#pupil-decline

#pupil-decline

They entered high school in a weird place. It is possible that some students started ninth grade not as prepared as they otherwise would have been. - Sarah Part, senior policy analyst at Advocates for Children, regarding the Class of 2025 students who began high school in September 2021 as the first full in-person cohort after pandemic disruptions.

New York City K-12 students with perfect attendance are on track this year to be in school for 1,102 hours. That's about 20 fewer days than the national average, per the study, of about 1,231 hours in school each year.

Enrollment in Oakland Unified School District is on the rebound, but continued gains are uncertain as the district faces large unresolved deficits. During the first regular school board meeting of the year on Wednesday, OUSD's executive director of enrollment Kilian Betlach reported increases in transitional kindergarten enrollment, enrollment gains from charter school closures, and a collapse in enrollment by newcomer students. This year, OUSD's enrollment exceeded projections by more than 500 students, which means roughly $7 million more in state funding for the district.

He began by characterizing what I had written as "fascinating," which could have meant a multitude of things coming from a teenager. He then explained that his eighth-grade English class included recent discussions about immigrant pursuits of the American dream. Accordingly, one major takeaway from those conversations with his teacher and peers was that many people come to the U.S. because it is perceived as a land of opportunity.

Oakland Unified School District leaders see attendance rates as critical to their plan to address a $100 million budget gap. Increasing attendance by even 1% overall could add $5 million in revenue. That's because state funds, which make up the biggest pot of money for the district, are based on a funding formula that uses students' average daily attendance rates. Raising attendance a few percentage points could mean millions more for a district searching for a way out of its structural deficit.

We are a white, well-off (not extremely wealthy, but doing fine) family living in a mid- to lower-income neighborhood in a major coastal city. Our first grader goes to a Title I public school and a well-known, national non-profit (we'll call it "the ABC program") runs the school care. Our youngest will start kindergarten this fall. I grew up in a wealthy suburb with very minimal diversity of any kind, and I really appreciate that my children are growing up in a more diverse environment.

This idea was based on the parallel between the pluck and elan that are characteristic of both the early-college students I worked with and that of America's hardest-working founding father. Five years after I wrote the book, I had the opportunity to revisit the field for a revised edition, making it appropriate to ask, after Thomas Jefferson's song in the second act of Hamilton, "What'd I Miss": How has early college/dual enrollment changed over the past half decade?

If you haven't already, I think it might be worth talking to the teacher to ask how nap time works and if it's "optional"-that is, are there kids that aren't napping during nap time and are allowed to play? If there is a group that's doing activities instead of napping, you can inquire about keeping Rachel up during nap time, and see if that helps.

During this Black History Month, let us attend for a moment to the reading achievement gap, as it affects all of us regardless of race. Here's why. Lack of literacy is linked to some of the biggest and costliest problems in society: spiralling special education spending, school dropouts, juvenile delinquency, incarceration, poverty, and mental health (NSBA, 2019; Vacca, 2008; Vacca, 2004; Nelson & Gregg, 2012). We all pay for these problems, at the very least in taxes.

Whenever I made my initial rounds at a school, a quick peek at its technological resources was often a reliable predictor of its ability to meet students' broad needs. The differences in the quality and volume of computing labs at a school like Lincoln Park High School on Chicago's wealthy north side, where the local population is 75% white, versus Raby High School, located in economically distressed East Garfield Park which is 83% Black, were stark.

What many reception teachers say they did not sign up for was spending large chunks of the school day managing toileting, feeding and basic self-care because growing numbers of children are arriving without those skills in place. New data points to a widening gap in England and Wales between what parents believe school ready means and what classrooms are actually experiencing

are about reducing or eliminating positions, not necessarily people. We're not sure if [layoffs] can be avoided in full, but I'm here to tell you that staff is working around the clock to minimize any and all impact.

Around one-third of children attending special schools or Band 1 Deis schools have 'chronic levels of absenteeism' School absence rates have increased since the pandemic and show little sign of improvement Greater rate of absences 'likely to contribute to inequality in later life' - report co-author Children attending special schools and Deis schools in the most socio‑economically disadvantaged areas miss school at a much higher rate than their peers, new research has shown.