-pandemic, Kara Arundel
Oct. 19, 2020 - When the pandemic is over, there will be COVID-19-related practices many school administrators will happily like to see vanish and never return, such as mask wearing and social distancing. But there are some new or refined activities that — while forced upon the education world due to COVID-19 — should have staying power because they have the... read more.

The Daily Signal… We Must Return to Normal as Soon as Possible, David Schweikert
October 13, 2020 - All of us are trying to get used to the “new normal.” For some, it may be that be your company issued a work-from-home extension to 2021. Or it could be changing the majority of your medical appointments to use telemedicine or increasing the number of delivery services you use. Many aspects of our lives have drastically changed because of the COVID-19... read more.

EdSurge… Can Your Students Tell the Difference Between Fact and Fiction? By Kimberly Rues
Oct 20, 2020 - Information flies by in our social media feeds, pops into our private messages and invades our inboxes. Sometimes I feel like I can’t even keep up. On more than one occasion, I’ve shared something, then had to walk it back. I know better, and yet I still fail to be a critical consumer of information. How, then, can we do better when so much is... read more.

The Atlantic… America Will Sacrifice Anything for the College Experience, by Ian Bogost
Oct. 20, 2020 - American colleges botched the pandemic from the very start. Caught off guard in the spring, most of them sent everyone home in a panic, in some cases evicting students who had nowhere else to go. School leaders hemmed and hawed all summer about what to do next and how to do it. In the end, most schools reopened their campuses for the fall, and... read more.

Washington Post… The Meaning of a College Literature Class - During a Pandemic and Always, By Carlo Rotella - Oct. 20, 2020 - The first day of class has an immemorial feel to it, an air of familiar routines eternally renewed. It’s just about noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, the start of spring semester. I am standing at the front of the room behind a table with a lectern on it. The 34 students, all freshmen, are seated in rows before me. They’re expectant, a little nervous... read more.

Deep Dive… Colleges look to OPMs as pandemic intensifies shift online, Natalie Schwartz
Oct. 20, 2020 - Simmons University, in Massachusetts, told students earlier this year it would create online versions of hundreds of undergraduate courses for the fall term. School officials billed the move as a way to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic while growing its online footprint. But it didn't take on the task alone. To aid the transition, the private university tapped... read more.

Education Dive… Which associate degrees give students a bargain? Natalie Schwartz
Oct. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: Some associate-level programs have similar or better returns on investment than more advanced degrees in other fields one year after graduation, according to a new report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW). The report points to some nursing and STEM degrees, in particular, as having high value... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Getting rid of gifted programs: Trying to teach students at all levels together in one class, By Rachel Blustain - October 14, 2020 - ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. — It was 7:58 a.m., and Bruce Hecker’s 12th grade English class at South Side High School had the focused attention of a college seminar, with little chitchat or sluggishness despite the early hour. Students discussed the relevance of Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible... read more.

Education Dive… How 2- and 4-year colleges can boost spring enrollment, Natalie Schwartz
Oct. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: Two- and four-year colleges can use several tactics to help grow their spring enrollment, higher education experts say. Community colleges should increase marketing and emphasize their flexible class times, while four-year schools can remove enrollment barriers for transfer students, they suggested. Preliminary reports show undergraduate... read more.

Education Dive… Is it safe for colleges to send students home for winter break? Hallie Busta
Oct. 16, 2020 - Dive Brief: Residential colleges holding classes in-person this fall should take precautions when sending students home for winter break, including testing them for the coronavirus, public health experts say. Many institutions that brought students back to campus planned to end in-person instruction around Thanksgiving. But some had to move classes online... read more.

Education Dive… College enrollment declines deepen, Hallie Busta
Oct. 15, 2020 - Dive Brief: Undergraduate enrollment is running further behind last year's levels than earlier data indicated, according to an update from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The center pegged undergraduate enrollment down 4% year-over-year as of Sept. 24, compared to a 2.5% lag as of Sept. 10. The latest report has data from 54% of the... read more.

Brookings… Ending corporal punishment of preschool-age children, Marie Falcone, Diana Quintero, and Jon Valant - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - Over the last several years, education policymakers and school leaders have worked to rein in excessively punitive school discipline practices. Motivated by concerns about disproportionality in discipline rates and the consequences of harsh discipline, they have limited the use of suspension and expulsion, especially for... read more.

Education Dive… Secondary school suspensions cost some districts over a year of instruction, Kara Arundel - Oct. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: A new analysis of middle and high school out-of-school suspension data shows Black students were suspended at much higher rates than White students, according to a report by The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project, produced in collaboration with the Learning Policy Institute. The... read more.

Washington Post… With students — and covid-19 — on campuses, college towns look on warily, By Karin Brulliard - Oct. 1, 2020 - As the novel coronavirus surged in Georgia this summer, aggressive efforts by the city of Athens to curb transmission — with the state’s first local shelter-in-place order and its second mask mandate — looked to be paying off. Case numbers were among the lowest in the state, and hopes were rising that schoolchildren in one... read more.

Education Dive… Colleges' coronavirus testing strategies inconsistent: analysis, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Oct. 6, 2020 - Dive Brief: Only a quarter of colleges that enroll more than 5,000 undergraduates and are offering in-person classes are testing for the coronavirus on a mass scale or randomly screening students, a new analysis finds. NPR, working with the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College, which tracks institutional responses to... read more.

NPR Ed… Homeless Families Struggle With Impossible Choices As School Closures Continue, Cory Turner - October 7, 2020 - The closure of school buildings in response to the coronavirus has been disruptive and inconvenient for many families, but for those living in homeless shelters or hotel rooms — including roughly 1.5 million school-aged children — the shuttering of classrooms and cafeterias has been disastrous. Fo... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Know, Secure, Dispose—To Prevent Teen Prescription Drug Abuse! - October 24th is National Prescription Drug Takeback Day; a day to rid our medicine cabinets of unused, unwanted, and expired over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Here’s why: The most common way young people get their hands on prescription medications for misuse is to simply reach into their home or a grandparent’s medicine cabinet. Prescription medicines are one... read more.

Education Dive… Dipping enrollment, funding implications worrying district leaders, Shawna De La Rosa - Oct. 13, 2020 - Dive Brief: Public school enrollment is dropping in both large and small districts, NPR reports, with enrollment at the kindergarten level down an average of 16%. The trend is consistent across low-income, affluent, urban and rural districts, marking a reversal of the slow, steady increase in public school enrollment over the last 15 years. Enrollment... read more.

Washington Post… On campus with the coronavirus: An oral history of the strangest semester ever, By Paulina Firozi, Hannah Knowles, Reis Thebault - October 11, 2020 - It was the second Wednesday of the first month back on campus, just weeks into the weirdest semester on record, when one dorm’s residents received an email that might have marked the beginning of the end. The University of Virginia was about to confront the biggest threat yet to its... read more.

Education Dive… IEPs altered to reflect distance learning service changes, but at cost to schools, Kara Arundel - Oct. 6, 2020 - When schools closed to in-person learning in the spring, some individualized supports for students with disabilities were easily transitioned to remote or virtual learning. But other services were harder to adapt to new learning formats due to the specific interventions that require physical or behavioral supports and other intensive... read more.

Hechinger Report… Strapped for students, colleges finally begin to clear transfer logjam, By Jon Marcus - October 9, 2020 - When Covid-19 threw higher education into chaos, Lebanon Valley College quietly took a small step with big implications. The private college near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, promised that the general education courses taken by any student transferring from another accredited institution would count toward a degree — something that... read more.

The 74 Million… As Schools Impose Mask Rules to Slow Pandemic’s Spread, Disability-Rights Advocates Caution Against Strict Enforcement, By Mark Keierleber - October 7, 2020 - Long before the pandemic closed campuses, children with disabilities were subjected to harsh school discipline far more frequently than their peers without special needs. But now, as districts return to in-person learning with a long list of public health rules like... read more.

The Hechinger Report… A padlocked drinking fountain, tree stump seats and a caution-taped library: See how the coronavirus has transformed schools, By Neal Morton - October 6, 2020 - The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. In Florida and Wisconsin, schools have padlocked or sealed drinking fountains... read more.

DA District Administration, 4 self-determination skills to build during remote instruction, By: Cara Nissman - October 6, 2020 - The self-determination skills of students with disabilities may lag while they engage in periods of remote learning as the pandemic continues. But to be ready for postsecondary transition, students have to have opportunities to make their own decisions and achievements. “Like any set of skills, self-determination requires practice,” says Kaitlyn... read more.

Education Dive… Faculty confidence in online learning grew this summer, survey finds, Natalie Schwartz - Oct. 6, 2020 - Dive Brief: Nearly half (49%) of college faculty members view online learning as an effective method of teaching, according to an August survey of more than 3,600 instructors from Tyton Partners, an investment bank and consulting firm that covers the education sector. That's up 10 percentage points from faculty members surveyed by... read more.

Edutopia… Using Retakes to Nurture Growth Mindset, By Kimberly Hellerich
October 5, 2020 - Students with a growth mindset embrace challenges by stretching themselves. With a growth mindset, students see mistakes as learning opportunities, and they learn from feedback. Instead of feeling like they’ve failed the task, students realize that they haven’t met the expectations... yet. This past year, I showed students Carol Dweck’s TED Talk “The... read more.

Education Dive… Name, image and likeness policies for college players advancing, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Oct. 8, 2020 - Dive Brief: Measures to compensate college players for use of their name, image and likeness are advancing among athletic associations and legislatively. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which governs small colleges' sports programs nationwide, recently approved a policy allowing student... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Veterans, Active-Duty Military Need Mental Health Support
The following Our Thoughts was written by Jason Hughes, veteran liaison and program manager at the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. Jason is a veteran of the United States Army, a published author, and has more than ten years of experience in victim advocacy and suicide prevention. Please join us in thanking Jason and OSPF for sharing their thoughts with us... read more.

Education Dive… State ed chiefs rethinking accountability during COVID-19, Naaz Modan
Oct. 7, 2020 - Dive Brief: State education leaders should think about leveraging information from accountability systems mainly to put in place support initiatives for school improvement, according to leaders who attended a webinar Tuesday hosted by the Council of Chief State School Officers, rather than using it to make claims about school performance. Missing... read more.

Education Dive… 3 colleges pause diversity efforts over Trump executive order, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Oct. 9 2020 - UPDATE: Oct. 9, 2020: The U.S. Department of Labor released guidance on the executive order, defining "race or sex stereotyping" and "race or sex scapegoating," both concepts the directive prohibits. The department also noted that implicit bias training is banned if it teaches that any individual, by virtue of their race, sex or national origin, is oppressive... read more.

The Hechinger Report… A 56 percent increase in student debt, By Delece Smith-Barrow
Few college students can pay for their education without using federal loans, but as we’ve seen in recent years, paying back student loans can be overwhelming and financially draining. There are a number of reasons for the more-than-$1.6 million student debt crisis, but a new report from The Institute for College Access and Success highlights one of the most glaring... read more.

NBC News… Boy, 9, suspended after teacher sees BB gun in his room during virtual class; family sues, By Minyvonne Burke - Oct. 6, 2020 - The family of a fourth-grade boy is suing a New Orleans-area school district that suspended him after a teacher saw a BB gun in his room during a virtual class. The incident happened Sept. 11 when 9-year-old Ka'Mauri Harrison, who is Black, was taking a test in the bedroom that he shares with his two younger brothers. During... read more.

Education Dive… Million Girls Moonshot aims to bring 1M girls into school STEM programs, Shawna De La Rosa - Oct. 7, 2020 - As schools continue working to better engage girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, a number of STEM-focused foundations are partnering to form the Million Girls Moonshot initiative to hook one million more girls on these subject areas over the next five years. The organizations — which include the Intel Foundation... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Underage Drinking Patterns: A Look At Binge Drinking
Underage drinking occurs—we know this, and we work everyday to help prevent it. However, we may not think enough about what that underage consumption looks like. According to the CDC, most people who consume alcohol underage are binge drinking, typically consuming large amounts of alcohol in one sitting. So, what actually is binge drinking? The National Institute on... read more.

Education Dive… 3 steps for integrating art into other classes, Lauren Barack
Oct. 7, 2020 - Dive Brief: Art works can act as vehicles to learning about historical events, wrote seventh grade U.S. history teacher Ron Litz for Edutopia, who outlined three ways educators can use art work as a teaching tool in a history class. To start, educators may want to select pieces of art that students already know. That can be either a specific work, such as a... read more.

Education Dive… The shift online has colleges looking to share courses, Alia Wong
Oct. 5 2020 - Eureka College, in Illinois, had a problem. Students behind on credits would take summer classes at the local community college to catch up. But their grades didn't count toward their GPAs, and the private liberal arts school had no way to vet what they were learning. Many students were falling off track as a result. So in 2017, Eureka partnered with a... read more.

Education Dive… Survey: School libraries adjust to continue services, support teachers and students, Shawna De La Rosa - Oct. 5, 2020 - Dive Brief: As coronavirus-related school closures continue to grip the education system, 17% of district libraries will be fully operational this year, according to a survey from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Another 17% of districts will have no libraries open, with the remainder of respondents reporting... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Will the students who didn’t show up for online class this spring go missing forever? By Peggy Barmore - October 1, 2020 - Monica Williams remembers the late May day she and first grade teacher Lizette Gutierrez reconnected with the four young siblings from Cable Elementary. No teachers from the San Antonio elementary had heard from the children since schools closed abruptly in March due to the pandemic. Williams is a... read more.

Deep Dive… How schools are navigating privacy concerns in COVID-19 contact tracing, Natalie Gross - Oct. 5, 2020 - As plans to reopen schools have ramped up across the country, so too have administrators' efforts to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus. That's why many districts have turned to contact tracing, a system that aims to identify and alert those who may have been exposed to students and staff members who have tested positive... read more.

Education Dive… Report: Tutoring by teachers, staff leads to greater academic improvement - Shawna De La Rosa - Oct. 2, 2020 - Dive Brief: Tutoring programs overall can significantly improve students' learning outcomes, advancing them from the 50th to the 66th percentile, according to a paper by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Tutoring led by teachers or paraprofessionals rather than lead by nonprofessionals or parents generally is more... read more.

Education Dive… Ed Dept probe into free speech at public college a warning sign, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Oct. 1, 2020 - Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether the free speech practices of Binghamton University, a public institution in New York, violate federal law and regulation. The probe stems from incidents last year concerning conservative student groups, in which protesters trashed tables displaying promotional and... read more.

NPR Ed… 'I'm Only 1 Person': Teachers Feel Torn Between Their Students And Their Own Kids, Anya Kamanetz - September 17, 2020 - I catch Patricia Stamper with a Zoom meeting going in the background and a child at her knee asking for attention. Stamper works as a teacher's assistant for special education students in the Washington, D.C., public schools. These days, her virtual classroom is at home — and so is her toddler, who has a genetic disorder... read more.

Education Dive… What happens when community colleges offer bachelor's degrees? Natalie Schwartz - Oct. 1, 2020 - Dive Brief: People who earned a bachelor's degree at Florida community colleges were making about $10,000 more annually than their peers who received associate degrees in similar fields four quarters after graduating, according to a new analysis from New America, a left-leaning think tank. The share of bachelor's degree recipients who... read more.

Education Dive… Report: Pandemic could spur new school staffing approaches, Kara Arundel - Sept. 28, 2020 - Dive Brief: Predictions that the teaching shortage will worsen due to the COVID-19 outbreak should cause school leaders to rethink how they manage teacher staffing, recommends the American Institutes for Research in a new report. Proponents say virtual learning and attention to personalized instruction for students create an ideal moment... read more.

Edutopia… The Right Kind of Praise Can Spur Student Growth, By Meghan Laslocky
September 25, 2020 - The self-esteem movement of the 1970s drilled into adults the notion that positive feedback like “Great job” and “You're so smart” was crucial if you wanted children to grow up to be confident, successful adults, writes Paul L. Underwood for The New York Times. But haphazard, inflated praise can have unintended consequences. When adults praise... read more.

Education Dive… Community colleges entered pandemic with costs in check: report, Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 30, 2020 - Dive Brief: Community colleges with revenue-backed debt largely controlled expenses in the 2019 fiscal year as enrollment and income flagged, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service. Median operating revenue and expenses grew by 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively, across the sector. The ability to keep revenue... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Early Childhood: Nonprofits help with “impossible choices”, By Jackie Mader - When schools in northern California shut down in mid-March due to the coronavirus, Casino Fajardo and his wife did their best to balance watching their children while working full-time. For several months, they switched off supervising their children, 5 and 9, while taking back-to-back video calls and responding to in-person work responsibilities, which were... read more.

Education Dive… Leading math instruction with deeper questions can boost student interest - Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 30, 2020 - Dive Brief: Students are more engaged when teachers ask "what, why and how" questions during math lessons, 9th grade special education teacher Rachel Fuhrman writes for Edutopia. Fuhrman says when students have to justify their mathematical steps, it helps develop a deeper understanding of the concepts by requiring closer... read more.

The Daily Signal… New Bill Would Ban Biological Males From Women’s Sports, Peter Sprigg
September 23, 2020 - Title IX—the 1972 federal law that prohibited discrimination based on sex in education —is perhaps best known for its impact on girls and women’s sports. Schools and colleges were no longer permitted to offer multiple opportunities for athletic competition to men and far fewer to women. The result was a massive growth in girls and women’s... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Know! To Positively Connect with Your Teen
The desire to connect with others is universal, which is why social media has exploded over the years among people of all ages. When it comes to teens, just about everyone has at least one social media account to be able to connect with their “friends” at any given moment. A child’s virtual and in-person connections are important and highly influential in their lives, however... read more.

NPR Ed… School Attendance In The COVID Era: What Counts As 'Present'? Anya Kamanetz - September 24, 2020 - From shiny red pencils reading "My Attendance Rocks!" to countless plaques and ribbons and trophies and certificates and gold stars: For as long as anyone can remember, taking attendance — and rewarding kids for simply showing up — is a time-honored school ritual. For good reason: Just being there, day in, day out, happens to be... read more.

Politico… Campus life sans Covid: A few colleges write the playbook for pandemic success, By Juan Perez Jr. - 09/28/2020 - At Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, just one coronavirus case has emerged from more than 11,500 campus tests administered since August. The flagship University of Connecticut system reports 64 cases among the 5,000-student residential population on its Storrs campus. Clark University in central Massachusetts just spotted its... read more.

EdSurge… Kids Are Spending More of Their Lives Online. Teachers Can Help Them Understand Why. By Megan Collins - Sep 23, 2020 - American youth are spending an alarming amount of time online. According to a pre-pandemic report, the average American teen spends approximately seven hours online per day. With remote learning in full swing for a little over half of American elementary and high school schools, students... read more.

Education Dive… Feds to ship 'millions of tests per week' to help schools stay open, official says, Naaz Modan - Sept. 23, 2020 - Dive Brief: During a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing Wednesday, Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the federal government will ship “millions of tests per week” to help schools reopen and stay open in the coming... read more.

Hechinger Report… Proof Points: A turnaround on school turnarounds, By Jill Barshay
September 21, 2020 - How do you fix a broken, failing school where student achievement, attendance and graduation rates are rock bottom? Education experts argue over this a lot. One idea has been to bring in a new principal and make drastic changes to turn the school around quickly like the way corporate turnaround artists revive a bankrupt company... read more.

Families Against Fentanyl… Organization calls for Fentanyl to be a topic of presidential debate - CLEVELAND, OHIO—This week, Families Against Fentanyl, an Akron-based non-profit, urged Chris Wallace and the Presidential Debate Commission to include the issue of illegal fentanyl, which is both an abused substance and a chemical weapon, as a topic for the September 29 Presidential Debate in Cleveland. This call to include discussion of mitigating the... read more.

Washington Post… With costs up and revenue down for public colleges during the pandemic, one governor has a plan: Refinance, By Susan Svrluga - September 23, 2020 - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam offered relief to public colleges and universities in the state Tuesday with a refinancing plan that could save the institutions more than $300 million over the next two years, delaying debt payments as they grapple with the coronavirus. With colleges across the... read more.

Education Dive… How the pandemic is changing supply chain education, Matt Leonard
Sept. 22, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic has left many workers wondering how their jobs will change going forward. More remote work? More personal protective equipment? And supply chain managers have been flung into the thick of the pandemic, tasked with keeping goods flowing through the disruption of demand swings and capacity shifts in the freight market. As... read more.

EdSurge… Data Privacy in a Pandemic? Parents Are Concerned, But Still Welcome More Tech, By Emily Tate - Sep 21, 2020 - Parents are concerned about their children’s online safety and data privacy, but not as much as other issues such as the quality of education their child receives, protection from violence and bullying, and ensuring their child doesn’t fall behind in school. That’s according to the approximately 1,200 parents surveyed by... read more.

Axios… College students give failing grade on return to campus, Neal Rothschild
College students are learning less, partying less and a majority say the decision to return to campus was a bad decision, according to a new College Reaction/Axios poll. Why it matters: The enthusiasm to forge something resembling a college experience has dissipated as online learning, lockdowns and a diminished social life has set in. Now that the fall semester... read more.

Education Dive… Ed experts fear rise in dropouts as remote learning continues, Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 21, 2020 - Dive Brief: Though graduation rates steadily increased over the last few years, education leaders expect remote learning will cause that trend to reverse in the 2020-21 school year, The Huffington Post reports. Last year when schools closed due to coronavirus, most seniors already had enough credits to graduate. This year, however, incoming seniors... read more.

EdSurge… Is Learning on Zoom the Same as In Person? Not to Your Brain, By Stephen Noonoo - Sep 15, 2020 - At this point the Zoom call has almost come to define learning and working in the age of COVID-19. But a few months ago, people began realizing that all these video calls were making them tired—exhausted even—more so than a day of in-person class or all-day meetings. The phenomena even has a name: Zoom fatigue. And it’s backed by some... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Suicide: A Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.
September is Suicide Prevention Month. Suicide: A Public Health Concern… Suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S. It’s the tenth leading cause of death overall and the second leading cause of death in people ages 10 to 34, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 47,173 people died by suicide in 2017, the latest year for which data... read more.

EdSurge… ‘Life Is in Chaos’: How 13,000 High School Students Are Weathering the Pandemic, By Emily Tate - Sep 15, 2020 - The pandemic has created enormous challenges for the 56 million K-12 students in the United States, but the heaviest burden has fallen on underserved minorities and learners whose family members have never attended college. That is the clearest takeaway from survey results published this month by the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, an... read more.

Education Dive… Survey: 1 in 3 teachers considering exit, early retirement due to coronavirus, Roger Riddell - Sept. 17, 2020 - Dive Brief: National surveys of 1,001 parents of public school K-12 students and 816 public school teachers — both conducted by Hart Research Associates for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, League of United Latin American Citizens and NAACP — find both groups remain concerned... read more.

Education Dive… Colleges go virtual to address growing mental health needs, Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 17, 2020 - Dive Brief: The coronavirus is taking a toll on students' mental health, and colleges are turning to virtual services to help learners cope during the pandemic. Experts say students may be struggling with feelings of isolation and heightened anxiety from economic hardship and unknowns about the virus. In turn, already-strained counseling centers are seeing... read more.

Education Dive… Districts embrace in-person learning pods for marginalized students, Naaz Modan - Sept. 15, 2020 - Dive Brief: An increasing number of school districts are adopting in-person learning pods for lower-income families and vulnerable populations, according to Robin Lake, director for the Center on Reinventing Public Education, who hosted a virtual panel on the trend last week. Indianapolis School District, for example, repurposed funds it would... read more.

Education Dive… Clear parent communication, support essential for remote learning success, Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: Nearly 50% of parents reported in a Canvas survey struggling to keep their child engaged in remote schoolwork this spring, and 30% said instructions from schools were unclear, according to an EdTech: Focus on K-12 article offering best practices for educators to support parents during remote learning. CDW-G... read more.

EdSurge… Want to Learn More Effectively? Take More Breaks, Research Suggests, By Jeffrey R. Young - Sep 16, 2020 - John Sweller is one of the most influential learning science researchers, best known for his “cognitive load theory,” which suggests that educators should present information without extraneous details. Otherwise, the brains of students can literally overload with what amounts to intellectual clutter. Sweller’s latest line of research offers a new... read more.

Education Dive… Report: Teacher pay still lags peers in other professions by 19.2%, Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 18, 2020 - Dive Brief: The disparity between teachers’ salaries and those of other industries remains high despite some slight improvement last year. In 2019, teachers made 19.2% less than their nonteaching peers who had similar experience and education, an improvement of 2.8% from the year before when teachers made 22% less, according to research... read more.

Education Dive… Educators find strategies fostering SEL, play for youngest students as coronavirus continues, Lauren Barack - Sept. 16, 2020 - Dive Brief: As preschools open this fall, educators are looking at new ways to support playtime and foster sharing even amid social distancing, writes Edutopia. Some choices schools are making permit students to be physically closer when they’re outside, and even shift activities, like sensory tables, to outdoor... read more.

DA District Administration… 4 essentials of SEL success in online learning, By: Matt Zalaznick - September 16, 2020 - The key for administrators in developing an effective social-emotional learning program—whether it’s online or in-person—is making sure that the teachers leading it are taking care of their own wellbeing. Though most teachers have a sense of what it takes to stay healthy, administrators can still offer daily reminders about eating well and getting enough... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Know! To Beware of the Benadryl Challenge
There’s a dangerous new TikTok game that educators and parents should know about—the Benadryl Challenge. The idea is to take as many Benadryl tablets as necessary to hallucinate or “trip out,” while of course capturing it all on one’s cellphone to then share with others. A 15-year-old Oklahoma girl died last month attempting this challenge, and three more Texas... read more.

Education Dive… Colleges scrap spring break to limit coronavirus spread, Hallie Busta
Sept. 15, 2020 - Dive Brief: As colleges look ahead to the spring term, several are announcing they intend to cancel spring break. The decisions continue a trend of institutions adjusting their academic calendars to reduce travel to and from campus. And they come as schools offer more details on campus operations and instructional modes for the spring term... read more.

The Daily Signal… Your Right to Vote Is Sacred. Don’t Give It Up. Kay C. James
September 08, 2020 - The right to vote is among the most sacred rights we have as Americans. It is fundamental to our democracy. I’m old enough to remember when the mantra about elections was “every vote counts and every vote must be counted.” Now, we keep hearing that election fraud is nothing to worry about so long as it’s not “widespread.” In fact, I keep... read more.

Deep Dive… Presentation and choice fuel accessibility — in-person or remote, Lauren Barack - Sept. 9, 2020 - At Canyon Creek Elementary school in Farmington, Utah, Rachel Steenblik has been working with K-6 students for the past two years. Like most schools, the shift to remote learning at Canyon Creek was quick. But as an elementary special education teacher at a Microsoft Showcase School, Steenblik had access to tools, from Immersive Reader... read more.

Inside Higher Education… Burning Out, By Colleen Flaherty
September 14, 2020 - As a frequent commentator on all things higher ed, Kevin McClure likes his predictions to be right. But in the case of a recent article he wrote about the growing threat of faculty burnout, he wanted to be wrong. “Basically what I heard over and over again was people saying, ‘That’s me. This is how I feel. This gives words to the way that I’m... read more.

Education Dive… College tuition benchmark posts big drop in August, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Sept. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for college tuition and fees saw a significant decline from July to August, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics data released Friday. The CPI for the category slid by a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, the biggest drop since 1978, according to Bloomberg. Year-over-year, the index for tuition was up only... read more.

The Hechinger Report… The low-cost steps the government could take right now to ease hunger and homelessness on college campuses, By Abigail Seldin and Alice Yao - September 3, 2020 - Each new day brings another round of headlines about the struggles of the nation’s colleges to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic, the arrival of freshmen in reduced-occupancy dormitories, the limitations of remote learning and a sports season that seems... read more.

Education Dive… Colleges met with strikes, collective action over fall reopening plans, Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 8, 2020 - Dive Brief: Several colleges' decisions to offer campus-based instruction are the subject of strikes or legal pushback as coronavirus cases mount in the U.S. That includes the University of Iowa, where some on campus are urging the administration to move entirely to virtual education, and the University of Michigan, where graduate students are demanding... read more.

Education Dive… Outdoor learning is safer, but how are schools doing it? Shawna De La Rosa
Sept. 9, 2020 - As schools ease into the new academic year, many district administrators are sending students and educators outside to abide by social distancing rules and minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission. Although the Center for Disease Control recently urged schools to look for ways to utilize outdoor spaces for expanded learning opportunities, outdoor... read more.

NPR Ed… 'Children Are Going Hungry': Why Schools Are Struggling To Feed Students, Cory Turner - September 8, 2020 - Six months into schools' pandemic-driven experiment in distance learning, much has been said (and debated) about whether children are learning. But the more urgent question, for the more than 30 million kids who depend on U.S. schools for free or reduced-price meals, is this: Are they eating? The answer, based on recent data and interviews with... read more.

Washington Monthly… Higher Ed’s Most Successful Failure, by Jamaal Abdul-alim
Four years ago, Christine Abate was driving the car she had just bought with $4,000 in cash to get to and from classes at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, when another driver T-boned her, sending her car careening front end first into a set of boulders. Her vehicle was badly banged up, but fortunately she wasn’t. “The doctors were surprised I walked away from the... read more.

Preventive Action Alliance… Parental Supply: Should You Bring the Party Home?
We all know that raising a teenager is hard and that we would do anything to raise them right, for some this means keeping the party at home. There is a long-held belief that underage drinking is an inevitability and that regardless of what we do, teens will try alcohol before the legal age. Some say that parents might as well be in control of that consumption by allowing teens to drink... read more.

Education Dive… What's Next: How will the pandemic change college football? Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 4, 2020 - After months of debate on whether college football could kick off this fall, the University of South Carolina weighed in with a 33-second video on its team's Twitter account. It shows players getting their temperatures checked, ripping through the grass during practice and, eventually, playing a game for a packed stadium. But the video reminds viewers that none... read more.

NPR Ed… The Pandemic Has Researchers Worried About Teen Suicide, Anya Kamanetz
September 10, 2020 - Teen and youth anxiety and depression are getting worse since COVID lockdowns began in March, early studies suggest, and many experts say they fear a corresponding increase in youth suicide. At the end of June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed Americans on their mental health. They found symptoms of anxiety and... read more.

Education Dive… Ed Dept decision on trans student-athletes could have broader implications, Naaz Modan - Sept. 8, 2020 - Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights updated its decision on a string of sex discrimination complaints brought against six Connecticut school districts and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, saying it serves as "a formal statement of OCR’s interpretation of Title IX." In May, OCR said the... read more.

New York Times… Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School, By Dan Levin and Kate Taylor - Sept. 8, 2020 - A ransomware attack forced Hartford, Conn., to call off the first day of classes. A website crash left many of Houston’s 200,000 students staring at error messages. And a server problem in Virginia Beach disrupted the first hours back to school there. For millions of American schoolchildren, the Tuesday after Labor Day... read more.

Education Dive… Helping middle-schoolers build self-regulation skills remotely, Lauren Barack - Sept. 9, 2020 - Dive Brief: Middle school students may need assistance to manage online learning, as they’re being asked to tap into adult-level management skills they may have yet to fully develop, Edutopia suggests, citing the best practices of Jody Passanisi, the director of middle school at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, California. Time-management is... read more.

Education Dive… Student engagement remains a challenge in distance learning, Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 9, 2020 - Dive Brief: While districts must ensure all students and staff have access to high-speed wireless internet for successful remote learning, maintaining student engagement is also critical and requires collaboration between teachers and school leaders to provide meaningful and equitable learning opportunities, EdTech: Focus on K-12... read more.

Education Dive… Tech-based contact tracing could put schools in murky privacy territory, Shawna De La Rosa - Sept. 9, 2020 - Dive Brief: A white paper from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) suggests the use of contact tracing technology by schools could erode student privacy and may not be effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus. As an alternative, the whitepaper suggests manual contact tracing methods... read more.

Bus transportation for special needs students in a pandemic, By: Melissa Ezarik
September 8, 2020 - The safe return to school for students with special needs may require modifications in related service transportation that were not required prior to COVID-19, as notes the Student Transportation Aligned for Return to School (STARTS) Task Force report, developed by national school transportation leaders and published in July. The report includes 18... read more.

Politico… Colleges crack down on student behavior as virus threatens more closures, By Nick Niedzwiadek and Andrew Atterbury - 08/30/2020 - The biggest threat to universities' carefully drawn reopening plans? Their students. School leaders are dishing out suspensions, kicking students out of dorms and sanctioning Greek organizations over large gatherings during a budding semester that already has seen colleges close amid thousands of confirmed Covid-19... read more.

Education Dive… Is robust coronavirus testing enough to prevent college outbreaks? Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Sept. 3, 2020 - Dive Brief: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), which drew national attention for its aggressive coronavirus testing strategy, has seen a spike in cases since classes began last week. Students and faculty are required to be tested twice a week. The state's flagship campus reported more than 700 new cases between Aug. 24 and 31. University... read more.

NPR… Preventing College Parties? Shame And Blame Don't Work, But Beer Pong Outside Might, Elissa Nadworny - August 31, 2020 - As the fall semester gets underway, college students are reuniting with their friends, getting (re)acquainted with campus and doing what college students often do: partying. But in the time of the coronavirus, as more parties surface university administrators have been quick to condemn — and even berate — the behavior... read more.

EdTech Magazine… With Online Video, Teachers Get Creative to Connect with Students, By Advait Shinde - YouTube has long been the home of pop music videos and keyboarding cats. But the pandemic has created a new class of potential viral stars waiting in the wings, ready to explain organic chemistry or decode algebra. Justin Bieber probably isn’t too worried. But online video lessons are growing exponentially as K–12 student learning goes online, and there... read more.

DA District Administration… Mental health: To screen or not to screen? By: Cara Nissman
September 1, 2020 - Feeling detached from everyone and everything beyond their family because of the pandemic may cause students who have never been on educators’ radar in the past for mental health concerns to start bubbling to the surface as the school year begins—regardless of whether they are continuing to learn remotely or back at school buildings... read more.

Deep Dive… 1:1 programs 'on steroids' bring challenges for school districts, Natalie Gross
Sept. 1, 2020 - The Austin Independent School District in Texas spent three years on a 1:1 initiative to get tech devices into the hands of every student in grades 8-12. But on March 13, when the coronavirus pandemic forced its schools to shift from in-person classes to remote learning, it soon became apparent that wasn’t going to be enough. “We didn’t know then what... read more.

Education Dive… As pandemic continues, colleges help unemployed workers find new jobs, Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 1, 2020 - This fall, Dixie State University is discounting certain courses to just $20 a credit for students who've lost their jobs or are underemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The offer is meant to encourage them to enroll in one of several new certificate programs the Utah institution designed to help impacted workers quickly... read more.

Education Dive… DeVos: States should 'rethink' assessment, consider competency, mastery-based assessments, Naaz Modan - Sept. 3, 2020 - Dive Brief: In a letter this week telling chief state school officers they will be expected to administer summative assessments for the 2020-21 school year, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos encouraged state leaders to consider competency and mastery-based assessments. "Now may... read more.

The Hechinger Report…One university’s students step in to track Covid-19 cases, Delece Smith-Barrow - September 3 - Arizona State University, one of the largest universities in the country, brought students back to campus this fall, but many of them don’t feel safe. Because of inconsistent information from the university about cases of Covid-19 on campus, students and faculty have taken matters into their own hands. They have created social media... read more.

Education Dive… As budget cuts loom, sustaining the arts is among K-12 challenges, Lauren Barack - Sept. 2, 2020 - Dive Brief: Ingenuity, which examines arts education in Chicago Public Schools, found a 97% increase in regular access to arts education over seven years as of the 2018-19 school year, the group wrote in its annual progress report. Still, 35% of students, predominantly those who are Black and also economically disadvantaged, remain “without consistent... read more.

The Daily Signal… Inner-City LA Nonprofit Turns Parking Lot Into Classroom for Online Learning, Virginia Allen - August 28, 2020 - A parking lot isn’t exactly a traditional classroom, but not much of anything is traditional during the coronavirus pandemic. When schools in Los Angeles County announced they would keep their doors closed this fall, the Dream Center converted a portion of its parking lot into an outdoor learning center, staffed with professional tutors... read more.

Washington Monthly… Introduction: A Different Kind of College Ranking, by Paul Glastris and Grace Gedye - It’s safe to say that the current generation of college students is getting an education unlike any other in American history. They spent the spring and summer in pandemic-induced disruption, isolation, and stress, with vanished jobs and internships, taking hastily arranged online classes, and, in most cases, paying the same tuition that they would have if they... read more.

NPR… Mayors Of College Towns Brace For The Economic Impact Of Remote Learning, Christianna Silva - August 30, 2020 - The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa makes up a sizeable portion of the city's population of roughly 100,000. Mayor Walt Maddox says losing an entire semester of school would be "economically disastrous for our community." Across the country, colleges and universities are struggling to decide how to teach students... read more.

Education Dive… Report: Up to 4 months of 'COVID slide' learning loss expected in K-5, Shawna De La Rosa - Aug. 31, 2020 - Dive Brief: An analysis from Illuminate Education found coronavirus school closures will likely cause a “COVID slide” of two to four months of learning loss, but the gaps are expected to be less pronounced in students who frequently interacted with teachers than in those who did not. The research suggests students will have significant gaps in... read more.

Education Dive… Fewer undergrads enrolled at community colleges this summer: report, Natalie Schwartz - Sept. 1, 2020 - Dive Brief: While summer undergraduate enrollment ticked up at public and nonprofit four-year colleges from a year ago, it fell at community colleges and four-year for-profit institutions, according to new data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Fewer students were also pursuing associate and undergraduate... read more.

NPR… What It Looks Like When School, And Everything Else, Happens At Home, Elizabeth Dalziel - August 22, 2020 - A friend posted a picture on Instagram of her 11-year-old daughter wearing a school uniform, sitting attentively in front of a laptop and waving to her teacher during a virtual class. My experience lay in stark contrast. During home lessons, my youngest child, a 7-year-old, often ignores the screen and climbs on me whenever possible. Despite always... read more.

Education Dive… Admissions group urges public colleges to go test optional next academic year, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Aug. 27, 2020 - Dive Brief: The industry's college admissions group is asking that public institutions not require entrance exams scores for the 2021-22 academic year. The pandemic caused significant closures among K-12 schools, some of the most common SAT and ACT testing sites, the National Association for College Admission Counseling... read more.

EdSurge… Are the Kids All Right? How to Check in on Their Mental Health During a Tough Time, By Emily Tate - Aug 25, 2020 - Like nearly everyone else, children have experienced enormous disruption during the pandemic. Their schools closed months ago and, for many, remain closed. They stopped seeing friends and teachers on a regular basis, or had to get used to seeing them through a screen. Many of the things they love or look forward to have... read more.

Deep Dive… U of Arizona and Ashford are the latest case study in online expansion, Hallie Busta - Aug. 25 2020 - As Purdue University's 2018 purchase of Kaplan University indicated, a public institution buying a for-profit college can be controversial. Add in a pandemic and related budget cuts, and the stakes are even higher. That's the situation in Arizona, where scores of faculty at the state's flagship institution are pressing administrators for more details on a... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Know! Six R’s for Less Stress Homeschooling
The pandemic wreaked havoc on many families’ summer plans, and now as school starts back in session, it appears the turbulence will continue. Some schools plan to take place in-person, some plan to go virtual, some are planning for a blended version. Regardless of how it starts off, most schools have been clear that all plans are subject to change depending on... read more.

Deep Dive… School districts plan COVID-19 trauma support, even as classes resume online, Natalie Gross - Aug. 24, 2020 - A teenager in Fulton County, Georgia, lost both parents to COVID-19 this summer. When he returns to school, staff members will be ready to help. “There’s multiple layers to this,” said Christopher Matthews, Fulton County Schools assistant superintendent of student support services, of the district’s role in providing support. Services include... read more.

Education Dive… Survey: Two-thirds of teachers report feeling more appreciated by public during pandemic, Shawna De La Rosa - Aug. 24, 2020 - Dive Brief: According to a survey from the Center for State & Local Government Excellence, two-thirds of teachers feel the coronavirus pandemic has made the public more appreciative of their roles, though a quarter do not feel they were compensated fairly for their work this spring. The survey was conducted May 4-20... read more.

The Buffalo News… How college athletic programs are tackling mental health amid Covid-19, Rachel Lenzi - Aug 24, 2020 - Hours after the Mid-American Conference announced it had postponed fall sports, one of the first text messages Lance Leipold said he received was from Brian Bratta, the University at Buffalo’s associate athletic director for sports medicine and wellness services. Bratta’s primary concern was the mental state of UB’s football program, as many players... read more.

NPR… More Than 6,500 Teachers Have Had Unfair Student Debts Erased, Cory Turner
August 22, 2020 - More than 6,500 current and former teachers have gotten a second chance to shed millions of dollars in unfair student debts, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education. The educators had enrolled in the department's troubled TEACH Grant program, which provides grants to help aspiring teachers pay for college. In exchange, they agreed... read more.

Chalkbeat… Virtual suspensions. Mask rules. More trauma. Why some worry a student discipline crisis is on the horizon, By Kalyn Belsha - Aug 21, 2020 - As America’s students head back into their virtual or real-life classrooms, new rules await. In Jacksonville, Florida, students who don’t wear a mask repeatedly could be removed from school and made to learn online. In some Texas districts, intentionally coughing on someone can be classified as assault. In... read more.

Education Dive… Colleges rebuke students as coronavirus outbreaks hit campus, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Aug. 21, 2020 - Dive Brief: As coronavirus outbreaks crop up on college campuses, administrators have become more aggressive in their reactions and messaging, admonishing students for behavior that flouts health rules and in some cases, punishing them for it. Campus leaders have suspended students, kicked them out of housing and publicly pinned... read more.

Cleveland Plain Dealer… What are Northeast Ohio schools with in-person classes planning for when they have outbreaks of COVID-19? By Julie Washington - Aug 21 - CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the coming weeks, students throughout Northeast Ohio will return to the classroom for the first time since March when Gov. Mike DeWine ordered school across the state to close to head off the growing spread of COVID-19. The governor left the responsibility to figure out how... read more.

Education Dive… Study: Writing processes differ between proficient, lower-performing middle-schoolers, Shawna De La Rosa - Aug. 19, 2020 - Dive Brief: Middle school writers who earn higher essay scores spend a smaller amount of time waiting before starting to write, type more rapidly, use more time for total composition and start more words (which researchers say is indicative as a measure of effort, in part), according to a study by the Educational Testing... read more.

NPR… Move In, Move Out: For In-Person College, Everything Rests On The First Few Weeks, Elissa Nadworny - August 19, 2020 - The excitement in the air at the University of Georgia is palpable, with move-in days for the fall semester finally here. There are packed cars, overstuffed suitcases, a white shag rug, an old grey futon and a potted succulent named Susie. But nestled between the familiar college accessories were stark reminders of the coronavirus... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Is it finally time for year-round school? By Darcy Sprague
August 19, 2020 - SAN ANTONIO, Texas — When Harlandale Independent School District in south San Antonio shuttered its doors in March amid the coronavirus pandemic, Melissa Casey’s first thought about her students was, “How are all of their basic needs going to be met?” In the small district, 88 percent of schoolchildren are economically disadvantaged and almost 75 percent... read more.

Education Dive… Improving online learning through reflective practice, Lauren Barack
Aug. 18, 2020 - Dive Brief: It can be difficult for classroom teachers to find time to reflect on the school day, high school engineering teacher John Kamal writes for Edutopia. But making small changes, like recording notes and details daily, can help educators take a more holistic view not just on each lesson, but on the school year overall. To help them stick to these goals, educators... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Summer and after-school programs — five ways to provide for the other half of education amid the coronavirus, By Alison Overseth and Jen Siaca Curry - June 2, 2020 - It’s the largest school district in the country and at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s why all eyes are on the New York City Department of Education’s next move. What will happen to more than a million public-school students in the fall of 2020? Will schooling resume as... read more.

Lorain Morning Journal… Star Wars characters visit Horizon Early Learning Centers in Lorain, Zachary Srnis - Aug 12, 2020 - A Galaxy United, a Star Wars character group, visited Horizon Early Learning Centers in Lorain to pass out water bottles and drawstring bags from Achieve Credit Union. Some cheer and joy were spread Aug. 12 to the youngsters at Horizon Early Learning Centers, as the children were greeted by a Star Wars character group handing out free... read more.

USA Today… 'Leaving us behind': High-risk students ask, why can't all college courses be offered online? Grace Hauck - College sophomore Cameron Lynch has lived the past five months in a single square mile, only venturing outside her home a couple of times a week for early-morning or late-night walks. "It’s already a stressful time to be immunocompromised," said Lynch, who has Type 1 diabetes, celiac disease and a form of muscular dystrophy. "Now, a good... read more.

The Daily Signal… Trump Pardons Susan B. Anthony on 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, Fred Lucas - August 18, 2020 - President Donald Trump issued a posthumous pardon Tuesday to celebrated women’s suffragist Susan B. Anthony to mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution recognizing the right of women to vote. Anthony was arrested in 1872 for voting in an election at a time in America when only men could vote... read more.

NPR… Colleges That Keep Small Isolated Towns Vibrant Now Pose Public Health Threat, Frank Morris - August 14, 2020 - There's a lot riding on a kickoff set for 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. The Sterling College Warriors are scheduled to take on the McPherson College Bulldogs at home. If that familiar thud of shoe against football and cheer from the stands doesn't happen, the college that keeps the central Kansas town's economy humming, that gives it cultural vitality... read more.

Education Dive… Chef's summer camp course demonstrates how virtual classes can embrace ambition, Lauren Barack - Aug. 12, 2020 - Dive Brief: The online summer camp Dinner Club, taught by chef Pascal Simon, is challenging young students to learn how to cook while being in a virtual environment, NPR reports. Simon previously ran the program in person, mostly focused on baked goods, but shifted after the pandemic hit to virtual classes and the more... read more.

Education Dive… Report: Students are not spending enough time writing, Shawna De La Rosa
Aug. 12, 2020 - Dive Brief: Students don't spend enough time writing, and writing is not practiced across the curriculum, new research by The Learning Agency shows. Only about 25% of middle-schoolers and 31% of high school students practice writing 30 minutes a day, which curriculum experts say is the minimum amount of time necessary. A slightly greater number of... read more.

EdSurge… Students Dive Deep Into COVID-19 in Free Open Study Course, By Stephen Noonoo - Aug 11, 2020 - Asama Mothana originally wanted to use the summer before her senior year to get a job, possibly at a law firm. Instead, she’s taking an open-study research course on a subject she was already thinking a lot about: the COVID-19 pandemic. “I feel like learning about it in the open study dives deeper into what’s actually happening” with the pandemic, says Mosana, who... read more.

Deep Dive… From tents to bus rides: Social distancing in school reopening plans, Katie Navarra - Aug. 11, 2020 - Mark A. Griffith said he hasn’t slept much since the COVID-19 crisis first hit in March. The director of schools for rural Marion County, Tennessee, has had all of his attention focused on reading recommendations on how to safely reopen schools. The district has delayed its start from August to after Labor Day as cases increase in the area. When students arrive... read more.

Education Dive… Justice Department says school resource officers could prevent school shootings, Naaz Modan - Aug. 14, 2020 - Dive Brief: A report released by the U.S. Department of Justice this week says school resource officers "may have a profound impact on the school’s ability to prevent targeted violence and other maladaptive behaviors." The report includes school-based law enforcement as part of the department's 10 essential recommendations... read more.

Education Dive… With DeVos' Title IX rule taking effect, higher ed is under strain, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - Aug. 13, 2020 - Brett Sokolow, president of the Association of Title IX Administrators, spent part of the last three weeks holding mock hearings with college administrators, coaching them on how to run the courtroom-style proceedings used to judge campus sexual violence allegations, which are required by complex new federal regulations that go into effect... read more.

Education Dive… Is tutoring the answer to the COVID slide? Roger Riddell
Aug. 11, 2020 - Dive Brief: Despite mounting research that well-done tutoring is significantly effective in boosting student achievement, access has historically been limited to students from affluent families, according to The Hechinger Report. While the impact face-to-face or virtual mass tutoring programs could have on curbing the "COVID slide" is uncertain, experts suggest increasing... read more.

NPR… Can Military Academies Serve As A Road Map For Reopening Colleges? Sequoia Carrillo - August 13, 2020 - In Annapolis, Md., young men and women in crisp white uniforms and white masks are doing what students here have been doing for 175 years — taking their first steps to becoming officers in the U.S. Navy. These exercises are a part of the traditional "plebe summer," an intensive crash course that prepares first-year students for the transition to military life. They... read more.

Education Dive… Federal court clears way for new Title IX K-12 rule, takes effect Friday, Naaz Modan - Aug. 13, 2020 - Dive Brief: The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Wednesday in favor of new Title IX rules requiring districts to significantly upend sexual harassment and assault reporting processes. The rules are set to take effect Friday. The decision denied the request of 18 attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia for a preliminary injunction... read more.

Boston Globe… College students founded HomeBuddies to mentor kids during the pandemic, By Lauren Daley - August 5, 2020 - Rising Boston University sophomore Rachel Harris and her elementary school mentee connected via Zoom recently to work on their science-fiction story. “We only have the first two chapters done,” the theater arts major says with a laugh, revealing a bit of the story line, which takes place 100 years in the future Harris, who lives in Colorado, and her... read more.

Deep Dive… Colleges look to apps that screen for virus symptoms and trace contacts, Natalie Schwartz - Aug. 12, 2020 - Last week, representatives from the University of Alabama at Birmingham called for 20,000 participants to test a new mobile app that its researchers helped develop. It will alert them if they've recently been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus. After the test run ends in mid-August, state government and university... read more.

Education Dive… Pop culture is a gateway to connect academics to real world, Lauren Barack
Aug. 5, 2020 - Dive Brief: Teachers Amy Schwartzbach-King and Edward Kang dip into pop culture, specifically zombies, to help teach the science behind brain function to students in Chicago Public Schools, they wrote in Edutopia. They stylize the class as a week-long zombie camp or as two-hour individual classes. The two begin by having students look at how... read more.

Education Dive… Poll: 2 in 3 teachers want to start the school year remotely, Shawna De La Rosa - Aug. 7, 2020 - Dive Brief: A recent teacher poll shows most K-12 teachers are concerned about returning to the classroom this fall, and two-thirds want to start the school year remotely, NPR reports, noting an additional NPR/Ipsos poll showing 66% of parents want to start the year with distance learning models. Seventy-seven percent of teachers are worried about their own health... read more.

Bloomburg… Public Colleges Face Gut Punch From States’ Covid Deficits, By Emmy Lucas
August 4, 2020 - America’s public colleges and universities are facing one of their toughest financial challenges ever as the economic collapse hammers state tax collections and tens of thousands of students opt to wait out the pandemic or study online. With the recession ravaging the finances of millions of American families, as well as students balking at the risk of heading... read more.

The 74 Million… TikTok Helped Teachers and Students Stay Connected During the Pandemic. Now Trump Has Moved to Ban It - When schools closed in March because of the coronavirus, Vanessa Cronin had no idea how to make instructions for her Spanish lessons engaging enough for her students to read. “So now I’m supposed to type my instructions in an email?” Cronin, who teaches at Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton, Connecticut, asked... read more.

Education Dive… Navigating cyberbullying more difficult amid COVID-19, but there are options, Lauren Barack - Aug. 5, 2020 - Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar knows one of the first things parents and educators may want to do when a student is cyberbullied is get them offline. Yet the first step, according to Seigfried-Spellar, an associate professor with Purdue University’s Department of Computer and Information Technology, should be to just acknowledge how hard it was... read more.

DA District Administration… The importance of caring for the caregivers, By: Ted Uczen
August 5, 2020 - School shootings, suicides, Covid-19 — these are just a few of the recent incidents on the rise that impact school communities and weigh heavily on the staff who suddenly become the caregivers. The lasting impact of these events is huge, and we need to do more to ensure the well-being of our school personnel — those who are entrusted to educate, lead... read more.

Sportico… Private Equity has infiltrated Pro Sports, now it's going to College, Eben Novy-Williams - August 6, 2020 - College sports is in turmoil. The pandemic is gutting budgets; schisms are forming between the haves and have-nots, and many conferences with normally steady income streams are struggling for cash. In most industries, that’d be a perfect recipe for outside capital. But in college sports, with athletic departments tucked within public universities and non... read more.

Prevention Action Alliance… Know! Teens in Disguise to Buy Alcohol
Teens going to ridiculous lengths in an attempt to get their hands on alcohol is nothing new. In these days of mask-covered faces however, it seems some youth have found a way to take it to a whole new level. It all started with a TikTok video of a teenage girl dressed up like an elderly grandmother, face covered by a mask, who was able to successfully purchase alcohol. The post immediately... read more.

Daily Signal Commentary… Without Proper Context, Leaked COVID-19 Data Is Worse Than Misleading, Doug Badger & Amy Anderson - August 05, 2020 - What’s the No. 1 coronavirus hot spot in America? Is it Los Angeles County, which led the nation with nearly 200,000 confirmed cases on Aug. 2, according to Johns Hopkins University? Is it Miami-Dade County, Florida, which ranked second with more than 121,000 cases? Or is it Houston/Harris County, Texas, where... read more.

Education Dive… Getting young students to wear masks is challenging — but not impossible, Roger Riddell - Aug. 6, 2020 - Dive Brief: Helping elementary students adjust to wearing face masks for extended periods of time to prevent the spread of coronavirus when schools reopen will be difficult — but not impossible, Lori Desautels, an assistant professor of education at Butler University, writes for Edutopia. Educators can encourage parents to have students wear masks... read more.

Education Dive… More colleges consider across-the-board cuts, survey finds, Natalie Schwartz
Aug. 3, 2020 - Dive Brief: More college leaders were considering across-the-board budgets cuts and staff layoffs this summer than at the start of the coronavirus crisis, according to a new survey from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The association polled more than 100 college presidents in March and between June and July about their... read more.

NBC News… Schools seeking alternative to remote learning try an experiment: Outdoor classrooms, By Erin Einhorn - Aug. 5, 2020 - DETROIT — With just days to go before the start of the new academic year, schools around the country are rushing to gather materials they never thought they would need: plexiglass dividers, piles of masks and internet hot spots to connect with students remotely. And then there are schools that have an even more unusual list. The... read more.

Chalkbeat… One of America’s first states to reopen schools in person, Tennessee serves as ‘experiment’ in COVID safety, By Marta W. Aldrich - Jul 31, 2020 - Amid a low local infection rate and starting with small clusters of students, Alcoa Middle School became one of the nation’s first schools to reopen its campus to students during the pandemic. Within two days, a teacher with the sniffles tested positive for COVID-19. The school, just south of Knoxville, Tennessee... read more.

The Hechinger Report… How higher education’s own choices left it vulnerable to the pandemic crisis, By Jon Marcus - August 4, 2020 - When Missouri Western State University declared a financial emergency in the spring, it was widely assumed to have been the fault of the coronavirus pandemic. But that was only part of the problem. In the decade since the last recession, Missouri Western had kept hiring, increasing the number of full-time faculty by 5 percent as its... read more.

Education Dive… Just over half of districts plan some level of in-person instruction for fall, Naaz Modan - Aug. 6, 2020 - Dive Brief: Data collected by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) suggests, as of the end of July, 40% of school districts that have announced reopening plans favor full in-person instruction this fall, and 51% of school districts with announced plans will provide in-person learning at least partially through a hybrid model. Rural districts are... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Are the teachers okay? By Jackie Mader
In Jefferson and Rapides parishes in Louisiana, more than half of early ed teachers who were recently surveyed are making less money than before the coronavirus pandemic. More than 40 percent are experiencing food insecurity. Eighty-five percent of teachers are worried that children will come to school sick and more than half are worried that they will have to go to work while... read more.

New York Times… How TikTok’s Owner Tried, and Failed, to Cross the U.S.-China Divide, By Raymond Zhong - Aug. 6, 2020 - The Chinese entrepreneur behind TikTok took ample precautions when he set out to straddle the tech world’s most treacherous divide: the one separating China’s tightly controlled internet from the rest of the planet. He made TikTok unavailable in China so the video app’s users wouldn’t be subject to the Communist Party’s censorship... read more.

Richland Source… Local school districts ramp up with 'Kindergarten Literacy Boot Camp'
Jul 31, 2020 - MANSFIELD -- The five consortium districts participating in the Striving Readers Grant through Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center -- Buckeye Central Local Schools, Galion City Schools, Highland Local Schools, Plymouth-Shiloh Local Schools and Shelby City Schools -- will participate in "Kindergarten Literacy Boot Camps" in August. The boot camps are... read more.

The Daily Signal… How Much Do You Know About COVID-19? Take This Quiz, Doug Badger
August 04, 2020 - 1. True or False: COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the U.S. False. It’s not even close. As of July 25, the most recent date for which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data is available, there were 135,579 deaths related to the contagion, less than 1% of the more than 1.5 million deaths that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year. COVID-19 isn’t even... read more.

The New York Times… How to Go to College During a Pandemic, By Frank Bruni
Aug. 1, 2020 - Hundreds of thousands of undergraduates in America won’t be allowed on their campuses this fall, or the campuses welcoming them will be hollowed-out, locked-down, revelry-leeched shadows of their former selves. What kind of college experience is that? The kind that Natalie Kanter had by design. She did college without the campus — four demanding and exhilarating... read more.

EdSurge… Why Self-Compassion and Emotion Regulation Are Key to Coping with COVID-19, By Marc Brackett - Aug 3, 2020 - Every emotional response is a unique experience. What triggers an unpleasant emotion today may not even register tomorrow. Perhaps right now you are at home with your family for what seems like an eternity and you feel like losing it. Tomorrow, same home, but wake up in a calm state and you happily eat your breakfast and plan your day... read more.

Vox… Covid-19 is exposing inequalities in college sports. Now athletes are demanding change. By Anya van Wagtendonk - Aug 2, 2020 - Several hundred college athletes have announced their intention to sit out the coming season as the coronavirus pandemic continues across the United States, and as confirmed case rates rise in almost every state. Sunday, hundreds of football players from the Pac-12 Conference, which is made up of 12 Western schools... read more.

The Hechinger Report… Proof Points: A crowdsourcing approach to homework help, by Jill Barshay - August 3, 2020 - Kids hate doing homework. Parents hate nagging about it. Teachers hate grading it. There are even ongoing debates among educators about whether all the assignments help students learn much. Here’s one way that homework might be more effective: crowdsourcing help from teachers. Neil Heffernan, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in... read more.

The Atlantic… Will Kids Follow the New Pandemic Rules at School? Joe Pinsker
July 29, 2020 - Across the country, schools have outlined the precautions they’ll take as they reopen their campuses this fall. If and when kids return, schools are planning outdoor “mask breaks” in Denver, one-way hallways in Northern Virginia, and shortened in-person school weeks in New York City, among many, many other safeguards against coronavirus outbreaks. Included... read more.

Education Dive… Funds tied to reopening 'frustrating' educators, likely to be challenged, Naaz Modan - July 31, 2020 - A Republican Senate appropriations bill unveiled this week — dubbed the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act — would provide $70 billion for schools as part of the latest COVID-19 relief package. But nearly two-thirds of that money is tied to schools reopening for in-person instruction. While the conditional rules... read more.

EdSurge… To Combat the ‘COVID Slide,’ Tutoring Program Pairs Elementary Schoolers with College Students, By Emily Tate - Jul 31, 2020 - Michelle Lamont’s 7-year-old daughter, Savannah, was already struggling with reading when her school shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic in March. The prolonged closures—and in her case, lack of any formal instruction—only exacerbated the problem. Shortly after Savannah’s school, located in the rural town... read more.

Education Dive… Tuition reductions take off as coronavirus shapes colleges' fall plans, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - July 29, 2020 - The rising number of verified coronavirus cases has many colleges confronting a bleak truth: that despite their initial plans, the fall term will likely be virtual. Hosting classes almost exclusively online isn't a move institutions relish making. Students overwhelmingly prefer face-to-face courses, research shows. And administrators fear that students... read more.

Education Dive… How college athletic departments are coping with the pandemic, Hallie Busta - July 31, 2020 - Dive Brief: Seven in 10 senior leaders across NCAA Division I institutions expect the pandemic to cause athletic department revenue to fall by more than 20% for the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to a recent poll by Teamworks, which provides software for athletic departments. They expect revenue streams from ticket sales, followed by NCAA and conference... read more.

Education Dive… Few colleges are setting clear benchmarks for closing campuses, Jeremy Bauer-Wolf - July 30, 2020 - The trickle has become a flood. Many colleges that initially intended to reopen their campuses have, in recent weeks, accepted the reality of a largely virtual fall. Some administrators are still holding out hope for a more traditional academic year, crafting intricate strategies to halt the spread of the coronavirus, even as verified case numbers soar... read more.

American Association of Community Colleges… Shifting more toward CTE, By Matthew Dembicki
July 26, 2020 - Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, El Paso Community College (EPCC) in Texas was already shifting from being primarily an academic transfer institution to expanding more of its career and technical education (CTE) programs based on local demand for those skills among employers, according to President William Serrata. “I believe the pandemic will accelerate... read more.

The New York Times… Should 5-Year-Olds Start School This Year? By Emily Sohn
July 29, 2020 - Alka Tripathy-Lang’s 5-year-old son is supposed to start kindergarten this fall, but her district in suburban Phoenix has already delayed its start and announced that classes, when they do start, will be online for at least the first couple of weeks. What those lessons will look like is unclear, as are details about how much parental involvement will be required, and how... read more.

U.S. News & World Report… What Work-Study Looks Like During the Coronavirus, By Emma Kerr - July 29, 2020 - STUDENTS WHO RELY ON part-time jobs funded by the federal work-study program to pay for college may see their financial aid options limited or rescinded this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. Whether students can access work-study funding, which is a form of aid that requires them to work for wages paid in part by the U.S. Department of Education... read more.

Education Dive… As new school year approaches, how will districts address the 'COVID slide'? Natalie Gross - July 30, 2020 - Less than a month after schools across the country transitioned to online learning in the spring, the internet went wild with posts that students would have to repeat their current grade levels in the fall. The idea wasn’t popular with parents — or educators — who were relieved to find the stories circulating social media were merely a set of bad April Fool’s... read more.

EdSurge… Districts Pivot Their Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism During Distance Learning, By Wade Tyler Millward - Jul 29, 2020 - Erin Simon had big goals for this school year. The director of student support services for Long Beach Unified School District wanted to reduce the number of local students who were chronically absent, a term that refers to those who miss 15 or more school days of the academic year. This has been a goal of Simon’s since she... read more.

To see Archives for the Previous Month's Opinion... click here

County News Online

is a Fundraiser for the Senior Scribes Scholarship Committee. All net profits go into a fund for Darke County Senior Scholarships
contact