The Hechinger Report
Thursday, October 8
STUDENT VOICE: I turned down my dream college for a far more affordable state school. It still hurts
I fell in love with Tufts University as soon as I stepped on the campus right outside of Boston. I knew that financial aid was a huge concern, but I decided to take the chance and apply, hoping that the finances would work themselves out. On the day decisions were due, I refreshed my inbox […] The post STUDENT VOICE:…
hechingerreport.org
Monday, October 5
Merging school districts was supposed to save taxpayers money. It didn’t, a 20-year study in Arkansas found
When Mike Huckabee was the Arkansas governor in 2004, he wanted government to be more efficient. He signed a law to shut down tiny school districts with fewer than 350 students. Over the next decade, 85 school districts merged with others, triggering the closure of 105 schools, most of them high schools. Families and…
hechingerreport.org
Sunday, October 4
OPINION: Higher education has a trust problem, and families are right to demand transparency and candor
This opinion piece is the first in a series on trust and transparency in higher education. Higher education runs on trust. A family commits four years and a significant sum of money on faith that the credential earned will hold value, that the institution has their student’s interests at heart and that the promises…
hechingerreport.orgAs more colleges close, advocates are calling for them to be turned into housing
Choosing a college? Check out our tracker to make sure your favorite schools don’t have shaky finances. QUINCY, Mass. — Waist-high weeds climb through cracks in the tennis courts. Ivy snakes across the locked-shut entrance of a redbrick former women’s dormitory. Canada geese graze on the baseball field. Wild turkeys…
hechingerreport.org
Saturday, October 3
In an age of climate disaster, more states offer students a way to show they are ‘climate literate’
As a student at a high school not far from Denver’s main airport, Anthony Muñoz wondered whether the jet fuel from airplanes flying above his campus was harming living things. An avid gardener, Muñoz partnered with a local university to create a garden on the campus of his charter school, Vista Academy, filling it…
hechingerreport.org
Thursday, October 1
The tax change that could help the child care workforce
Each year, the early childhood educators at Bluff’s Little Thinkers in western Iowa spend hundreds of dollars of their own money on classroom supplies and materials, including rugs for “cozy corners” where children can spend a quiet moment, special lights to create a calming environment and sensory items that help…
hechingerreport.org
Wednesday, September 30
One state bets on parents to boost preschool math skills
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — In an elementary school classroom just outside Salt Lake City, Clarence Ames warmed up an audience of 15 parents, their young children sitting beside them. “Has anybody here ever heard or said, ‘I’m not a math person?’” asked Ames, who leads research and implementation for the Utah STEM Action…
hechingerreport.org
Tuesday, September 29
Fearing AI, young workers retrain for hands-on jobs
ChatGPT hit the internet in November 2022 during Keon Davis’ junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He used it and grew overreliant, but it also worried him. Davis, who was studying marketing, soon watched it automate tasks he handled in a summer internship, like crafting outreach emails and doing…
hechingerreport.orgHigh costs, dwindling enrollment: What happened to one school district after a state takeover
This story was produced by The Texas Tribune and republished with permission. HOUSTON — Fonville Middle School hired learning coaches to help students falling behind in the classroom. It bought new state-of-the-art technology, such as webcams and smart boards. The school days are longer. All that aggressive change…
hechingerreport.org
Monday, September 28
From kindergarten to disciplinary school: Texas sends kids as young as 6 to harsh alternative campuses
The most notable thing about Melissa’s son’s 6th birthday should have been the vacation the family took. Instead, it was the letter waiting for them when they returned home. Her child was assigned to the disciplinary campus in their school district in McKinney, Texas, for 30 days, the April 2024 letter told them, over…
hechingerreport.org