
Ontario, Canada: All schools in Ontario to shut and go to online learning
Rob Gillies, AP News | All schools in Canada’s most populous province will be shut down and move to online learning because of a record number of coronavirus infections fueled by more-contagious virus variants, Ontario’s ...

New Indiana budget proposal scales back private school voucher expansion
Dylan Peers McCoy, Chalkbeat Indiana After a chorus of opposition from public school districts and advocates, Indiana Senate Republicans significantly scaled back an expansion of the state’s private school voucher program under their budget proposal ...

Puerto Rico to shutter schools amid spike in COVID-19 cases
AP News | Puerto Rico’s health secretary announced Thursday that all public and private schools in the U.S. territory would close for two weeks amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. AP: Puerto Rico to shutter ...

Biden Education Department Approves One Request to Cancel State Tests But Rejects Others
Evie Blad, Andrew Ujifusa, EducationWeek | The U.S. Department of Education granted its first broad waiver from testing requirements— to the District of Columbia for this school year, citing the large share of students learning ...

San Francisco School Board Rescinds Controversial School Renaming Plan
Vanessa Romo, NPR | The reversal was met with relief and enthusiasm by disparate critics united in their opposition to the project. Conservatives characterized the effort as cancel culture run amok, while liberals decried the ...

Detroit district extends pause on in-person learning a week as COVID surges in Michigan
Lori Higgins, Chalkbeat | The Detroit school district is extending its pause on in-person learning until April 19 as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Michigan. Chalkbeat: Detroit district extends pause on in-person learning a ...

Project-based learning deepens science knowledge for 3rd graders in Michigan
Joseph Krajcik and Barbara Schneider, The Conversation | The big idea Project-based learning – a teaching approach whereby students explore and solve real-world challenges – can improve third graders’ scientific knowledge as well as their ...
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Amid high teacher turnover in Michigan, audit finds failings in teacher support systems
Koby Levin, Chalkbeat | Key policies designed to support Michigan teachers aren’t being adequately enforced, according to a recent audit by the state’s Office of the Auditor General. Districts are required to assign mentors to ...

South Dakota governor kills transgender bill, but orders ban
Stephen Groves, AP News | South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday killed a bill that would have banned transgender women and girls from female sports, then later issued weaker executive orders that include restrictions ...

Virginia Education Department sued over guidelines to protect transgender students
Hannah Natanson, Washington Post | Two conservative groups are suing the Virginia Department of Education over its new policy on transgender children, which requires school districts to accept students’ gender identities and allow students access ...

As Bad Information Spreads, Florida Schools Seek To Teach ‘Digital Literacy’
Greg Myre, NPR | A new program on "digital literacy," with a focus on topics like disinformation, is in the pipeline, thanks in part to Mike McConnell. His long career in national security included one ...

Kentucky lawmakers fund full-day kindergarten after using it to sweeten school choice vote
Olivia Krauth, Louisville Courier Journal | Kentucky lawmakers allocated millions of dollars for full-day kindergarten on the final day of the legislative session after using the funding as a bargaining chip to pass school choice ...
The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers
Alec MacGillis, ProPublica | Everything looks the same on either side of the Texas-New Mexico border in the great oil patch of the Permian Basin. There are the pump jacks scattered across the plains, nodding ...

Seattle teachers’ union OKs agreement for classroom return
AP News | The union representing 7,000 Seattle Public Schools employees has ratified an agreement to bring elementary students back into the classroom for in-person instruction on April 5. The Seattle Times reports the agreement ...

D.C. Summer Jobs Program Will Pay Teens to Take Classes as City Combats Learning Loss
Taylor Swaak, The 74 | The new “earn-and-learn” program will be added to offerings from the city’s hallowed Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program, which provides paid jobs and career-building opportunities for about 10,000 ...
Explainer: Why more migrant children are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border
Ted Hesson, Mica Rosenberg, Reuters | As of last Tuesday, about 9,200 unaccompanied children were in the custody of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) refugee office that manages a government shelter ...

One Texas Town, Two School Districts, Clashing Mask Policies: How Science and Politics Collided in New Braunfels’ Classrooms
Bekah McNeel, The 74 | For locals and tourists, it’s hard to overstate the charm of New Braunfels, Texas, a place of spring-fed rivers, dancehalls, and German festivals. Yet against this idyllic backdrop, the nation’s ...
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Chicago asks its high schools to come up with alternatives to campus police
Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat | Seeking alternatives to assigning police to campuses, Chicago is asking 55 high schools to draft safety plans based on restorative justice and crisis management. Chicago’s school police program has been closely ...

How Tennessee school leaders spend billions in federal relief funds will carry huge stakes, both practically and politically
Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat | For years, one faction of Tennessee’s education community has argued that more money is the answer to improving schools, while another has championed giving families more choices through programs like ...

Indiana’s COVID-19 Restrictions To End April 6
Brandon Smith, IPB News | Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Tuesday that he will end the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, beginning April 6. Instead, Holcomb said, Indiana will have a mask “advisory,” though masks will still be ...

States Target Learning Loss with Summer School and Extended Days, but Some Parents Want Option to Hold Kids Back
Linda Jacobson, The 74 | Legislatures are weighing proposals to establish summer learning initiatives, expand afterschool programs and extend the school year. But for those who need more to get back on track, some states ...

California adopts 3-foot-spacing rule for classrooms, changing reopening equation
Los Angeles Times | Students in California are now allowed to sit three feet apart in classrooms — instead of four or six feet — in guidelines state officials issued over the weekend, a major ...

One of the fairest school funding models in the nation might be about to fail
Kathryn Palmer, The Hechinger Report | State-built, modern school buildings are just one example of how Wyoming has poured its mineral wealth into its school system ever since the state Supreme Court heard a series ...

Colorado District Uses High School Apprentices to Grow Its Own More Diverse Teacher Workforce
Asher Lehrer-Small, The 74 | Leaders in Cherry Creek School District No. 5, in Colorado, developed an educator career pathway for high school juniors and seniors who are interested in pursuing a career in education ...

Michigan lost 62,000 students this fall, thousands more than estimated
Koby Levin, Chalkbeat | Michigan lost 61,940 K-12 students last fall, more than the state previously estimated. That figure underscores the toll the past year has taken on students and adds urgency to early efforts ...

Oregon removes 100-person weekly contact limit for students
AP News | Oregon has removed a 100-person cap on the number of individual contacts students can have per week in a return to in-person classes, a move that should make bringing older students back ...

Kentucky: Senate Votes To Remove Student, Teacher Members From Ky. Board Of Ed
Jess Clark, WFPL | Gov. Andy Beshear added the teacher position when he reorganized the board upon taking office in December 2019, appointing Rowan County special education teacher Allison Slone. He later added the student ...

Indiana teachers now eligible to receive COVID-19 shots
AP News | Teachers and other school employees became eligible Monday for COVID-19 vaccinations through shot clinics across Indiana. State health officials said last week that the eligibility expansion comes at the direction of the ...

‘Let’s test.’ Tennessee pushes ahead with in-person testing, remote learners included, during pandemic
Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat | While at least six states are seeking to cancel student testing this spring as the pandemic grinds on, Tennessee isn’t wavering in its plan to give tests in person to ...
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Indiana will allow shorter quarantines — or require none at all — when COVID-19 hits classrooms
Stephanie Wang, Chalkbeat Indiana | Citing “rare” spread of the coronavirus in schools, Indiana health officials will no longer require students and teachers to quarantine if they are exposed to COVID-19 in a classroom where ...
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State superintendent: Extend the Michigan school year to combat pandemic learning loss
Koby Levin, Chalkbeat Detroit | Michigan’s top school official wants state lawmakers to increase the minimum number of days children are required to attend school. Michael Rice, Michigan’s state superintendent, says the minimum number of ...

States calling for cancellation of state exams
Multiple states are beginning to ask the federal government to waive annual testing requirements ...

Alabama Education Association: ‘Education employees are dying,’ seeks vaccinations
Kim Chandler, AP News | The Alabama Education Association is urging the state to give teachers COVID-19 vaccinations following the deaths of at least 39 public school employees from the contagious illness. The group, which ...

Minnesota Gov. Walz unveils education plan centered on pandemic and equity
Mohamed Ibrahim, AP News | The plan, named the Due North Education Plan, attempts to address the pandemic’s toll on school systems statewide by expanding academic programs and mental health services starting in the summer ...

Teachers need COVID vaccine to reopen L.A. schools
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times via KTLA | Reopening Los Angeles campuses for students in kindergarten through 12th grade will require the vaccination of teachers and other staff, says L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner. The ...