Student mental health is still suffering–how should we address it?

Key points:

Between March 2020 and March 2021, K-12 schools in the U.S. saw an unprecedented influx in federal government aid, totaling nearly $190 billion. This funding aimed to help students recover both academically and emotionally from the pandemic. School districts across the country utilized these grants to hire counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other care providers. In theory, this should have been transformative; however, the available workforce wasn’t large enough to meet the demand, and traditionally underserved and rural districts faced the brunt of this shortage.

Subsequent follow-up funding has been deployed by the federal government in a necessary step to increase the workforce of care providers. As these funding opportunities come to a close, many districts are still left struggling to adequately address their students’ mental health needs.…Read More

Years after pandemic closures, we’re seeing their effects inside our schools

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Since school buildings reopened after COVID closures, I’ve heard teachers say, again and again, that the older elementary children in their classrooms are just not the same.

I lead a small network of schools, and many of our current fourth graders remain dependent on adults’ opinions and find it hard to move from one problem to the next without reassurance. Our fifth graders can solve a basic math problem but often struggle to explain how to answer a word problem. Across fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, we’re seeing students have trouble with sharing, taking turns, and working with others — symptoms of the developmental milestones many children missed in recent years.…Read More

How to direct a districtwide tech transformation on a budget

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Irvington Public Schools is an urban district with the hometown feeling of a place where everyone knows each other. Our student body is predominantly Black, but we are quite diverse and have many cultures represented among our students. Approximately 20 percent of our scholars speak English as a second language.

I have been with the district for 20 years, though I didn’t become the superintendent until April 2020. When I came into the office, I had a tech-focused vision for the future of our district, but the pandemic was beginning to force us to move in that direction anyway, albeit without the careful consideration and planning we would have preferred. I gave our technology department marching orders to get every student and every teacher on a Chromebook and trained in the Google Suite within two weeks. It was immensely stressful for them, but they got it done and we haven’t looked back.…Read More

Phenix City Schools’ Beta Club Members Excel at State Convention, Advancing to Nationals

Phenix City, Ala.— Phenix City Schools have marked a significant achievement at the Alabama State JR/SR Beta Convention, with students securing 51 top placements, a testament to the district’s quality of education and student dedication. The Beta Club, emphasizing leadership and service, saw over 100 members from Phenix City compete and succeed in one of the nation’s largest junior conventions and a highly competitive senior convention.

This accomplishment comes when educational excellence and community service are more important than ever. “Our students have worked tirelessly, and their success at the state convention clearly indicates their hard work, talent, and the strong support system provided by our schools,” Dr. Weber remarked.

The achievement of Phenix City Schools at the Beta Convention is not just a win for the district but a shining example of educational excellence in Alabama. As these students prepare for the national convention, they carry with them the pride and support of the entire state.…Read More

Launching a districtwide computer science program for all grades

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With 24,000 students, Springfield Public Schools is usually among the three largest school districts in Massachusetts. Our students are spread across 31 elementary schools and a total of 70 schools. It’s no exaggeration to say that computational thinking plays a part in all of them. Fortunately, the district earned a grant that allowed us to offer computer science at every grade level, starting as early as pre-K. Because many of our teachers had no background in computer science, though, this large-scale implementation was no easy task.

Meeting standards and managing devices…Read More

More than a passion project, literacy advocacy takes a village

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The most effective advocacy programs often begin with a personal passion to make a difference.

When former National School Library Program of the Year librarian Marge Cox retired, she began volunteering at Youth Haven, a shelter designed to help abused and neglected children and teens in Southwest Florida. “I got involved with Youth Haven after a former Collier County Public Schools employee contacted me and said Youth Haven needed my skill set,” Cox told me. “They had boxes of books that had been donated to them and wanted to create a library. I had retired at the end of the 2020 school year and had been praying for God to show me my next adventure.”…Read More