What We Are Learning

VitalVoices supports adolescent need for connection. Pilot results with two 5th grade classrooms suggest that students improved their ability to get along with one another, including those whom they perceive as different from themselves.

This short guide helps school leaders and classroom teachers create trauma-informed learning environments. We answer three questions: What is a trauma-informed school? What can leaders do? What can educators do?

The Homegrown Talent Initiative is based on the bold premise that school districts can be engines of growth for rural communities and their economies.

As school systems nationwide struggle to deliver learning in a pandemic, parent advocacy groups are stepping up to help Black and Hispanic families who have often been left out of previous education policymaking discussions.

We identified 11 states that invested in initiatives that are designed to outlast the pandemic and have the potential to address long-standing gaps in college and career access.

Americans are waking up to the plight of rural and small town areas. Rural students and workers need government and philanthropic help to link to jobs, higher education, and career opportunities, whether near their homes or in cities.

The federal government, states, districts, and schools have experimented with many different strategies to improve school quality. What do we know about the effectiveness of these varied strategies?

We propose a better use of the billions of dollars we spend each year on education to improve results by breaking down the traditional barriers between high school, college, and career.

What does the four-day school week means for students and communities: Is this a rural innovation born out of necessity—that with accountability and strategic use can result in improved student opportunities? Or is this fundamentally a negative trend?

States and districts should be using the pandemic as an opportunity to reassess how they support adolescents and their families. This doesn’t require radical redesign, fancy technology, or additional staff. Schools can make important changes with the resources they currently have.

Although there is a lot of work ahead to keep the city’s schools moving in the right direction, I believe this board has a rare and powerful opportunity to hit “reset” on four critical areas.