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Friends Transform Vacant Building Into Popular Community Center

Martha Pskowski

January 09, 2018 |

Yes! Magazine |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Mexico, San Agustín, Ecatepec

Abandoned buildings hold great potential. In Ecatepec, friends got together and transformed an empty commercial space into El Banco, a bustling hub of arts and recreation activities open all day for local kids and families. The community center offers a valuable gathering space amid government neglect and high rates of crime.

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What happens when you put toddlers in a forest to climb trees and use knives?

Jack Graham

January 02, 2018 |

Apolitical |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Denmark

In Denmark, one in ten preschools are held outdoors. First started in the 1950s, "forest kindergartens" improve students' concentration, social skills, and creativity, according to advocates. Skeptics have voiced safety concerns and worries that such an approach doesn't prepare students for today's tech-centric world.

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In the race to help Latino students, one California county pulls ahead

Jessica Mendoza

December 13, 2017 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Moreno Valley, California

In 2016, California's Riverside County achieved an 86 percent graduation rate, second to only Orange County in the state. The impressive spike followed in the wake of a multi-pronged, data-focused drive to support predominantly low-income students through the oftentimes complicated and unfamiliar college application process. Local nonprofit director Ryan Smith says, “We often ask [students and families] to navigate a system not designed for them, instead of meeting students where they’re at." Riverside is working to change that reality.

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Tech careers in Kentucky: A future emerges after coal

Kevin Douglas Grant

December 12, 2017 |

The GroundTruth Project |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pikeville, Kentucky

While many areas in Kentucky become increasingly less dependent on the coal industry, the state is looking for new ways to add jobs to the economy. SOAR, or Shaping Our Appalachian Region, is working to create jobs locally by partnering with organizations that provide training in areas such as coding and app development. This is part of a broader push to connect Kentucky to jobs, technology, and capital.

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The push to find more gifted kids: What Washington can learn from Miami's wins

Claudia Rowe

December 07, 2017 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Miami, Florida

In most "gifted" programs across the U.S., students are predominantly middle income and white, regardless of the variation in demographics between districts. Since the 1990s, Miami public schools have made it their quest to defy this trend and identify overlooked students who may be still learning English as a second language or whose potential may not be identified by traditional tests designed to find "gifted" students. In Miami, low-income and ESOL students take a different test than peers designed to account for certain stressors not present in other students' lives. Can Washington learn from this model?

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Changing Course: A School Cooperative Aims To Remake Coal Communities

Benny Becker Jeff Young Mary Meehan

November 25, 2017 |

WOUB Public Media |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Stanville, Kentucky

In the rural, rugged country of Appalachia, towns like Stanville face some of the country’s most profound economic and public health problems. Some of these communities, however, are making remarkable strides against these challenges with the help of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, which makes schools a central pillar with entrepreneurial, innovative curricula, provision of health care resources, and hope and opportunity are restored in the post-coal era.

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How one school is rising above gang activity to find college success

Amadou Diallo

November 21, 2017 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Benito Juarez Community Academy in Chicago was once reputed for gang violence, struggled to support its predominantly minority students, and was had been on academic probation for nearly two decades. A revolutionary approach to academics that uses a skills-based model tailored to the needs of each individual student and emphasizes true mastery of a skill rather than memorization and regurgitation has had remarkable success, bringing Juarez up to among the top 50 schools in the state for graduation rates and test scores and making it a destination school for students of color.

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How one district solved its special education dropout problem

Sarah Butrymowicz

November 18, 2017 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Covina, California

The Covina-Valley School District in California reduced high school drop-out rates and chronic absenteeism among special education students by providing a more engaging environment and curriculum for students. Students are divided into three levels based on their levels of cognitive competence, and educators rewrote textbooks and curriculum to fit the varying needs and capabilities of students within each level, as opposed to putting all special students in one level. Another successful approach has been to combine general and special education staff meetings and increase curricular collaboration.

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The Power of Being Seen

Holly Korbey

October 27, 2017 |

Edutopia |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cold Springs, Nevada

For a decade, only a little more than half of the students from Washoe Country District graduated. So, school leaders launched a Social Emotional Learning program. That’s because research shows that kids that don’t form emotional connections at school are at a higher risk of dropping out. The “district’s three signature SEL classroom practices [include]: welcome rituals and routines, more engaging or interactive teaching methods, and end-of-class reflections.” In the five years since implementing the program, graduation rates increased by 18 percent.

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How Baltimore Is Growing Its Tech Gurus From Scratch

Erick Trickey

October 19, 2017 |

Politico |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Only 12 percent of the STEM workforce is Black or Hispanic. Starting with Baltimore, one nonprofit is looking to change that. In 2013, the Digital Harbor Foundation converted a rec center into a home for after school programs introducing students to graphic design, 3D printing, and beyond. Using a "maker education" model, instructors prepare middle schoolers for a changing workforce, offer in-house employment for teens, and improve and diversify the talent pipeline to the city's vacant tech jobs. The classes, which are pay-what-you-can, are expanding kids' communications skills and creative thinking mindset.

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