TaRL: A program transforming learning for Borno's school children

In an attempt to provide ease of movement to girl students while playing, Valayanchirangara primary school introduced "gender-neutral" uniforms for all its 756 students that eliminated the earlier requirement for them to wear skirts. It has since inspired several other schools in Kerala to similarly change their uniforms and snowballed a movement, supported by the state's education minister no less, where more such measures to promote gender equality in schools are being encouraged and adapted.

The Graficka Street school uses flexible classroom design, dedicated assistants for children with special needs, participatory school culture, and proactive family outreach to create a more inclusive learning environment. Since inclusive education legislation was passed in 2016, the share of students with disabilities educated in mainstream schools has grown from 65% to 77%, with schools like the Graficka Street elementary school helping increase access.

The Anam New City School, a tuition-free school that serves children in remote villages in southeast Nigeria, helps support its operating costs by cultivating crops and livestock on the school grounds. About half of the agricultural yield is used to provide meals for students, while the remainder is sold to fund administration costs.

By implementing evidence-based practices such as school consolidation, citywide proficiency tests, teacher bonuses, standardized lessons plans, and monthly professional development, the Brazilian city of Sobral went from one of the country's lowest-performing school systems in the 1990s to receiving the highest math and literacy scores in 2015. Since adopting similar policies, other school systems in the state of Ceará have seen improvements, claiming 12 of the top 20 spots for primary school performance in Brazil in 2019.

Amidst controversy over gifted programs in New York City, a school in Harlem believes it can offer an alternative model with an admissions policy that bakes in diversity. The school has designated almost half of the spots in its incoming kindergarten class to disadvantaged students, and “the parent-teacher association encourages local East Harlem parents to apply.” But these policies may not work for other gifted schools, who see the diversity of its student body drop lower and lower every year.

A progressive funding model has been a boon to schools in Berlin’s poorer neighborhoods, which receive a baseline of staff and resources. But schools in poorer neighborhoods face a myriad of struggles that additional resources haven’t been able to quell, due to the deep socioeconomic disparities between the home neighborhoods of wealthy and poor students. However, one elementary school seems to have succeeded in desegregating students by offering a choice of academic tracks.

Since implementing a “science of reading” curriculum, Sharswood school has seen its reading scores jump, with 43 percent of all students scoring proficient or advanced and and more than half of third grade students meeting the mark. Teachers says a big factor in the successful implementation has been the flexibility to tailor resources to each classroom and the support of an onsite literacy coach.

In an effort to better support its youngest learners, Mississippi implemented sweeping education reforms, including introducing a standardized “science of reading” curriculum, providing more teacher training and support with in-school literacy and math coaches, and holding back third-grade students who don’t meet their reading skills benchmarks. Over a decade, the number of students reading at grade level has climbed from 12 percent to 35 percent, and the state now ranks among the top ten nationally for fourth-grade reading scores.

At East End Community School, teachers and administrators work to combat chronic absenteeism by building a “culture of attendance,” with celebratory ceremonies for students with high attendance, monthly attendance reports for parents, community dinners, students raffles, and individualized, shame-free check-ins for families struggling to get their students to school. The school’s rate of chronic absenteeism has dropped from 25% to 13%.

To curb academic backsliding as students returned to the classroom following the COVID-19 pandemic, Boone County Schools tried various initiatives, such as encouraging teachers to keep students on track by not trying to catch them up on everything they missed during remote learning. This ensures students are learning the material relevant to their grade level, and has yielded significant improvements in academic performance.