Back to Class: How schools can rebound
The pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to education. The Monitor collaborated with The Hechinger Report, Solutions Journalism Network, and the Education Labs at AL.com, The Dallas Morning News, The Fresno Bee, and The Seattle Times to explore how schools and districts have embraced best practices as students head back to school.
‘We’ve learned a lot of lessons’: How schools plan to navigate a new yearWhile debate about masks and mandates swirl around them, educators focus on lessons learned in the past year to bring students back to school.
Digital divide: Gap is narrowing, but how will schools maintain progress?With more technology and hot spots in student hands, schools face new questions about uneven access and the best way to incorporate devices in class.
Community on campus: As college students return, a focus on well-beingAs colleges prepare for a new academic year, they’re finding that the pandemic has given them a new focus: rebuilding campus community.
Cover StoryStruggle and resilience: Lessons from the class of 2021As a new school year starts, what can be learned from the class of 2021? It was a chaotic academic year – but also one full of resilience.
The Dallas Morning NewsInternational newcomer academies in Texas offer lessons on how to quickly catch up children who are learning EnglishAs schools try to address widespread learning loss caused by COVID-19 disruptions, particularly for students learning English, those who work at newcomer academies offer lessons in how to quickly identify needs and fill learning gaps so that children can get back on track. (Photo credit: The Dallas Morning News)
The Hechinger ReportZeroing in on a handful of strategies to catch kids up in mathNationwide, school administrators are crafting plans for the 2021-22 school year to help children catch up in math. The Howard County school system, in the suburbs southwest of Baltimore, is embracing many of the practices that experts say kids need for math support. Those include flexible instruction, setting aside more time for math help, extending the school day when needed, and boosting student confidence, rather than labeling students as lagging. (Photo credit: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)
The Hechinger ReportWhen kids pick their ‘trusted adult,’ it pays offA district in Colorado made it every employee’s job, from math teachers to custodians, to support student mental health in the pandemic. (Photo credit: Sara Hertwig for The Hechinger Report)
AL.comAlabama community college overhaul improves the odds for unprepared studentsA redesign of the community college system in Alabama, put in place prior to 2020 and aimed at helping entering students more quickly get up to speed on missing subject skills, is expected to help both returning and first-time students navigate another fall semester during the pandemic. (Photo credit: Ed Enoch/AL.com)
The Fresno Bee and The Hechinger Report The science of catching up: How Fresno schools are helping students make up lost timeSchools are already spending big chunks of their approximately $190 billion in pandemic relief money on a range of strategies from after-school programs to cutting class size. Fresno Unified Instructional Superintendent Ed Gomes said the district is looking into many ways to help kids with what he calls “unfinished learning.” (Photo credit: John Walker/The Fresno Bee)
