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Back to School Reading List
Getting ready for back to school season? As schools reopen for the academic year, we hope these stories, resources, and essays help students, teachers, and parents have a smoother transition.
Federal investigation targets Chicago schools’ long-awaited Black Student Success Plan. State law mandated the Chicago Board of Education create a plan to “bring parity between Black children and their peers.”
Harlem was home. Then a trip to Korea helped me understand the two cultures that shaped me.
Kristin Cahill, a principal in New York City, reflects on a new role for schools in a changing society.
Why do teachers seem to have eyes in the back of their heads? They’ve mastered the art of noticing.
School libraries have been an unfunded mandate in New York. Let’s change that, says student Salma Baksh.
Federal investigation targets Chicago schools’ long-awaited Black Student Success Plan. State law mandated the Chicago Board of Education create a plan to “bring parity between Black children and their peers.”
Colorado ranks third in the nation, after Washington, D.C. and Vermont, for the share of 4-year-olds served in its state-funded preschool program.
Backers of a proposed religious charter school argue that charter schools are more private than public. The Supreme Court case could upend the charter sector, with implications for funding, autonomy and more.
The Illinois legislative session is scheduled to end on May 31. Lawmakers are considering several education bills and negotiating the fiscal year 2024 budget. Here is what Chalkbeat is following.
Advocates warn that transferring federal special education oversight to another department could weaken enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other disability rights laws, while jeopardizing funding, research, and implementation.
Some districts invested pandemic relief money in instructional coaches and increased time spent on math. Test scores suggest that strategy’s paying off.
For decades, these clinics have provided a wide range of health care to students, offering vaccines, teeth cleaning, or help for mental health struggles, all at no cost.
The Education Department threatened the federal funding of states that wouldn’t comply with the administration’s anti-DEI interpretation of civil rights law. With that demand paused, states are suing to end it entirely.
A presentation used to brief school board members and obtained by Chalkbeat outlined potential cuts, many of which include staff and programs supported by federal COVID relief money. District officials and school board members look to lobby City Hall and Illinois lawmakers for funding.
Republicans have proposed school safety reforms and more public school access for home-schooling students. Democratic proposals include restrictions on school building closures.
New and existing charter schools will go before authorizers to ask for new campuses in the city, mergers, and more. Some schools won’t open until the fall, but public meetings are getting underway.
The Trump administration has sought to exert greater federal control over higher education. Researchers visiting Denver rallied at the Capitol against the president’s actions.
Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti is urging the district community to reach out to lawmakers to express their concerns about potential education funding cuts.
Charter schools scored key funding wins in a legislative session that advocates say was monumental for charters. But traditional public schools are projected to lose millions.
The Education Department is using an emergency contract to buy 15 X-ray machines, circumventing the regular purchasing process.
Multiple parents reported problems with the election site Friday morning, including parents appearing on ballots for seats for which they are not running.