Rural schools unite to make college the rule, rather than the exception

Throughout Washington, administrators have rolled out new preschool teacher evaluation methodology. Called "CLASS", instructors are observed at length and judged on their interactions in categories including emotional, social, and intellectual growth. The model, which moves away from principal evaluation, has been shown to improve both teaching and student performance. Now the state is piloting similar programs in K-12 classes. One researcher writes of the importance of the right assessment tool, “People say that teaching isn’t rocket science and I would argue that it's actually more complicated..."

Washington state boasts one of the country's most established and successful dual-credit programs, allowing students to earn college credits while still in high school (at no cost). Some participants even graduate high school with an associates degree, significantly cutting potential student loans. Now the nationally recognized program is turning to face its own limitations - how can it increase access for low-income students, who only made up 5 percent of the 2016-2017 cohort?

Teachers for Teachers, is a US program that is educating untrained teachers in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Around 550 refugee primary-school teachers have been trained through the program. Refugees form about 85 percent of the teachers in the camp. They have to deal with little resources, no training, and can teach up to 300 students. “I know how to prepare schemes of work and interact with my students. I can see results. Our students here are now performing well in national exams.”

PeerForward, a youth leadership development organization, taps into the power of peer networks to increase the number of students in low-income schools applying to college and submitting FAFSA forms. Working with teachers, elected students develop their own custom action plans to achieve PeerForward's common goals. For instance, at some schools, student leaders required a completed FAFSA for admission to a dance.

A well-designed algorithm can help increase the efficiency of complex, and troublesome, transportation systems. In 2017, Boston Public Schools hosted a competition to redesign its complicated bussing system. The selected proposal, an algorithm created by PhD students, increased efficiency by 20% overall, helping BPD cut tons of carbon emissions and ease budget constraints. The savings will allow BPD to reinvest in its schools.

An ed-tech researcher continues to investigate the success of a study that looked into the effectiveness of "crowdsourcing homework tips." In the study, the homework tips were pre-written by teachers for students to access during homework time, and the results of the study saw that students who used the tips were 58% likelier to solve the next problem with no help.

The Student View is a program helping youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to learn more about misinformation and navigating the media landscape. The program has been able to expand to 20 cities in the United Kingdom to provide 72 pop-up school newsrooms.

Across the country, colleges and universities are changing their SAT policies and becoming test-optional campuses. That means they don’t consider test scores in their admissions process. In Washington, six universities have made the transition. Supporters say the move is meant to increase diversity and make admissions more accessible. Studies show mixed results on whether it works, but at some universities like the University of Puget, there was an increase in the students of color admitted.

A public campaign is improving access to toilets in Nigerian communities to put a stop to open defecation. These affordable, easy-to-install, plastic toilets have a counterweighted door that ensures an air-tight seal to minimize odor and keep pests away.

The Center for Black Educator Development aims to attract more Black students to teaching careers through courses at career and technical education centers, summer apprenticeship programs for high school and college students, and paid fellowships for participants who go on to pursue education in college. The organization has awarded 55 fellowships since its inception and employs roughly 100 students each summer in its apprenticeship programs.