AdLit News Headlines

There are better ways than high-stakes tests to think about whether students are prepared for their next step.

Teens say activities and classes they’re taking have influenced how they will cast their first ever vote.

For youngest readers, stories of small children accompanying caregivers to the polls and of animal elections help introduce this civic duty. Titles for slightly older kids show characters taking a more active role by paricipating in the process themselves at a local level and seeing the impacts. Books for teens explore the complicated issues around voting. And a good sampling of nonfiction titles for all ages help readers better understand the past, present, and future of the process.

As we explore ways to empower students and foster engagement in literacy instruction, it is essential to consider how innovative tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can play a pivotal role. AI offers educators new opportunities to personalize learning experiences, promote student choice, and streamline the creation of a diverse range of activities.

The role of social studies teachers in civic learning is obvious, but all educators can contribute to building a more responsible citizenry.

In the 1990s, family and consumer sciences (FCS) — an evolution of what used to be known as home economics — was used to expand the personal and occupational skills of students. Today, it’s the whole gamut of life skills.

Plunging literacy rates in the wake of the pandemic are drawing more attention to the lack of adolescent reading proficiency. National tests from 2022 showed grim declines in eighth graders’ reading skills. However, experts have long known that many older students lack a strong foundation in reading skills such as phonics, grammar and vocabulary. 

A veteran teacher shows how generative AI tools help her provide nearly 150 students with instant feedback on their writing.

Many older elementary and middle school students still struggle with foundational reading skills.

A new national analysis tracked 400,000 high schoolers.

Grade-tracking apps are giving kids anxiety.

Research shows little benefit from phonics instruction in Grades 2 through 12. However, more recent studies show that students who fall below a decoding threshold fail to benefit from other kinds of reading instruction. This exploration of the evidence suggests that these students are likely to need support in the reading and spelling of multisyllabic words and words with common morphological elements. Explicit instruction with a focus on the decoding, spelling, and meaning of such words would make a lot of sense.

The education system on the whole needs to start building confidence in the sciences at the same time students are gaining competence in STEM subjects.

In 2010, with the help of per-pupil funding from the state, the nonprofit opened The Excel Center, a tuition-free high school tailored for adults. The charter school offered flexible schedules, free on-site child care, transportation assistance and a life coach. Thirteen years later, research by my team at the University of Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities shows that The Excel Center is a success.

Guiding students to develop ‘scientist voices’ helps them feel more connected to and engaged with science curriculum.

A high school student walks through what it was like to go through elementary and middle school with undiagnosed dyscalculia, and offers tips for educators looking to help students like her.

‘Educability’ is more to the point, computer scientist argues.

36 states have since followed Tennessee’s lead and offer some version of free tuition to residents

The student’s parents say his punishment was “arbitrary and capricious” and that claims of cheating constituted “threats, intimidation and coercion.”

In today’s episode, Reynolds speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about how rare it is for love stories to be narrated by Black boys and the complexity of young men’s interior lives, especially around topics like body image and sex.

They offer a case study in adopting an integrated, collaborative model that’s a departure from teaching English learners in small groups.

Eden Alonso-Rivera of Grandville, Mich. is the high school winner of NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge. Her winning entry, “A Relationship Behind Bars,” is about her father’s incarceration.

The brains of kids who are teaching peers go into overdrive—boosting retention and understanding. Here’s how to leverage this effect in your classroom.

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers show several social and emotional competencies decrease during the middle school years and rebound in high school.

Black girls were far more likely than Black boys to have ‘a negative math identity’ and to not see how the subject connects with their future.

There were more school shootings in 2022 — 46 — than in any year since at least 1999. Beyond the dead and wounded, children who witness the violence or cower behind locked doors to hide from it can be profoundly traumatized.

Students in rural communities graduate from high school above the national average. But when it comes to applying to college or getting their degree, those students’ rates of attendance and completion are well below their peers in urban and suburban areas. A New Mexico initiative is helping to narrow that gap.

This article is the first in a series that will explore AI, particularly the topics of how it can foster student agency, cultivate a love of reading that celebrates cultural diversity, and support multilingual learners in literacy instruction.

While some states and districts rethink advanced math classes, the Calculus Project sees that coursework as critical to the success of Black, Hispanic and low-income students.

Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all.

The organization filed a federal civil rights complaint against 34 public school districts and charter networks earlier this month over the low literacy rates in Missouri schools. The complaint, aimed at schools in St. Louis city and county, follows years of troubling data showing stark disparities between Black and white students’ reading scores.

In a world where over half a billion children lack basic reading and math skills, one company is spearheading a bold solution. EIDU, founded in 2015, has developed an innovative open-source digital platform that delivers personalized learning content and assessments to students in low and middle-income countries.

‘Reading Rainbow’ theme breaks out at ceremony honoring Black luminaries — including trailblazers in sports, arts, politics, and more.

Partnerships are helping us do a better job of supporting all our students and staff.

To read a book in college, it helps to have read a book in high school.

“Run, Hide, Fight: Growing up under the gun,” a documentary produced by PBS News Student Reporting Labs, features stories produced by 14 young journalists from around the country about how gun violence affects the lives of young people.

The 2024 class of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellows includes more writers, artists and storytellers than in years past, though the so-called “genius grants” list also includes multiple scientists.

New spooky YA graphic novels–get ready for cute, goth vampire moms, ghost hunters and more.

Teachers can use these strategies to help keep students who are still learning English on track with their peers.

In her first children’s book, SNL star Kate McKinnon shows her affection for outsiders. It features Millicent Quib, a mad scientist with worms in her hair and oysters in her bathtub.

Poor dietary habits, like consuming ultra-processed or nutrient-poor foods, negatively affect sleep.

Schools need to take a harder look at how the evolution of AI could help or harm students with special needs because use of the technology in K-12 education is expanding faster than many experts predicted, suggests a new report.

Reading with your kids offers long-term benefits.

Authors John Schu, Jas Hammonds, Jonell Joshua and Elvira K. Gonzalez spoke at the Brooklyn Book Festival on representation in YA and children’s books.

Research shows that students perform far better academically and have fewer behavioral issues than their peers if their families are engaged in their schooling.

Teachers can move ‘Would You Rather’ questions beyond brain breaks, using them to boost engagement during all stages of instruction.

Advice on how to best work with immigrant students and English learners.

A survey of social studies teachers found that many find primary sources online for lesson plans. But a notable minority also rely on left-leaning materials, and a handful have turned to conservative options.

Some 37% of teens said they were unsure if their school had developed rules on AI use, according to a Common Sense Media survey.

Attempts to censor or restrict books from U.S. schools and libraries have risen since 2020, reports show.

Every state now allows schools to embrace competency-based learning—an education model that allows students to advance and graduate based on their mastery of academic concepts rather than the amount of time they spend in class.

Jarryd Hudock, an English and social studies teacher at Samuel Gompers School in Philadelphia, centers literacy skills and Black studies in his classroom.

Middle and high school classrooms that neglect questions of higher purpose work against the innate desires of teens, research shows.

With the new school year under way, B.A. Parker brings us the last in our book ban series. Parker reconnects with her high school English teacher to discuss what books she read back in the day are now off-limits. Then Parker checks in with a student fighting to keep books in the hands of teenagers in Texas. And we hear from a librarian in rural Idaho, with the same goal, but a very different tactic — she’s standing up to a new law by making her library “adults only.”

Researchers analyzed data from 621 public schools that consistently administered the MAP Growth Science assessment, designed by NWEA, from spring 2017 until spring 2024.

A new program will reserve $1,000 each year for a group of Maryland students. Once students graduate, they can use the money to pay for college or build wealth.

A new effort in Los Angeles public schools will deemphasize standardized testing and look for new ways to measure student progress, a small but ambitous rejection of a decades-old nationwide approach to student evaluation.