AdLit News Headlines

When Illinois high schoolers go back to school this month, they’ll have new coursework that lawmakers and Stanford researchers hope will prepare students to better detect misinformation and search for ulterior motives before trusting online news, social media and information sources.

Dual-enrollment programs help nearly 1.4 million high school students take college courses each year. But as dual enrollment grows across the country, access to the option is not distributed equally, according to a new report produced by nearly two dozen higher ed researchers and experts, with funding from the Joyce Foundation.

While most schools across the country returned to in-person instruction last year, many families opted to stick with virtual learning or switched to homeschooling. And for them, the start of this new school year brings a range of new anxieties. Geoff Bennett spoke with Kimberly Back and her daughter, Delilah, about transitioning back to the classroom.

Schools across the country have been caught up in spirited debates over what students should learn about United States history. We talked to social studies teachers about how they run their classrooms, what they teach and why.

By giving students a chance to read text ‘like a reader’ first, you can help them generate insights in a natural, informal way before asking them to consider the mechanics of how it was done.

A day before school began for its approximately 35,000 students, Keller Independent School District announced a last-minute review of scores of books that had been challenged in the previous school year.

The St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont, Colorado, is launching a program that opens certain advanced courses to high school students. In its first year, the AGILE (Advanced Global Innovative Learning Environments) program will allow high schoolers to take high-level courses virtually.

A love letter all the teachers going back to school this month. What I want to say to you is simple enough: What you do is vital to our future well-being. If most of us will be remembered by a handful of loved ones after we’re gone, you will be remembered by thousands. And you deserve it.

Some institutions had nixed SAT and ACT requirements before the COVID-19 health crisis. But the pandemic pushed the test-optional movement into overdrive as the coronavirus’s spread shut down traditional exam sites. 

The significant number of colleges sticking with these policies, despite coronavirus-related concerns waning, suggests the assessments will have a permanently diminished role in admissions.

Found materials, avatars and design thinking boosted students’ excitement about learning during the pandemic.

ELA teachers can engage students by encouraging them to challenge themselves and discover the joy of learning.

This book should be read for the reasons all good books should be read: because it’s beautiful and moving, nuanced and humane. Most of all, because it’s fun.

Nationwide, there have been efforts to lower youth incarceration rates and close youth prisons. A movement to replace punitive systems with trauma-informed care in Hawaii’s juvenile justice system has been key to their success.

A new international report suggests that physical books may be important to raising children who become strong readers. An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study across approximately 30 countries found that teens who said they most often read paper books scored considerably higher on a 2018 reading test taken by 15-year-olds compared to teens who said they rarely or never read books. 

Parents can help by teaching kids how to manage on their own, experts say. Supporting a middle schooler is similar to coaching an athlete as they train. Parents can’t do the work for their kids, but they can provide key help.

Try these strategies if persuading your child to read feels like pulling teeth.

Educators are taking part in NEH funded summer institutes focused on adolescent friendships as viewed through popular media such as books, TV, and film. Codirectors Karen Harris and Stephan Ellenwood say the program is helping teachers address “a major concern”

Here’s a breakdown of young-adult migration by race and ethnicity from a study by Harvard and Census Bureau researchers. They found two-thirds of millennials living in the same area where they grew up and 80% having moved less than 100 miles away.

The official rule: no secondary school for girls. But behind a veil of secrecy, women are opening small schools so that at least some of these teenagers are able to continue learning.

Hand these 13 titles, fiction and nonfiction, about disability to older readers this Disability Pride Month.

A new report estimates that it may take students at least three to five years to recover from the pandemic. Federal relief money will most likely have run out by then.

A “Community School” model could take hold at many California K-12 campuses in the coming years. California is making a mega-bet with an unprecedented $4.1 billion investment over seven years, that converting hundreds of campuses in high-poverty neighborhoods into community schools offers the best chance to save children’s pandemic-damaged education and address entrenched inequities.

A conversation with Karina Yan Glaser, who writes middle-grade books set in a Harlem where kids can roam and neighbors know one another’s names.

Middle and high school students fell behind during the COVID-19 pandemic, just as younger students did. But while elementary students were struggling to catch up in reading and writing, older students might be struggling with key concepts in English or falling behind on graduation requirements.

On this episode of How To!, we bring in Arthur Brooks, a Harvard University professor who studies the science of happiness and writes a column for the Atlantic called How to Build a Life. He also is the father to three adult children. He has some surprising tips and tough love for Karen to help her rebalance her relationship with her kids.

A large body of research shows that traditional science education, for both science majors and non-majors, doesn’t do a good job of teaching science students how to apply their scientific knowledge and explain things that they may not have learned about directly.

A recent study developed a series of cross-disciplinary activities guided by a framework called “three-dimensional learning” to support students’ thinking in how to apply their science knowledge to real world problems.

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that public schools remain highly segregated along racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. One reason: school district secession.

The research initiative at four schools in three states centers on strong school-family-community partnerships to improve student mental health outcomes.

Educator Jennifer Wolf puts book banning in context, from Nazi book burnings to school board races.

The recipients of this year’s Whippoorwill Award cover a wide range of rural people, places, and topics. The Whippoorwill is the only national prize for young-adult books that focus on rural themes, the organizers say.

The Biden administration issued new school discipline guidelines Tuesday aimed at cutting back on high rates of suspension and expulsion for students with disabilities by clarifying rules that the nation’s schools are required to follow.

Teaching middle school students to identify the theme of a text is a difficult task. There are many other skills that need to be taught prior to gaining a real, working understanding of theme. Here are some interesting ideas on teaching theme to middle schoolers for you to try in your own classroom.

Jason Reynolds is not only a prolific and bestselling author, he’s also the national ambassador for young people’s literature. He discusses his newest book “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” with Sunday Morning host Jane Pauley.

Dive into these YA fantasy graphic novels about assassins and knights, magic and romance, and the meaning of saving the world — or yourself.

Some alternative schools in Massachusetts are seeing increased enrollment among students who began working full-time jobs since the onset of the pandemic or who are anxious about returning to a traditional high school after a long period of remote or hybrid learning.

Growing freedom makes life more challenging to manage for the adolescent and, thus, for parents, too. Priorities for new experience change as youth unfolds. 

Having test-optional policies doesn’t mean that the most selective colleges significantly change who they admit.

Latinos students have made academic progress over the last two to three decades—including rising high school graduation rates and enrollment in post-secondary education. But policymakers must now work to address setbacks to this progress caused by the pandemic.

The Blue Ace scholar-athlete summer reading club is one example of the GHS athletic department’s determination to generate unity between its various sports teams. The reading club, which is currently in its second year, gives students an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the athletic department’s values through a pre-selected book they read during the summer. 

The more dynamic the job market and the more expensive college gets, the more important career education becomes. However, most US students don’t get the chance to match their strengths and interests to emerging career opportunities.

MajorClarity is a career and college readiness platform for middle and high school students. It allows learners to test drive possible careers and, as students gain a sense of their interests and strengths, build a career aligned course of study.

The post recently spoke with Melanie Conklin, the author of “The Perfect Mistake”, about why she wrote it, what inspired her and what she hopes kids (and parents) will take away from it. Here is an edited excerpt of that conversation.

Kids books are confronting scary topics including mental illness, sickness and death. And many of the illustrated characters features children of diverse backgrounds.

A new historical fiction series for young readers highlights “the importance of standing up for what you know is right.”

Is there a way to get back to civil discourse, which is not defined as mere politeness, but rather a process where individuals gather, listen to each other, debate, make up their minds, and determine a course of action?

David Armor discusses his analysis of the Black-White achievement gap, which has remained fairly constant from third grade through the end of middle school (eighth grade). The gap issue is less clear for the high school grades, since most statewide achievement testing programs do not test all of the high school years.

The International Literacy Association (ILA) announced the winners of its 2022 awards and grants, including its top honor and one of the literacy field’s most prestigious, the William S. Gray Citation of Merit, which was awarded to City University of New York’s Linnea Ehri.

Themes in this year’s stellar works of fiction for children and teens.

Those with the widest use of college-level courses show improved performance even in this crisis.

According to the university, the Adulting 101 program helps teenagers and young adults demystify the obscure reality of being an “adult” through engaging educational sessions.

With mental health needs growing, educators and others are experimenting with new ways to address students’ needs or reinvent old strategies.

Administrators say hiring students for certain roles, such as helping children in after-school programs, could lead students to a career in teaching.

Teachers can use clips from the movie Turning Red to explore with students the ways adolescence changes the brain.

The University of Arizona announced Monday that Native American students no longer would have to pay tuition or fees at its main campus in Tucson. The university hopes the new program better serves the state’s large Native population.

“We’re like jazz musicians in that we decide on a structure, but a lot is left up to improvisation,” says Griffin about working with Reynolds. Read more about how their new collaboration came together.

“Is the post-modern state now dedicated to segmented tribes split along divergent ideologies of schooling rather than rallying behind a common good?” The Supreme Court’s decisions this month involving public education have stirred new debate about the future of public, secular education in this country but such concerns are not new to advocates of publicly operated and funded public schools.

Local librarians and teachers talk about the benefits of summer reading. Wicked Local reporters share their current recommended reads.

This week, The New Yorker brings you a selection of pieces about adolescence and teen-age yearning.

A retired kindergarten teacher is warming hearts on TikTok as people learn just how great her impact on students has been.

Virtual tutoring companies want to become a more permanent fixture in schools. Their impact so far is unclear.

Schools around the country are trying to staff up counselors and therapists, but experts say Alabama’s creation of a bridge role could be a promising model. Mental health service coordinators set up mental health awareness events, hold small group sessions with students and connect families with professional services.