As this year’s Computer Science Education Week draws to a close, the events of 2020 and a shift to a virtual learning environment has shone a spotlight on the importance of access to CS learning opportunities for all students.

In 2013, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) led the nation in the expansion of CS education with the CS for All (CS4ALL) initiative, a CME Group Foundation grantee, and later made computer science a graduation requirement...

When Ana Barros drew up a list of students who were about to fail her class this fall, it was longer than she expected: 22 students out of 86.

What most distressed Barros, who teaches sixth-grade social studies at a charter school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was that her list included students who didn’t seem like they were struggling — students who had been participating in virtual class, but hadn’t turned in assignment after assignment...

A recent Tampa Bay Times investigation reported that the Pasco Sheriff’s Office “keeps a secret list of kids it thinks could ‘fall into a life of crime.’” Triangulating data from multiple public agencies, like histories of abuse from child welfare and academic failure from the school system, the office generated a prediction of more than 400 students who may become criminals. One can only imagine how a list like this could be used.

This fall’s enrollment drop in Chicago’s public schools — the sharpest in two decades — hit Bret Harte Elementary particularly hard.

The school, near the wealthy University of Chicago but serving primarily low-income South Side students, lost about 50 students. For a small school, with enrollment hovering at about 330 students in recent years, it was a painful 15% drop. Right before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Harte had revived its fundraising group to help hire a music teacher and plug other program holes. Now, the school could face a fresh financial setback...

A series of policy changes begun seven years ago to help create more equitable enrollment in Chicago Public Schools’ pre-K programs has worked, according to education researchers at three Chicago organizations. Enrollment tripled among Black students and children from the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods, they found.

When Paul Tough first began reporting on the skills that help children succeed both in and out of the classroom, he drew upon an already robust body of research on the subject. The scholars he turned to had looked at how adverse childhood experiences affected one group of kids attending a pediatric clinic in San Francisco, as well as how children’s classroom environments could help build noncognitive skills key to long-term success.

Key Findings

• Compared to test-score value-added, measures of social-emotional value-added are nearly as predictive of a high school’s impact on test scores. This suggests that fostering social-emotional development may be foundational to academic success.
• Schools with strong social-emotional value-added help students stay on track and miss school less often in ninth grade.

Shantá R. Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. She began her professional career as a high school history teacher in Charlotte, NC.