Some families drop out of China's education rat race

Jul 8, 2024
Seeking balance and well-being, urbanites pull their kids out of the country's ultracompetitive system and head to village schools.
Eight-year-old A Wu plays during lunchtime in Sizhai village. He had struggled at a big-city school, so his family relocated.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Report shows why some kids are struggling at school

Jun 11, 2024
The economic life of a child at home has a direct relationship to how things go at school, per the Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
"Kids are not entering the classroom with their basic needs met," said Leslie Boissiere of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "As a result of that, their academic achievement is suffering."
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

End of pandemic funding forces some schools to consider cutting teachers, programming

May 15, 2024
School districts across the country have relied on a combined $190 billion in federal money for more than three years. But time’s up: the funds have to be accounted for by Sept. 30.
Schools must account for pandemic relief funds by Sept. 30,
Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Rise in private school enrollments could pose a problem for public schools

Apr 1, 2024
Public schools' funding partly depends on how many pupils are enrolled. Also, parents leaving the public system may be less willing to have their taxes pay for it.
“Many school districts have been using those federal resources to prop up their budgets during a period of sustained enrollment decline,” said Stanford University’s Tom Dee.
Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images

Oscar winner "The Last Repair Shop" explores the costs of repairing musical instruments

Mar 11, 2024
“The Last Repair Shop” focuses on the people who maintain the 140,000 musical instruments owned by Los Angeles Unified School District public schools.
Courtesy Searchlight Pictures

Higher ed expands in prisons as students prepare for life on the outside

Mar 6, 2024
Schools are seeking government approval to start degree programs after financial aid for incarcerated students was fully reinstated.
Brandon Warren, who runs the reentry program at Lee College Huntsville Center, created educational resources for people in prison.
Elizabeth Trovall/Marketplace

Personal finance classes are becoming the norm in high schools

Feb 27, 2024
thirty five states now require these courses — 12 more than two years ago, according to a new survey.
Young people who've taken these courses tend to have higher credit scores, research shows.
istock/ Getty Images Plus

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A year after the Taliban barred women from universities, many remain bereft of options

Jan 2, 2024
The World Bank has warned the ban on educating women will hurt the country’s prospects for economic growth. 
Male students stand in front of a poster ordering women to wear hijabs at a private university in Kabul in March 2023. Women have been unable to attend universities in Afghanistan since December 2022.
Wakil Koshar/AFP via Getty Images

International students are returning to U.S. colleges and universities 

Nov 15, 2023
But they're not quite back to pre-pandemic levels, and they're coming from different parts of the world.
The impact of international student enrollment on a university's bottom line varies — are the students are undergraduates paying full tuition or graduate students who get paid a stipend?
Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images