By Daniel Mollenkamp, Photo: SK_Artist/Shutterstock, EdSurge, December 14, 2023 For homeless students, chronic absenteeism is dismayingly high. The number of students who regularly miss school has risen since the pandemic, but for homeless students, it’s been especially bad . Even though federal law requires states to provide public education to homeless students, delivering on this has proven troublesome. And getting homeless students to show up to school has been an elusive goal for many...

Recently arrived migrants congregate outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan on September 28, 2023 in New York City. Schools are preparing for disruption as a new shelter stay limit approaches for migrant families. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) By Michael Elsen-Rooney, Chalkbeat, November 29, 2023 New York City schools have started preparing for a massive reshuffling of students as early as next month, as thousands of migrant families face a...

By Jeremy Loudenback, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, November 21, 2023 Students who attend school inside juvenile detention centers have long struggled to get a proper education and graduate on time. But there’s a lesser-known challenge as well: Incarcerated students who don’t show up for class. Roughly 17% of youth serving time in county facilities were marked as “chronically absent” in the latest available school data, according to a recently released report by the San...

By Brendan Chen, Photo: Prasit/Getty Images, Housing Matters, November 29, 2023 In spring 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the country experienced a drastic shift in their schooling as classes were first paused, then cancelled, and eventually moved to online or remote formats. In the following school year, students experienced a range of instruction methods . Some students stayed fully remote, some returned to in-person classes, and others experienced hybrid learning,...

Jeramie Naya Vives Osorio’s mother gazes into a mirror above her altar. Her daughter died in March, just eight weeks shy of her 17th birthday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) By Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 2023 For her 17th birthday, Jeramie Naya Vives Osorio’s family showered her with gifts: a dozen pink roses, a stack of Beard Papa‘s cream puffs, a Strawberry Sweet cake from the Korean bakery Tous les Jours and a small silver necklace from Tiffany. Michelle Vives knew...

By Warren Lowell and Maria Hanratty, Photo: SeventyFour/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, November 8, 2023 Federal agencies and programs don’t use a universal definition for identifying people experiencing homelessness; in particular, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Education (ED) define homelessness differently. The biggest difference between HUD’s and ED’s definition of homelessness is that ED also defines people as experiencing homelessness if...

Tina Chen, who is taking computer science courses taught in Mandarin at East Los Angeles College, speaks at a recent press conference for Assembly Bill 1096. Courtesy of Ludwig Rodriguez By Michael Burke, EdSource, November 13, 2023 Hoping to entice more non-English speakers to enroll in community college, California is making it easier for those students to take courses in their native language. Currently, students in California can take community college classes taught in languages other...

Backpacks are placed outside a classroom at Louise Van Meter Elementary School on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Gatos, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) By Elissa Miolene, The Mercury News, October 30, 2023 Across California, two groups of children living among the most difficult environments — foster youth and those experiencing homelessness — are also the most likely to be sent home through punitive, out-of-school suspensions, new research shows. That’s according to the UCLA Civil...

School shootings have had a devastating impact on communities worldwide. The psychological toll on students, teachers, and families is immense, leading to fear, trauma, and grief. These tragic events erode the sense of safety and security in educational institutions, hindering learning and academic performance. They also fuel debates on gun control, mental health, and the role of media. Preventing school shootings requires comprehensive strategies, including early intervention, improved...

Join the Conversation! Are you looking to connect to others in the PACEs movement? PACEs Connection’s Growing Resilient Communities invites you to connect, collaborate, and learn about the remarkable work happening across the globe by joining the conversation in our private social media group, “Worldwide PACEs Movement Champions,” on Facebook! Do you want to share an event, success, or story? You may continue to utilize the PACEs Connection website; however, our group will provide a space to...

Springfield High School Mariachi Del Sol performed at the Siuslaw High School football game on Sept. 23, 2022. Will Yurman via Mariachi del Sol, Springfield High School By Jilian Fama, Danielle Librizzo, Kandis Mascall, and Laura Machuca Pacheco, ABC News, October 6, 2023 Mariachi has always been an instrumental part of Hispanic culture, and now a new generation is discovering the joys of the music at school, thanks to the growth of specialized mariachi music programs. At KIPP Sol Academy in...

Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, holds a picture of his son during an event on the National Mall calling for action on preventing gun violence in September 2023 in Washington, D.C. (WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES) By Jennifer Gerson, The 19th*, September 27, 2023 Mark Barden describes his then-7-year-old son Daniel as having had a “profound sense of compassion. He literally looked out for everybody. He wanted to make sure everyone was okay.” When the...

Students walk the hallway at Lake View High School in Chicago.Colin Boyle / Block Club Chicago By Becky Vevea, Chalkbeat Chicago, September 28, 2023 Youth organizer Maria Paula Degillo used to protest in downtown Chicago against the high rates of suspensions and expulsions for students of color. Now, she collaborates with Chicago Public Schools to create safe school environments without harsh discipline and over policing. Today, Degillo, with the group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education,...

By Doug Roberts, Ann Levett, and Shanna Downs, Illustration: iStock + E+/Getty Images +Education Week, Education Week, June 1, 2023 When students walk into their classrooms each morning, their parents and educators should feel joy that their children are learning, building new skills, and making friends. Instead, they feel fearful and anxious because of ongoing school violence. To keep everyone safe at school, districts across the country are continually evolving and expanding security...

By Adam Beam, Image: Screenshot from article, Associated Press, September 26, 2023 California will ban people from carrying firearms in most public places while doubling the taxes on guns and ammunition sold in the state under two new laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday that will test the limits of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new standard for interpreting the Second Amendment. The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of...

From SchoolSafety.gov, Image: SchoolSafety.gov, SchoolSafety.gov, September 29, 2023 While there isn't a universal safety plan, schools can take common actions to address the foundational elements of school safety. SchoolSafety.gov provides a Safety Readiness Tool for you to evaluate how your district or school is addressing these foundational elements. When you are done with the assessment, you will get a personalized action plan that has resources and next steps for each of these areas. [...

A new analysis shows that California’s schools are twice as likely to suspend students who are homeless — potentially derailing their academic prospects.Elaine Cromie / Chalkbeat By Amy DiPierro, Chalkbeat, September 27, 2023 Federal education law explicitly seeks to help homeless children and youth stay in school, in the hopes academic opportunity will allow them to break the cycle of housing instability. Taking them out of class could worsen their chances of success. But an analysis of...

Students spend time at the turtle pond on the campus of San Diego State University. CREDIT: NOAH LYONS/EDSOURCE By Noah Lyons, EdSource, September 21, 2023 According to a 2018 study published by Frontiers of Public Health , spending time outdoors can aid people in a variety of categories: “attention and cognition, memory, stress and anxiety, sleep, emotional stability and self-perceived welfare or quality of life.” Monicka Fosnocht, an associate therapist at San Diego State University with a...

Parents and students flock to PS 151 in Manhattan on the first day of school on Sept. 7.Photographer: Barry Williams/Getty Images By Shruti Sigh and Nic Querolo, Bloomberg CityLab, September 20, 2023 US public schools are girding for a major financial blow in the next academic year, when the record $190 billion in federal aid they received during the pandemic will expire and leave them with sparser resources to halt a massive exodus of teachers and reverse learning loss. Districts across the...

By Evie Blad, Image: iStock/Getty Images Plus, Education Week, September 8, 2023 As schools deal with surges in chronic absenteeism , many educators say an increase in anxiety and mental health concerns have contributed to the problem—and those factors can be difficult to address. Psychologists use the term “school avoidance,” also known as school refusal, to describe a fear or anxiety that makes it emotionally difficult for students to attend school or to remain there for a complete day of...

Wendy Samford, PhD, is a consultant for the Florida Handle With Care (HWC) program, and will be sharing her passion and understanding of this program with the PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities today at 10 a.m. PT/ 1 ET. HWC is simple. If the police are called to a home, and there are children present, they send a notice that says Handle With Care to the school so that the school personnel are aware that something traumatic happened to that child and to treat them accordingly. Being...

UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore Ashley Tatem writes "Heal Together" on a walking path outside the campus student center in Chapel Hill, N.C., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, the day after a graduate student fatally shot his faculty adviser. Read more Hannah Schoenbaum / AP By Laura Sinko and Krista Schroeder, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 8, 2023 On Aug. 28, a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina shot and killed a faculty member . The campus was on lockdown for over three hours while...

Karen Lauritzen stands for a portrait on the Millikin University Campus in Decatur, Ill., on August 30, 2023. Laurizen, Idaho’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, moved to Illinois for a new job due to harassment over her support of the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter. Neeta R. Satam for Education Week By Madeline Will, EducationWeek, August 31, 2023 When Karen Lauritzen was named Idaho’s 2023 teacher of the year, she considered it a celebration of her two-decade career in the classroom. But...

“Gun violence prevention isn’t in my job title, but so much of my work involves me helping young people cope with and curb community violence,” writes LaToya Winton of Communities In Schools of Chicago. Above, attendees of a 2018 rally to bring attention to gun violence in Chicago. John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images By La Toya Winton, Chalkbeat Chicago, August 18, 2023 Half of Chicagoans will witness a shooting before they turn 40. And the average age of a...

By Maryam Abdullah, Photo: from article, Greater Good Magazine, August 14, 2023 “I teach sixth grade in an elementary school in Palm Coast, F.L. I want my students to step outside their boxes and meet people that may appear different than they are, but actually share the same hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, etc. I also want them to be comfortable initiating and taking part in difficult conversations.” “Over the last few weeks, the kiddos have had such an amazing time opening their eyes to...

By Michael Fitzgerald, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, August 10, 2023 Six years ago, when Zoë Jones-Walton was about to turn 18, she sat in a windowless Dallas-area conference room with dozens of other foster youth. A series of lectures on how to navigate adulthood covered the gamut: How to write a check, how to land a job, how to get an apartment — and how to avoid unwanted pregnancies. That exercise involved placing a condom on a banana to learn about safe sex. “They put...

Our speaker for the August PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities meeting will share ways of building community connections we may not have thought of before – starting with trust in the earliest and most important relationships – as well as some challenging news, exciting resources, and timely inspiration. Cooperative of Communities members and members of their communities are invited to join us tomorrow, August 8, 2023, at 10 a.m. PT, Noon CT, and 1 p.m. ET when we welcome Deborah...

The U.S. Department of Education building stands in Washington, D.C., Aug. 18, 2020. Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE By Kiara Alfonseca, Aaron Katersky, and Robert Zepeda, ABC News, July 26, 2023 A teachers association in Tennessee has filed a federal lawsuit against the state education department's restrictions on curriculum regarding race and gender in public schools. The Tennessee Education Association and five Tennessee public school educators behind the lawsuit believe the...

Hearts of gratitude! Cooperative of Communities members shared hearts on the July member call to show gratitude to guest speaker Elaine Miller-Karas, whose non-profit, the Trauma Resource Institute, is a member of the Coop, and a young man identified as "Z", who uses the co-regulation model Miller-Karas co-created to help people in traumatic situations -- and with every-day stresses -- be able to work with the central nervous system and body to re-regulate. Tools taught in Community...

Tim Taylor, executive director of the Small School Districts Association. Credit: Jay-ar Ignacio By Cara Nixon, EdSource, July 31, 2023 The Covid-19 pandemic, wildfires, floods — California’s schools have faced it all over the past few years, with rural communities, due to their remote locations, higher rates of poverty and limited access to resources, often facing the brunt of it. Tim Taylor’s role as the executive director of the Small School Districts’ Association has been largely defined...

A student walks near Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA on April 23, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Under a new law, foster children in California will have their tuition covered if they attend a state or community college. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images By Christopher Galvin, The Messenger News, July 12, 2023 Children and teens in foster care across California will be able to attend state and community colleges free of charge under legislation signed into law this week. Through the new...

By Cara Nixon, Photo: Julie Leopo/EdSource, EdSource, July 19, 2023 Every time former Superintendent Robin Jones walked into Kit Carson Elementary School, she remembered getting off the bus and walking down the hallway as a child. Jones, who attended Kit Carson K-8, said coming back as an administrator “just happened.” She recalls becoming superintendent there partially because she didn’t want anyone else to have the job. “I just felt like, well, no one’s going to treat it the way I would...

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled a new enrollment center for migrant families to get children enrolled before the first day of school. Mila Koumpilova / Chalkbeat By Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago, July 17, 2023 Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public...

Chicago high school students (Getty Images) By Jo Napolitano, The74, July 18, 2023 A recent study out of the University of Chicago showed high schools that prioritized social- emotional development had double the positive long-term impact on students as compared to those that focused solely on improving test scores. As part of their work, researchers determined school’s effectiveness based upon its impact on students’ social-emotional development, test scores and behaviors. They concluded...

By Tina Chelidze, Photo: Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, July 11, 2023 Housing policy and education policy can reinforce each other’s outcomes. Housing policy shapes the neighborhoods where schools are and those schools' student demographics . Education policy affects the quality of schools and the resources available to students, which then can affect housing prices and zoning patterns . Nevertheless, these policy areas suffer from misalignment across funding, governance, and...

Students in NYC’s Summer Rising program at a school in the West Bronx. Many schools have attempted to use summer programs to make up for learning loss, but new data suggests that students are still behind. Christina Veiga/Chalkbeat By Matt Barnum, Chalkbeat, July 10, 2023 There’s been little, if any, progress making up large learning gaps that have emerged since the onset of the pandemic, according to a new analysis of data from the testing group NWEA. In the 2022-23 school year, students...

The Denver City Council is expected to pass a bill this summer which would use federal relief money in Denver Public Schools to boost violence prevention among youth. Douglas Sacha / Getty Images By Sara Martin, Chalkbeat Colorado, July 6, 2023 To address youth violence, eight Denver schools would get an additional staffer focused on student behavior next school year, under a proposed city council ordinance. The proposed pilot program also would add a mobile team going from school to school,...

A legal-affairs journalist explains the implications. Montage illustration by Niko Yaitanes/Harvard Magazine; photographs of sky and gavel by Unsplash By Lincoln Caplan, Harvard Magazine, June 30, 2023 FOR ALMOST HALF A CENTURY , race-conscious admissions have been of central importance to Harvard and other selective colleges and universities. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., LL.M. ’32, in his controlling opinion in the landmark case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978),...

Demonstrators outside the Supreme Court on Friday. The court ruled against the Biden administration’s plan for student loan forgiveness, saying officials went outside the bounds of their authority in creating it. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post) By Robert Barnes and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, June 30, 2023 President Biden does not have authority to implement his roughly $400 billion program to forgive student loan debt, the Supreme Court ruled Friday, issuing another...

By Greg Toppo, Image: Meghan Gallagher/The74, The74, July 6, 2023 On a tiny triangular lot in the city’s Belmont neighborhood, kids waiting with their parents for the No. 40 bus can also work on their executive functioning skills, playing a hopscotch variation designed to train their brains. In Chicago, a wooden game mounted on the wall of a laundromat teaches children, in two languages, how to find color patterns in a lineup of detergent bottle tops. And in Santa Ana, Calif., a basketball...

Across the US, Black and Latino youth are more likely than their white peers to have a gun homicide happen near their home each year, according to a recent UC Davis study. Photograph: Felix Uribe Jr/The Guardian By Abené Clayton and Andrew Witherspoon, The Guardian, June 26, 2023 It was just before 11am on a Friday and the hallways of Stege elementary school in Richmond, California , were quiet save for the muffled sound of children’s voices coming through the classroom doors. Behind the...

Students at Brooklyn’s P.S. 958 gear up for a test run of their mock restaurant. The school’s mission is to serve any child in the surrounding community, including those with complex disabilities. Alex Zimmerman / Chalkbeat By Alex Zimmerman, Chalkbeat - New York, June 20, 2023 Outfitted with paper chef hats, a group of students at Brooklyn’s P.S. 958 were getting ready on a recent afternoon to launch a mock restaurant, wiggling on the classroom carpet in anticipation of their first wave of...

Alameda County Library staff covers over any writing that students make on the books they check out of the juvenile hall library. CREDIT: BETTY MÁRQUEZ ROSALES/EDSOURCE By Betty Márquez Rosales and Daniel J. Willis, EdSource, June 6, 2023 Many teenagers who’ve spent time in California’s juvenile detention facilities get high school diplomas with grade-school reading skills. During a five-year span beginning in 2018, 85% of these students who graduated from high school and took a 12th-grade...

Elizabethton City Schools in Tennessee provided English tutoring this year for 404 elementary and middle school students with the increased funding. Credit... Travis Dove for The New York Times By Madeleine Ngo, The New York Times, June 5, 2023 When the pandemic shut down schools across the country, the federal government responded with billions of dollars to help districts support remote learning, serve free meals to students and safely reopen schools. In 2021, the Biden administration gave...

By Kevin Leonard, Photo: Screenshot from article, Times Higher Education, June 1, 2023 Many US colleges and universities boast robust policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, but members of the LGBTQ community remain under-represented among academic leaders. The small number of LGBTQ leaders on campuses leave LGBTQ faculty, staff and students feeling excluded and marginalised. Higher education needs to implement programmes to eliminate...

Four-year old Scout and 12-year old Jeter are cockapoos who serve the Selma Unified School District as therapy dogs. CREDIT: Kristy Rangel By Lasherica Thornton, EdSource, May 30, 2023 If students at Selma High School in Fresno County ever had to vote on their favorite things on campus, Jeter and Scout – two cockapoos – serving as Selma Unified’s therapy dogs, would be the top picks. Since 2016, 12-year-old Jeter and 4-year-old Scout (since 2021) have played a lead role in the district’s...

By Jennifer Jellison Holme, Erica Frankenberg, Joanna Sanchez, et al., Photo: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, May 10, 2023 Every year, the federal government distributes billions of dollars to subsidize housing for families with low incomes. These subsidies are distributed through several programs, including housing vouchers, public housing, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) for affordable housing developments. Though these subsidies have no direct connection to any...

From National Public Radio (NPR), Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images, National Public Radio (NPR), March 1, 2023 In the wake of the pandemic, many people are struggling with their mental health regardless of their age. But recently published data from the CDC is shedding light on how teens are faring. The numbers show that 4 in 10 U.S. high schoolers experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021. Nearly a quarter seriously considered attempting suicide. [ Please...