Education

Where are the students? For a second straight year, school enrollment is dropping

10:57am December 15, 2021

The declines many school districts reported last year have continued, an NPR investigation finds. What educators don't know is where those students have gone.

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Colleges go back to drawing board — again — to fight COVID

4:27am December 15, 2021

by The Associated Press

Many colleges are telling students to prepare for another term of masking, testing and, if cases get bad, limits around social life.

Cornell University announced the closing of its Ithaca, N.Y., campus due to a rise in cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Cornell shuts down its Ithaca campus after significant signs of omicron variant found

7:55pm December 14, 2021

by Jonathan Franklin

The campus reported nearly 500 new cases of COVID-19 among the student body. The new omicron variant was detected "in a significant number" of positive tests, the university said.

Area teachers in Sioux Falls, S.D., scramble to grab $1 bills on the ice rink at a Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game on Saturday, in this screenshot from a video posted by Argus Leader reporter Annie Todd that went viral this weekend.

Organizers of the South Dakota teacher 'Dash for Cash' are apologizing and paying up

5:16pm December 14, 2021

by Rachel Treisman

The Sioux Falls Stampede and CU Mortgage Direct acknowledge the event appeared "degrading and insulting" to educators and are giving an additional $500 to each of the applicants and participants.

Yalonda Chandler homeschools her children, Madison and Matthew. She co-founded Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham, in Alabama, and has seen the organization grow since the pandemic began.

Education

More Black families are homeschooling their children, citing the pandemic and racism

4:54pm December 13, 2021

by Kyra Miles

In Alabama, the co-founders of Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham say membership is growing as parents try to shield their children from racism in education and teach them about their own heritage.

Teachers in South Dakota scrambled to pick up $1 bills in a hockey game sideshow

2:51pm December 13, 2021

by Bill Chappell

The event, which offered a total of $5,000 to 10 teachers, had fans cheering. But it also sparked criticism for turning teachers' need to pay for classroom supplies into a public spectacle.

Art, music and theater classes help students express emotions on returning to school

8:38am December 12, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

Schools across the country are reporting an uptick in misbehaviors now that kids are back in person. Artists, music and drama teachers are trying to help them cope.

Canadian teacher reassigned under a controversial Quebec law for wearing a hijab

4:11pm December 11, 2021

by Emma Jacobs

A teacher who wears a hijab was removed from the classroom under Quebec's Bill 21, which prohibits teachers wearing religious symbols in class.

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Music therapist Monica Levin teaches via video conference at Frances Fuchs Early Childhood Center in Prince George's County, Maryland.

For kids grappling with the pandemic's traumas, art classes can be an oasis

9:53am December 09, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

As health officials sound the alarm about the pandemic's impact on children's mental health, music, drama and other art classes are helping kids adjust to being in-person again.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge from parents in Maine who want to use a state tuition program to send their children to religious schools.

Supreme Court signals further erosion of separation of church and state in schools

8:40pm December 08, 2021

by Nina Totenberg

The handwriting on the wall came during a nearly two-hour argument involving a challenge brought by two Maine families to the state's unusual way of providing public education.

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