Here's what schools are doing to try to address students' social-emotional needs
New federal numbers show the nation's schools are hiring and training staff and expanding previous curricula to address student mental health.
Education
'Teachers are drowning' as they deal with students acting out, low staff and COVID
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with two teachers and a teacher coach about the layers of stress they are currently facing amid the oncoming wave of omicron-driven COVID cases.
College kids contemplate the risk of seeing family and possibly infecting them
With plans of heading home, some students have now tested positive for COVID or been around others who did. Worried families must decide whether to see their loved ones or risk possibly getting sick.
President Biden extends student loan payment freeze through May 1
President Biden extended relief for federal student loan borrowers for an additional 90 days because borrowers are "still coping with the impacts of the pandemic." Payments now resume May 1.
Some colleges and universities will start the new year online as omicron spreads
Seven schools in the University of California system, Harvard University, Northwestern University and others are among those changing their plans in response to the highly transmissible variant.
Anonymous donor's financial gift gathers dust for a year
Physics professor Vinod Menon was recently sorting through a pile of mail at The City College of New York when he found a box with $180,000 inside. The money had been sent by a grateful graduate.
Virtual classes allow school districts to do away with traditional snow days
Pandemic home learning efforts could spell the end of snow days. Up to 40% of school districts now say they won't cancel classes when the weather is bad.
Extra learning time is helping these students catch up from COVID interruptions
After school "learning hubs" are helping some high school students in North Carolina catch up on academic time lost due to COVID — and stay on track for graduation.
As the pandemic persists, more schools embrace outdoor classes
Some schools moved classes outdoors when the pandemic began — now it's a growing trend. There are nearly 600 outdoor and nature-based schools across the U.S. One of the newest is in western Wisconsin.
1 borrower's student debt is erased with loan forgiveness program overhaul
With the Biden administration loosening the rules of the troubled Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, one borrower, a special education teacher on the verge of retirement, got some good news.