What a difference a year can make. In fall 2020, COVID-19 vaccines were still months away from availability, and most students (57 percent) were enrolled in fully remote schooling, with just 25 percent attending schools fully in person. By fall 2021, vaccines were available to all adults and teens, with approval for children aged 5...

This school year, recovery is the name of the game in K-12 education. Although COVID-19 persists, schools have reopened and are focusing on getting students back on track. But plenty of the challenges schools are tackling have long predated COVID. Indeed, schools are not just facing the need to recover from the pandemic — they...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, survey after survey showed teens in the United States were facing high, rising levels of stress and anxiety. The alarm now rings loudly for us to wake up to their situation. The pandemic has only exacerbated the challenges for youths in America. September polling from EdChoice and Morning Consult shows...

Over the past two years, virtually every American has suffered loss. Many have lost loved ones. Others have lost jobs or homes. In most instances, the only option is to accept fate and try to return to a sense of normalcy. However, when it comes to addressing students’ learning loss, we must resist the temptation...

Across the country, school board meetings have become ground zero for political and ideological debates. COVID protocols, mask policies and differing philosophies of how to teach American history have garnered much of the headlines — and even been cited as a winning political strategy. After 18 months of unpredictable (and often frustrating) pandemic schooling, education...

Imagine you’re underwater in the Caribbean Sea, gazing at colorful coral reefs and schools of fish. Sunlight filters through the water as it gently moves you back and forth. You breathe in and out, slowly and deeply. How do you feel? Educator Sandra Turner has led her middle and high school students through this mindfulness exercise over...

Ten years ago, I would have never imagined becoming an educator, let alone even considered a career in education. Growing up, I had few teachers who looked like me and who shared my identity as a Black male. My school district maintained a sizable number of black educators; however, none of the Black teachers taught...

A clammy, sniffling toddler in the Washington, D.C. park near my house would have looked and sounded pretty normal — back in January 2020. But now, folks were giving the maskless toddler and her parents a wide berth as the two had an animated argument about their community’s right to know about those sniffles. Did they really...

I spent 17 years teaching immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking high school students from around the world in my hometown of Modesto. Though all too often it was violence, suffering, and war that brought them here, the joy and promise that radiated from my students spoke to the optimism and hope of the American Dream. In...

Recent polling confirms that over the last year American parents have been worried about a lot, overwhelmed by online learning and fearful their children are falling behind. It seems Republicans channeled these emotions in Virginia and New Jersey in November’s elections, as polls show education mattered for many voters — the second most important issue in...