Category: Formal Education

March 28, 2022

Regularly I run into our students making Tik Tok videos in school stairwells. I often jump in, but that’s a different article for another day. I’ve come to learn that these videos are complicated, skillful endeavors that require multiple takes, […]

September 28, 2021

Providing an engaging and equitable STEM education is an important step in helping to develop more scientists and engineers while increasing race and gender diversity in the field–both of which are much needed in today’s world. Education in STEM can […]

September 22, 2021

The education establishment seems to think that time is a tangible asset. State legislatures mete out requirements based on minutes of classroom time as a measure of accountability. In higher education, we have the holy contact hour. Amazingly, those dictating […]

September 16, 2021

This back-to-school season is unlike any before it. Not only are many students heading back to full in-person learning after more than a year of virtual or hybrid learning, they’re doing it in the middle of COVID-19 surges nationwide. The […]

September 7, 2021

In New Jersey, promoting vaccines, literacy and a safe welcome-back to school For AFT-New Jersey President Donna M. Chiera, her union’s back-to-school vaccination and literacy campaign (funded by a Return, Recover and Reimagine grant from the national AFT) is especially […]

September 3, 2021

As President Joe Biden announced the end of the longest war in U.S. history, schools across the nation prepared for an influx of refugees, who were among the more than 120,000 people that were evacuated from Afghanistan. “So many of […]

September 1, 2021

If the female teachers of America had a patron saint, her name would be Sarah Josepha Hale. The celebrated 19th-century editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book is best known as the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and for her […]

May 25, 2021

About 42 percent of rural school districts in the U.S. offered fully in-person instruction as of February, compared with only 17 percent for urban districts, according to a new RAND Corporation survey of school district leaders. The opposite pattern held […]

April 20, 2021

As a parent, the excitement surrounding the prospect of returning to in-person teaching and learning at our children’s school is welcome. It is also pervasive nationwide, as parents everywhere begin to think about a resumption of familiar routines, whether their […]

April 1, 2021

When schools across the country started shutting down in-person instruction in March of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 virus, much of the nation focus turned to the impact on students. Educators, parents, stakeholders, and policymakers still wonder if remote […]

March 26, 2021

The U.S. reached an important milestone several years ago—minority students now comprise the largest demographic group in our nation’s public schools. While there is great diversity within our student population, the majority of educators still do not share the same […]

March 26, 2021

While many educators found unique and innovative ways to deliver remote and engaging instruction to their students, the majority of teachers responding to a McKinsey survey said virtual learning over the past year is “a poor substitute” for in-person learning. […]

October 27, 2020

On top of contending with a pandemic-driven shift to distance learning this year, educators have also had to address the nation’s rising awareness of systemic racism in the wake of protests over the police-involved deaths of Black Americans. For many […]

September 8, 2020

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the closures or partial openings of schools across the country require flexibility from employers for working parents, according to HR experts. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) signed into law March 18 required employers […]

August 28, 2020

Much of the recent argument raging about reopening schools rests on the quality of online instruction. That’s understandable. However, there’s much about online instruction that remains misunderstood. It’s time to change that… In my 50-year teaching career, I had the […]

July 7, 2020

“There is a critical opportunity now to listen to and learn from students’ lived experiences during this unprecedented time,” YouthTruth Executive Director Jen Wilka said in a press release. “As we navigate the challenges ahead and adapt to new learning […]

April 29, 2020

California classrooms could reopen with modifications as soon as late July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday, bringing a new wave of anxiety for parents, teachers and students. Newsom laid out the possible change, the earliest proposed start date yet, […]

April 27, 2020

Since we most recently updated this graphic, even more states—including Delaware, Rhode Island, and North Carolina—have announced decisions to close school buildings for the remainder of the academic year, bringing to 42 the total number of states with schools physically […]

April 20, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic blindsided the nation at large in early March, school districts were suddenly faced with an unprecedented upheaval of the academic calendar. Nearly halfway through the backend of the school year, most would shut down and transition, […]

April 17, 2020

Studying how natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and economic recessions affected education funding in the past may foretell what’s on the horizon for America’s schools after coronavirus. As recently as 2016, states were spending 10% less per student than […]