Wiggin Street students learn through play

The true prize in education is a recipe that vaults low-income students into the upper echelons of achievement. A blue-collar town in Massachusetts says the key is something as basic as more time.

Individualized advice and counseling, boosted by software tools, is helping hundreds more students earn degrees and certificates each year at Walla Walla Community College in Washington.

On average, black students in public schools receive fewer resources giving them a late start. A mostly black university in New Orleans has increased overall achievement by developing students’ shared responsibility for one another’s success.

A Massachusetts law requires the public school system to teach an experiential civics curriculum so that young people graduate with the basic skills and confidence to become informed and active citizens. The curriculum led to a student-organized "Civics Day" event at the Statehouse, where they were able to speak with political representatives and other officials. A handful of other states have similar laws, which advocates believe will lead to greater voter turnout when the youth become 18.

Surfing lessons are bridging racial divides and providing a therapeutic outlet for disadvantaged children in South Africa. In a society largely segregated by race, children in Cape Town’s black communities disproportionately suffer the traumatic effects of violence and poverty. Waves for Change, a nonprofit based in Muizenberg, uses surf therapy as a way to mentor and empower kids in Cape Town, helping to desegregate South Africa’s beach and surf culture in the process.

Nathaniel Rochester Community School 3 in the Rochester City School District in New York has a record of poor academic achievement, but a special accelerated summer math program had 16 seventh graders pass the Regents algebra test. Students and administrators attribute the success to having the program focus on acceleration rather than remediation and the genuine support from the teachers for the students.

In Nashville, the public library system and metropolitan public school district are working together to ensure students have access to all the educational resources they need. To start, every student ID doubles as a library card.

Using AI technology, home address data, and algorithms, the Metro21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon was able to find the best school bus routes to deliver school meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution wouldn’t have worked with the help of a community of partners, leaders, and volunteers. “It truly has taken a village.”

School districts across the country from Miami, FL, to Richmond, VA, had to modernize their school meetings to follow safety precautions of the pandemic. To do this, school districts moved their school board meetings to online platforms, or allowed participants to leave comments through voicemail messages. While these solutions were not perfect, it made it easier and convenient for parents to participate.

Motivated by educational disparities, lack of culturally relevant programming, and safety concerns in public schools, Black families are forming homeschooling pods and co-ops that allow them to tailor their children's education while also finding a sense of community support.