LA School Report

Marissa McClellan, who leads child protective services in Pennsylvania’s capital city, has been struggling to fall asleep at night. But it’s not the pandemic’s growing death toll or the collapsing economy that’s keeping her up. She’s worried about the children who aren’t showing up for school. Ever since the pandemic pushed schools into disarray, education...

When voters selected Joe Biden as the next president, Juan Cisneros offered a lukewarm congratulations. Cisneros, a 19-year-old computer science student at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona, is still fuming about immigration policy under former President Barack Obama, who oversaw a surge in deportations and was famously dubbed the “Deporter in Chief” by leading immigrant-rights...

The closing months of 2020 have brought little certainty to the question of when the COVID-19 pandemic will end. Through the beginning of a new school year, the drawn-out climax of a disputed election, and even the development of three separate vaccines, coronavirus infections and deaths have surged in a frightening second wave that has...

A version of this essay originally appeared on Robert Slavin’s blog. Dear President-elect Biden: Congratulations on your victory in the recent election. Your task is daunting; so much needs to be set right. I am writing to you about what I believe needs to be done in education to heal the damage done to so...

There are hopeful signs the Biden administration will be making a deep commitment to policies and practices that will advance educational equity and ensure every child has access to a quality school. Recently, future First Lady Jill Biden took to social media to make an explicit statement about the new administration’s commitment to quality schools for every...

Never before has the American education system been put under a microscope — sometimes literally — the way it was in 2020. That’s because COVID-19 illustrated just how much about schools we take for granted. Education research examines all kinds of things that take place inside the walls of schools, from science lessons and gym...

Schools around the world started classes this year that looked very different in most cases than they did a year ago. Facing many uncertainties, school administrators devised flexible plans with multiple scenarios, including social distancing protocols, guidance on mask wearing, continued reliance on virtual learning, and ways to ensure scholars are getting proper nutrition if...

The latest fall college enrollment figures released this month tell a startling story that alarms educators: The sharp declines at community colleges — far larger than at four-year colleges — are due mostly to disappearing male students. At some community colleges, the losses are minor. At others, however, they are dramatic. At Southwest Tennessee Community...

Education research is replete with studies that show how implicit bias can influence the success of students Black and white, male and female. But too often, the evidence of that bias and its impact is muddied by other considerations, such as income, where students live and how their families value education. Sometimes, though, the bias...

Landra Fair, a high school science teacher at Unified School District No. 232 in Kansas, was thrilled for the chance to participate in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial this past summer, eager to further scientific research in this area. It’s not the first time a member of her family has done so: Her mother was part...