Distracted students and stressed teachers: What an American school day looks like post-COVID

by Alia Wong | Jun 12, 2023 | uncategorized

After a day full of math and reading lessons, third grader Ashley Soto struggles to concentrate during a writing exercise. She’s supposed to be crafting an essay on whether schools should serve chocolate milk, but instead she wanders around the classroom. “My brain is...

Educational model wanted students ‘to be nice.’ That’s controversial in Florida now under DeSantis.

by Alia Wong | Mar 27, 2023 | uncategorized

Earlier this year, the School District of Palm Beach County in Florida quietly stopped using the phrase “social-emotional learning,” or SEL. The educational model – which teaches skills such as self-awareness, empathy and resilience – has over the past couple of...

Virginia’s governor set up a tip line to crack down on CRT. Parents used it for other reasons

by Alia Wong | Nov 3, 2022 | uncategorized

Complaints about special education violations. Praise for teachers. Concerns about academic rigor and options.  These are some of the main themes in a sampling of the emails sent to a so-called tip line set up by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this year for...

Pandemic babies are behind after years of stress, isolation affected brain development

by Alia Wong | Jun 9, 2022 | uncategorized

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Wearing a tutu and a messy ponytail, CJ RainingBird, 4, sprawls out on her carpeted living room floor, scribbling on a notebook. She looks up eagerly after completing each pen stroke, her eyes widening and her mouth stretching into a grin when she...

Congress let COVID-era relief expire. Millions of kids already have fallen into poverty.

by Alia Wong | Mar 23, 2022 | uncategorized

Amy Funes has been researching homeless shelters in case she and her 2½-year-old son, Leo, are evicted from their apartment in Queens, New York. The notice is bound to come any day now, Funes says. Her housing subsidies cover just a fraction of her $850-a-month...