Kindergarten in the Great Outdoors

Research says that bilingual kids reap significant benefits from reading in their primary language. One nonprofit working in Rwanda, Congo, Haiti, Cambodia, and Mongolia provides digital books in students' strongest language and recruits local writers to create age-level books with local context: "It's not just a matter of translating materials," a professor at Columbia's Teachers College notes. "It's a matter of valorizing the home culture and language of the learners."

The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has seen a rapid increase since 2007, jumping from 13 deaths then to 1,215 in 2014. After concluding that guns alone were not the solution, a patrol of local women from impoverished areas were brought together in the Balule reserve to focus on efforts in removing snares, stopping bushmeat kitchens, setting up roadblocks and implementing educational opportunities in poor communities and schools. Since their start, the area has seen a 76% reduction in snaring and poaching incidents.

Students in a small town in Michigan are outperforming their peers statewide. Over half of the students are American Indian and many come from low-income families. Because the town's reservation can't be taxed, the school receives additional federal funding. And teachers have put it to good use - by hiring more staff, decreasing class sizes, and frequently evaluating students' progress. One fourth grader offered her own theory: "Well, everyone's accepted here for who they are, no matter if they're Irish, Native, African American or just French."

A Mumbai school located in a remodeled shipping container meets kids on the street where they are at. Signal School results from a collaborative effort between the city and a non-profit, and focuses on bringing education to migrant children, so that they are less likely to be forced into child labor or street begging. Signal School does more than just teach, it also provides meals, works with families to change the cultural perspective that education is an amenity for the privileged, and helps migrant families find permanent housing.

An elementary school in Detroit works to give low-income students the resources and education they need to be successful. From supplying children with uniforms and breakfast to cleaning the school to provide a better work environment, teachers and staff address the underlying affects of poverty in the classroom.

In California, half of school-aged children are the children of immigrants. Among many other initiatives in the city, a community-wide training project in Fresno aims to improve how adults in the city work with students of immigrant families. One of the challenges of the renewed push for a bilingual approach - finding sufficient bilingual teachers after years of the state's English-only education policies.

School on Wheels is a program serving children in a refugee camp along the U.S.-Mexico border by transforming an old school bus into a space for learning. The school can fit up to 80 children, all of whom are waiting for asylum in the U.S. It is run by the California-based nonprofit, Yes We Can, and it currently has 3 teachers and over 30 students. The school aims to teach the children values like love, happiness, and being a good person while they are at a particularly tumultuous time in their lives.

A latchkey program staffed by licensed professionals provides before- and after-school programs for elementary students if their parents cannot make the scheduled times to drop them off or pick them up from school.

With an influx of COVID relief money, the Russellville school district began hiring and certifying more local, Spanish-speaking staff to help teach English language learners. Districtwide, the percentage of students who met their language proficiency goals increased from 46% in 2019 to 61% in 2022.

New Jersey schools are working to make climate education widespread by implementing general education standards that include climate change education in every grade and subject. These new education standards have been inspiring students to brainstorm solutions to climate-related issues like reducing food waste and increasing coastal resiliency. The state has also earmarked $5 million to help local teachers attend professional development sessions to teach them how to create new climate change-focused lesson plans.