California鈥檚 mandate requiring later start times for middle and high schools is already yielding results, with students sleeping more, reporting better mental health and scoring higher math and English scores, according to a new study.

The new working from the National Bureau of Economic Research examines the effects of Senate Bill 328, California鈥檚 statewide mandate for later school start times. The law, which went into effect in 2022, requires most middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

The study found that the new law increased the share of students sleeping at least eight hours per night by 13%, meeting the minimum recommended for adolescents by . The largest jump was among boys.

The study shows that 鈥渞est and sleep are incredibly important in the function of schools,鈥� said Osea Giuntella, an author of the report. Although the short-term increase in sleep is moderate, it has led to significant improvements in mental health and academic outcomes, he said.

Giuntella, a University of Pittsburgh researcher who studies sleep and economics, said the study鈥檚 first-year results are consistent with previous research linking better sleep to improved聽student well-being and academic performance. The study used changes in teachers鈥� commute arrival times from the American Community Survey as a proxy for later school start times, comparing sleep and mental health data before and after SB 328 took effect in the 2022-2023 school year and tracking academic gains from 2022 through 2025.

Gains in sleep, mental health, English and math

Students reported experiencing better mental health since schools shifted to later start times, with boys reporting the largest reductions in sadness, hopelessness and suicidal ideation, and Hispanic students reporting the biggest drop in difficulties concentrating.

Terra Ziporyn, executive director at nonprofit Start Schools Later and longtime advocate of later school start times, said SB 328 was a key part of California鈥檚 response to what schools have described as a student mental health crisis.

鈥淭he first step in addressing student mental health problems is to not create them in the first place,鈥� Ziporyn said. 鈥淵ou can get a lot of counselors, but systematically depriving an entire adolescent population of adequate sleep is a surefire way to hurt their mental health.鈥�

The study also found significant improvements in academic achievement, with eighth grade students making measurable gains in math and English, particularly among Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.

Giuntella, the study鈥檚 author, said the improvement in scores was likely 鈥渓argely driven by the change in sleep鈥� based on comparable where increased sleep led to higher GPAs. That鈥檚 also why Hispanic students, who are already less likely to get adequate sleep than white students due to lower family income and family and work responsibilities, improved their math and English scores the most, Giuntella said.

Parents struggle with new schedules

The state mandate is the only one in the nation.

鈥淐alifornia set a huge precedent for the whole nation by saying, 鈥榃e cannot leave what is essentially a public health decision in the hands of local districts,鈥� 鈥� Ziproyn said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a negotiable school budget item that you trade off against anything else.鈥�

But some parents have said later start times complicate work commutes, push back sports and extracurricular activities and lead to some students simply pushing back the time they go to bed.

The study found that sports and extracurricular activities did start later after the change to later start times, but the changes were 鈥渕arginal and not statistically significant,鈥� Giuntella said.

鈥淎nd it鈥檚 true that, yes, students may even go to bed a little later than they were, but they are definitely sleeping in more in the morning,鈥� she said.

Guintella described later start times as just 鈥渙ne institutional factor鈥� that may help address a complex sleep-deprivation problem, pointing to issues like the rise in nighttime screen use.

鈥楾oo hard and too expensive鈥� for some districts

Some school districts found the transition to later school start times 鈥渢oo hard and too expensive,鈥� Ziporyn said. Ziporyn said district administrators could have received more guidance from the state Department of Education to explain the benefits of later start times, and involve families in finding solutions to logistical problems.

鈥�(Schools) have to fully understand why this is being done and communicate it with confidence to the community that they鈥檙e doing the right thing for kids,鈥� Ziporyn said.

San Francisco Unified, for example, worked with operations experts at the Yale School of Management, Georgia Tech University and Northwestern University to redesign their bus routes in response to the change. With more than 120 schools and 18 different start times, the district generated about 1,000 new feasible bus schedules, which ended up saving the district about $5 million and with a majority of families and staff members satisfied with the transition to later start times, according to a report by

But most schools in California did not have access to dedicated consultants to ease the transition, Ziporyn said.

鈥淐alifornia could have improved making these resources more readily available to the districts,鈥� Ziporyn said. 鈥淏uilt into the law was that there was supposed to be help from the state Department of Education about getting this done, and building that community buy-in is part of it.鈥�

Giuntella said the state can improve its implementation of SB 328 by collecting statewide data on later school start times to 鈥渁ssess the impact of the reform.鈥� In the meantime, schools can take from the study that later start times are 鈥渆ffective and powerful tools鈥� for student outcomes.

鈥淭his happens often with some shock to individual and families鈥� habits, and so it also requires the ability to navigate this transition in a way that doesn鈥檛 backfire,鈥� Giuntella said.

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Indianapolis Public School students can receive a zero on assignments again, but only if they make zero effort to complete them.

The IPS school board updated the district鈥檚 grading policy to remove the district鈥檚 no-zero grading policy for students in first through 12th grade in a unanimous vote on Thursday.

The change comes about six years after the no-zero policy was implemented and is largely due to teacher feedback, said Lela Simmons, IPS chief learning officer, during the school board鈥檚 agenda review session on Tuesday.

Now, students can receive a zero on an assignment if they make no attempt to complete it after getting multiple opportunities and support from the teacher. How that works is up to the teachers and will depend on the student and their grade level, Simmons said.

If students make a good faith effort, they will earn at least 50%, Simmons said. Anything 59% or lower is an F, while other letter grades are about 10 points each. For example, anything 90% or higher is an A and grades between 80% and 89% are a B. Earning at least 50% on an assignment makes it more likely students will pass the class.

She said the aim is to continue to give students opportunities to do better and try again.

The no-zero policy was approved in July 2020 and meant that the lowest score students could receive was 50%.

鈥淭he intention of that shift was because it is incredibly hard for students to come back from zeros in their grades,鈥� Simmons said.

She said the change was also in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to students learning virtually and missing assignments for related reasons such as quarantine.

The policy had multiple critics, including some IPS staff and parents who said it was difficult to implement and to identify students who needed support. Simmons told the board that teachers said the change didn鈥檛 prepare students for college.

Based on that feedback, Simmons said the new policy is a 鈥渉appy medium.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

The U.S. Department of Justice agreed Aug. 10 to stop efforts to indefinitely 鈥減ause鈥� operations at 99 youth training centers in nearly every state, reaching a with seven students backed by the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The settlement lets the centers 鈥� which provide job training, dormitories and living expenses for 25,000 low-income students between 16 and 24 every year 鈥� continue serving students. It also ends worries the centers would close with students still in the middle of training for fields that include construction, health care, manufacturing and transportation.

鈥�(The) settlement puts an end to the unlawful threat hanging over Job Corps students’ heads for the last year,鈥� said Adam Pulver, a lawyer for the students.

In court filings, students told stories of being shut out of their dorms or being ordered to leave their Job Corps campus last year after the Trump administration ordered the centers to stop operating with one month鈥檚 notice in May, 2025.

鈥淚 want nothing more than to stay and finish my program, so I intend to remain on campus and attend classes until I am forced to leave,鈥� Maddex Noah Davis-Newman, 19, a trainee at the Tongue Point Job Corps center in Oregon told the court last June. 鈥淚n the past two weeks, I have lost a lot of friends here who had to return to abusive homes or are back living on the streets.鈥�

Others told the court they had dropped out of high school a few years earlier, or been kicked out of their parents鈥� homes, before Job Corps offered them shelter, food and training.

 鈥淚f not for Job Corps, I would have become homeless,鈥� Abigail Shauger, 19, a student at the Job Corps center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told the court last June.

鈥淚f the shutdown continues, I will not be able to earn my trade certificate in the (Certified Nursing Assistant) program despite my training,鈥� she added. 鈥淚 was so close, with only two months left till my tests.鈥�

The U.S. Department of Labor, which oversees the program, referred questions to the Department of Justice, which did not respond to questions from 社区黑料. Administration officials have said since last May that Job Corps does not bring enough benefit to students to justify costing more than $1.6 billion a year.

鈥淛ob Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,鈥� Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer 鈥淗owever鈥he program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.鈥�

She pointed to a study finding that the program costs more than $80,000 per student per year, with just a 39% graduation rate and participants earning less than $17,000 a year, on average.

Job Corps has also long been on the list of programs conservatives consider wasteful, with the Heritage Foundation criticizing its several years ago because of low high school and college graduation rates and small wage increases for participants.

The non-profit , saying the data in that study was distorted by the pandemic, that the cost per graduate is about $57,000 and earnings average about $31,000.

Pulver said the government鈥檚 failure to follow shutdown procedures spelled out in law doomed its attempt. The administration had ordered the centers to stop operating with just a month鈥檚 notice. But Pulver said federal law lays out an orderly path to closing Job Corps centers over time, if the program is to be cut, so that students are not abruptly turned away with training half-finished.

He called the administration鈥檚 attempt to 鈥渟uspend鈥� operations while seeking to wipe out the program鈥檚 budget a 鈥渟leight of hand鈥� to avoid public debate and closure procedures. That let the students win a U.S. District Court ruling in July, 2025, blocking the suspension until the case was resolved.

鈥淚 think the judge in this case agreed that suspending something indefinitely, with no intention to ever reopen it, is closing it,鈥� Pulver said.

The administration also did not succeed in its hope of removing funding for Job Corps from the federal budget. through at least June 2027.

A former health industry reporter, Singer sees parallels between Silicon Valley鈥檚 campaign for coding, among other measures, and Big Pharma鈥檚 influence on medicine, noting huge school investments over the past few years by Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others.

鈥淣ever has so much market power lined up behind a single curriculum cause,鈥� she writes.

As a result, a movement that could have helped build data science or other less glamorous, evidence-based reforms has in many cases ended up offering students 鈥渙nly half an education in computing, the rosy upbeat half that casts tech giants as benevolent, world-changing innovators.鈥� 

In one chapter, Singer examines a 2019 Advanced Placement Computer Science course developed by Apple that teaches students how to code in Swift, Apple鈥檚 programming language for building iPhone apps. It鈥檚 as if schools embraced a 鈥淩aytheon-branded AP physics course or DuPont chemistry course or Pfizer AP Biology course,鈥� she writes.

Singer finds both problematic and promising moves by tech over the past decade or more. While she calls out the nonprofit for skewing the idea of computer science to coding that often helps serve corporate interests, she lauds its founder, Iran-born entrepreneur , for making coding appealing and fun to millions of young people, telling 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo that U.S. public schools likely wouldn鈥檛 offer computer science at this scale if not for Partovi.

鈥淚 don’t know anybody else that’s been able to do that,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think that did change the world.鈥�

Ahead of the book鈥檚 release on Tuesday, Toppo and Singer talked about her findings and the lessons that the tech industry is now taking into the fight to get into schools. 

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The book spends a lot of time with Partovi and Code.org. Would you say it is basically a positive influence?

Natasha Singer: Code.org catalyzed computer science in schools. They also partnered with a lot of big tech companies and brought in commercial things 鈥� the Hour of Code has the lessons and Elsa the lessons and the Microsoft lessons and the Code Your Own lessons, and so it also brought in a kind of commercialism that I have questions about. I don’t think we would have computer science at this scale in schools if not for Code.org.

One of the key takeaways of this book is that there are other ways to do computer science in schools. In fact, if there’s a hero, it’s , who says Code.org and other groups are mostly just getting middle-class white boys interested in coding. Can you tell us about her? 

Jane Margolis is an incredible researcher. She grew up in Berkeley, Calif., during the ’60s, and she went to UC Berkeley. She was a Vietnam War protester and then she was a labor activist. She worked for the telephone company 鈥� at the time, it was Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, and there she saw these gender biases at work because she worked as an operator, the person who sat at the switchboard with all those wires plugging in calls. Male employees were allowed to be linemen, and they would go outside and climb these telephone poles and install phones, and she was trying to unionize the women to say that job should be open to everyone. Her view was that women need to have technical skills and equal opportunity to technical careers. Eventually, she goes to Harvard and gets a Ph.D in education, and she’s looking at gender disparities. Harvard has this government department, and it was inhospitable to women, and so she did her thesis about why boys were shouting down girls and pushing girls out of political science. 

She starts in computer science in the ’90s at Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon, as you know, is at the forefront of computer science education and robotics and computer vision. They were one of the first to start a dedicated college of computer science, as opposed to a major. But a couple of years in, they realize that only 7% of the people majoring in computer science are girls, and they can鈥檛 figure out why. 

, who’s the associate dean at Carnegie Mellon, hires Margolis, and together they do a study looking at why it is that women are not going into computer science and are dropping out. And they find there are all these factors, one of which is that families are buying personal computers. She found by interviewing male and female students that the boys would be like, 鈥淥h yeah, my dad or my uncle went to Radio Shack and brought home this TRS-80 computer and put it in my room, so I fooled around and learned to code, and then my neighbor came over 鈥� he’s a software engineer.鈥� So by the time the boys show up at Carnegie Mellon, many of them have already taken computer science in high school. They know what they’re doing. And some girls have no experience, so they’re already feeling behind by Day One. 

It wasn’t just that girls were left out. It’s that when girls tried to take computer science in high school, often the guidance counselors would say to them, “Oh, you don’t really want to do this,” or “You’re not going to do well,” or “It’s going to hurt your grade-point average.” There were all kinds of socio-cultural things going on 鈥� sexism and a whole bunch of other stuff that dissuaded girls. 

And so they wrote this report at Carnegie Mellon, and they did all kinds of things to attract girls to computer science. There had been a requirement that if you wanted to major in computer science, you had to have taken it in high school. But of course, girls were dissuaded from taking it in high school. So one of the things that Carnegie Mellon did, they looked at other students who might have been good at math or sciences but didn’t necessarily take computer science, or who were leaders in their schools 鈥� perseverance qualities that make you good at computer science. Within a few years, the percentage of girls taking computer science shot up. 

And then Jane Margolis was like, “O.K., we now understand how to get more girls in computer science, but the percentage of African-American students, Latino students, lower-income students is even worse. She then becomes a researcher at UCLA. She works with Los Angeles public schools. They find similar problems of Black and brown and low-income students being dissuaded from taking computer science. So they come up with a course to make computer science more welcoming. 

Her whole idea is that if you do not grow up with a computer in your house, or you don’t know how to code, and you show up to computer science class and the first thing is computer programming, and the second thing is computer programming, and the tenth thing is computer programming, you may be turned off before you even know what it is.

So they created a class to explain to students who were first-timers: How does the internet work? How does a computer work? What is a motherboard? What is a central processing unit? And how are you using tech in your life? And do you know how an email gets to you? How are platforms 鈥� at the time it was more like and Facebook 鈥� shaping your life as a student? And then eventually, when they learn a whole bunch of stuff about how the technology works and why it’s interesting, then they start programming. 

And it’s not programming for programming’s sake. They made wearable computers 鈥� they had wristbands that had LED lights so they could make creative patterns. They could spell out their name, these wristbands, but they had to use computing to make it work. They had to program the designs. They made a lot of progress with this course, not just in Los Angeles but in Chicago. It was called Exploring Computer Science, and it began to grow slowly. 

Then the tech industry comes along and says, “We have this crisis: We need more programmers and software engineers, and every kid needs to learn to code.” And a lot of those courses were programming-centric, and I have to say some of them also included social aspects such as the ethical use of computing. But this notion that we live in a world surrounded by machines and it’s crucial for young people to understand how these things work in order to have agency and navigate them, that’s the idea that Jane Margolis was arguing for 20 years ago.

I want to ask about this story from 2015 that you tell about the course, which brought together the National Science Foundation, Code.org, Apple, and others. Can you briefly tell that story?

There was a leader at the National Science Foundation named . She was running a program called . And she was charged with broadening participation at the university level 鈥� that is, getting more women and African-American students and Latino students and students with disabilities and Native American students and others in computer science, because they’ve been historically marginalized. And she’s watching what Jane Margolis and others are doing in Los Angeles and around the country. And she realizes that the problem starts before kids get to college. 

So she gives millions of dollars to universities to develop different AP courses. The kind of course she envisioned to broaden participation in computer science didn’t exist at universities because universities took hardcore first-semester computer science that was designed to weed out people, and so she funded different universities, including UT Austin and the University of Washington and Trinity College, to develop more like Computer Science Zero, an online course that would look similar to what Jane Margolis was doing. It would teach you how the internet worked, it would teach you some data science, it would teach you some programming, it would teach you to think about the social impacts of technology. It would be a new AP course called Computer Science Principles, and you could take it as the intro. And then if you liked it you would go on and take AP Computer Science, which was much more rigorous and much more programming oriented.

So she convinces the College Board that they need to do this. And then, from Jan Cuny’s point of view, out of nowhere, The College Board announces that it’s partnered with Code.org to launch , a Code.org course, and then they announce that they have endorsed specific curriculum, including the Code.org one, but they later endorsed an AP Computer Science course from , which teaches kids to code in , Apple’s programming language for iPhone apps, and they also endorse a Microsoft course called . And Jan Cuny 鈥� NSF has funded a lot of this 鈥� is really stunned because nobody had told her beforehand that the College Board was going to . But also: Why weren’t they endorsing the ones that she funded? 

So she called The College Board and was like, “You’ve got to endorse all these courses then.” And by the way, the [AP] course was a smash success. Hundreds of thousands of kids took it. It was an introduction to computing that was broad for a lot of kids who didn’t know what it was. It did diversify who was taking computer science, although it’s still very skewed toward boys.聽

But her point was that if you are trying to make a broad course that tries to get more kids of different backgrounds into computer science, Apple products skew to higher-resourced schools and higher-resourced kids. I read some of the Apple textbook, and there are lines like, “You can use this to make an app for your iPhone or even your Apple Watch.” This Apple course assumes that you have an Apple Watch. And Jan Cuny was like, “That’s not what we were doing when we were trying to broaden participation in computer science.”

I went back to the College Board, and they said, “When you’re broadening participation in computer science, you have to broaden it to everybody, and there are schools that do have MacBooks, and so maybe this course will work for them, whereas other courses won’t. It’s an array; you don’t have to use this one. You can use all of them or different ones.”

But for me, there are anomalies with having companies operate in schools, and the AP Apple curriculum and AP Microsoft curriculum show the unusual ways that tech companies influence schools that many other industries do not.

Fast-forward to 2026: Now we’re dealing with AI, and obviously tech is reading from a similar playbook. But it feels somehow different to me. I mean, we’ve had social media trials and , and these tech bros aren’t the white-hatted heroes we used to think they were. Does this moment seem different to you?

This moment is different, but also similar. We are in a moment in society where a lot of people have increased distrust of these huge tech companies, and we see a wave of parents pushing back against tech in schools. But we also see waves of people pushing back against , against , that there’s this feeling that tech has taken so much, and that people feel like they have lost control 鈥� that tech is being enacted on them.

And then when we talk about the social media trials and the big verdicts against Meta, both the one with dozens of states where Meta now has to pay $17 billion, but also the one earlier in the summer where New Mexico got in a judgment against Meta, those companies are no longer our darlings. And parents are worried about the effects of unfettered tech access and kids’ compulsive use of social media and phones, and so there’s a different climate. And yet there seems to be a disconnect in some ways with AI because you see that Microsoft and OpenAI and Anthropic and Google are all competing to get their AI tools into schools, and you see school districts across the country say “We’ve partnered with OpenAI.” “We are a ChatGPT Pioneer School,” or “We’ve partnered with Microsoft, and we’re going to use 10,000 licenses of CoPilot.” It’s amazing to me. We have had these cycles of tech in schools where there are all these promises about the latest tech, laptops, learning apps, massive open online courses, virtual reality, big data’s going to revolutionize schools and like democratize access to education for kids and get them these great career skills, and we keep having these cycles. My concern is that we don’t learn anything.

One of the reasons I wrote this book is because it feels like we have collective amnesia. Now we’re in the sixth or eighth cycle of this 鈥� and shouldn’t we be asking questions about the push for AI in schools, based on what we’ve learned about the push for all the other things that came before? 

I visited this school in Newark where two teachers had launched an AI literacy class because they were worried their high school seniors were going to graduate into a world with AI and not know anything about it. I went to the first class, and the teacher said, “We need to be honest with you. You’re the first kids we’re gonna do this class with. We don’t know how to teach this. We don’t know what you want to learn. And a year from now, this is gonna look completely different.” And there was this kind of honesty and humbleness: We, the teachers, are in it together with you, the students, and we’re gonna learn how AI works. 

They learned rigorous stuff, and they also learned to make stuff with AI. They weren’t just critical of AI, but they did it together. And if kids found something interesting, they went with that. And it’s a really hard thing for schools to know that we actually need to prepare kids about AI because they’re using it already, but in fact, we don’t know what to do yet, and this is going to rapidly change. That’s a really big challenge.

I was heartened by the chapters near the end where you go into classrooms. People are really embracing a new way to do this stuff.  

You know, I feel optimistic and upbeat about this new generation of teachers that want to equip students with broad critical thinking skills 鈥� and that involves both learning how the tech works and learning to use the tech and make stuff with AI, but also to understand the provenance of these AI tools and to understand that we have companies with more power than most countries, and we’ve never had that before. They are setting the rules we live by. So you have to understand how the tools are steering us.

But with the rise of social media and video streaming, some news articles are that the Western world is heading toward a post-literate society where the written word matters less than it used to. Sixty years ago, if you wanted to learn the capital of Zambia or how to fix a leaky faucet, you鈥檇 have to look it up in a book. Nowadays, Google and YouTube can answer such questions, and tools like Claude and ChatGPT can spit out written text without much input from humans.

And yet, as E.D. Hirsch more than 25 years ago, 鈥渋t takes knowledge to gain knowledge.鈥� The internet may have put an extraordinary amount of information at our fingertips, but we still need to be able to read it, understand it and connect it to what we already know. If anything, a world awash in information makes literacy more important, not less.

If reading remains the gateway to learning almost everything else, then one of the most important things a school can do is teach children to read well. So a year ago, 社区黑料 started looking for schools that were beating the odds in teaching kids to read. By comparing literacy and poverty rates for 10,000 districts, 42,000 schools and 3 million kids, we found more than 2,000 Bright Spots across the country and plotted them on an interactive map. 

Since then, we鈥檝e been speaking with teachers, principals and literacy coaches at a number of these Bright Spots schools, trying to figure out what they do differently.

A few takeaways from that search: 

The basics matter more than magic: Some schools were surprised to be on our list. They didn’t necessarily have an unusual program or practice in place, but across schools, we kept seeing the same organizational factors: they all have strong leaders who are resolutely focused on student outcomes, they pay attention to the quality of their curriculum and how it鈥檚 being implemented, and they closely monitor student performance data in service of continuous improvement. These feel like platitudes, but they鈥檙e essential elements to getting reading instruction right.

They focus on core instruction: The Bright Spots schools all seem to prioritize high-quality core instruction, for all kids. Notably, the Worcester County, Maryland, district getting 鈥�improbable鈥� results explicitly protects its reading instructional time and doesn鈥檛 allow interruptions, even for providing a student with personalized help. Similarly, Connecticut’s Meriden school district earned several spots on our list in part by prioritizing a common reading block across the entire district.

They emphasize foundational skills. National data suggests that all boats rise when kids have strong foundational skills. Schools are emphasizing that lesson in different ways. For example, the Indian River district in Florida has an afterschool program that gives students who need extra literacy help explicit instruction on the letters or sounds they鈥檙e learning during the school day. In Illinois, a Rockford school saw strong gains after it shifted to skill-based, rather than grade-based, reading instruction.

They set high expectations. Many of the schools on our list simply set higher expectations than other places are comfortable imposing. A district in Florida officially adopted a goal of getting 90% of their students reading proficiently by the end of third grade and is holding itself accountable for it.

This also plays out in smaller ways. Worcester County schools asks parents to sign logs confirming that their kids read for 30 minutes every night. Over the course of a school year, that adds hours of extra practice time that schools couldn鈥檛 provide on their own. Schools in Steubenville, Ohio, where nearly all third graders read proficiently, by asking students to always respond in complete sentences.

Good schools are good across the board: One thing that surprised me, but maybe shouldn鈥檛 have, is that good schools rarely specialize. There are exceptions, but in general, schools that are good at helping some children learn to read are also good for other groups of students. Researchers analyzing data across 3 million students found that the most of whether a school is going to be good for a specific group is whether it produces strong learning gains overall. This is also true across subjects. Schools that are good at teaching reading also tend to be good at teaching math.

Charter schools were over-represented: In any given community, charters are often among the most academically oriented schools. They made up 7% of all schools in our sample but 11% of those that we identified as exceptional.

Poverty seems to matter more in some states than others. In some states, the connection between a school鈥檚 poverty level and its reading scores was very strong. In others, the relationship was noticeably weaker. My hunch is that this is mostly the result of how states are divided up into school districts and how concentrated poverty is in those communities, but it鈥檚 important for policymakers to understand what challenges students in their area are facing.

Find the Bright Spots: Documenting where students are struggling is important. But advocates and state leaders should spend more time identifying where students are succeeding despite the odds and what other schools can learn from these outliers.

Places like Steubenville and Worcester County show that demographics don’t dictate outcomes. Every state has schools that outperform what their circumstances would predict, and state and local leaders should find them, study them and figure out how to create more of them.

Missouri鈥檚 largest charter-school sponsor entered August with nearly $3.3 million in its account, which is more than twice what it spent in the previous fiscal year.

Now the Missouri Charter Public School Commission is sending some of that money back to the schools it oversees.

At its August meeting, the commission approved $685,000 in rebates, with individual schools receiving between $10,000 and $70,000. It is the third time in recent years the commission has returned a portion of its surplus to schools.

鈥淏ecause we run a very lean but efficient agency, we are able to build up a healthy level of reserve,鈥� Missouri Charter Public School Commission Executive Director Mark Modrcin told The Independent. 鈥淲e feel like that should go right back to our schools, who could use those dollars better than we could.鈥�

This funding, while a small portion of the cost required to run a school, can have a substantial impact on the school, several school administrators told The Independent.

Nicole Goodman, superintendent of Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School in northeast Kansas City, said the money goes a long way toward enriching students鈥� experience.

鈥淭here are things that keep us up at night when it comes to budgeting and knowing what the needs of our students and staff are,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is really expensive to make sure we are giving all of our students the opportunities that they deserve.鈥�

When she received word from the commission that her school would receive $70,000, she thought about field trips that she wanted to schedule but wasn鈥檛 quite sure the budget would allow for.

Goodman said the school tries to expose students to art, music, athletics and other activities without charging families fees for things such as instruments or field trips.

鈥淭here鈥檚 enrichment that we want to provide for our students and even our families to engage with their students more and to really truly be a partnership in this whole journey,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his helps us do a little more than we anticipated.鈥�

For Brookside Charter School in Kansas City, extra funding fuels its growing operations. The school is set to open a second building in a year, and its $55,000 rebate will help make the transition run smoothly.

鈥淭he new building leads all of our conversations about the money that we have,鈥� Superintendent Roger Offield said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to manage our dollars to do this.鈥�

Offield doesn鈥檛 know exactly what the school will use the money for, but he anticipates that it will likely go toward staffing 鈥� which he says is paramount.

鈥淏rookside鈥檚 philosophy has been that there鈥檚 no secret sauce to education. It is what quality adults do you put in front of kids,鈥� he said.

The Missouri Charter Public School Commission is a state agency charged with providing oversight and accountability to charter schools. Local school districts and Missouri universities can also sponsor charters. To fund this task, dictates that charter sponsors receive 1.5% of their schools鈥� local and state aid, up to $125,000.

Sponsorship fees and federal grants have proven to be enough to sustain the commission鈥檚 operations. Last fiscal year, the commission spent over $1.4 million while taking in over $2.5 million, according to the State Treasurer鈥檚 . And in July, the commission鈥檚 account had nearly .

During the meeting, commissioners briefly acknowledged that the $685,000 in rebates is just a portion of a healthy reserve balance. Finance committee chair Judith Meyer told the group that it would be nice to get media coverage but added, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to talk too much about the amount of reserve that we have.鈥�

State budget officials are predicting general revenue shortfalls in coming years and have to only essentials. This frugality has placed , which make up a large chunk of the state budget.

But the commission鈥檚 large safety net is by design, Modrcin told The Independent.

鈥淲e have a policy where we keep reserves just in case something would happen to the state cash flow,鈥� he said.

As for the rebates, the commission intends to be hands-off. The amount each school received was based on school size and performance, with the top-performing schools receiving $70,000 regardless of enrollment, but administrators will have discretion on how to spend the money.

On top of the $685,000 going directly to schools, the commission voted to put almost $95,000 in a grant program that will be administered by a third-party contractor. The details are not yet set, but the program is intended to fund ideas that foster better academic performance.

鈥淲e want to remember that we do not want to get involved in the management decisions of our schools,鈥� Meyer said during the meeting. 鈥淲e want that to come from the schools, but obviously in this case, we want them to focus on academic performance.鈥�

Commissioners spoke about the grant program as an opportunity for schools to grow and share their successes for others to adopt.

鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful that we find ourselves in the position to be able to give back in this way to our schools,鈥� Modrcin said. 鈥淎nd we hope that they put the money to good use.鈥�

This story was originally published by .

Missouri Independent is a part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

Davis often heard from family and friends that Juri was smart and she should consider enrolling her granddaughter in preschool early.

And a new literacy screening at one of her granddaughter鈥檚 primary care checkups confirmed it.

In recent years, literacy has become an issue that鈥檚 extended far beyond the classroom and a child鈥檚 home, reaching government 鈥� and now hospitals.

At six of Nationwide Children鈥檚 Hospital鈥檚 13 clinics, in Columbus, Ohio, 3 to 5 year olds are receiving reading screenings during their pediatric visits. Since 2022, more than 7,000 children have received the screenings.

鈥淲hen kids come into their primary care pediatrician, if they鈥檙e coming into all of their checkups, they would come in 15 times before they start kindergarten,鈥� said Sara Bode, medical director of school-based health at Nationwide Children鈥檚. 鈥淭hat was a really opportune setting for us to really think about where we are in intervening, assessing or understanding where kids are with their literacy and supporting that from the clinic.鈥� 

The 5-minute screenings are done annually at the beginning of a regular check up by a team of 鈥淜indergarten Readiness Coordinators,鈥� who are former early childhood educators and now work at the hospital.

The screening does not check for learning disabilities, but can identify some challenges with language development. The screening mainly focuses on foundational skills that are learned at home through activities like reading with a parent before bed or letter games.

By doing a small read aloud with a board book, the coordinators assess a child鈥檚 letter and shape recognition, rhyming and fine motor skills 鈥� like turning a page. Afterward, they鈥檙e able to tell parents if their child is ahead, on track or needs additional support, providing an opportunity for early intervention well before a child enters a formal classroom setting.

鈥淲e have light bulb moments. 鈥� One is in a good way when we do this literacy screening and the child is knocking it out of the park 鈥� and the parents are like 鈥業 didn鈥檛 even know they could do this,鈥欌�� Bode said. 鈥淎nother light bulb moment is when kids are struggling and parents will say to us 鈥業 had no idea they were supposed to know these things before kindergarten,鈥� and we鈥檙e like 鈥楾hat鈥檚 OK. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e doing this now, because at the age of 3 鈥� you have all the time in the world.鈥� 鈥�

The coordinators provide learning kits with different reading materials including magnetic letters and activity books. Coordinators maintain a relationship with families in the weeks, months and years to come, with additional resources like care coordination to get students enrolled in preschool, access to library readings and where to find adult education programs if a parent struggles with reading.

Families are given a personalized literacy plan, with checklists for parents to go over where their child is performing well and where they can improve. Check-ins after the initial screening occur a month and three months later, with updated assessments when the child turns four and five.

鈥淢ost of our parents, if you ask them, 鈥榃hat should your child know? What are those early literacy skills before kindergarten?鈥� they can鈥檛 really tell you,鈥� Bode said, 鈥淪o, this is just a real learning opportunity.鈥�

For families, like Davis, the guidance is a helpful launching pad.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know where to start,鈥� Davis said, adding that while she read to her granddaughter often, she didn鈥檛 feel like she 鈥渉ad the right materials to get her started the right way.鈥�

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e at home, you just think of things that you think the child would need to know, but with a coordinator, 鈥� you鈥檙e given things you should be working on. 鈥� It鈥檚 good to know I鈥檓 not jumping ahead or giving her too much that she doesn鈥檛 need now,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭he screening really helped me get focused and to engage more with my granddaughter with different techniques.鈥�

The majority of the children are from low-income backgrounds, Bode said, adding that the primary care clinic serves more than 85% of people and families who are on Medicaid or uninsured with 鈥渕any kids who are really struggling on these assessments.鈥�

鈥淭hese clinics are all chosen because they’re in locations where, typically, we can tell by the school district, that a lot of the kids don’t start school ready,鈥� Bode said.

Across Columbus Public Schools, about 64% of third grade children are not reading on grade level, according to , but hospital staff are hopeful early intervention is beginning to move the needle.

In Ohio, kindergarten students are required to take a at the beginning of the school year that measures social-emotional development, physical well-being and skills in literacy and math.

Recent data from the hospital found its first cohort of 332 students had over a 71% passage rate compared to the district鈥檚 average of 60%.

In the of Columbus, a predominately Black and low-income area, only 22% of children pass the readiness assessment on average, but children who partook in the screening process were over 70%, Bode said.

鈥淲e’re getting these kids connected because these are some of our highest risk populations,鈥� Bode said. 鈥淲e’re really seeing gains where we’re able to intervene, connect them to programs, teach parents what to do at home and it’s actually now translating to their language and literacy scores when they get to kindergarten.鈥�

With the help of the kindergarten readiness coordinators, Juri has been enrolled in a local preschool for a year, where she鈥檚 ahead of the curriculum.

鈥淪he has grown from knowing her name to writing her full name. 鈥� She writes A through Z. She knows her sight words. She can write her birthday,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淛uri has an advantage because [our clinic] saw she was ready at 3. 鈥� By the time she gets to kindergarten, she鈥檚 going to be ready. She鈥檚 going to be advanced.鈥�

Bode is hopeful the screenings will expand to all of the hospital鈥檚 13 locations and that it鈥檒l work with national initiatives like , a program that gives children books at every pediatric visit and , which gifts kids books from birth to 5.

鈥淭here’s a big difference between not being delayed and being ready for school and thriving, and I do think there’s a gap and misunderstanding in the medical field about what is needed,鈥� Bode said. 鈥淪o this idea of mixing health and education is just so important 鈥� because if a kid’s not ready for kindergarten, then they are more likely to fail that third-grade reading test, then they’re less likely to graduate and their adult health outcomes are probably more affected by that than anything I’m treating in the clinic.鈥�

COLUMBIA 鈥� Helping save  in West Columbia is Earnestine Holden鈥檚 retirement job.

Like many of the people trying to save historic Black schools, Holden, who graduated from the school in 1967, isn鈥檛 a professional historian or grant-writer. She鈥檚 a passionate alum who wants to see the school she graduated from preserved for future generations to see.

Recognizing the difficulty many alumni associations face in navigating complicated barriers to saving the state鈥檚 historic Black schools, the Central Carolina Community Foundation on Thursday officially launched the South Carolina Historic Black Schools Preservation Network.

The network is meant to act as a way for alumni associations and nonprofits to pool their knowledge and resources about funding sources, historical designations and research, said Georgia Mjartan, the foundation鈥檚 president.

So far, the effort involves about a dozen long-closed K-12 schools. But the work is also open to historically Black colleges and universities, said Trimease Carter, the foundation鈥檚 director of community impact.

Each endeavor is starting from a different place, with different needs, which allows the nonprofits and alumni associations behind their preservation to help each other out, she said.

鈥淣o matter where your school is along this preservation network, we want to be here to be a help and support,鈥� Carter said.

Starting a network

South Carolina once had thousands of Black schools. The exact number is unclear, said Virginia Harness, a researcher for the state Department of Archives and History.

Many closed as the school systems were required to desegregate. They were then , often forgotten by surrounding communities.

But the schools played a vital role in the state鈥檚 history, alumni said. Children鈥檚 futures depended on the schools that provided their only opportunity for education, Holden said.

鈥淭here were so many kids who would never have gotten to college if it were not for the nurturing they received at these Black schools,鈥� Holden said. 鈥淚 can tell you story after story after story.鈥�

Wanting to save the schools, alumni started calling the Central Carolina Community Foundation asking about opportunities for funding. After several similar requests, Carter asked one caller if the schools had some sort of collective that would make it easier to work together.

鈥淣ot that I know of,鈥� replied Deloris Pringle, an alumna of Lincoln High School in Sumter. 鈥淲ould you all be willing to host this?鈥�

The foundation decided to act as a connector, giving alumni a space to meet and help in finding resources. Although the foundation typically serves the Midlands, the network is open to schools across the state, Carter said.

鈥淚 feel like so many were working in silos, and they were trying to do things by reinventing the wheel,鈥� Carter said.

Historic designations

Many preservation efforts are led by established nonprofits, but saving Black schools typically falls to passionate alumni. Some might have a background in running a business or working in government, but most know little about what opportunities are out there or how to get them, Carter said.

For instance, getting a spot on the National Register of Historic Places can offer certain protections, said Virginia Harness, who oversees that process for the state Department of Archives and History. But the designation comes with a set of requirements, and most applications are written by professionals, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 serious business,鈥� Harness said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of like a graduate-level research paper.鈥�

At least 67 schools are listed on the national register, Harness said. That doesn鈥檛 include schools that are part of a larger historic district, such as the one encompassing downtown Charleston, since they aren鈥檛 listed separately, she said.

Most of the listed schools are general public schools built to educate Black students. About a fifth are , founded by Sears CEO Julius Rosenwald to give rural Black students in the South an education. Another fifth are , which were built in the 1950s with the state鈥檚 inaugural 3% sales tax in a failed effort to thwart desegregation by proving public schools could be 鈥渟eparate but equal.鈥�

Some rarer examples of schools include . Around 100 of the libraries were built across South Carolina and Georgia to make sure students, including those who attended school elsewhere, had access to books at a time when most libraries remained segregated.

The state also has one Black mill school still standing, which is a rarity, Harness said.  in Spartanburg County was built to educate the children of Black families who worked in Pacolet鈥檚 textile mills between 1915 and 1954.

Historians have found 33 other schools that would likely qualify but haven鈥檛 applied. Other schools that were demolished, repurposed or rebuilt over the years are out there but don鈥檛 qualify for that designation, she said.

Interest in saving historic Black schools has grown in recent years, Harness said. In the last decade, the Department of Archives and History recommended adding 17 schools to this list. Less than six years into this decade, the agency has recommended 18.

鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely seeing a big increase in interest in listing these properties,鈥� she said.

Recent statewide efforts to save Rosenwald schools are part of that. Pushes from alumni associations are another, she said.

Even professional historians sometimes need some help in filling out those types of applications. The register initially rejected a bid to list  in Columbia because renovations to save the building 鈥渋mpacted the historical integrity of the original building,鈥� said Bobby Donaldson, a history professor involved in the effort.

鈥淚 said, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to be kidding,鈥欌�� said Donaldson, who leads the Center for Civil Rights History and Research at the University of South Carolina,  built in 1956 as part of the so-called .

So, he called up Pringle and others working on Lincoln High School, which also underwent extensive renovations and got listed. They gave some advice on how to phrase the application, and, sure enough, Booker T. Washington got added to the list, Donaldson said.

Getting a spot on the national register can open up federal funding, but it鈥檚 far from the only resource associations might need help with, Carter said.

Many of the schools want to open museums for the public to see what learning was like for Black students during segregation. Some want to expand and become community hubs.

 in Orangeburg, for instance, is planning to add a commercial kitchen, food pantry, media lab and activity center to the 2 acres surrounding the historic three-room school house, said Wilfred Pace, who is helping lead the effort.

That sort of work is only fitting, since the schools once served as hubs for Black communities, Pringle said.

鈥淓ven though we were unequal in terms of our facilities, these schools just were the heart of these African American communities,鈥� Pringle said.

Funding

The biggest barrier for most is fundraising, Carter said.

School groups typically cobble together money from various sources.

Bull Swamp has gotten money from various federal grants, as well as from donations and local partnerships, for its $1.2 million renovations, Pace said. Lakeview High School is in the process of getting nonprofit status to collect donations from alumni and apply for grants, said Holden.

Long Point Schoolhouse in Mount Pleasant has gotten $150,000 from the state budget, with $250,000 more expected in a bill legislators . St. George Rosenwald School in Dorchester County received an agricultural grant for repairs, showing how schools can get creative, Harness said.

Getting funding often requires going through complex processes involving lots of paperwork and research on a school鈥檚 importance.

That鈥檚 not knowledge most people have, Carter said. But it is something the Central Carolina Community Foundation and other partners know about and can help with, she said.

The spirit of collaboration is built into the schools, Pace said. Without help from various places, including government funding, philanthropy and community support, most of the schools would never have existed, he said.

鈥淚t just shows you the resilience of working together and having a vision for the future and then living that dream,鈥� Pace said.

This story was originally published by , a part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com.

This fall, s are headed back to the classroom for another year of lessons in all the classic subjects: math, English, history, biology. But there鈥檚 another subject that鈥檚 been sneaking into school curricula: plastics.

A from the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition documents the many ways the plastics industry has been inserting its agenda into classrooms across the U.S. 鈥� including through lesson plans and worksheets, hands-on science experiments, and a program called 鈥淧lastiVan鈥� that travels from city to city teaching students about 鈥�.鈥�

Industry interests offer these resources to teachers for free or for cheap, according to the report. The materials tend to highlight the necessity of plastics while downplaying their significant downsides to human health and the environment.

鈥淲hen that information is provided to kids, it obfuscates the true impacts of plastic pollution,鈥� said Madison Dennis, senior policy and advocacy manager for Plastic Pollution Coalition and one of the report鈥檚 main authors. Besides harming marine life, plastics can , clog storm drains and , and . The Plastic Pollution Coalition is calling for stricter school policies against the use of industry-sponsored learning materials.

The report lays out four case studies of plastics industry 鈥減ropaganda鈥� for schoolkids. One involves the , or SPE, a trade group that recently became a division of the Plastics Industry Association. SPE鈥檚 include activities like a 鈥減lastic scavenger hunt,鈥� which aims for students to 鈥渦nderstand that plastics are ubiquitous and their importance to society and their personal life.鈥� A video titled 鈥淵our Bottle Means Jobs鈥� explains how plastics recycling supports local employment.

Another case study highlights the , an initiative of the Dow Chemical Company. One of the association鈥檚 lesson plans teaches elementary and middle school students how to compare the strength of various types of plastic bags that can be found in a grocery store. After a brief experiment, the lesson invites them to 鈥減retend [they] are an employee for Dow Chemical Company鈥� and are designing a plastic bag for a customer.

While many of the materials claim to support STEM learning objectives, they do so while promoting familiar industry talking points, emphasizing the affordability and safety of plastics. Some acknowledge plastic pollution as a serious problem, but they blame irresponsible consumer behaviors and, instead of recommending less plastic be produced, propose more recycling as the primary way to address it.

In reality, only of all plastics are recycled worldwide, and scientists have repeatedly warned that recycling will be unable to keep up with projected growth in plastic production. has shown that industry groups knew this decades ago, but promoted recycling anyway in order to defuse growing concern over plastic pollution.

Wendy Johnson, a science education specialist at the , said the industry鈥檚 lesson plans and worksheets don鈥檛 reflect good pedagogy. Materials claiming to be aligned with state-level STEM standards don鈥檛 say which standards they support, or how they鈥檙e aligned. Lesson plans instruct students to read teachers鈥� notes, or list industry-specific vocab terms like 鈥渟tretch blow molding鈥� or 鈥渢hermosetting.鈥�

鈥淏y using all of these technical terms, it鈥檚 tricking people into thinking 鈥� that they鈥檙e doing science,鈥� Johnson told Grist. What the materials really teach, she said, is 鈥渋deological perspectives about the economy,鈥� like the desirability of cheap consumer goods.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so clear that the purpose isn鈥檛 to make really clear, easy-to-use materials,鈥� Johnson added. 鈥淭he idea isn鈥檛 to teach,鈥� but to get industry talking points into classrooms. The report documents plastics propaganda finding its way into schools since at least the 2000s. Between 2009 and 2011, for example, a plastics trade group lobbied the California Department of Education to add a section on 鈥淭he Advantages of Shopping Bags鈥� to the state鈥檚 high school textbooks. The PlastiVan initiative has been ongoing since 2011, and SPE claims it鈥檚 reached over in total.

Plastic Pollution Coalition suggests that the problem is particularly significant in schools located near petrochemical facilities. In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for example, Shell operates a 386-acre plastics production complex and has invested millions of dollars in the development of plastics-related curricula and recycling programs, both for grade schoolers and for community college students. It has also donated hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies, and bought one school a basketball court 鈥� seemingly in exchange for .

Shell didn鈥檛 respond to Grist鈥檚 request for comment. Neither did SPE, the American Association of Chemistry Teachers, nor the school district in Beaver County.

The report hints at a broader problem with STEM education in U.S. public schools. Teachers often lack the time and money needed to design their own curricula, or to buy high-quality materials and lesson plans needed for in-class labs or science projects. When vested interests come along offering support 鈥� whether it鈥檚 the , the , the , or the 鈥� it can be hard to say no.

鈥淎s a teacher, I鈥檓 always looking for free stuff,鈥� said , a K-8 environmental educator in California who consulted on the Plastic Pollution Coalition report. Hicks said their education and background make them comfortable vetting materials for greenwashing 鈥斅燽ut that鈥檚 likely not the case with most teachers.

Dennis recommended that school boards adopt policies banning educational materials sponsored by the chemical, fossil fuel, and plastics industries. She also emphasized the need for better school funding more generally, so that teachers and districts aren鈥檛 so desperate for ready-made learning materials.

One way to achieve this would be to eliminate tax breaks for petrochemical processing and plastics production facilities, which .

Katie Allen, executive director of , a California-based environmental nonprofit that develops educational materials on plastic pollution, pushed back against the idea that schools should ban all industry-sponsored content.

鈥淥nce you start banning one thing, where does it end? What I want to do is give educators the benefit of the doubt and allow them to make their own decisions,鈥� she told Grist. She argued that teachers should be trusted to properly contextualize industry materials 鈥斅燼nd that they could even use them to teach critical-thinking skills.

That said, there are plenty of educational materials on plastics that are developed by non-industry sources. Algalita, for instance, offers free lesson plans on topics like plastic garbage patches in the oceans and biomagnification 鈥斅爐he phenomenon where plastics build up inside sea creatures as you move up the food chain. The Story of Stuff, another nonprofit, offers a broader focused on the costs and consequences of producing consumer goods 鈥斅爄ncluding those made from plastics.

Those learning materials still come from organizations with an agenda. But Hicks argued they鈥檙e more trustworthy, since nonprofits usually aren鈥檛 trying to sell something.

Another option is for teachers to simply design their own curricula. That鈥檚 what Jacqueline Omania, a recently retired elementary school teacher in Berkeley, California, . She turned her classroom into a zero-waste laboratory, and each year for 11 years, Omania and her students developed a set of zero-waste classroom agreements, vowing to minimize their plastics use 鈥� by swapping individual glue sticks for a communal tub of glue, for example 鈥� while also advocating for more systemic change, like by campaigning for a policy requiring Berkeley restaurants to .

鈥淭here are so many challenges in the world, but plastic is something tangible,鈥� Omania said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 right there in front of them, and they can see the difference that they鈥檙e actually making through their actions.鈥�

is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change. This story was originally published by . Sign up for Grist’s .

The Christina School District will phase out its use of school resource officers at middle schools, and replace them with constables. 

Following a heated debate at a meeting earlier this month, the Christina school board voted to retain school resource officers (SROs) at middle schools for just six months, giving the district the time to hire constables as replacements. The officers will remain at the district鈥檚 three high schools for the full school year. 

The decision was the result of two votes by the school board. The first would have renewed the school resource officers鈥� contracts with the Christina School District. Five members on the seven-person board voted against it, including Amy Trauth, Celita Cherry, Stephanie Ingram, Doug Manley and Lauren Swain.

A subsequent vote approved replacing SROs with constables, who are direct employees of a school district rather than a police department. They would serve as armed security for the schools but wouldn鈥檛 have the same power to arrest individuals.

The measure was meant to be a compromise, balancing some board members鈥� concerns with having armed officers in schools and the need for school safety. 

But not every board member was satisfied.

鈥淪ince the police officers are required to be armed as part of their contract, I cannot support these contracts,鈥� Manley, the only board member to vote against the compromise, said during the board meeting.

School resource officers are sworn police officers who work in schools but remain within the law enforcement chain of command. While supporters say they can effectively respond to dangerous situations, critics have increasingly argued they cause students to be arrested for actions that in the past would not involve law enforcement. 

News reports from  in recent years have highlighted the critiques of SROs. One report from Iowa said Black students and students with disabilities are more likely to be arrested or referred to law enforcement than other students. In , reporters have found thousands of use-of-force incidents in recent years.

It is not immediately clear if those trends hold true in Delaware. 

Spotlight Delaware requested data from the Delaware State Police regarding incidents such as arrests or detainment of students in the Christina, Brandywine, Red Clay Consolidated, and Colonial school buildings that did not fall under Wilmington Police jurisdiction, but was told the information would require a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. 

By contrast, the Wilmington Police Department did provide data. A department spokesperson said its officers made one arrest during the past year at the Maurice Pritchett Academy and one arrest at the Bayard School. Both schools serve Christina students in first through eighth grade. 

There were seven arrests made at the Howard High School of Technology and 15 made at Brandywine鈥檚 P.S. duPont Middle School, the spokesman David Karas said. 

鈥淭he vast majority of these charges were not physical arrests, but rather an SRO issuing a summons or a juvenile civil citation,鈥� Karas said in a statement. 

Karas also said that an officer would take other measures that would not involve 鈥渁 formal criminal charge鈥� during incidents that warrant immediate intervention, such as fights. 

An ongoing conversation

The Christina school board鈥檚 August meeting did not mark the first disagreement between board members about whether to renew SRO contracts.

During a May board meeting, Christina Superintendent Deirdra Aikens and Harold 鈥淏utch鈥� Ingram, the assistant to the superintendent, presented three options for school safety. 

The first would be to make no changes. The second would be to keep SROs only in the high schools and replace them with constables in the middle schools. The third option would be to replace all SROs with constables. 

Though the board voted three months later to move ahead with the second option, some members say they have not received comments of concern from community members regarding the presence of SROs in schools. 

Board President Monica Moriak said the board did not have conversations with the Christina community regarding their thoughts on SROs in schools. She also noted that the last school year was 鈥渁 very traumatic year, especially for Pritchett.鈥�

Last October, a shooting took place near the Maurice Pritchett Academy in Wilmington鈥檚 East Side community, which is part of the Christina School District. Both victims attended Newark High School, . 

Moriak said she wants the board to hold follow-up listening sessions with community members, but does not know what those will look like yet. 

Manley also said he has not had community members approach him with concerns relating to SROs鈥� presence in schools. 

Instead, Manley said most of his conversations are about 鈥渆ducating them that constables and police officers are different.鈥�

Balancing safety and accountability

For some board members, the conversation about school safety cannot end with whether a school has SROs. 

Board Vice President Y.F. Lou said the root causes of incidents, such as why students may be fighting or why there are 鈥渧iolent encounters,鈥� must also be addressed. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 always where my guiding principle is: Can we prevent this? What can we do to prevent this? And what resources do we have to make sure that you know that preventative intervention is in place?鈥� he said.

For other board members, the crux of the concern regarding SROs is whether they can be held responsible for any incidents that may occur, especially because they are armed. 

During the August meeting, Manley said he was against hiring 鈥渃ontracted police officers鈥� because SROs 鈥渁re not employees of our district; they are employees of their police troop.鈥� 

As contracted police officers, , also known by its acronym LEOBOR.

Manley told Spotlight Delaware there is 鈥渮ero transparency and accountability鈥� for SROs because of LEOBOR. Advocates have tried for years in Delaware to reform the blanket protections for law enforcement officer鈥檚 privacy, but efforts to date have resulted in only partial transparency into the disciplinary issues of officers.

Manley also referenced the recent shooting of 19-year-old Kadir Skinner in Wilmington, which he said police did 鈥渇or no reason.鈥� 

The  that Skinner had pointed a gun toward a crowd of people prior to the foot chase, during which an officer shot the teen. 

This was originally published by .

Remote learning during the pandemic was a nightmare for some students, but others have stuck with it, new data shows.

Just over 600,000 public school students attended fully virtual schools in the 2024-25 school year, the most recent data available. That鈥檚 about 1 in 80 public school children 鈥� a twofold increase since before the pandemic.

This reflects the growth of school choice: In more places, families who want to opt their children out of traditional schooling can and are doing so with public funding. Many families seek out online education because traditional schooling isn鈥檛 working for a variety of reasons. Yet prior research has raised pointed questions about the quality of virtual schooling. These concerns once drew significant attention, but ironically they have faded from the national discourse even as digital schooling has rapidly grown.

Virtual school enrollment spiked in the 2020-21 school year in the midst of the pandemic. Some families may have believed that a stand-alone virtual school would be better than the makeshift online programs that many school districts were standing up. This was not just a one-year blip, however, as the new data shows.

A majority of fully virtual students are in charter schools. Two companies that run online schools, Stride and Pearson, account for a large chunk of virtual enrollment. A recent earnings report from Stride said its virtual schools, known as K12, now enroll over 240,000 students in public and private schools. 鈥淒emand for educational choices remains strong,鈥� the report said. In recent years, more school districts have also launched their own online options.

Among high school students, 1.6% were in fully virtual public schools, compared to 0.8% of students in grades 1-8.

The Education Department used to regularly report on the number of virtual school students, but like many other statistics, it has not updated these figures recently. Chalkbeat calculated up-to-date numbers, which had not been previously reported.

An additional 195,000 students were enrolled in schools that are categorized as primarily online with some in-person opportunities.

The federal numbers may undercount online school enrollment. For example, according to that data, 1% of Indiana students were in fully virtual schools in the fall of 2024. A Chalkbeat analysis using more detailed state data pegged enrollment at virtual schools at about 3% that year. States vary in the share of students in virtual schools, though differences in response rates and program structures mean cross-state comparisons should be interpreted with caution.

Several studies, based on data from before the pandemic, have found that students tend to make much less academic progress and graduate at lower rates in virtual charters. In 2016, prompted by concerns about quality, a trio of pro-charter school groups issued a high-profile call to close low-performing online charters. Reporting in states including Indiana and Colorado has raised concerns about misspending and inflated student enrollment in certain virtual charters.

Patrick Wolf, a University of Arkansas professor, noted that existing research may not be able to adequately account for the type of students who opt into virtual schools when assessing the quality of the education in these settings.

鈥淪tudents who learn remotely may also perform somewhat lower than expected on in-person state assessments, not because of instruction quality, but because the testing environment itself is unfamiliar,鈥� said Brooke Gabbert, a spokesperson for K12 virtual schools. 鈥淭hese students typically learn and test at home.鈥�

A teacher at New York City鈥檚 district-run online school previously told Chalkbeat that students go virtual for a variety of reasons, such as disabilities that make attending a regular school challenging; flexibility for students who are caregivers; and difficulties in a prior school.

鈥淢any of our students face social and personal challenges, so our work extends beyond delivering content,鈥� said the teacher, Jude Julien.

Wolf says if test scores are a priority, online schooling is probably not a good option for most. 鈥淧arents should be informed about that reality and factor it into their decision making,鈥� he says. The growth of virtual schooling is a sign of the times, though: The priority in education policy in recent years has been responding to parent demand rather than raising test scores.

Since online schools have grown rapidly, up-to-date and better research about the quality of education they鈥檙e providing seems like an urgent priority.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Chalkbeat Ideas is a section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Sign up for the to follow Chalkbeat’s work.

Gov. Greg Abbott the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Wednesday to work on pathways for students to earn bachelor鈥檚 degrees in three years.

Such a program could have college students take about 90 hours of classes instead of 120 to earn a degree, thus reducing the cost of higher education, shortening the time for degree completion and allowing the state to respond to workforce demands quicker, state leaders said.

鈥淭exas students are our future leaders and the workforce of tomorrow,鈥� wrote in a statement announcing the directive. 鈥淭hey deserve the option to receive a degree in a high-demand, high-wage field in less time as a means to reduce the overall cost of securing a degree.鈥�

Officials at the coordinating board must establish a working group to develop recommendations based on student demand, employer needs, institutional approval requirements and other needs.

The announcement comes amid a broader push by Abbott to address the affordability of higher education in Texas. He has mandated for public colleges and universities since the 2023-24 school year, and this week he expressed support for legislation requiring four-year universities to offer financial discounts to undergraduates taking summer classes.

鈥淓very semester adds tuition, fees, housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses and delays students鈥� ability to begin their careers,鈥� Abbott said .

Less than half of Texas undergraduate students at four-year universities earn their degrees in four years, and those from are far less likely to receive a degree or certificate, according to .

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the primary accreditor for many of the state鈥檚 public colleges and universities, three-year degree programs in December.

Texas Higher Education Commissioner Wynn Rosser said shorter pathways could help students enter high-demand fields a year earlier as well as lower the cost of college.

The nonprofit research group RAND 26 U.S. states have at least one college offering a three-year bachelor’s degree as of this spring, although the programs are largely concentrated in a few states.

Coordinating board officials plan to have public college and university administrators, faculty leaders and other stakeholders meet and submit recommendations to the governor鈥檚 office by Dec. 31. Abbott, who is running for reelection in November, said he would then work with lawmakers next year to establish the pathways.

This first appeared on .

The clearest evidence is teen employment, which alone has been for nearly 50 years. 

The , “A Digital Divide in American Adolescence,” by Daniel Cox of the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life, was published in mid-August. It draws on the results of the , whose interviews were conducted in January and February with teens aged 13 to 17.聽

The study’s first key finding is that the bottom rung of the career ladder is disappearing. A generation ago, a summer job or an afterschool shift was a routine rite of passage. It was a place where teenagers learned to show up on time, take direction from someone who wasn’t a parent or teacher and get paid for reliability rather than talent. But today, only 15% of teens in the survey reported having a part-time job, and just 28% even among 16- and 17-year-olds 鈥� the group most likely to work. Bureau of Labor Statistics show teen labor force participation peaked at nearly 58% in the late 1970s and has been falling ever since. 

The survey also shows that even within adolescence itself, opportunities for growth become rarer as students age. Travel sports participation among boys falls from 52% in early adolescence to 35% by age 16 or 17; choir and band participation among girls falls from 30% to 17%; and only 7% of teens are in student government or debate.

None of these activities is glamorous. But they鈥檙e the low-stakes, repeatable settings where teenagers practice commitment, teamwork and how to lose gracefully. They鈥檙e the soft infrastructure that makes a first real job, internship or semester of college survivable rather than disorienting.

When that infrastructure thins out, an shows up later. Employers often young workers lack basic job skills. The real problem is many never had the chance to practice them.

The AEI survey’s second finding is that this erosion isn’t evenly distributed. Teens with college-educated parents participate in extracurriculars at roughly double the rate of peers whose parents didn’t attend college. Nearly 1 in 4 are in an academic club, compared with 13% of teens whose parents didn’t attend college. And they’re three times as likely to be in student government or debate.

Screen time follows the same pattern in reverse. Teens spend, on average, close to three hours a day on social media. But neither is that time evenly distributed. Girls raised in households without a college-educated parent spend more time on more apps and are less likely to have tried cutting back than girls of parents with a degree. Boys in the same households log substantially more hours gaming.

Third, teens’ plans for what happens after high school are shifting, and shifting unevenly. Only 48% now plan to attend a four-year college, far short of being the near-default path for high school graduates. A separate the share of teens planning on any college 鈥� two- or four-year 鈥� fell from 73% in 2018 to 45% by 2024. The AEI survey reports 17% plan on a two-year or vocational program, 10% a full-time job and nearly 1 in 5 aren’t sure what’s next.

Those plans split sharply by gender and socioeconomic class, with 74% of girls with college-educated parents planning to attend a four-year school, versus 46% whose parents didn’t. 

A separate released in late August 2026, Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation’s fourth annual “Voices of Gen Z” poll, makes essentially the same point from inside the school building. Its sample of 14- to 18-year-olds is close to the age range AEI surveyed, and its findings closely track AEI’s.

No more than 20% of students feel “very prepared” for any specific path after high school, college, trade school, an apprenticeship or the job they want. Even among students planning to attend college, only 19% feel very prepared to do so.

When adults talk with students about their futures, those conversations are overwhelmingly about one path, with 52% of students saying adults have talked to them a lot about going to college. That鈥檚 compared with 17% discussing apprenticeships and 14% talking about jobs that don’t require a degree. This gap holds even among students who’ve already said they don’t plan to go to college.

Put together, the two surveys describe the same experience gap from two directions. AEI shows that fewer informal, out-of-school experiences that build real-world readiness are happening. Gallup/Walton shows that inside school, the guidance students receive is aimed almost entirely at one route, regardless of which one they’re headed toward.

Neither survey is describing a generation that’s lost interest in a good future. But both paint a picture of a generation that’s been given a narrower set of tools to reach it than it needs.

Here’s what school leaders and policymakers can do.

• Treat work-based learning as core infrastructure, not as an elective add-on. States and districts should expand youth and paid internship pipelines that give students structured work experience during the school year.
• Protect and expand school-based extracurriculars. This is especially important for teenagers whose families can’t supply the equivalent privately. The disparity in sports and club participation is a resource gap schools can partly close by keeping programs funded and accessible.
• Focus on transportation and scheduling. The problem isn鈥檛 only motivation; much of the falloff in extracurricular participation among lower-income teens is logistical. Afterschool jobs and activities require rides and flexible hours many working families can’t provide.
• Use state Workforce Pell and career-navigation funding to reach younger teens. Don鈥檛 just focus on juniors and seniors, and extend information beyond college advising. Guidance concentrated almost entirely on college leaves the majority of teens who won’t take it with less support.

None of this calls for panic, but it does call for attention. The teenagers in these surveys aren’t disengaged or unhappy in any dramatic sense. Most report being satisfied with their lives, their friendships, even their relationships with their parents. What they’re missing is practice and preparation for adulthood.

The back-to-school season is usually treated as a fresh start for academics. This survey data suggests it’s worth treating it as a fresh start for something schools have quietly let slide: the ordinary, unglamorous work of learning how to show up, and helping every teenager, not just those who are college-bound, see a clear path toward what comes next.

For students starting at a , the first day holds many questions: Will they see any familiar faces? Who will they sit with at lunch? Who will they play with at recess?

鈥淚鈥檓 this much nervous,鈥� said Iman Fair-Seldon, 5, holding her hands about 4 inches (10 centimeters) apart. Iman will start first grade next month at a new school in southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia. Despite the nerves, she said she is excited to make new friends.

Starting at a new school or making a big transition, such as moving from elementary school to middle school, can be challenging. Parents may want to help but aren鈥檛 always sure what to say or do. Here鈥檚 some advice from both grown-ups and the ultimate experts: kids who have gone through transition themselves.

Schedule playdates and go to birthday parties

Parents of young children have significant influence over where their children spend time and with whom, experts say. They can seek out activities that create opportunities for connection, such as parks, playgrounds and birthday parties, and decide when their children are ready for activities like sleepovers.

鈥淚nitially, parents have a huge impact when it comes to the friends that children have,鈥� said Dr. Asha Barber Sutton, a licensed marriage and family therapist and an associate dean of academic affairs at National University in San Diego. 鈥淢ore than we would like to believe, our actions as caregivers make a difference in terms of how children experience the world.鈥�

Amira Fair, Iman鈥檚 mother, says she prefers to keep to herself, but she pushes past those feelings to help her daughter develop relationships. 鈥淚 make it my business to exchange numbers and try to schedule monthly playdates,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne thing I tried to do, especially at her old school, was go to every single birthday function, say hi to the parents, get a present, see the family.鈥�

Let kids navigate their own friendships

Parents can鈥檛 manage every friendship for their children, experts say. Instead, they can help children develop their own sense of what makes a good friend: Are they kind? Are they honest? Can you be yourself around them? Some difficult interactions can help children learn what they value in a friend and how to handle conflict, Sutton said.

Parents can also ask questions to help their children think about what they value in friendships: What qualities do you like in your friends? Who makes you feel comfortable being yourself? Those conversations can give children a framework for evaluating their own friendships when problems arise, experts say.

Jaiden Journet, a 14-year-old starting at a new high school in North Carolina, suggests parents ask their kids: 鈥淗ave you found anything you have in common with anyone?鈥�

Help kids get involved

Parents also can support their children through encouragement, especially if they are shy or anxious. Encouraging children to get involved in  or to try something new can help them meet people with similar interests.

Shia Watts, 16, says trying something new led her to some of her friends at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.

鈥淟ast year, I was part of . I鈥檇 never done that before, but I met so many amazing people,鈥� she said.

When Jamir Gonzalez transferred last year to Uncommon Camden Prep High School in New Jersey, he joined the baseball and debate teams.

鈥淚f you have any hobbies, find out if they have that at your school, and if they do, talk to the people that are there,鈥� said Jamir, now a 16-year-old senior.

Once students find opportunities to connect, starting the conversation is the next step, experts say. Smiling, complimenting others and asking questions can help start a conversation and keep it going.

Iman, the New Jersey 5-year-old, remembers how she met her now 鈥淏-F-F-F-F-F.鈥� It started with a compliment.

鈥淚 think I said, 鈥業 like your shirt,鈥� and then she said, 鈥楾hank you.鈥� And I said, 鈥楽o what鈥檚 your name?鈥欌�� she recalled.

Put down the cellphones 鈥� sometimes

Students may find it harder to start conversations when their peers are , wearing headphones or focused on screens. Experts say parents can encourage children, particularly teens, to put devices away at times so they can be more present and engaged with the people around them. One way to help:  at school, some teachers and experts say.

But being too harsh with older children鈥檚  can isolate them socially, Sutton said. Still, parents should talk with their teens about expectations around technology, social media and gaming, including  online.

Technology can also help children maintain friendships when circumstances separate them, Sutton said. 鈥淚f you move away, it鈥檚 no longer like, 鈥楬ey, I moved out of state, and I can never see you,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have FaceTime, and we can still stay connected to friends in that way.鈥�

Even one friendship counts

Feeling connected and having a sense of belonging at school can have an important effect on students鈥� well-being. If a student feels staff and peers at their school care about them, they are less likely to have poor mental health, use substances or , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and they are more likely to have better grades and attendance.

But a student needn鈥檛 have a large friend group to feel connected. Even one relationship can make a meaningful difference, said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit that focuses on gun violence prevention in schools.

鈥淓ven if you only have one really strong friendship or one strong trusted adult, one strong sense of belonging, that can be enough to really positively affect your well-being and your trajectory through school and life,鈥� she said.

For students who are nervous about starting over, Hockley said, it can help to remember that other students may be looking for connection, too.

鈥淭here鈥檚 also someone else just like you in that same space who鈥檚 also saying, 鈥業 would like to meet someone. I鈥檇 like to make a friend,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淚t can be intimidating, but it鈥檚 not hard once you practice it.鈥�

This story has been updated to correct that Jamir Gonzalez joined the baseball team, not the basketball team.

–

罢丑颈蝉听聽was originally published by聽.

AP鈥檚 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚  for working with philanthropies, a  of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

But unlike most 10-year-olds, a year ago this child left her family and her home, walking for days with little to eat. To protect her from the violence against women that is pervasive in rural Guatemala, and with the hope that she could have a better life, her mother sent her to the United States. Abiding by our immigration policy at the time, the young girl crossed the border and presented herself to immigration authorities to request asylum here. Yet now, due to policy changes, she is considered to be undocumented, part of a group that is being targeted politically. 

As a bilingual social worker, I have spent the past six years working closely with immigrants in southeast Tennessee. I鈥檝e heard many variations of this story. I鈥檓 not using names in this story to protect the immigrants I know. So many children and families have endured trauma in their country of origin and come here abiding by our rules; they work hard and contribute by supporting our schools, boosting local economies, and paying taxes to fund our government. 

And yet, common misconceptions persist and drive our immigration policy. Misconceptions like being undocumented means that an immigrant broke the law when they arrived, or that somehow simultaneously new arrivals are coming here to live off the government while also stealing American jobs. As someone who works daily with immigrants, I can assure you that those I know give much more to our country and to our communities than they could ever take. Their contributions are enormous 鈥� cultural, educational, economic and more.

For instance, a father immigrated from Venezuela through legal pathways years ago. When his children began attending school, he was shocked to see school staff members volunteering their free time to maintain and improve the campus. In the father鈥檚 home country, this was something parents did. He organized a parent committee to take the burden off of teachers, a contribution that has increased family engagement and improved teacher morale. And yet this father鈥� who has given so much to his community 鈥� is now considered undocumented due to policy reversals and is at risk of being targeted by immigration enforcement. 

Anti-immigrant politicians often portray immigrants as criminals who drain public resources and weaken American communities. And yet, the experiences of families I encounter tell a different story. The truth is that many undocumented immigrants have not violated the law, that immigrants contribute more to our economy than they receive in public benefits, and that they strengthen the communities they join through service, hard work and civic engagement. 

As an undocumented immigrant, the 10-year-old girl is not eligible for any public assistance: not food stamps, nor Medicaid, and she does not qualify for any type of subsidized housing. If she wants to attend college some day, to fulfill her dream of becoming a police officer and keeping others safe, she would not be eligible for any type of government grants or student loans. The only government support she receives is a free, public school education, a benefit she takes full advantage of every morning when she wakes herself up, makes her breakfast, dresses and eagerly waits for the school bus to arrive. 

However, even this benefit has been threatened. In both the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions, Tennessee lawmakers sponsored bills that would deny undocumented students the right to a free public education. This legislation, a direct challenge to the United States Supreme Court鈥檚 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe, could make it harder, or impossible, for many immigrant students to go to public school. Although the young girl followed our immigration policy and continues to attend her check-ins and court dates, she remains among those who many lawmakers believe are undeserving of the basic right to education. 

When attempting to deny a free public education to undocumented students, Tennessee state legislators have pointed to the high cost of educating undocumented children. While the economic burden of immigrants is often cited by those opposing immigration, a 30-year published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, found that immigrants pay more in taxes than they consume in public services. Over the course of the study, there was a net positive contribution of more than $14.5 trillion. These are tax dollars that help reduce our national deficit. 

Immigrants also contribute by sustaining our population growth amid declining birth rates. Recent Congressional revealed that the Social Security program is now projected to be depleted in 2032, a year earlier than the estimate given in 2025, due in part to declining immigration. 

Many immigrants have not broken any laws, yet remain undocumented and legally vulnerable. They are portrayed as a drain on society, yet they help sustain programs like Social Security through their tax contributions, even though many will never receive those benefits. 

As we watch our neighbors being detained and deported, we see that we are not losing the “worst of the worst,” but people who embody some of the best American ideals: hard work, selfless contribution, and a desire to build a better future for their families and communities. 

LAWRENCE, Kan. 鈥� The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education announced a plan for increased enforcement measures against two Kansas school districts for their gender-inclusive policies. 

In April, the department found four public school districts 鈥� Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas 鈥� were in violation of federal Title IX civil rights protections. Reasons included allowing students to change their name or pronouns used at school without clear communication to parents and allowing transgender students to use the restroom, locker room and changing room that aligns with their gender identity.

On Tuesday, the Education Department announced it would work alongside the DOJ鈥檚 Civil Rights Division to take 鈥渆nforcement measures鈥� against the Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts for failing to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.

The Education Department said that failure to comply could lead to legal action and potential loss of federal funding.

鈥淭hese policies encourage schools to conceal from parents whether their child uses different pronouns and even permits schools to print a different name on students鈥� diplomas without parental knowledge or consent,鈥� the release said. 鈥淲ithholding such sensitive information from parents when they request their children鈥檚 records is a clear violation of FERPA.鈥�

The Education Department issued letters Wednesday to local and state education agencies with reminders about FERPA guidelines as a new school year begins. A news release from the department said the reminder comes amid 鈥渞ampant reports鈥� of schools withholding records related to a child鈥檚 gender or gender transition from parents. 

The Education Department said it proposed resolution agreements with Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts earlier this year, and that the Shawnee Mission district never agreed to a resolution. 

In a letter addressed to the Education Department鈥檚 Student Privacy Policy Office, the Shawnee Mission school district鈥檚 legal representation said the office鈥檚 findings did not violate FERPA. The letter also said the office鈥檚 findings ignored that the district requires proof of parental involvement in official student name change requests.

鈥淣othing about SMSD鈥檚 approach to student names, pronouns, or gender violates or even implicates FERPA,鈥� the letter said. 鈥淪MSD has been and remains in compliance with FERPA.鈥�

The Olathe district signed a 鈥渧oluntary resolution agreement鈥� in May outlining the district鈥檚 commitment to giving students access to gender-specific facilities 鈥渟trictly on the basis of sex.鈥� The was rejected by the Education Department. 

The Olathe district has said throughout the department鈥檚 investigation there have been no Title IX or FERPA violations in its schools, and outlined district communication with the department as well as any legal correspondence on

鈥淭he unfortunate continuation of this drawn-out political display continues to rob time and resources from the work that matters most as a public school system: educating our children,鈥� said a district press release. 鈥淥lathe Public Schools will continue to defend the integrity of its people and practices, and remains committed to serving students, supporting families, and complying with all applicable federal and state laws.鈥�

The Education Department announced Tuesday that its Student Privacy Policy Office entered a resolution agreement with the Topeka school district to uphold parental rights and come into compliance with federal law. 

The agreement鈥檚 guidelines include not creating gender support plans, allowing any gender support plans on file to be reviewed by parents, adding FERPA content into staff training and revoking any guidance that prevents schools from keeping parents informed about their students.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

New York City is expected to release its school policy for artificial intelligence on Wednesday, with a ban on student-facing AI tools for 2-K through eighth grade, according to four people briefed on the plans and Education Department documents obtained by Chalkbeat.

Under the new rules, the youngest children in the nation鈥檚 largest school system 鈥� those in its early childhood programs, elementary schools, and middle schools 鈥� would not have access to generative AI, including chatbots and AI tutors, sources said.

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The guidelines bar schools from giving individual devices to students in preschools through second grade, though classrooms will be allowed to have smart boards, sources said. For students in grades 3 to 5, the policy recommends limiting screen time on individual devices to 30 minutes and 45 minutes for middle school students.

High schoolers are expected to have restricted access to AI, but might be able to use it for literacy, career readiness programs, and in five pilot programs at an unspecified number of schools, according to the Daily News, . Screen time recommendations depend on subject matter and school approach.

The restrictions would represent a significantly more aggressive stance against AI and screen time in schools than the city had taken. Education leaders across the country are likely to be watching as they also grapple with how students should interact with the fast-changing technology.

鈥淵ounger students need hands-on learning, social interaction, play, and teacher-guided instruction,鈥� Education Department officials wrote in a presentation outlining the policy obtained by Chalkbeat. 鈥淩outine individual screen use can crowd out those experiences.鈥�

In high school, the presentation continued, 鈥渟tudents need guided preparation for a world and economy increasingly driven by AI and new technologies -paired with instruction on how AI works, its biases and risks, and how to evaluate its outputs.鈥�

Teachers will be allowed to use approved AI tools for such instructional tasks as lesson planning, translation, and drafting communications, according to the presentation. They will not be allowed to use the technology for grading, behavior monitoring, counseling, or developing special education plans.

City officials are in the process of creating a task force that will offer input on the policy鈥檚 implementation going forward, multiple people briefed on the Education Department鈥檚 plans said.

An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

Multiple people said there would be some exceptions to the policy to account for regular assessments in reading and math that students typically complete on computers, as well as for some student groups, including English language learners and students with disabilities.

When the city unveiled its preliminary AI guidelines in March, forcing the city to rethink its approach and delay its timeline for a comprehensive policy by about two months, leaving little time for schools to prepare for the change before the first day on Sept. 10. It鈥檚 unclear how the Education Department plans to enforce the policy.

The initial guidance used a traffic-light framework to delineate risk levels of different AI uses in the classroom, mainly by teachers. Student AI use 鈥� one of the thorniest issues educators and families are currently confronting 鈥� got little attention.

The city seemed caught off guard by the momentum of grassroots parent groups calling for an AI moratorium, with thousands of people signing a petition to stop the use of generative AI in schools and scores voicing their concerns at school board meetings.

More than half of City Council members use in schools, citing concerns about learning and mental health. Samuels acknowledged in May that indicating that the final version would have more stringent rules on AI use, especially for younger students.

In July, as the city hashed out its new guidance, until officials released the new policy, who worried they would not have access to key software programs, such as electronic gradebooks and platforms to communicate with families, when welcoming students back to school next week.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at

Adults design policies for her future 鈥� the classes she takes, the programs available in her neighborhood, the career training offered at her school 鈥� but very few of us have ever asked her what she actually needs.

In New Orleans, we asked. And what we heard changed the way we design support for young people. Your city should, too.

For the past seven years, the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans at Tulane University has led the 鈥� a collaborative effort with a steering committee of community organizations, government agencies and school leaders to ask students directly about their lives inside and outside of school. Our , conducted with about 2,000 sixth through 11th graders across 16 public schools last spring, added new questions about mental health. The findings are hard to sit with.

About one in three New Orleans youth is struggling with their mental health. About 41% report feeling sad or hopeless almost every day. These are not just New Orleans numbers. show similar rates of adolescent depression and anxiety. 

What is distinctive about New Orleans is that we asked why they are not getting needed help. Twenty-six percent of students said they needed counseling at some point in the past year but didn鈥檛 get it. And more than half 鈥� 55% 鈥� have avoided seeking mental health help at some point because of what others might think. Among Black youth, the numbers are starker: Nearly twice as many reported needing counseling and not receiving it compared to white youth.

Perhaps most telling is whom young people turn to when they鈥檙e struggling. The majority said they鈥檇 reach out to a friend. Fewer than one in 10 would go to a school counselor. Almost one in five said they wouldn鈥檛 reach out to anyone. New Orleans youth told us why they are struggling. And knowing changes things.

When we released earlier surveys showing that students were leaving home before dawn to catch school buses, the district changed its busing policy. When a charter management organization noticed that its students鈥� sense of belonging lagged that of similar schools, they redesigned their social-emotional learning approach. When community leaders learned that New Orleans middle schoolers had far fewer career-preparation opportunities than students nationwide, local workforce organizations began rethinking what support looks like before high school. 

None of those changes would have happened if adults had continued making decisions based on assumptions about what young people need.

The mental health findings from this year are already moving conversations. At our public release event, a high school student who helped design the survey described watching classmates struggle in silence 鈥� afraid to ask for help, unsure where to turn, not trusting that anyone would understand. She was describing data she had helped collect from students who looked like her. 

The superintendent of New Orleans Public Schools, Fateama Fulmore, said 鈥淭his report provides encouragement and a sober reminder of the responsibilities we carry as a school system and as a city for our children.鈥� Meshawn Siddiq, deputy director of the city鈥檚 Department of Health, echoed, 鈥淎s a system, I feel like in order for it all to work, every aspect of it needs to work together.鈥� That is the point of this work.

Other cities can do this. The model is not complicated, but it requires intentionality: a commitment to collaborating with local stakeholders to know what information they need, to asking young people real questions, to sharing what you hear even when it鈥檚 uncomfortable, and to letting their answers actually drive decisions.

Our students are not getting the mental health support they need. They told us that because we asked. The least we can do is listen.

In concert, state bodies governing public pre-K through Ph.D. students are implementing policies addressing safety and classroom use of artificial intelligence.

Next week, the Florida Board of Governors, which controls Florida鈥檚 12 state universities, will review language directing each campus to 鈥渆stablish policies requiring all course syllabi to include a disclosure of faculty use and permitted student use of artificial intelligence.鈥�

The decision starts with the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, which the Board of Governors created earlier this year to address the emerging technology鈥檚 permeation into higher education.

Policy proposals extend to Florida鈥檚 youngest students, too.

The Florida Board of Education, which oversees preK-12 and the Florida College System, has a vote scheduled to direct K-12 public and charter schools and colleges to regulate AI use.

The Board of Education will vote Sept. 16 during its meeting at Polk State College whether to require public school districts and charter school governing boards to amend their internet safety policy to include AI.

The rule is not expected to require legislative ratification and would have to be adopted by school boards by July 1, 2027. 

Districts and charter schools would, at a minimum, make policies to 鈥減rotect students, parents, and instructional personnel from unlawful, deceptive, unsafe, or unauthorized uses of artificial intelligence systems, services, applications, and tools used in connection with educational programs and operations in Florida public schools,鈥� according to a draft copy of the rule. 

The idea is to 鈥渆nsure that any approved use of artificial intelligence protects education records and student information, while supporting student achievement, civic literacy, academic excellence, and workforce preparedness.鈥�

More specifically, schools would notify parents when teachers approve an AI instructional tool for use, including the name of the platform and classes in which it would be used and the nature of student interaction.

Parental protection

Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥� administration did not return a request for comment.

The Florida Education Association supports guidelines for protecting children.

鈥淓very parent and guardian wants their child to succeed in their public schools. In today鈥檚 world, technology is a key part of what and how our students learn, and, like with all new technology, there must be rules and guidelines that center on protecting our children,鈥� FEA President Andrew Spar wrote in an emailed statement to the Phoenix.

The policy must require a process for parents to object to AI use and provide alternatives to the tool.

Schools would be required to conduct additional reviews for AI tools used in PreK-5 to ensure it is age appropriate. 

The measure includes language aiming to protect the teaching profession from being replaced by computers. It would 鈥渆nsure that the use of AI instructional tools is limited to supplementing, and not replacing, the professional judgment of teachers and the primary right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.鈥�

Further, the policy must ensure AI is 鈥渁ccurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, accessible to students and educators with disabilities.鈥�

Schools must make publicly available approved AI instructional tools and policies. Also, the tools must maintain student interaction for at least 30 days in the interest of accessibility to parents and district administrators.

However, the data collected on students must not be used for profit or to profile students to train commercial AI models. 

The state is proposing, the regulation draft says, that schools not deploy AI to:

• Meet a student鈥檚 social or emotional needs, including Social Emotional Learning.
• Simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student.
• Employ relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features for the purpose of encouraging a student to continue interacting with the system or tool.

The rule would impose training for teachers and administrators on the safety, risks, and compliance regarding AI. 

The policy must address plagiarism, permissible classroom use, verifying student work, and demonstrating mastery without use of AI.

鈥淎t the Florida Education Association, we believe that any policy the state of Florida enacts must ensure parents and guardians are advised of all potential uses of AI in a public school, that student data is protected, that the use of AI and new technologies is safe, that use of technology in the classroom is age and need appropriate, and that educators are protected and that additional work is not placed on them without additional support,鈥� Spar said.

College system

The 28 state colleges have AI rules on the Board of Education docket, too. 

Those rules would place responsibility to create AI policies with college system boards of trustees

The Board of Education expects the 28 boards of trustees to create policies 鈥渢hat provide for the use and limitations of use of artificial intelligence tools in order to ensure quality of education for students, efficiency of operations, and a safe learning environment for the whole college community.鈥�

As with the pre-K-12 policy, the college policy would distinguish between instructional AI tools and other technologies. 

AI instructional tools could not 鈥渕eet a student鈥檚 social needs; simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student; or employ relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features for the purpose of encouraging a student to continue interacting with the system.鈥�

The policy calls on colleges to protect student privacy with AI, allow notification of parents of minors taking college classes whether their courses involve AI, and factor for academic integrity and dishonesty.

The policy calls, too, for building a framework to helps students understand what AI is and how it incorporates into their education and building AI skills.

This was originally published by Florida Phoenix.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

California lawmakers agreed to a deal that will allow many survivors of to continue to sue the public bodies they say are responsible for their trauma.

The compromise released Thursday is a partial win for some victims鈥� advocates, who opposed capping the amount of damages a survivor could seek from cities, counties and school districts that employ the alleged abusers and oversee the facilities where the abuse took place.

Cities, counties and school districts had implored lawmakers to cap damages to help stop the financial bleeding since greatly expanded who could sue over childhood sexual assault in California. 

The agreement amends , a deal to address the rising costs authored last year by Sen. that fell apart at the last minute and was shelved.

The legislative deal jettisoned any caps on damages, which survivor groups argued were akin to putting a price tag on someone鈥檚 assault. Local governments and school districts were adamant that caps, while politically unappealing, were the only solution to substantially improve their financial health.

But in a win for the public entities, the deal brokered by Senate and Assembly Democratic leadership requires older survivors to present stronger evidence of their assaults. The new requirements apply to survivors over age 40 and those with cases prior to 2024 鈥� when lawmakers abolished the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases 鈥� in which records were destroyed. 

Senate President Pro Tem , a Santa Barbara Democrat, said in a statement that 鈥減rotection and prevention鈥� were at the center of the conversations and she was grateful lawmakers could come together to 鈥減rotect justice, prioritize prevention for the millions in our care, and acknowledge the impacts to our communities.鈥�

Chantel Johnson, a spokesperson for the Youth Law Center, which represents survivors, in a statement thanked lawmakers for rejecting 鈥渟ome of the most harmful proposals under consideration鈥� and cheered the addition of preventive measures. 

鈥淭he fiscal pressures facing counties and other public entities are real, but the harm that created those costs is even more consequential,鈥� Johnson said.

But while the Youth Law Center and its allies embraced the deal, other survivor advocate groups excoriated the agreement 鈥� especially the higher evidence threshold for plaintiffs over 40 鈥� as a tragedy that will undermine some victims鈥� cases. 

They argue that since many victims don鈥檛 come forward until later in adulthood, a more stringent evidence standard denies justice for those who bring their cases later. 

鈥淚f the Legislature passes this immoral bill, we call upon Gov. Newsom to protect survivors and hold abusers accountable by vetoing SB 577,鈥� said Caroline Heldman, founder of the group Stand With Survivors, in a joint statement with four other victim advocacy groups.

Representatives for the school districts and local governments had argued that current funding should benefit children and communities today, not line the pockets of plaintiffs鈥� attorney firms that profit from taxpayer-funded settlements and damages. 

On top of any damages they must pay to victims, schools and local governments have had to set aside more and more of their budgets to cover . That has resulted in cuts to staff and programs and delayed maintenance and facilities upgrades.

鈥淐alifornians are paying a lawsuit tax on nearly everything they buy and every public service they use,鈥� said Jaime Huff, leader of the nonprofit Civil Justice Association of California, in a statement Friday. She said SB 577 鈥減uts some common sense back into a system where questionable claims and runaway litigation costs have drained billions鈥� from local governments and school districts.

The amendments also remove a controversial statute-of-limitations cutoff for claims against juvenile detention centers operated by Los Angeles County, which last year reached a with survivors of the now-shuttered MacLaren Children鈥檚 Center.

The bill also lays out a host of preventive measures to curb child sex abuse in public institutions. Counties, cities and school districts would be required to develop and submit codes of conduct and sexual assault prevention plans to the California attorney general鈥檚 office by Jan. 1, 2028 and that office would brief the Legislature on which agencies failed to comply. It also expands the list of employers considered 鈥渕andatory reporters鈥� of child sexual assault or grooming to include peace officers, probation officers, social workers and others. 

There are also provisions to crack down on fraudulent claims. Attorneys who are found to have brought a child sexual abuse claim 鈥渋n bad faith鈥� would be subject to a $25,000 fine.

Lawmakers have until Monday to consider the legislation in both chambers of the state Legislature. Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 office on Thursday declined to comment, however sources familiar with the negotiations said he indicated he would sign any deal the Legislature sent to him.

For the record: This story was updated to add a response from some victims’ rights groups that are critical of the agreement.

This article was and was republished under the license.  for their newsletters.

Education finance could learn a thing or two.

Policymakers intent on providing high-quality schools for everyone typically face a familiar problem: Variability in property taxes allows wealthier communities to send much more money to their local schools than those in poorer communities. That extra investment translates into opportunities that lower-wealth schools simply cannot afford. Education leaders across the country have tried to fix this by filling holes with state dollars. But they are faced with a common challenge: If local spending on education in high-wealth communities keeps rising, the bar for state contributions to poorer communities moves with it.

Many professional sports leagues grappling with similar issues of inequality have found a solution in salary caps that curb wealth hoarding and reward competitiveness. In the National Basketball Association, the salary cap is a set dollar amount that all teams must stay under to avoid a financial penalty. If my beloved Atlanta Hawks spent $100,000 above the threshold, for instance, they would pay an additional $100,000 as a luxury tax. These extra dollars would then be distributed to teams that have not spent as much, helping to level the playing field.

What could this policy look like in education? Vermont already has one in place. 

Like many states, Vermont calculates and guarantees a baseline amount of funding required to educate a standard student (which is adjusted by increasing funding for disadvantaged kids). But beginning in 1997, Vermont lawmakers adopted an additional process called the excess spending adjustment. If a town votes to spend more than the baseline per-pupil funding amount, it triggers the state’s version of the NBA鈥檚 luxury tax. Wealthy towns can still raise more money for their schools, but are then required to pay higher rates created in the funding formula. In Fiscal Year 2026, exceeded the $15,926 spending threshold.

The additional tax revenue raised by property-rich towns is distributed to property-poor, rural school districts to ensure their students get a more equitable education. Three years into implementation, that legislative provisions including the excess spending adjustment had significantly reduced the relationship among property wealth, student resources and taxpayer burden.聽

What stops other states from following in Vermont鈥檚 footsteps? Policies like this do not come easily, and may require a shock to the status quo. The NBA salary cap and luxury tax were the result of difficult negotiations between the league and players. Vermont’s school funding mechanism was passed in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that the state’s previous education finance law was unconstitutional. Many wealthier residents expressed outrage at the new law 鈥� one going so far as to buy a car previously owned by one of the bill鈥檚 chief sponsors, bringing it to the state capitol and urging passers-by to to vent their frustration with the new law.

Interestingly, several of the financially affected by the excess spending threshold are not eligible to vote in Vermont: Many of its property-rich communities are ski resorts filled with second homes of out-of-state residents. This politically advantageous fact, paired with provisions that provided 229 of the state鈥檚 school districts with additional funding and only 23 districts with less, might help explain why the pushback was not strong enough to undo the law’s sweeping changes. Howard Dean, the incumbent governor, faced an opponent who tried to center the law as her chief campaign issue. Dean handily won reelection.

Vermont is not alone in structurally tackling this issue. Texas has , a state policy that requires wealthy school districts to send a portion of their local property tax revenue back to the state. In the 2024-25 school year, nearly was returned to the state under the program.

Policy advocates interested in finance equity policies should study these two states, and consider how private giving might circumvent any progress. 

In my work for , housed in the Southern Education Foundation, I regularly meet with education stakeholders across the country to imagine school funding and enrollment policies that undo the harm of intense segregation, specifically between districts. Income segregation leaves students in high-poverty schools with and few resources to meet them. Some state leaders treat the school district lines as impenetrable, for both students and dollars, leaving kids to the education provided by local property tax wealth. But every American has an affirmative right to public education, written into the state constitutions. Like the NBA power brokers of the 1980s and the Vermont lawmakers of the late 1990s, state legislators can work across lines of difference to devise a system where wealth hoarding is challenged. The ball is in their court.

Bornfreund 鈥� a senior fellow at New America, where she previously was director of early and elementary education policy 鈥� shines a light on academic pressure on young children. In her book, she digs into the history of kindergarten and how it鈥檚 changed, chronicles her visits to over 50 classrooms in 13 states, and speaks to education and policy experts about ideas for transforming kindergarten to prioritize how kids learn best.

Kindergarten is regarded as the connector between pre-K and early elementary grades, but Bornfreund views the entire journey from pre-K through third grade as critical for young children鈥檚 development. 

In order for these years to lay a sturdy foundation for everything that follows, the kindergarten experience should , including connections with peers and teachers. Over the years, however, kindergarten has become increasingly according to Bornfreund, particularly in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act, which became federal law in 2002. 鈥淭he new emphasis on testing and accountability under the law put pressure on schools and teachers to achieve at higher levels for each child,鈥� she wrote.

The book laments the state of kindergarten today, where classroom experiences are overly scripted and funding is insufficient in many communities. At the same time, Bornfreund finds teachers who are providing meaningful experiences for young learners against the odds. In the conversation below, she shares her perspective on what a strong kindergarten experience looks like and offers insights on how schools, families and policymakers can reshape kindergarten to help children thrive. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why are children entering kindergarten with such a wide range of abilities?

That kindergarten year is the first accessible-to-all opportunity into formal public education. Even as widespread as pre-K has become, not everyone has access to that public opportunity, but every child does have access to kindergarten. If they attended a high-quality pre-K, the kindergarten year can often be somewhat of a repeat for them. If they were in childcare or any other kind of early childhood environment, it’s going to be pretty jarring. Or if they didn’t have any formal preschool experience at all, it can be fairly jarring. And so there does need to be more attention to 鈥� all the different types of experiences that children have before they get into kindergarten.

What are the key differences between children who have had some kind of formal experience before kindergarten and those who have not?聽

While pre-K often does build early literacy and numeracy skills, it’s also focused on the whole child. So the executive function that helps students to be able to sit and listen and line up and understand what it means to wait their turn, but also the social and emotional development. And that is one of the areas that is lacking in a lot of kindergarten [classrooms], not because teachers don’t understand that it’s important or don’t want to be able to focus more on the whole child, but because the schedule in many places 鈥� is so rigid, and the expectations of what teachers should be doing with students in kindergarten classrooms don鈥檛 allow for time to focus on those whole-child areas. 

Where did you find school districts that draw upon the research with the most fidelity?

The really transformed, starting with pre-K, and built their own curriculum. It’s called the focused on preschool, pre-K, kindergarten and they’ve also gone up to second grade.聽 鈥� It engages students in a lot of playful learning practices, and it has a heavy focus on not just building those reading skills, but also building the background knowledge opportunities for children to talk and interact with each other. Boston has really transformed the majority of their elementary schools now, and that has spread. Those approaches have spread to other parts of Massachusetts as well as Maine. The Focus Curriculum is open source, so anyone can take and use it or adapt it for their state specifics or regional differences.聽

Is it a more rigorous academic program or is it more play-based?聽

Both. It’s aligned with Massachusetts standards, and it incorporates within the curriculum these play-based approaches. 

And that’s something you’d like to see spread more widely?聽

Yes. Or other curriculum materials like that. And I would just say [that] for young kids, including kindergarten through at least second grade, the play-based approach is the rigor for those kids, because it’s how they learn best, when looking at the science of early learning and development. And it doesn’t mean free play, that kids are just doing whatever all day 鈥� Looking at Boston, that play-based learning is guided play. Teachers are curating the kinds of materials that are in different center activities. They are moving around the room when children are engaged in those activities, asking probing questions to 鈥� support children in using different vocabulary or getting at the specific standard that teachers are wanting to focus on in those particular centers. So it’s structured, it’s guided by the teacher and it’s rigorous. 

What鈥檚 your perspective on delaying kindergarten, as some experts recommend, especially for boys?

I would say that the problem isn’t that 5-year-old boys aren’t ready for kindergarten, or that some kids aren’t ready for kindergarten. It’s that kindergarten has become unready for 5-year-olds. Five-year-olds are active social learners, particularly young boys 鈥� and kindergarten teachers aren’t able to 鈥� or, in some cases, aren’t sure how to 鈥� deliver those active social learning opportunities. That’s the real challenge. So red shirting 鈥� or holding kids back a year isn’t going to solve that problem. 

Why is relationship-building so important in kindergarten classrooms?

Before children can learn from their teachers, they have to be able to trust them. That鈥檚 not a nice-to-have. Those relationships have to be in place between the teacher and the student, regardless of the grade, but it’s particularly important in kindergarten, when many children are coming together for the first time with another adult or with other children. They’re a core piece of that learning. 

How does technology support relationships and play? Or does it interfere?

I visited several classrooms in different places where children are on tablets 鈥� for much of the day or for too much of the day. There’s a place for technology. I think some of the programs that children are using are suited for supporting differentiation or just meeting specific skills that children are developing. 鈥� But the technology doesn’t build relationships. They’re a tool, not a teacher, and we shouldn’t treat them in schools as if they can replace a teacher and a relationship. 

Were there classrooms you walked into while writing this book and you were like, “Aha, this is it. This is what it ought to be like”?聽

There were a lot where I felt like I just wanted to stay all day, but in this one particular room [in Maine], I got into the classroom before students started coming in, and as students were coming in, the teacher was greeting them and asking them questions. This was a Monday. One question she asked was, “How did that softball game go this weekend?” 鈥� She was just picking up on things that she knew about students and digging in and asking them how certain things went and following up on that. And then students, during their morning work as everyone was coming in, there had been strong routines built because they knew exactly what they were going to be doing. They got their 鈥� morning STEM toys out, and they were sitting at tables and doing different things with their table mates. And that was just more of a before the day started free activity, a lot of choice in that, but kids were talking, they were working together. 鈥� Then they came together for their morning meeting. 鈥� That start of the day is a really important way to help children feel welcome and ready to learn and ready to be in a community with both their teacher and fellow classmates.

What else stood out from your travels?

I visited a classroom in Oklahoma [and] the teacher noticed the energy of her class was dipping. Her kids needed a break. So she called [for] a little dance party 鈥� two minutes to help everybody reset 鈥� and then got back to what her instruction was. In Ferndale, Washington, the superintendent has made play-based learning a priority for the whole district in kindergarten, and they鈥檙e moving it up to first grade too. The way that works is, there’s an hour of dedicated time that follows reading instruction. The students are essentially taking what they’ve learned in that reading block and then applying it to play-based learning. 

What鈥檚 one recommendation for making the transition from pre-K to kindergarten smoother?

One thing I would say is to give pre-K through first grade teachers dedicated time to plan together. 鈥� Having that dedicated time to think together and to plan together is one of the most high-leverage things that schools can do. Teachers appreciate it too.

What advice do you have for parents?聽

Ask questions about what kindergarten looks like. What opportunities are there for play-based learning, for building relationships, for science? One of the things I point out is that science is almost all but gone from a lot of kindergarten classrooms because there’s just not the time for it. So really probing and asking those kinds of questions of the teacher, but also of the principal is important for parents to be doing. 

What about policymakers?

Kindergarten is really the only grade where we fund it like an afterthought, but then [we] call it this important foundation. We should invest in what it takes to deliver on the teaching and learning that aligns with how we know students learn.

The author of books, Barnett has become a key evangelist for high-quality children鈥檚 literature, particularly the picture book. As the Library of Congress鈥檚 ninth , his “Consider the Picture Book” initiative invites adult conversations about the form. And Barnett scored a rare feat for a children鈥檚 book author, this spring publishing , a best-selling book of essays about writing for children. 

Barnett marvels that two experimental children鈥檚 books from the last century, Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd鈥檚 Goodnight Moon (1947) and Maurice Sendak鈥檚 Where the Wild Things Are (1963) remain best-sellers. It鈥檚 as if James Joyce鈥檚 Ulysses and The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson were among the books most widely read by American adults, he writes.

Yet when he looks out on the modern publishing landscape, Barnett most often sees books that simultaneously do too much and too little: books that seek to instruct and impose morals and manners on children, while others aren鈥檛 quite rich and strange enough for the 鈥渇lexible, unpredictable, sublime, and untamable鈥� imaginations of young people. 

Many readers likely learned of Make Believe due to the controversy surrounding Barnett鈥檚 tongue-in-cheek assertion about the overall quality of children鈥檚 literature. Amending science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon鈥檚 that 90% of sci-fi writing is 鈥渃rud,鈥� Barnett suggested that perhaps 94.7% of kids鈥� books are likewise crud 鈥� a higher percentage, he wrote, because they鈥檙e made by people 鈥渨ho are not members of their intended audience.鈥�

His fellow children鈥檚 authors were not amused, with hundreds signing an urging the Library of Congress to drop him as an ambassador.

“How do you measure the expansion of a child’s soul? We don’t have that ruler, but that is the stuff that we’re talking about.”

Barnett later apologized and now tells 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo that the point of the comparison wasn鈥檛 to paint children鈥檚 books as worse, statistically speaking, than other types of fiction. Rather, he was pointing out that it鈥檚 comparatively harder to write good children鈥檚 books 鈥渢han almost any other kind of art-making that we do.鈥� 

Toppo and Barnett recently sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the controversy, children鈥檚 books and the importance of reading aloud, among other topics. 

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I want to start with Goodnight Moon. You call it this 鈥渕asterpiece of experimental literature鈥� and say its ubiquity obscures its strangeness. I reread it the other night, and you鈥檙e right: It is a very strange, very dark book. It didn’t have to be that way, and I wonder: Why is its strangeness so important?

It’s funny 鈥� it didn’t have to be that way. There’s a communication Margaret Wise Brown had with Clement Hurd: She sent a Goya painting, a very strange Goya painting, to Hurd, and said, “This is what the book should feel like.” She knew that that was in her manuscript, and nothing that Hurd had ever done or did afterward really looked like that. And I think that strangeness, that darkness, that eeriness, is because it has a strange and dark and eerie subject. It’s bedtime, right? Going to sleep is really one of the first hard things we ask children to do all by themselves. It’s mysterious. It’s a little scary, and ultimately, it’s this solitary thing. There is an old lady in a rocking chair next to that bed who sort of appears and disappears throughout the story. We can be there, but ultimately, you’re alone in the face of this huge mystery, and you have to surrender to sleep and a completely altered state of consciousness that no adult can really describe well. There’s mystery, the void. All of these things are part of that experience.

It can also be really cozy and warm, and I think that the book gets both of those things. There’s a warm fire. There are these comforting cadences, and I think it’s beautifully matched not just to its subject, but what its subject, going to sleep, means for kids. Great art for kids is like great art generally. It tells the truth about what it means to be a person in the world, but it means something different to be a kid. And I think that that book is so alive to bedtime for children. 

Let’s start with the pictures: Things disappear and reappear off the drying rack. That balloon, that famous red balloon, is sitting in the most aggravating, unnerving place possible on the page. There are all of these weird, uncomfortable, eerie things that happen that for me kind of culminate in maybe the most famous part of the book, deservedly 鈥� I think it’s one of the most exciting pages in the history of picture books. We’re bidding goodnight to everybody. “Goodnight, comb. Goodnight, brush.” There’s a picture of a comb. There’s a picture of a brush. “Goodnight, nobody.” And then there’s not a picture of anything. It’s an empty page. 

Somehow the two of them figured out a way to depict nothingness, depict absence, conjure the void, and not just to conjure it, but to acknowledge it, to bid it goodnight, to treat it as maybe not a friend, but as as something that you can be polite to. You can use language, and say goodnight to it. And after that moment, Margaret Wise Brown’s language becomes very regular, very metered. You get these repeating “Shhs.” It’s a book that acknowledges that this is very scary, very strange, very weird, but that also it’s going to be O.K., and both of those things are true. That’s a paradox. Bedtime, going to sleep 鈥� it’s scary. It’s also restorative. It’s mysterious. It’s also quotidian, and that book, without saying it explicitly, just by arranging words and pictures in the right way, captures that complicated truth. That is why it endures. That is why that goodnight book is still the goodnight book. It’s probably the most widely read, commercially successful experimental poem ever published in America.

The weirdest goodnight book is also the best-selling one.

Yes.

I’ve been writing a lot about the crisis in young people’s reading for pleasure, and I’ve taken it as a given that we’re in this golden age of children’s books. You’re making me think that perhaps there’s a bigger problem, that maybe the books themselves aren’t as rich as they need to be, or that a lot of them aren’t rich enough for the task.

This is a super-rich time for children’s books generally, for the picture book especially. But I also think that there is never a time in which there aren’t many adults who see a children’s book as merely a tool, either an educational or a behavioral tool, or both.

So you don’t see the problem as much about the books themselves as about our approach?

Children’s literature is not monolithic, just like adult literature is not monolithic. I think that sometimes the book is an expression of an adult’s desire to teach or even control a kid. But in general, for me the problem starts before you even get to the book: How do adults conceive of their relationship to children? And so often when we encounter kids, we are in a position of authority 鈥� and understandably so. I have a five-year-old. As a father, it is my job to sometimes create order, make a set of rules, be an authority. Keep him safe. Teach him things. It’s not the only aspect of it. It’s a multifaceted role.

I was a substitute teacher and then I taught writing at a nonprofit that I ran for a while. Being a teacher, that is a position of authority mostly, but there are shades to it too. It’s all multifaceted. But basically, we’re used to being in charge, and we’re used to thinking of kids as people merely to be taught, to be improved, to really be more like us. And I think that there are other ways to be around kids. Literature, poetry, story for story’s sake 鈥� that vein of children’s books, which is just one thing that a book can do, is something very exciting that I think only a book can do. It鈥檚 liberating. It’s a chance for adults and kids to set aside this hierarchy that normally governs our interactions, especially in the school day, and to just have a group art experience and to talk about it. 

The story rug, to me, is this space in school that is unlike any other. It’s in school. It’s part of school. Your teacher is there reading to you, and then you are having a discussion. But the discussion is open. It can get personal in ways that you’re not really at liberty to be in other parts of the school day. Sometimes your teacher cries. Sometimes your teacher laughs really hard. Sometimes your teacher messes up and mispronounces a word or gets a rhyme wrong. That’s thrilling too! And then also you’re talking about taste and preference and interpretation, which you don’t always get to do at school. But really pretty quickly, we’re doing civics too, because let’s say I loved the book that you just read, and the kid next to me, she hated it. Well, how do she and I talk about it with each other without making each other feel lesser? I watch kids do that. I watch kids do that so often in ways that I’m like, “Adults don’t know how to do this.” Book clubs will end up looking like a fight scene on Bravo, whereas these kids are having just the most beautiful discussion of their distinct viewpoints.

At one point in Make Believe, you imagine an adult talking to a kid about reading, saying: “You know, this thing that we’ve been doing together, now you must do it alone and enjoy it.” There are lots of people thinking about different ways to make reading more social. Do you have a vision of a better way?

We have these two things, ideally, we do with reading, and they sit alongside each other and feed each other, but they’re really separate. How do we teach kids to read? How do we help them acquire this skill, which is very difficult? But also, this is our moment to show them the joys that a book can bring, to make them love this. And in fact, if we’ve only done the first thing, I think we’ve lost. But if we manage to do the second thing, that will underpin not just the acquisition of reading, but the rest of your life of curiosity, of learning things from books. Getting kids involved in that way 鈥� it is making sure that a story, a poem, an artwork is not just an avenue to a set of standards, but also is something that can be enjoyed in its own right. And giving kids the freedom both to say what a book means to them and even what they think about a book 鈥� also giving them the freedom to pick some of their reading at school 鈥� obviously this is tough, especially at a time where measurement and measurable outcomes are so important. 

The hard thing is that although you do learn from art, it can be hard to mount a defense of the value of art and literature in a system that only responds to data. How do you measure the expansion of a child’s soul? We don’t have that ruler, but that is the stuff that we’re talking about. It may sound lofty, but to me it is at the center of what education is in the first place. We’re trying to learn to be humans in the world.

You told The New York Times in an last spring, “I’m interested in launching a cultural reevaluation of the picture book as an art form.” I wonder if you could paint us a picture of what that would look like.

The picture book is one of the great literary forms, and it’s a unique literary form that belongs next to the novel, the short story, poetry, plays as one of the great ways that humans have come up with to tell stories, to share ideas, to capture feeling, to preserve histories, to explore the natural world, the interior world. It’s got everything. It can do all of those things. It’s a unique form. It is actually the only one of those forms that I mentioned right there that is native to children’s books. 

There are great children’s novels, great children’s comics, great children’s songs, poems. But we took all those forms and figured out how they would work for kids. Children’s literature came up with the picture book, and it is our great contribution to world literature. I think that we underestimated it, though. We underestimated it for two reasons, and one is we don’t talk a lot about how picture books work and why they work. And the other reason is because we underestimate kids, and we especially underestimate young kids 鈥� and that is the picture book’s audience. How do you change our view of children? That’s a huge project and a necessary project. But how do we change our understanding of how the picture book works? There’s work that we can do there. 

It’s now on pause, but for a while I had a newsletter with , the illustrator, that was called , and as soon as we launched it, it went onto the Top 10 art Substacks on the platform, and way bigger than just kids’ book people, because people were hungry for this. They did want to read about it. We were like, “Wow, there are a lot of people curious about how picture books work, and they’re not able to find the kind of coverage in mainstream organs.” And I think so much of that is because a lot of us remember picture books that we loved as kids. We still remember them. It’s also because a lot of adults, whether they’re in the classroom reading to kids or at bedtime, putting a kid to bed with one, two, three stories, you see how powerful this thing is, not just for the kid, but also you’ll be loading up the dishwasher an hour later, still thinking about that story too. You know that something profound is happening in these books, but what is happening and why? 

“That adult reading out loud is an equal collaborator with author and illustrator. They are deciding how quickly to read or how slowly to read. They are making cuts and adjustments to the story on the fly. They are choosing what the characters’ voices sound like.”

Reading aloud is this rare moment where all kinds of adults do it. And when they do it, they are part of the artwork. There’s the author, the illustrator, and the adult who reads these books out loud. And that adult reading out loud is an equal collaborator with author and illustrator. They are deciding how quickly to read or how slowly to read. They are making cuts and adjustments to the story on the fly. They are choosing what the characters’ voices sound like. They are showing you with their own face how to feel about this story. You’re an actor who has been cast in every part. You are like a musician who is handed this instrument that is also the score. You’re an artist. 

I want to ask you about this unpleasantness you had last spring with your amendment of Theodore Sturgeon鈥檚 “90% of everything is crud” law. A lot of people were upset and hurt, and I wonder: It鈥檚 a couple of months later. Do you have either a more accurate percentage or another way to think about it?

I’m really sorry that I hurt people with what I wrote there, and it wasn’t my intention. I would definitely write it differently now. The point of that passage was not the percentage. It was to say that it was harder to write and succeed at a book for kids than almost any other kind of art-making that we do. It’s always hard to make a work of art. There are so many things that can go wrong. I can tell you from this desk right here. But what making a book for kids asks us to do is to, as an adult, cross this experiential chasm and make something that ultimately is not about reflecting our own lives as adults or serving our own interests, but to really make something for kids that is authentic and relevant and recognizable to them as a truth about the world. It’s a really hard thing that we have to do, and it’s worth doing. But oh man, is it so hard.