News From the Field
Catch top headlines sharing relevant news and stories about Linked Learning practices, schools, and students.
State Test Results Are In. Are They Useless?
Even though educators are hungry for insight, assessment experts are urging caution. This year, more than any in recent memory, calls for extreme care and restraint when analyzing statewide test scores, drawing conclusions, and taking action, they say.
How to Teach Older Students Social-Emotional Skills? Try Civics
Not only are the skills cultivated through social-emotional learning the same behaviors that power civic engagement, but the reverse is also true: Civic engagement can be a meaningful way to teach and reinforce social and emotional skills.
Why High School SEL Programs Feel ‘Lame'—and How to Fix Them
The big problem, researchers and practitioners say, is that too much of what constitutes SEL learning feels patronizing to teenagers and fails to address their core psychological needs and motivations: developing an identity and sense of agency, being recognized and respected by peers, finding ways to excel, and committing to specific goals and activities.
Middle and High School Students Need Social-Emotional Learning, Too. Are They Getting It?
Experts in social-emotional learning and child development say the secondary school years are a crucial time to focus on teaching skills, such as responsible decisionmaking, emotional management, and nurturing relationships.
California Makes Ethnic Studies a High School Requirement
Along with English, science, math, and other graduation requirements, California high school students will have to take a course in ethnic studies to get a diploma starting in 2029-30.
Homework Gap Could Be Back in Full Force If Lawmakers Don’t Act, Education Groups Say
Fifty-seven education organizations—including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association—asked congressional leaders in a letter to provide $4 billion in additional relief in an ambitious budget bill that lawmakers are scrambling to find agreement on.
Wanted: Students to Write About This School Year
If you’re interested in having your students write a 300-500 word essay for EdWeek, respond to this prompt by Oct. 4: How does it feel to be back in school? What feels good, bad, or strange? What are you looking forward to and what are you worried about? What are teachers doing to make you feel welcome, safe, and supported, and what more could they do?
Fighting the Delta Variant: School Reopening Just Got a Lot More Complicated
As students and staff stream back into buildings, schools must battle a highly contagious new form of COVID-19, and many will wage that battle with one hand tied behind their backs, unable to take advantage of all the safety strategies available to them.
Students Speak Out: ‘We Need Mental Health Days’
Even before the pandemic set in, alarming numbers of young people were suffering from mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. The stress of COVID-19 has exacerbated those struggles. Schools are working on ways to support students’ emotional trauma, including allowing excused absences for mental health days.