Math concepts + teamwork = big gains at struggling Renton school”

Concerned about their children's mental health as a result of excessive and unmonitored screen time, several parents in Austin are taking district-wide pacts to not buy their children smartphones before a certain grade and offering alternate activities or more controlled gaming environments.

In schools around the world, students are troubled by math problems, often due to existing gender and race gaps. Canadian John Mighton is working to overcome this obstacle in education through JUMP Math, or Junior Undiscovered Math Prodegies. The program is now being used by more than 150,000 in Canada and is now make math more accessible to students at all learning levels through "inquiry" and "discovery" based means.

In Monte Vista, Colorado, an elementary and a high school are improving teacher retention by building an environment that makes them feel heard, appreciated, and supported. The administrators take time to build relationships with teachers and students, check in with teachers on a regular basis, allow teachers to have a say in decision-making, and create teacher revitalization rooms.

The Wonderland Gifted Girls Academy provides free education to girls in Oyo State, Nigeria, to increase educational opportunities for girls and give them a foundation to build their future on.

The way in which Kentucky’s Louisville Metro Police Department handles rape cases has come into question. The department’s low level of cases being brought to trial is because of the extra step police officers take: checking with prosecutors to see if they’ll take the case to court. If prosecutors won’t, the police don’t make arrests. The policy is justified as victim-centered. But experts say this, combined with other problematic practices by the LMPD, can leave survivors feeling as though they aren’t believed and alone with their trauma.

School districts in Pennsylvania are overhauling traditional reading curricula in favor of new neuroscience research that shows how the human brain processes sounds and symbols. The program is time-intensive, requiring teachers to learn a new way of teaching literacy, but has shown early promising results.

As of 2018, Oregon’s backlog of Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) kits had been cleared thanks to the passage of a state bill, commonly referred to as Melissa’s Law. Besides clearing the accumulated kits, the legislation requires police to pick-up the kits from hospitals within seven days of notification and submit SAFE kits for testing within two weeks. Such a response has led to six perpetrators being identified as well as a systemic, patient-driven process for sexual assault survivors.

After an initial push by foreign companies to get tablets, computers, and other e-learning devices into classrooms in many African countries with promises to democratize access to education, EdTech startups are taking a step back from what some have called "technological colonialism." Entrepreneurs are shifting to a more holistic approach that takes into account local needs and gets teachers more involved in the implementation process - "It's not just about tablets or laptops ... it all begins with basic infrastructure," the co-founder of a Kenyan e-learning platform emphasized.

A coalition of philanthropic and professional development organizations are partnering with a rural Montana school district to provide donated hardware and software and professional development training. By developing "makerspaces," the initiative aims to ensure students and teachers learn tech literacy, a skillset many of their urban and suburban counterparts take for granted.

Harsville, South Carolina is trying to better its educational program. But first it must change the standard of living in the town to provide greater examples of success for the children to follow.