Essential education reporting across America

COVID and Schools

Parents and students in bright blue and red costumes line up in front of a school mural outside of a brick building.
From Chalkbeat New York Meeting the Moment
Parent coordinators propped up school communities during the pandemic. Many feel undervalued and underpaid.
The role of parent coordinator became more critical and stressful during the pandemic. But salaries for the job, which New York City schools created 20 years ago, have not kept pace.
By Amy Zimmer
 
An elementary-age student writes on a white board in a school classroom.
From Chalkbeat Detroit COVID Stimulus
Detroit school district is pressed for answers on how impending budget cuts will affect staffing
By Ethan Bakuli
 
Students sit at white desks taking exams with paper and pencil
From Chalkbeat New York Assessment and testing
Your guide to state testing season for NYC students in grades 3-8
By Reema Amin
 
Children sitting at tables give a thumps up to a teacher in the background
From Chalkbeat New York Community & Wraparound Programs
NYC’s Summer Rising program will prioritize students in city-run after-school programs
In one significant change, students who are already attending one of the city’s hundreds of DYCD-run after-school programs will also receive priority for Summer Rising.
By Reema Amin
 
An educator works with a young student at a table as he writes in his notebook. Other students walk around the classroom behind them.
Meeting the Moment Meeting the Moment
Tutoring isn’t reaching most students. Here’s how to vastly expand it.
Train paraprofessionals and parents, carve out class time, and be wary of virtual programs.
By Patrick Wall
 
Students sit at a table with laptops.
From Chalkbeat New York Teaching & Classroom
More devices in classrooms leads more NYC teachers to use tech with instruction
The seismic shift that made devices more accessible to students than ever before has now pushed some teachers to fold technology more often into their lesson plans.
By Reema Amin
 
A student at her locker in a hallway at North-Grand High School in Chicago. Photo by Stacey Rupolo / Chalkbeat —May, 2019 photo—
COVID and Schools COVID and Schools
Dropout rates have ticked up in some states. How big is the problem?
“There just becomes this hopelessness,” one clinician said. “They’re not incentivized to keep going to school, because it’s just too hard, and in fact they may never catch up.”
By Julian Shen-Berro
 
Students walk apart in a high school hallway.
Meeting the Moment Meeting the Moment
More anxiety, less engagement: Educators say pandemic impact on student behavior remains concerning
“The temperature has come down a little bit. But even if the outbursts aren’t quite as big as they were last year, they’re still there.”
By Julian Shen-Berro
 
Detroit_20220525_GSRP_ErinKirkland_001.JPG
From Chalkbeat Detroit COVID Stimulus
School dean and assistant principal positions may be cut as Detroit’s COVID relief aid dries up
Summer school to be scaled back, too, as the district prioritizes nurses, social workers and academic interventionists.
By Ethan Bakuli
 
A female middle school teacher writes testing dates on a green SMART board.
Teaching & Classroom Teaching & Classroom
‘I just found myself struggling to keep up’: Teacher turnover hits new highs across U.S.
More teachers than usual left the classroom after last school year, confirming fears of a pandemic-fueled wave of departures.
By Matt Barnum
 
A sign for a CUNY campus with NYC silver subway trains running above ground over it.
From Chalkbeat New York College and career readiness
To boost enrollment, CUNY temporarily waives application fee for NYC high school seniors
The move could boost enrollment at CUNY’s undergraduate schools and programs as college enrollment remains below pre-pandemic levels.
By Reema Amin
 
A teacher points to a piece of pink construction paper that has a stick figure drawing and the word “uncomfortable” on it. The teacher is sitting on the rug. Only her feet and hands are visible.
From Chalkbeat New York Meeting the Moment
Telehealth, suicide prevention, social media guardrails: NYC shares sweeping youth mental health plan
The needs are high as data shows worsening mental health among young people, including more students reporting thoughts of suicide.
By Reema Amin and Amy Zimmer
 
Students walk down the side walk with a tree and cars on the right side.
From Chalkbeat New York Mental Health in Schools
NY’s budget has $100M for academic and mental health programs. Schools still don’t have the money.
With the majority of the school year now over, school districts haven’t been able to apply for the grant money due to a lengthy bureaucratic process.
By Reema Amin
 
Ian Randolph, board treasurer for Circles of Success charter school, said he believes its unfair for third-graders traumatized by the pandemic to be traumatized by the stress of being retained.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Assessment and testing
Third-grade retention law will intensify Memphis students’ pandemic woes, local critics say
More than three-quarters of third-graders could be held back, they warn.
By Tonyaa Weathersbee
 
A woman in a black, green, and blue dress smiles while standing in front of shelves with children’s games on them.
From Chalkbeat Indiana Budget & finance
Warren Township district seeks tax increase to cover initiatives once federal COVID aid expires
The ballot question set for May would produce an estimated $11 million annually.
By Amelia Pak-Harvey
 
About a dozen people walk between the rows of desks in the Colorado House chambers in Denver, Colorado.
Politics & Policy Politics & Policy
Governors call for higher teacher salaries amid continued hiring struggles in schools
“This is about the overall well being of your state economy and your overall society,” one expert said. “If you can’t recruit and retain teachers, that is a serious, serious problem.”
By Julian Shen-Berro
 
a student raises his hand intently sitting in front of a desk full of papers
From Chalkbeat Detroit The $6 billion question
Federal COVID relief aid to schools will dry up soon. Are districts ready?
Pressure is on to sort out budgets and avoid a ‘fiscal cliff’
By Koby Levin and Ethan Bakuli
 
A young student wearing headphones and working on a laptop. The foreground is a close up of the child’s head with the laptop in the background.
From Chalkbeat New York Remote learning
NYC bought hundreds of thousands of devices for remote learning. Now they’re trying to track those devices — and all other school technology.
Although schools keep a record of devices, city watchdogs have criticized the education department for having no centralized system.
By Reema Amin
 
Nathaniel Joseph (on the left) sits with a student to work on an assignment. They are both sitting at a desk in a classroom.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Teaching & Classroom
Five Illinois teachers share what it was like to start their careers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Chalkbeat Chicago spoke with early-career educators who started their careers during the pandemic to highlight their experiences.
By Samantha Smylie
 
Twins and high school seniors Dermot and Aidan McMillan do classwork from their home.
From Chalkbeat Newark Outside the classroom
NJ home schooling grew amid pandemic
The number of home-schooled students in the state quadrupled in the 2020-21 academic year.
By Astrea Slezak, NJ Spotlight News
 
A woman with a red coat has her arm around a girl outside a schoolyard.
School Enrollment School Enrollment
COVID exodus: Where did 1 million public school students go? New data sheds some light.
Many students moved or started homeschooling during the pandemic, but others might not have gone to school.
By Patrick Wall
 
Students and parents line up on the first day of classes.
From Chalkbeat New York School Enrollment
NYC schools want to boost enrollment. It might prove a major challenge.
Students could have fallen off school rosters for being homeschooled without registering with the state or skipping kindergarten. Others might have disengaged during remote learning or amid mental health struggles.
By Amy Zimmer
 
A masked woman receives a shot from a doctor.
From Chalkbeat New York COVID and Schools
Mayor Eric Adams drops COVID vaccine requirement for NYC employees and public school visitors
Monday’s announcement represents the Adams administration’s gradual unpeeling of COVID-related rules established under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
By Reema Amin
 
The exterior of a large white building with columns and steps.
From Chalkbeat New York Special education
Lawsuit on behalf of NYC students with disabilities who lost services during the pandemic goes ahead
The case will head back to federal court after an appeals court ruled the case had been incorrectly dismissed.
By Alex Zimmerman
 
A student with long blonde hair and black shoes sits at a desk in the foreground of a classroom with white boards, while three other students wearing masks sit at desks in the background.
Higher Education Higher Education
Community colleges see encouraging signs despite deep enrollment hole in new data
Even before the pandemic, community colleges were seeing declines in enrollments for older adults and recent high school graduates, despite growth in dually enrolled high school students.
By Julian Shen-Berro
 
Two men wearing business suits speak with each other in a committee room.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Politics & Policy
Concern over Tennessee’s third grade reading and retention law prompts flurry of bills
Summer camps and tutoring are popular, but holding students back because of a test score is not
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
A student in a backpack walks up concrete steps toward green double doors at a school.
From Chalkbeat New York School segregation / integration
Brooklyn principal leaves middle school after teacher complaints mount
M.S. 51 principal Neal Singh will leave to work for District 15’s superintendent. Pui-Lam (Jack) Chan, from New Utrecht High School, will take over on Feb. 1 as interim principal.
By Amy Zimmer
 
A person wearing an orange backpack walks past a brick school with a few other people in the background.
From Chalkbeat New York Student & School Performance
Tensions high at a sought-after Brooklyn middle school as teachers lose confidence in their principal
After a vote of no confidence in M.S. 51 principal Neal Singh, more than 40 teachers signed a grievance alleging a pattern of harassment of union members, the largest such grievance in union history, officials said.
By Tracy Tullis
 
A crowd of students gathers outside a gray concrete high school building.
From Chalkbeat New York COVID and Schools
After COVID paused Regents exams, graduation rates for NYC’s English language learners surged
Data obtained by Chalkbeat suggests that the temporary policy change — first canceling the English Regents and then not requiring a passing score to graduate — made it easier for English language learners to earn their diplomas.
By Reema Amin
 
A white and ornate building seen from an angle
From Chalkbeat New York COVID and Schools
NYC is using one-time COVID money for a lot of education programs. What happens when it dries up?
NYC has used hundreds of millions worth of federal relief funding for programs with recurring costs, including pre-K and hiring more nurses and social workers.
By Alex Zimmerman
 
A man in a red polo shirt and black sweatpants stands in a school gym.
From Chalkbeat New York How I Teach
This award-winning Queens PE teacher has a big YouTube following for his kid-friendly fitness videos
Queens teacher Thomas Gelardi’s YouTube channel took off during the COVID pandemic. He’s garnered more than 4 million views on his videos that help kids stay active in small spaces.
By Amy Zimmer
 
Carmen Ayala wears red and blue slash while carrying yellow flowers in one hand and shaking a students hand with the other. There are students and teachers in the hallways to welcome her and she’s at a school in Elgin’s U-46.
From Chalkbeat Chicago COVID and Schools
‘It’s time to rest’: The state’s top education official looks back at her time in office during the pandemic
On eve of retirement, Superintendent Carmen Ayala talks to Chalkbeat Chicago about her work on equity and teacher recruitment, and what’s still unfinished.
By Samantha Smylie
 
A masked woman receives a shot from a doctor.
From Chalkbeat New York COVID safety
NYC schools still require visitors to be vaccinated. Could that soon change?
David Banks vowed to ‘raise the issue’ with the health department.
By Alex Zimmerman
 
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