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Closing the ‘Perception Gap': With 3 in 5 Teachers Saying Students Are Not at Grade Level on First Day of School, New Digital Tool Offers Parents a ‘Readiness Check'

Esmeralda Fabián Romero

August 13, 2018 |

The 74 |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A new "readiness check" digital tool, available in English and Spanish, gives parents realtime feedback about whether their child is prepared to enter the next grade level and provides resources and activities to practice if a child is behind in English or math subjects. By offering a concrete, standardized assessment, the tool gives parents the data they need to advocate on behalf of their child and ensure teachers are aware of areas where a child may need extra support before they even enter the teacher's classroom on the first day of school.

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Preschool playgroups offer rural families a head start on school

Liz Bell

August 08, 2018 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Rocky Mount, North Carolina

In rural North Carolina, an organization holds bi-monthly playgroups to teach parents about the importance of "basic interactions between parents and their kids." Based on the principle of "child-directed play," the research-backed programming allows parents to connect and share and helps students prepare for the unfamiliar social setting of kindergarten.

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A Public School That Not Only Keeps Children Safe, But Heals

Suzanne Bohan

August 03, 2018 |

Nonprofit Quarterly |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Cherokee Point Elementary School in San Diego became a trauma-informed school in 2015, and since then suspensions have fallen to zero (and remained that way since) and they no longer need a campus police officer. The school's approach includes revised disciplinary practices, social-emotional instruction, free breakfast, school-wide training about trauma, strong parental engagement, and intensive individual support. They even partner with community organizations that all them to create and offer a wider variety of services than the school could on its own.

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Together, Parents Boost Their Children's Early Learning

Sandra Larson

July 24, 2018 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

In an effort to improve kindergarten readiness, First Teacher, a parent-driven movement and non-profit, provides support and instruction to parents in several of Boston's low-income neighborhoods. The organization "aims to upend the traditional power dynamic with a bottom-up model in which parents, rather than institutions, take the lead" and reverse the effects of the "well-intentioned efforts that [that] leave parents of color feeling scrutinized, judged and powerless."

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How New Orleans Is Helping Its Students Succeed

David Leonhardt

July 15, 2018 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Calling New Orleans' post-Katrina school reform "the most ambitious education overhaul in modern America," journalist David Leonhardt outlines what he sees as the two main pillars holding up New Orleans' success -- autonomy and accountability. Leonhardt writes, "New Orleans is a great case study partly because it avoids many of the ambiguities of other education reform efforts. The charters here educate almost all public-school students, so they can’t cherry pick." Can other districts, who aren't starting from scratch, learn from the city's remarkable progress?

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Farmworkers Feed Us. How Do We Support Their Kids?

Tennessee Watson

July 13, 2018 |

Wyoming Public Media |

Multi-Media |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Manvel, North Dakota

Children of farmworker families, many of whom travel seasonally during the school year, often need help filling gaps in the curriculum. Since the 1960s, the Migrant Education Program has been providing states with access to federal education funds meant to assist the children of migrant families with meeting educational requirements.. The money is used to provide different levels of support, from summer instruction to specialized curricula, in the states that continue to accept funding.

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How an Unknown Reformer Rescued One of America's Most Troubled School Districts

Eliza Shapiro

June 30, 2018 |

Politico |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Camden, New Jersey

In his five years as superintendent of Camden public schools, Paymon Rouhanifard shepherded in a new era of increasing graduation and decreasing suspension rates. Rouhanifard "avoided the extremes of zigzagging educational trends" and combined his background as both a politician and an educator to offer up a long term path to improvement, one that took into consideration the fate of public and charter schools alike. As Rouhanifard moves on, he leaves a unique legacy, one he hopes will prove resistant to the whims of short-term education reform trends.

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What We Can Learn From Ghana's Obsession With Preschool

Nurith Aizenman Gregory Warner

June 19, 2018 |

NPR |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Ghana, Accra

When a group of preschool teachers in Ghana were taught about child-centered and open-ended learning as an alternative to a traditional rote memorization approach, they saw improvements in students' pre-literacy and pre-numeracy scores. The intervention served as a response to revelations of poor performance among early elementary school students. This despite the fact that 80 percent of 3 year olds in Accra, Ghana were enrolled in preschool. While some teachers have successfully rolled out the collaborative style in their classrooms, others have been met with significant cultural resistance.

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This Indian women's union invented a flexible childcare model

Miranda Hall

June 18, 2018 |

Apolitical |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India

Affordable and flexible child care allows female informal workers to earn more money and frees older children to attend school. One model that works well comes from the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, which operates 13 centers, each caring for 130-400 children. SEWA offers quality care, pays employees living wages, and boasts high parent involvement.

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For anxious students, a teacher who comes to your house might be the answer

Robbie Feinberg

June 04, 2018 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Farmington, Maine

To serve students who have dropped out of high school for anxiety-related reasons such as bullying or unstable home circumstances, a program in central Maine is sending teachers to students' homes with personalized lessons. The rest of the week, students complete online assignments to make up for lost in-class time. The home-schooling model has its critics and faults, but instructors believe the targeted curriculum will be worth it over the long term.

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