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2022-01-18
Center for the Study of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Virginia Union University;
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established primarily in the post-Civil War era to meet the educational needs of Black Americans. They provide pathways to upward social mobility and have a long-standing commitment to promoting both academic success and students' health and well-being. But persistent funding inequities at both the state and federal levels actively undermine those commitments and leave the sector particularly vulnerable during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.This report, a collaboration between The Hope Center and the Center for the Study of HBCUs, uses data from the #RealCollege Survey to examine the overlapping challenges affecting students attending HBCUs during fall 2020. In total, nearly 5,000 students from 14 public and private four-year HBCUs responded to the survey.Topics covered include:Impacts of the pandemic on students' health and employmentStudents' basic needs securityUtilization of public and campus supports, including emergency aid and SNAPRecommendations for federal and state policymakers
2022-05-17
Migration Policy Institute;
In addition to upending daily life in the classroom, the pandemic has affected how states administer annual assessments to their students—disrupting a key means of collecting data on new or growing learning gaps that demand attention. This report explores how states have approached testing English Learners during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what 2020-21 assessment data can and cannot tell us.
2022-05-16
American Academy of Arts and Sciences;
As the total number of credits taken by high school students has increased since 1990, so have the number of credits taken in key humanities subjects and the share of students earning credits in these subjects.
2022-05-12
Human Rights Watch;
Since around 2014, lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels in Brazil have introduced over 200 legislative proposals to ban "indoctrination" or "gender ideology" in Brazilian schools. These proposals, which target gender and sexuality education, have been the subject of intense political and social debate in Brazilian society, with some bills ultimately passing, many still pending, and others withdrawn.This report is based on a review by Human Rights Watch of 217 of these bills and laws, and on 56 interviews with teachers and education experts, including representatives of state departments of education, unions, and civil society organizations.The report focuses on legislative and political attempts to suppress holistic and comprehensive approaches to education on gender and sexuality in primary and secondary public schools in Brazil. It contextualizes such attacks within the framework of the right to education, to information, and to health, as well as the related right to access comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), which they contravene.While Brazilian law and policy, both at the federal and state levels, require CSE instruction, most of the efforts by lawmakers and conservative groups described in this report aim to specifically ban the key concepts of "gender" and "sexual orientation" in all areas of school, including as they relate to the rights of girls, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The report illustrates a campaign—at times coordinated, at times diffuse—to discredit and ban gender and sexuality education, bolstered by the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, which has fully embraced the alleged justification for these bills, amplifying it for political effect, including during his 2018 presidential campaign.Interviews with 32 teachers from 8 states in Brazil revealed hesitancy or fear among some teachers when it comes to addressing gender and sexuality in the classroom due to legislative and political efforts to discredit such material, and at times harassment by elected officials and community members.
2022-04-29
Degrees When Due (DWD);
Higher education is the surest pathway to a better living and a better life. Yet, the goal of a valuable college credential goes unrealized for too many students, especially students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Today, more than 36 million Americans have some college credit, but no awarded degree and, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the studies of even more students, deepening inequities that already are pervasive.Lighting the Path shares key findings from Degrees When Due, a nationwide completion initiative to reengage students and build institutional capacity. The report sets forth key findings on barriers to reenrollment, persistence, and completion; outlines strategies to best support returning students; and offers recommendations for policymakers at every level--institutional, state, and federal--to promote equitable degree completion.
2022-03-30
Higher Ed Insight (HEI);
In recent years, both policymakers and practitioners working to increase postsecondary attainment rates in the United States have shifted their focus from college access to college success. At the same time, they have recognized that the prevalence of 36 million adults with some college education but no postsecondary credential is an important consequence of the many challenges facing American college students. Adults with some college but no credential face a range of barriers to both re-enrolling in college and completing a credential if they re-enroll. Those who have made several attempts to attend college may be burdened by student loans and other educational debt but cannot reap the social and economic benefits associated with earning a postsecondary credential. Given this reality, policymakers and postsecondary institutions must identify effective ways to support these individuals if and when they do try to return to college. Commissioned by the Lumina Foundation, this study offers a unique opportunity to better understand the experiences of adults who stopped out of college, re-enrolled, and either successfully completed a credential or seemed likely to do so. Based on a new survey of these successful returning students, the study investigates the challenges and supports they view as important to their ability to remain enrolled and attain a postsecondary credential, with the goal of identifying factors that facilitated their success.
2022-04-13
New America;
There is a growing body of evidence about the disproportionate impact the pandemic had on English learners (ELs). We sought to capture the complexity of learning conditions for this student population during the COVID-19 pandemic by interviewing 20 EL education leaders. These experts' experiences revealed that while remote learning posed significant challenges to EL education and services, educators improvised, collaborated, and continued to innovate throughout the pandemic. To help EL students moving forward, education leaders on all levels must acknowledge both the struggle and perseverance that shaped their educational experiences during the pandemic.
2022-04-19
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
Individual schools have a unique set of assets and talent that can be mobilized to improve student outcomes. In our experience, no two schools are the same — they have different needs, histories and commitments. At the same time, schools share common problems, such as getting (and keeping) students on track in high school, enrolled in a viable postsecondary program and on the road to success as adults. That's why since August 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made grants to 24 organizations that are supporting 38 networks of middle and high schools in 23 states to improve outcomes for students who are Black, Latino, or experiencing poverty by using data-driven approaches to continually improve their practice based on issues they've identified. We're interested in learning from these Networks for School Improvement (NSI) how schools can use a methodical approach to improvement, widely used in fields such as healthcare, to advance high school graduation and postsecondary success rates for students who are Black, Latino, and experiencing poverty.
2022-03-31
ITHAKA S+R;
The Panther Retention Grant (PRG) program at Georgia State University (Georgia State) is one of the nation's pioneering examples of a retention or completion grant program, a type of emergency financial aid program aimed at supporting students with immediate financial need. The program, which specifically targets students who are in good academic standing and have exhausted all other sources of aid, automatically awards up to $2,500 to clear students' unpaid balances and allow them to remain enrolled for the term. Since the program was piloted in 2011, it has awarded over 10,000 grants to Georgia State students and has undergone many changes in scope, focus, and eligibility criteria. This study is the first to attempt to estimate the causal impacts of the grant on student outcomes and institutional finances.
2022-04-26
Educators for Excellence;
We are excited to share these findings with you. What follows in this report are stark findings on teachers' beliefs about what will keep them in the classroom and what support and training are needed, particularly around curriculum, culturally relevant teaching, and assessments to improve teaching and learning. In addition, there is data about how teachers view their unions' support and how they think issues of race and racial history should be taught in our schools. There is a lot to share in this report and we hope that Voices from the Classroom 2022 is a first step in a very important effort to center the ideas of educators in the conversation about improving our education system for our students.With so much at stake in terms of student performance and teacher burnout, we have no time to spare. We encourage policymakers and education leaders to consider the findings from this survey as they create or change policies that will both address short-term needs created by the pandemic and also impact schools longer term, after the funding has ended and the public's attention has faded. Fellow teachers, we invite you to use these survey results to be loud and be bold — let's use our voices to capitalize on this moment.
2022-03-07
Insecurity Insight;
Russian troops invaded Ukrainian territory on 24 February. Russian forces have made extensive use of explosive weapons in populated areas leading to widespread damage of educational buildings. Most schools are closed depriving children of education. Some educational buildings have been used as bomb shelters. Many families with children have been fleeing the country. It is estimated that around half of the two million refugees who have left Ukraine are children. International students studying at Ukrainian universities have had difficulties leaving the country.Insecurity Insight's monitoring for the period 17 February-02 March 2022 has identified reports of 16 incidents of violence against education. Most incidents reported explosive weapons use.
2022-04-22
Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group;
What can be done to help immigrant families with the language barrier as they work on improving their language skills? This brief focuses on the linguistic challenges many face as they try to acclimate to life in the United States or abroad when their native language is no longer dominant in their surroundings. From designing ESOL programs and curricula around the needs of families to recognizing and accounting for dialects when sharing resources or providing services, we took an in-depth look at how we can help families overcome the language barrier.
