When Parents Teach Children (and Vice Versa)

Books for Keeps works to increase the literacy rate of students by providing them with books to read during the summer when they aren’t at school. Since 2009, Books for Keeps has given away almost 800,000 books. A study by the nonprofit found that students gained almost 17% of a grade level more over the summer than students who didn't participate in Books for Keeps.

As teachers at schools in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica begin their second month of strikes, several NGOs are stepping in to offer lesson plans and cafeteria meals to students who would otherwise be out of school and without sufficient food. "The safest and best place is in the classroom, not just for their education but also for their safety," the director of an organized called Abriendo Mentes says. “If they have a lot of free time it’s easy to get in trouble because in these rural towns there isn’t a lot to do.”

A new "readiness check" digital tool, available in English and Spanish, gives parents realtime feedback about whether their child is prepared to enter the next grade level and provides resources and activities to practice if a child is behind in English or math subjects. By offering a concrete, standardized assessment, the tool gives parents the data they need to advocate on behalf of their child and ensure teachers are aware of areas where a child may need extra support before they even enter the teacher's classroom on the first day of school.

In 2013, a group of Kansas City parents successfully reopened a formerly shuttered elementary school, sparking new optimism following the mass closing of schools from 2009 to 2010. However, the project has garnered significant criticism for catering largely to a white and wealthy population. One longtime local education advocate remarked, “I support parents wanting the best education for their kid,” she said. “But I don’t support creating little enclaves that function as well-vested private schools and calling them public.”

Children Rising is providing high-dosage reading and math tutoring to elementary students at schools in Oakland, California, to make up for lost learning during the pandemic. This type of tutoring includes one-on-one instruction multiple times a week during the school day.

High-dosage or high-impact tutoring is done in 45-minute group sessions throughout the school day at Tennessee elementary schools to help students fill gaps left in their learning during the pandemic.

A school attendance campaign in a rural California district relies on buy-in from a variety of community partners. For instance, administrators supported the construction of a new health clinic next to the school, concentrating multiple key resources on one block and making it easier for parents to access health care for their children.

With a decrease in government aid for refugee resettlement programs in recent years, nonprofits and other groups have stepped up to fill the gap. In Cleveland, Refugee Response offers in-home tutoring, a program for high school students, and work opportunities on an urban farm.

Brownsville Collaborative Middle School is one of a growing number of elementary schools in the U.S. using community gardens to teach predominantly low-income students about healthy food options and provide produce to larger communities situated in food deserts.

San Francisco's choice-based enrollment process, once heralded as a solution to the city's segregated schools, is now called "a cautionary tale" by most local parents. The system gives preference to residents of neighborhoods with low test scores. Among other issues, such as incomplete transit options, this system fails to account for rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods where affluent residents are increasingly living in historically low test score zones.