Can Screen Time Reduce Prison Time?

In an effort to make the frustrating FAFSA application process even just a little bit easier, the U.S. Department of Education has created a new phone app for students. The app is intended to bridge a gap for families who lack easy access to computers at home. Initial user-testing has been promising - "Students flew through this app," Kim Cook of the National College Access Network says. "They said the app was easy. Parents as well."

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to shift to virtual learning, the Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative launched the Learning Without Limits project, which provided needed technology such as tablets, power banks, and earpieces for girls in Kaduna. The tech has allowed students to build new skills in areas such as graphic design, climate action, and digital marketing.

Safe2Tell is a unified statewide system where students can anonymously report concerns or threats, since research shows other students often know about a threat before it is carried out. Teams trained in risk assessment intervene before an attack can happen by contacting parents, making a welfare check, and/or talking with students. The success of the system led to the adoption of similar programs in Oregon, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Maternal Expert Thinking Analyzer is a pilot project to prevent maternal mortality that uses a mobile diagnostic, training, and outreach application to help midwives assess the risk of their patients in rural areas. Midwives input data collected from pregnant mothers into the app and generate an automated risk-based assessment score. The pregnant mother then receives a text with advice based on her risk level. A total of 33 midwives across 14 regions are trained to use the app. Initial results indicate that the app has had positive results preventing maternal mortality and even increasing antenatal care.

After her experience arriving woefully unprepared at Dartmouth, Alex Bernadotte started Beyond 12, a tech nonprofit that provides virtual coaching to graduating high school seniors and college students. Beyond 12 has a special focus on first-generation college students and immigrants to help coach them through problems big and small. Beyond 12 now works with 120 high schools nationwide with more than 100,000 undergrad participants.

Education for children with autism can be a costly challenge to procure, but an app called Otsimo aims to democratize education by providing software designed specifically for autistic children. Now 3 years old with over 70 games and 100,000 users in three countries, parents, specialists, and kids testify to its efficacy and engagement.

In Latvia, a new software-Edurio- helps educators learn from insights that go beyond grades by surveying students, families and teachers. This allows for fast feedback and alterations to improve educational experience.

Prisons in the United States are overcrowded with many non-violent offenders and the cost to keep them in jail consumes public budgets. Criminal justice reform has attracted bipartisan interest with diverse proposals to aid adjust the incarceration rate. The Urban Institute has developed an interactive “prison population forecaster,” which helps citizens to assess the impact of different policies.

Low budget schools across the U.S. are having students use their smartphones as learning tools inside and outside the classroom. At no extra cost they can incorporate technology into the curriculum through a myriad of applications, from homework reminder apps to free cloud document platforms like Google Docs.

Tracy Fischetti's high school students improved their reading level scores about three times as much as expected last year, thanks to her innovative approach of heavy content integration into collective class activities, plus an emphasis on students tracking their own Lexile level reading growth.