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Major Issues in Education: 20 Hot Topics (From Grade School to College)

By Publisher | Last Updated August 14, 2024

In America, issues in education are big topics of discussion, both in the news media and among the general public. The current education system is beset by a wide range of challenges, from cuts in government funding to changes in disciplinary policies—and much more. Everyone agrees that providing high-quality education for our citizens is a worthy ideal. However, there are many diverse viewpoints about how that should be accomplished. And that leads to highly charged debates, with passionate advocates on both sides.

Understanding education issues is important for students, parents, and taxpayers. By being well-informed, you can contribute valuable input to the discussion. You can also make better decisions about what causes you will support or what plans you will make for your future.

This article provides detailed information on many of today's most relevant primary, secondary, and post-secondary education issues. It also outlines four emerging trends that have the potential to shake up the education sector. You'll learn about:

• 13 major issues in education at the K-12 level
• 7 big issues in higher education
• 5 emerging trends in education

13 Major Issues in Education at the K-12 Level

1. Government funding for education

School funding is a primary concern when discussing current issues in education. The American public education system, which includes both primary and secondary schools, is primarily funded by tax revenues. For the 2021 school year, state and local governments provided over 89 percent of the funding for public K-12 schools. After the Great Recession, most states reduced their school funding. This reduction makes sense, considering most state funding is sourced from sales and income taxes, which tend to decrease during economic downturns.

However, many states are still giving schools less cash now than they did before the Great Recession. A 2022 article from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that K-12 education is set to receive the largest-ever one-time federal investment. However, the CBPP also predicts this historic funding might fall short due to pandemic-induced education costs. The formulas that states use to fund schools have come under fire in recent years and have even been the subjects of lawsuits. For example, in 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the legislature's formula for financing schools was unconstitutional because it didn't adequately fund education.

Less funding means that smaller staff, fewer programs, and diminished resources for students are common school problems. In some cases, schools are unable to pay for essential maintenance. A 2021 report noted that close to a quarter of all U.S. public schools are in fair or poor condition and that 53 percent of schools need renovations and repairs. Plus, a 2021 survey discovered that teachers spent an average of $750 of their own money on classroom supplies.

The issue reached a tipping point in 2018, with teachers in Arizona, Colorado, and other states walking off the job to demand additional educational funding. Some of the protests resulted in modest funding increases, but many educators believe that more must be done.

2. School safety

Over the past several years, a string of high-profile mass shootings in U.S. schools have resulted in dozens of deaths and led to debates about the best ways to keep students safe. After 17 people were killed in a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018, 57 percent of teenagers said they were worried about the possibility of gun violence at their school.

Figuring out how to prevent such attacks and save students and school personnel's lives are problems faced by teachers all across America.

Former President Trump and other lawmakers suggested that allowing specially trained teachers and other school staff to carry concealed weapons would make schools safer. The idea was that adult volunteers who were already proficient with a firearm could undergo specialized training to deal with an active shooter situation until law enforcement could arrive. Proponents argued that armed staff could intervene to end the threat and save lives. Also, potential attackers might be less likely to target a school if they knew that the school's personnel were carrying weapons.

Critics argue that more guns in schools will lead to more accidents, injuries, and fear. They contend that there is scant evidence supporting the idea that armed school officials would effectively counter attacks. Some data suggests that the opposite may be true: An FBI analysis of active shooter situations between 2000 and 2013 noted that law enforcement personnel who engaged the shooter suffered casualties in 21 out of 45 incidents. And those were highly trained professionals whose primary purpose was to maintain law and order. It's highly unlikely that teachers, whose focus should be on educating children, would do any better in such situations.

According to the National Education Association (NEA), giving teachers guns is not the answer. In a March 2018 survey , 74 percent of NEA members opposed arming school personnel, and two-thirds said they would feel less safe at work if school staff were carrying guns. To counter gun violence in schools, the NEA supports measures like requiring universal background checks, preventing mentally ill people from purchasing guns, and banning assault weapons.

3. Disciplinary policies

Data from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in 2021 suggests that black students face disproportionately high rates of suspension and expulsion from school. For instance, in K-12 schools, black male students make up only 7.7 percent of enrollees but account for over 40% percent of suspensions. Many people believe some teachers apply the rules of discipline in a discriminatory way and contribute to what has been termed the "school-to-prison pipeline." That's because research has demonstrated that students who are suspended or expelled are significantly more likely to become involved with the juvenile justice system.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued guidelines for all public schools on developing disciplinary practices that reduce disparities and comply with federal civil rights laws. The guidelines urged schools to limit exclusionary disciplinary tactics such as suspension and expulsion. They also encourage the adoption of more positive interventions such as counseling and restorative justice strategies. In addition, the guidelines specified that schools could face a loss of federal funds if they carried out policies that had a disparate impact on some racial groups.

Opponents argue that banning suspensions and expulsions takes away valuable tools that teachers can use to combat student misbehavior. They maintain that as long as disciplinary policies are applied the same way to every student regardless of race, such policies are not discriminatory. One major 2014 study found that the racial disparities in school suspension rates could be explained by the students' prior behavior rather than by discriminatory tactics on the part of educators.

In 2018, the Federal Commission on School Safety (which was established in the wake of the school shootings in Parkland, Florida) was tasked with reviewing and possibly rescinding the 2014 guidelines. According to an Education Next survey taken shortly after the announced review, only 27 percent of Americans support federal policies that limit racial disparities in school discipline.

4. Technology in education

Technology in education is a powerful movement that is sweeping through schools nationwide. After all, today's students have grown up with digital technology and expect it to be part of their learning experience. But how much of a role should it play in education?

Proponents point out that educational technology offers the potential to engage students in more active learning, as evidenced in flipped classrooms . It can facilitate group collaboration and provide instant access to up-to-date resources. Teachers and instructors can integrate online surveys, interactive case studies, and relevant videos to offer content tailored to different learning styles. Indeed, students with special needs frequently rely on assistive technology to communicate and access course materials.

But there are downsides as well. For instance, technology can be a distraction. Some students tune out of lessons and spend time checking social media, playing games, or shopping online. One research study revealed that students who multitasked on laptops during class scored 11 percent lower on an exam that tested their knowledge of the lecture. Students who sat behind those multitaskers scored 17 percent lower. In the fall of 2017, University of Michigan professor Susan Dynarski cited such research as one of the main reasons she bans electronics in her classes.

More disturbingly, technology can pose a real threat to student privacy and security. The collection of sensitive student data by education technology companies can lead to serious problems. In 2017, a group called Dark Overlord hacked into school district servers in several states and obtained access to students' personal information, including counselor reports and medical records. The group used the data to threaten students and their families with physical violence.

5. Charter schools and voucher programs

School choice is definitely among the hot topics in education these days. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was a vocal supporter of various forms of parental choice, including charter schools and school vouchers.

Charter schools are funded through a combination of public and private money and operate independently of the public system. They have charters (i.e., contracts) with school districts, states, or private organizations. These charters outline the academic outcomes that the schools agree to achieve. Like mainstream public schools, charter schools cannot teach religion or charge tuition, and their students must complete standardized testing . However, charter schools are not limited to taking students in a certain geographic area. They have more autonomy to choose their teaching methods. Charter schools are also subject to less oversight and fewer regulations.

School vouchers are like coupons that allow parents to use public funds to send their child to the school of their choice, which can be private and may be either secular or religious. In many cases, vouchers are reserved for low-income students or students with disabilities.

Advocates argue that charter schools and school vouchers offer parents a greater range of educational options. Opponents say that they privatize education and siphon funding away from regular public schools that are already financially strapped. The 2018 Education Next survey found that 44 percent of the general public supports charter schools' expansion, while 35 percent oppose such a move. The same poll found that 54 percent of people support vouchers.

6. Common Core

The Common Core State Standards is a set of academic standards for math and language arts that specify what public school students are expected to learn by the end of each year from kindergarten through 12th grade. Developed in 2009, the standards were designed to promote equity among public K-12 students. All students would take standardized end-of-year tests and be held to the same internationally benchmarked standards. The idea was to institute a system that brought all schools up to the same level and allowed for comparison of student performance in different regions. Such standards would help all students with college and career readiness.

Some opponents see the standards as an unwelcome federal intrusion into state control of education. Others are critical of the way the standards were developed with little input from experienced educators. Many teachers argue that the standards result in inflexible lesson plans that allow for less creativity and fun in the learning process.

Some critics also take issue with the lack of accommodation for non-traditional learners. The Common Core prescribes standards for each grade level, but students with disabilities or language barriers often need more time to fully learn the material.

The vast majority of states adopted the Common Core State Standards when they were first introduced. Since then, more than a dozen states have either repealed the standards or revised them to align better with local needs. In many cases, the standards themselves have remained virtually the same but given a different name.

And a name can be significant. In the Education Next 2018 survey, a group of American adults was asked whether they supported common standards across states. About 61 percent replied that they did. But when another group was polled about Common Core specifically, only 45 percent said they supported it.

7. Standardized testing

During the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) years, schools—and teachers—were judged by how well students scored on such tests. Schools whose results weren't up to par faced intense scrutiny, and in some cases, state takeover or closure. Teachers' effectiveness was rated by how much improvement their students showed on standardized exams. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which took effect in 2016, removed NCLB's most punitive aspects. Still, it maintained the requirement to test students every year in Grades 3 to 8, and once in high school.

But many critics say that rampant standardized testing is one of the biggest problems in education. They argue that the pressure to produce high test scores has resulted in a teach-to-the-test approach to instruction in which other non-tested subjects (such as art, music, and physical education) have been given short shrift to devote more time to test preparation. And they contend that policymakers overemphasize the meaning of standardized test results, which don't present a clear or complete picture of overall student learning.

8. Teacher salaries

According to 2021-22 data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in most states, teacher pay has decreased over the last several years. However, in some states average salaries went up. It's also important to note that public school teachers generally enjoy pensions and other benefits that make up a large share of their compensation.

But the growth in benefits has not been enough to balance out the overall low wages. An Economic Policy Institute report found that even after factoring in benefits, public-sector teachers faced a compensation penalty of 14.2 percent in 2021 relative to other college graduates.

9. The teaching of evolution

In the U.S., public school originated to spread religious ideals, but it has since become a strictly secular institution. And the debate over how to teach public school students about the origins of life has gone on for almost a century.

Today, Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection is accepted by virtually the entire scientific community. However, it is still controversial among many Americans who maintain that living things were guided into existence. A pair of surveys from 2014 revealed that 98 percent of scientists aligned with the American Association for the Advancement of Science believed that humans evolved. But it also revealed that, overall, only 52 percent of American adults agreed.

Over the years, some states have outright banned teachers from discussing evolution in the classroom. Others have mandated that students be allowed to question the scientific soundness of evolution, or that equal time be given to consideration of the Judeo-Christian notion of divine creation (i.e., creationism).

Some people argue that the theory of intelligent design—which posits that the complexities of living things cannot be explained by natural selection and can best be explained as resulting from an intelligent cause—is a legitimate scientific theory that should be allowed in public school curricula. They say it differs from creationism because it doesn't necessarily ascribe life's design to a supernatural deity or supreme being.

Opponents contend that intelligent design is creationism in disguise. They think it should not be taught in public schools because it is religiously motivated and has no credible scientific basis. And the courts have consistently held that the teaching of creationism and intelligent design promotes religious beliefs and therefore violates the Constitution's prohibition against the government establishment of religion. Still, the debate continues.

10. Teacher tenure

Having tenure means that a teacher cannot be let go unless their school district demonstrates just cause. Many states grant tenure to public school teachers who have received satisfactory evaluations for a specified period of time (which ranges from one to five years, depending on the state). A few states do not grant tenure at all. And the issue has long been mired in controversy.

Proponents argue that tenure protects teachers from being dismissed for personal or political reasons, such as disagreeing with administrators or teaching contentious subjects such as evolution. Tenured educators can advocate for students without fear of reprisal. Supporters also say that tenure gives teachers the freedom to try innovative instruction methods to deliver more engaging educational experiences. Tenure also protects more experienced (and more expensive) teachers from being arbitrarily replaced with new graduates who earn lower salaries.

Critics contend that tenure makes it difficult to dismiss ineffectual teachers because going through the legal process of doing so is extremely costly and time-consuming. They say that tenure can encourage complacency since teachers' jobs are secure whether they exceed expectations or just do the bare minimum. Plus, while the granting of tenure often hinges on teacher evaluations, 2017 research found that, in practice, more than 99 percent of teachers receive ratings of satisfactory or better. Some administrators admit to being reluctant to give low ratings because of the time and effort required to document teachers' performance and provide support for improvement.

11. Bullying

Bullying continues to be a major issue in schools all across the U.S. According to a National Center for Education Statistics study , around 22 percent of students in Grades 6 through 12 reported having been bullied at school, or on their way to or from school, in 2019. That figure was down from 28 percent in 2009, but it is still far too high.

The same study revealed that over 22 percent of students reported being bullied once a day, and 6.3 percent reported experiencing bullying two to ten times in a day. In addition, the percentage of students who reported the bullying to an adult was over 45 percent in 2019.

But that still means that almost 60 percent of students are not reporting bullying. And that means children are suffering.

Bullied students experience a range of emotional, physical, and behavioral problems. They often feel angry, anxious, lonely, and helpless. They are frequently scared to go to school, leading them to suffer academically and develop a low sense of self-worth. They are also at greater risk of engaging in violent acts or suicidal behaviors.

Every state has anti-bullying legislation in place, and schools are expected to develop policies to address the problem. However, there are differences in how each state defines bullying and what procedures it mandates when bullying is reported. And only about one-third of states call for school districts to include provisions for support services such as counseling for students who are victims of bullying (or are bullies themselves).

12. Poverty

Student poverty is a growing problem. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that as of the 2019-2020 school year, low-income students comprised a majority (52 percent) of public school students in the U.S. That represented a significant increase from 2000-2001, when only 38 percent of students were considered low-income (meaning they qualified for free or discounted school lunches).

The numbers are truly alarming: In 39 states, at least 40 percent of public school enrollees were eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, and 22 of those states had student poverty rates of 50 percent or more.

Low-income students tend to perform worse in school than their more affluent peers. Studies have shown that family income strongly correlates to student achievement on standardized tests. That may be partly because parents with fewer financial resources generally can't afford tutoring and other enrichment experiences to boost student achievement. In addition, low-income children are much more likely to experience food instability, family turmoil, and other stressors that can negatively affect their academic success.

All of this means that teachers face instructional challenges that go beyond students' desires to learn.

13. Class size

According to NCES data , in the 2017-2018 school year, the average class size in U.S. public schools was 26.2 students at the elementary level and 23.3 students at the secondary level.

But anecdotal reports suggest that today, classrooms commonly have more than 30 students—sometimes as many as 40.

Conventional wisdom holds that smaller classes are beneficial to student learning. Teachers often argue that the size of a class greatly influences the quality of the instruction they are able to provide. Research from the National Education Policy Center in 2016 showed smaller classes improve student outcomes, particularly for early elementary, low-income, and minority students.

Many (but not all) states have regulations in place that impose limits on class sizes. However, those limits become increasingly difficult to maintain in an era of budget constraints. Reducing class sizes requires hiring more teachers and constructing new classrooms. Arguably, allowing class sizes to expand can enable districts to absorb funding cuts without making reductions to other programs such as art and physical education.

7 Big Issues in Higher Education

1. Student loan forgiveness

Here's how the American public education system works: Students attend primary and secondary school at no cost. They have the option of going on to post-secondary training (which, for most students, is not free). So with costs rising at both public and private institutions of higher learning, student loan debt is one of the most prominent issues in education today. Students who graduated from college in 2022 came out with an average debt load of $37,338. As a whole, Americans owe over $1.7 trillion in student loans.

Currently, students who have received certain federal student loans and are on income-driven repayment plans can qualify to have their remaining balance forgiven if they haven't repaid the loan in full after 20 to 25 years, depending on the plan. Additionally, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program allows qualified borrowers who go into public service careers (such as teaching, government service, social work, or law enforcement) to have their student debt canceled after ten years.

However, potential changes are in the works. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to support students and make getting a post-secondary education more affordable. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Education provided more than $17 billion in loan relief to over 700,000 borrowers. Meanwhile, a growing number of Democrats are advocating for free college as an alternative to student loans.

2. Completion rates

The large number of students who begin post-secondary studies but do not graduate continues to be an issue. According to a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report , the overall six-year college completion rate for the cohort entering college in 2015 was 62.2 percent. Around 58 percent of students completed a credential at the same institution where they started their studies, and about another 8 percent finished at a different institution.

Completion rates are increasing, but there is still concern over the significant percentage of college students who do not graduate. Almost 9 percent of students who began college in 2015 had still not completed a degree or certificate six years later. Over 22 percent of them had dropped out entirely.

Significant costs are associated with starting college but not completing it. Many students end up weighed down by debt, and those who do not complete their higher education are less able to repay loans. Plus, students miss out on formal credentials that could lead to higher earnings. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that in 2021 students who begin college but do not complete a degree have median weekly earnings of $899. By contrast, associate degree holders have median weekly wages of $963, and bachelor's degree recipients have median weekly earnings of $1,334.

Students leave college for many reasons, but chief among them is money. To mitigate that, some institutions have implemented small retention or completion grants. Such grants are for students who are close to graduating, have financial need, have used up all other sources of aid, owe a modest amount, and are at risk of dropping out due to lack of funds. One study found that around a third of the institutions who implemented such grants noted higher graduation rates among grant recipients.

3. Student mental health

Mental health challenges among students are a growing concern. A survey by the American College Health Association in the spring of 2019 found that over two-thirds of college students had experienced "overwhelming anxiety" within the previous 12 months. Almost 45 percent reported higher-than-average stress levels.

Anxiety, stress, and depression were the most common concerns among students who sought treatment. The 2021 report by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) noted the average number of appointments students needed has increased by 20 percent.

And some schools are struggling to keep up. A 2020 report found that the average student-to-clinician ratio on U.S. campuses was 1,411 to 1. So, in some cases, suffering students face long waits for treatment.

4. Sexual assault

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that more than 75 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement, so the actual number of incidents could be much higher.

And the way that colleges and universities deal with sexual assault is undergoing changes. Title IX rules makes sure that complaints of sexual assault or harassment are taken seriously and ensuring the accused person is treated fairly.

Administrators were also required to adjudicate such cases based on a preponderance of evidence, meaning that they had to believe that it was more likely than not that an accused was guilty in order to proceed with disciplinary action. The "clear and convincing" evidentiary standard, which required that administrators be reasonably certain that sexual violence or harassment occurred, was deemed unacceptable.

Critics argued that the guidelines failed to respect the due process rights of those accused of sexual misconduct. Research has found that the frequency of false sexual assault allegations is between two and 10 percent.

In 2017, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidelines. The intent was to institute new regulations on how schools should handle sexual assault allegations. The changes went into effect on August 14, 2020, defining sexual harassment more narrowly and only requiring schools to investigate formal complaints about on-campus incidents officially filed with designated authorities, such as Title IX coordinators. The updated guidelines also allow schools to use the clear and convincing standard for conviction.

Victims' rights advocates were concerned this approach would deter victims from coming forward and hinder efforts to create safe learning environments.

The Biden administration is expected to release their proposed revisions to Title IX in October 2023 which could see many of the Trump administration changes rescinded.

5. Trigger warnings

The use of trigger warnings in academia is a highly contentious issue. Trigger warnings alert students that upcoming course material contains concepts or images that may invoke psychological or physiological reactions in people who have experienced trauma. Some college instructors provide such warnings before introducing films, texts, or other content involving things like violence or sexual abuse. The idea is to give students advance notice so that they can psychologically prepare themselves.

Some believe that trigger warnings are essential because they allow vulnerable people to prepare for and navigate difficult content. Having trigger warnings allows students with post-traumatic stress to decide whether they will engage with the material or find an alternative way to acquire the necessary information.

Critics argue that trigger warnings constrain free speech and academic freedom by discouraging the discussion of topics that might trigger distressing reactions in some students. They point out that college faculty already provide detailed course syllabi and that it's impossible to anticipate and acknowledge every potential trigger.

In 2015, NPR Ed surveyed more than 800 faculty members at higher education institutions across the U.S. and found that around half had given trigger warnings before bringing up potentially disturbing course material. Most did so on their own initiative, not in response to administrative policy or student requests. Few schools either mandate or prohibit trigger warnings. One notable exception is the University of Chicago, which in 2016 informed all incoming first-year students that it did not support such warnings.

6. College accreditation

In order to participate in federal student financial aid programs, institutions of higher education must be accredited by an agency that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. By law, accreditors must consider factors such as an institution's facilities, equipment, curricula, admission practices, faculty, and support services. The idea is to enforce an acceptable standard of quality.

But while federal regulations require accreditors to assess each institution's "success with respect to student achievement," they don't specify how to measure such achievement. Accreditors are free to define that for themselves. Unfortunately, some colleges with questionable practices, low graduation rates, and high student loan default rates continue to be accredited. Critics argue that accreditors are not doing enough to ensure that students receive good value for their money.

7. College rankings

Every year, prospective college students and their families turn to rankings like the ones produced by U.S. News & World Report to compare different institutions of higher education. Many people accept such rankings as authoritative without truly understanding how they are calculated or what they measure.

It's common for ranking organizations to refine their methodologies from year to year and change how they weigh various factors—which means it's possible for colleges to rise or fall in the rankings despite making no substantive changes to their programs or institutional policies. That makes it difficult to compare rankings from one year to the next, since things are often measured differently.

For colleges, a higher ranking can lead to more visibility, more qualified applicants, and more alumni donations (in short: more money). And the unfortunate reality is that some schools outright lie about test scores, graduation rates, or financial information in their quest to outrank their competitors.

Others take advantage of creative ways to game the system. For example, U.S. News looks at the test scores of incoming students at each institution, but it only looks at students who begin in the fall semester. One school instituted a program where students with lower test scores could spend their first semester in a foreign country and return to the school in the spring, thus excluding them from the U.S. News calculations.

Rankings do make useful information about U.S. colleges and universities available to all students and their families. But consumers should be cautious about blindly accepting such rankings as true measures of educational quality.

5 Emerging Trends in Education

1. Maker learning

The maker movement is rapidly gaining traction in K-12 schools across America. Maker learning is based on the idea that you will engage students in learning by encouraging interest-driven problem solving and hands-on activities (i.e., learning by doing). In collaborative spaces, students identify problems, dream up inventions, make prototypes, and keep tinkering until they develop something that makes sense. It's a do-it-yourself educational approach that focuses on iterative trial and error and views failure as an opportunity to refine and improve.

Maker education focuses on learning rather than teaching. Students follow their interests and test their own solutions. For example, that might mean creating a video game, building a rocket, designing historical costumes, or 3D-printing an irrigation system for a garden. It can involve high-tech equipment, but it doesn't have to. Repurposing whatever materials are on hand is an important ideal of the maker philosophy.

There is little hard data available on the maker trend. However, researchers at Rutgers University are currently studying the cognitive basis for maker education and investigating its connection to meaningful learning.

2. Moving away from letter grades

Many education advocates believe that the traditional student assessment models place too much emphasis on standardization and testing. They feel that traditional grading models do not sufficiently measure many of the most prized skills in the 21st-century workforce, such as problem-solving, self-advocacy, and creativity. As a result, a growing number of schools around the U.S. are replacing A-F letter grades with new assessment systems.

Formed in 2017, the Mastery Transcript Consortium is a group of more than 150 private high schools that have pledged to get rid of grade-based transcripts in favor of digital ones that provide qualitative descriptions of student learning as well as samples of student work. Some of the most famous private institutions in America have signed on, including Dalton and Phillips Exeter.

The no-more-grades movement is taking hold in public schools as well. Many states have enacted policies to encourage public schools to use something other than grades to assess students' abilities. It's part of a larger shift toward what's commonly known as mastery-based or competency-based learning, which strives to ensure that students become proficient in defined areas of skill.

Instead of letter grades, report cards may feature phrases like "partially meets the standard" or "exceeds the standard." Some schools also include portfolios, capstone projects, or other demonstrations of student learning.

But what happens when it's time to apply to college? It seems that even colleges and universities are getting on board. At least 85 higher education institutions across New England (including Dartmouth and Harvard) have said that students with competency-based transcripts will not be disadvantaged during the admission process.

3. The rise of micro-credentials

Micro-credentials, also known as digital badges or nanodegrees, are mini qualifications that demonstrate a student's knowledge or skills in a given area. Unlike traditional college degrees that require studying a range of different subjects over a multi-year span, micro-credentials are earned through short, targeted education focused on specific skills in particular fields. They tend to be inexpensive (sometimes even free) and are typically taken online.

Some post-secondary schools are developing micro-credentialing partnerships with third-party learning providers, while other schools offer such solutions on their own. A 2020 Campus Technology article stated 70 percent of higher education institutions offer some type of alternative credentialing.

Micro-credentials can serve as evidence that students have mastered particular skills, but the rigor and market worth of such credentials can vary significantly. Still, they are an increasingly popular way of unbundling content and providing it on demand.

4. Flipped classrooms

A growing number of schools are embracing the notion of flipped learning. It's an instructional approach that reverses the traditional model of the teacher giving a lecture in front of the class, then sending students home to work through assignments that enhance their understanding of the concepts. In flipped learning, students watch lecture videos or read relevant course content on their own before class. Class time is devoted to expanding on the material through group discussions and collaborative learning projects (i.e., doing what was traditionally meant as homework). The instructor is there to guide students when questions or problems arise.

Provided that all students have access to the appropriate technology and are motivated to prepare for each class session, flipped learning can bring a wide range of benefits. For example, it allows students to control their own learning by watching lecture videos at their own pace; they can pause, jot down questions, or re-watch parts they find confusing. The model also encourages students to learn from each other and explore subjects more deeply.

Flipped learning is becoming widespread in all education levels, but it is especially prevalent at the college level. In a 2017 survey , 61 percent of college faculty had used the flipped model in some or all of their classes and another 24% of instructors were considering trying it.

5. Social-emotional learning

There is a growing consensus that schools are responsible for fostering students' social and emotional development and their cognitive skills. Social-emotional learning (SEL) focuses on helping students develop the abilities to identify their strengths, manage their emotions, set goals, show empathy, make responsible decisions, and build and maintain healthy relationships. Research has shown that such skills play a key role in reducing anti-social behavior, boosting academic achievement, and improving long-term health.

Every state has developed SEL competencies at the preschool level. The number of states with such competencies for higher grades is growing.

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7 Education Policy Issues That Need to Be Solved in 2020

The greatest challenge facing educators—and the rest of the world—in 2020 is defeating the coronavirus. All of today’s pressing education policy issues relate directly to fulfilling educators’ mission to provide students with the most effective teaching possible. As the pandemic rages, that mission becomes more important than ever.

Educators’ short-term focus is on establishing distance learning procedures that serve all students. However, the long-term impact of the pandemic remains unclear. Issues related to school funding, teacher training and retention, workforce development, and providing safe and welcoming education environments are too important to be shunted aside as the world focuses on combating the coronavirus.

The times of greatest challenge can also be the times of greatest opportunity for effecting lasting, positive change. Educators and education leaders must face this catastrophe head-on and prepare to reimagine how communities can best serve the education needs of their children.

#1: Education’s Response to the Coronavirus

The initial response to the shift from classroom instruction to distance learning has highlighted the disparity in online access that threatens to widen the digital divide between rich and poor students. The Associated Press reports that 17 percent of US students do not have access to computers at home, and 18 percent do not have broadband internet access from their homes.

The problem extends beyond ensuring students have the necessary computers and internet access. Even when students have access to online learning resources via internet-connected devices, family circumstances may hinder their ability to complete coursework remotely.

The New York Times recounts the experiences of students in the same political science class at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. One student was able to log into the videoconferencing app the college relied on for its online classes from her parent’s vacation home in Maine, while another had to turn her full attention to helping her parents operate the family food truck in Florida. This student told the professor for whom she worked as a teaching assistant that keeping the family business running jeopardized her return to school.

The National Conference of State Legislatures describes the response of state governments to school closures related to the coronavirus:

• The US Department of Agriculture has exempted states from prohibitions against large gatherings so schools can continue to provide students with meals they would have received in school.
• The US Department of Education is considering one-year waivers on assessment and accountability requirements that are intended to identify low-performing schools.
• Many colleges have announced they will remove ACT and SAT testing requirements for admissions and instead will consider the test scores optional.

#2: K-12 Funding

Funding for public education faced serious pressures prior to the coronavirus outbreak, and as the Brookings Institution reports, those pressures will only become worse as the full impact of the pandemic hits funding sources. States anticipate steep declines in the revenue they will collect from income and sales taxes to fund the 2020-2021 school year.

K-12 schools will be competing for funding with emergency public health efforts, higher education, and Medicaid, which is expected to experience a big jump in enrollment as the economy falters. The funding shortfall is exacerbated by schools’ increased reliance on state funding as local property taxes continue to represent a smaller share of their total need. School districts are even more vulnerable to economic downturns than other public institutions because many are committed to multiyear teacher pay raises, according to the Brookings Institution.

#3: Training and Retaining Qualified Teachers

While long-term commitments to teacher salary increases may put added pressure on school district finances, the failure to compensate teachers fairly threatens schools’ ability to ensure their students receive the quality education they need to serve their families and communities in the future. New America points out that the negative effects of low teacher salaries have gained the attention of the public, but other factors can be just as vital to attracting and retaining quality teachers.

A report from the Economic Policy Institute found that the gap between the supply of teachers and the demand increased from 20,000 per year in 2012-2013 to 64,000 per year in 2016-2017 and 110,000 in 2017-2018. The rate of teachers leaving the profession and declining enrollments in teacher education programs are only two of many factors contributing to the shortage. The disparities in teacher quality and the uneven distribution of highly qualified teachers in schools serving low-income students make the critical shortage of teachers even more dire.

#4: Ensuring Safe and Nurturing Education Environments

For students to reach their full potential, schools must provide them with a learning environment that is free from threats, fear, intimidation, bullying, violence, and crime. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) states that creating and maintaining a warm, welcoming, and orderly school setting is principals’ top priority. However, school leaders, teachers and other staff, and the community at large also play important roles in ensuring safe, well-run schools.

Keeping schools safe and allowing students to learn without fear of violence requires establishing trust. The NASSP calls for increased funding and support for mental health services, crisis identification programs, and enhanced school safety programs. The National School Climate Center has created a school climate improvement process that supports leadership shared by school districts, individual schools, individual classrooms, students, and the community.

#5: Childcare and Universal Pre-K Education

Universal preschool starting at age three is gaining the support of a growing number of politicians after being championed by former Democratic presidential candidates Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders. However, resistance to extending free public education from age five to age three centers on concerns of higher taxes and the belief that three- and four-year-olds are too young to be in school.

The New York Times reports that both government-subsidized childcare and universal pre-K education are winning more support as research shows the benefits of high-quality care and education to the development of very young children. In addition, children in low-income families currently have “significantly less access” to these services. As childcare becomes more expensive, it is believed that expanding pre-K education would allow more women to join the workforce while alleviating the growing burden on families of escalating childcare costs.

#6: Readying Students for Tomorrow’s Workforce

A primary goal of educators at all levels is to provide students with the skills they will need to thrive and succeed once they enter the workforce. However, We Are Teachers cites a McKinsey study that found 40 percent of employers struggle to find qualified candidates to fill their open positions. One approach to ensuring students learn the skills necessary to qualify for the in-demand jobs of the future is to encourage more collaboration between private companies and educators.

AT&T proposes five strategies for developing the twenty-first-century workforce:

• Start developing workforce skills in K-12 education by focusing on competencies rather than on grade levels and by increasing hands-on training programs.
• Implement mentoring programs that connect students with professionals in various fields via partnerships with organizations such as Girls Who Code.
• Give students first-hand experience with workforce technologies through internships and other programs that immerse them in technology environments.
• Encourage collaboration that benefits students and employers by sharing research and practice in data science and other cutting-edge technologies.
• Help bridge the gap between technology haves and have-nots by connecting public school teachers with donors willing to fund creative educational projects.

#7: Charter Schools vs. Traditional Public Schools

Few education policy issues are more polarizing than the debate about the benefits of charter schools vs. traditional public schools. The Brookings Institution defines charter schools as tuition-free, publicly funded institutions whose leaders “accept greater accountability in exchange for greater autonomy.” While public school students are typically assigned to a school based on where they live, charter schools accept students regardless of location.

Teachers’ unions are among the staunchest opponents to charter schools, only 11 percent of which employ unionized teachers. Opponents claim that charter schools take funds away from traditional public schools, and they object to for-profit management, which currently represents about 12 percent of charter schools.

Whether charter schools offer quality education equal to or greater than that provided by traditional public schools remains unsettled. However, a study conducted by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that students in charter schools and public schools perform about equally in similar tests, although students in urban charter schools outperform their counterparts in public schools, and students enrolled in online charter schools underperform public school students with comparable demographic characteristics.

Preparing Students to Become Education Policy Makers

The role of education leaders has never been more critical to students’ success. American University’s online Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) program is geared to teaching the practical skills education leaders need to drive policy that improves education outcomes in the most vulnerable communities. The program emphasizes strategic budgeting, collaborative inquiry, talent development, partnership building, and other key education leadership skills.

Learn more about the benefits of the American University online Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership for educators who aspire to leadership roles in schools, school districts, and communities.

EdD vs. PhD in Education: Requirements, Career Outlook, and Salary

Teacher Retention: How Education Leaders Prevent Turnover

Education Policy Issues in 2020 and Beyond

American Association of State Colleges and Universities, “Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2020”

Associated Press, “3 Million US Students Don’t Have Home Internet”

AT&T, “Leading the Future for Students, for Educators, and in Technology”

Brookings Institution, “Education May Be Pivotal in the 2020 Election. Here’s What You Need to Know.”

Brookings Institution, “How the Coronavirus Shutdown Will Affect School District Revenues”

Brookings Institution, “What Are Charter Schools and Do They Deliver?”

Economic Policy Institute, “The Teacher Shortage Is Real, Large and Growing, and Worse Than We Thought”

Economic Policy Institute, “U.S. Schools Struggle to Hire and Retain Teachers”

EdSource, “California Education Issues to Watch in 2020 — and Predictions of What Will Happen”

Education Commission of the States, 2020 Trending Topics in Education

Education Week , “Districts Brace for Crash in State K-12 Revenue Due to Coronavirus”

Education Week , “12 Critical Issues Facing Education in 2020”

Education Writers Association, “History and Background: School Safety & Security”

Lumina Foundation, “Six Predictions for Higher Ed in 2020 w/ Jesse O’Connell”

National Association of Secondary School Principals, School Climate and Safety

National Conference of State Legislatures, Public Education’s Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

National School Climate Center, Shared Leadership Across Contexts

New America, “How the Presidential Candidates Fare on Education Policy Issues”

New York Times , “College Made Them Feel Equal. The Virus Exposed How Unequal Their Lives Are.”

New York Times , “Public School Is a Child’s Right. Should Preschool Be Also?”

Southern Regional Education Board, “Top Five State Education Issues for 2020”

WeAreTeachers, “3 Ways Industry & Education Can—and Are—Collaborating to Prepare Students for the Workforce”

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Four of the biggest problems facing education—and four trends that could make a difference

Eduardo velez bustillo, harry a. patrinos.

In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic , which was a follow up to,  Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About , which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of the private sector, education technology, inequality, and pedagogy.

Unfortunately, we think the four biggest problems facing education today in developing countries are the same ones we have identified in the last decades .

1. The learning crisis was made worse by COVID-19 school closures

Low quality instruction is a major constraint and prior to COVID-19, the learning poverty rate in low- and middle-income countries was 57% (6 out of 10 children could not read and understand basic texts by age 10). More dramatic is the case of Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate even higher at 86%. Several analyses show that the impact of the pandemic on student learning was significant, leaving students in low- and middle-income countries way behind in mathematics, reading and other subjects.  Some argue that learning poverty may be close to 70% after the pandemic , with a substantial long-term negative effect in future earnings. This generation could lose around $21 trillion in future salaries, with the vulnerable students affected the most.

2. Countries are not paying enough attention to early childhood care and education (ECCE)

At the pre-school level about two-thirds of countries do not have a proper legal framework to provide free and compulsory pre-primary education. According to UNESCO, only a minority of countries, mostly high-income, were making timely progress towards SDG4 benchmarks on early childhood indicators prior to the onset of COVID-19. And remember that ECCE is not only preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life; one of the best investments a country can make.

3. There is an inadequate supply of high-quality teachers

Low quality teaching is a huge problem and getting worse in many low- and middle-income countries.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the percentage of trained teachers fell from 84% in 2000 to 69% in 2019 . In addition, in many countries teachers are formally trained and as such qualified, but do not have the minimum pedagogical training. Globally, teachers for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are the biggest shortfalls.

4. Decision-makers are not implementing evidence-based or pro-equity policies that guarantee solid foundations

It is difficult to understand the continued focus on non-evidence-based policies when there is so much that we know now about what works. Two factors contribute to this problem. One is the short tenure that top officials have when leading education systems. Examples of countries where ministers last less than one year on average are plentiful. The second and more worrisome deals with the fact that there is little attention given to empirical evidence when designing education policies.

To help improve on these four fronts, we see four supporting trends:

1. Neuroscience should be integrated into education policies

Policies considering neuroscience can help ensure that students get proper attention early to support brain development in the first 2-3 years of life. It can also help ensure that children learn to read at the proper age so that they will be able to acquire foundational skills to learn during the primary education cycle and from there on. Inputs like micronutrients, early child stimulation for gross and fine motor skills, speech and language and playing with other children before the age of three are cost-effective ways to get proper development. Early grade reading, using the pedagogical suggestion by the Early Grade Reading Assessment model, has improved learning outcomes in many low- and middle-income countries. We now have the tools to incorporate these advances into the teaching and learning system with AI , ChatGPT , MOOCs and online tutoring.

2. Reversing learning losses at home and at school

There is a real need to address the remaining and lingering losses due to school closures because of COVID-19.  Most students living in households with incomes under the poverty line in the developing world, roughly the bottom 80% in low-income countries and the bottom 50% in middle-income countries, do not have the minimum conditions to learn at home . These students do not have access to the internet, and, often, their parents or guardians do not have the necessary schooling level or the time to help them in their learning process. Connectivity for poor households is a priority. But learning continuity also requires the presence of an adult as a facilitator—a parent, guardian, instructor, or community worker assisting the student during the learning process while schools are closed or e-learning is used.

To recover from the negative impact of the pandemic, the school system will need to develop at the student level: (i) active and reflective learning; (ii) analytical and applied skills; (iii) strong self-esteem; (iv) attitudes supportive of cooperation and solidarity; and (v) a good knowledge of the curriculum areas. At the teacher (instructor, facilitator, parent) level, the system should aim to develop a new disposition toward the role of teacher as a guide and facilitator. And finally, the system also needs to increase parental involvement in the education of their children and be active part in the solution of the children’s problems. The Escuela Nueva Learning Circles or the Pratham Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) are models that can be used.

3. Use of evidence to improve teaching and learning

We now know more about what works at scale to address the learning crisis. To help countries improve teaching and learning and make teaching an attractive profession, based on available empirical world-wide evidence , we need to improve its status, compensation policies and career progression structures; ensure pre-service education includes a strong practicum component so teachers are well equipped to transition and perform effectively in the classroom; and provide high-quality in-service professional development to ensure they keep teaching in an effective way. We also have the tools to address learning issues cost-effectively. The returns to schooling are high and increasing post-pandemic. But we also have the cost-benefit tools to make good decisions, and these suggest that structured pedagogy, teaching according to learning levels (with and without technology use) are proven effective and cost-effective .

4. The role of the private sector

When properly regulated the private sector can be an effective education provider, and it can help address the specific needs of countries. Most of the pedagogical models that have received international recognition come from the private sector. For example, the recipients of the Yidan Prize on education development are from the non-state sector experiences (Escuela Nueva, BRAC, edX, Pratham, CAMFED and New Education Initiative). In the context of the Artificial Intelligence movement, most of the tools that will revolutionize teaching and learning come from the private sector (i.e., big data, machine learning, electronic pedagogies like OER-Open Educational Resources, MOOCs, etc.). Around the world education technology start-ups are developing AI tools that may have a good potential to help improve quality of education .

After decades asking the same questions on how to improve the education systems of countries, we, finally, are finding answers that are very promising.  Governments need to be aware of this fact.

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Consultant, Education Sector, World Bank

Senior Adviser, Education

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10 Major Challenges Facing Public Schools

Few would argue that the state of our education system has plenty of room for improvement. However, developing a plan to take schools in the right direction is easier said than done. The first challenge lies in identifying underlying problems keeping students from learning today. This challenge, in part, is due to the fact that the problems may change considerably depending on who is labeling them, whether it is students, parents, educators or lawmakers. Consider this list of 10 major challenges currently facing public schools, based on the perspective of many involved in the world of education today.

Classroom Size

Many areas of the country are facing classrooms that are literally busting out at the seams. A report at NEA Today two years ago discussed how schools in Georgia, in the midst of major funding cuts for schools, had no choice but to lift all class size limits to accommodate students with the faculty the school system could still afford to keep. More recently, Fairfax County in Virginia has been looking into a proposal to increase classroom sizes in the face of significant budget cuts. The Board of Education in South Carolina is also weighing their options in this area.

When money gets tight, classroom numbers are often impacted. Yet, most teachers agree that they cannot effectively teach every student in a classroom, if the class size exceeds about 30. Their statements are backed up by research. Class Size Matters cites a study performed by the Tennessee Star that found classes of 15-17 students in grades K-3 provided both long and short-term benefits to both the students and the teachers in those classrooms. Minority students, those living in poverty and male students appeared to benefit from smaller classroom sizes the most.

Technorati reported last fall that 22 percent of the children in the U.S. live at or below poverty level. American Graduate defines poverty as a family of four with an annual income level of $23,050 or lower. American Graduate also cites a report from the Southern Education Foundation, which shows in 17 states across the U.S., low-income students now comprise the majority of public school students in those states. Some estimates put poverty levels for public school students at 25% in the not-so-distant future.

Students living at or below poverty level tend to have the highest dropout rates. Studies show that students who do not get enough food or sleep are less likely to perform at their full academic potential. Schools know these truths first-hand, and despite efforts to provide students with basic essentials, teachers, administrators and lawmakers know there is simply not enough to go around.

Family Factors

Family factors also play a role in a teacher’s ability to teach students. Principals and teachers agree that what is going on at home will impact a student’s propensity to learn. Divorce , single parents, poverty, violence and many other issues are all challenges a student brings to school every day. While some teachers and administrators try to work with children in less than ideal family environments, they can only do so much – especially when parents are often not willing to partner with the schools to provide for the children.

Kids Health Guide reports that students are more technologically advanced than many teachers today, putting instructors at a decided disadvantage in the classroom. However, a student’s love of technology also tends to distract him from his schoolwork, according to NEA Today. When teachers don’t have the techno-savvy to compete with those devices, by bringing education and technology together , it can be difficult to keep students’ interest and attention to properly teach new concepts.

Technology needs to come into the classroom to keep up with the learning demands of the 21 st century. Schools that are already cash-strapped may find an unsurmountable challenge in coming up with the funding to bring computers and other forms of technology into their classes. Scholastic offers some tips for school districts that want to fit the bill for technology, including everything from asking individuals in the district for “big gifts” to going to Uncle Sam for the funding. The website also suggests negotiating prices on technology when possible and allowing student to bring their own from home.

Photo By Intel Free Press CC-BY-SA-2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Bullying is not a new problem, but it is one that has a profound impact on the learning aptitude of many students today. Technology has given bullies even more avenues to torment their victims – through social networking, texting and other virtual interactions. Cyberbullying has become a major issue for schools, as evidenced by the number of suicides that can be directly traced to bullying events . The fact that laws are still fuzzy regarding cyberbullying adds to the challenge – since parents, teachers and administrators are unsure of how to legally handle such issues.

Student Attitudes and Behaviors

Many public school teachers also cite student attitudes, such as apathy and disrespect for teachers, as a major problem facing schools today. A poll from the National Center for Education Statistics cited that problems like apathy, tardiness, disrespect and absenteeism posed significant challenges for teachers. These issues were seen more frequently at the secondary school level, rather than the primary grades.

No Child Left Behind

Many students, parents and teachers see No Child Left Behind as a detriment to the public education environment today. Although the current Obama Administration is working to reform NCLB policies, the focus in education on both the national and state level continues to be on the testing process. Student test scores are now being used by a number of states as a way to evaluate teacher performance, putting even more pressure on faculty in schools to “teach to the tests.”

NEA Today quotes Kansas special educator Shelly Dunham as saying, “Testing, testing, testing, what is the point of testing? Do we use the data to remediate those who do not measure up? No!” Many teachers believe they are forced to teach to the annual standardized tests, and activities like recess and lunch have been cut way down to make more time for academics in light of the new testing procedures.

Parent Involvement

Often teachers find there is no happy medium when it comes to parental involvement , according to the Kids Health Guide. Some parents won’t be seen for the entire school year, no matter what sort of issues might arise. Others never seem to go away, hovering over the child and teacher and interfering with the education process. There are ways parents can become involved and support their child’s education at the same time, but teachers don’t always get that level from parents.

Student Health

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., and the same poor eating habits that led to the obesity problem may also be contributing to lower student achievement. Obesity also increases a student’s risk for other conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, which could result in higher absenteeism and more academic issues.

Photo By English: Lance Cpl. Ryan M. Joyner [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The national school lunch movement Let’s Move! has been working to bring healthier options into school lunchrooms across the country. According to the website , the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new guidelines in 2012 to boost the nutritional quality of the meals students get at school. Exercise programs are also coming to schools across the country to promote more physical activity among students of all ages. However, it seems the country as a whole still has a long way to go to get on the road to better health on a large scale.

Budget cuts have created huge problems for most public schools in recent years. Less funding means smaller staffs, fewer resources and a lower number of services for students. While some argue that throwing more money at the education problems won’t make them go away, others assert that lack of funding caused many of the problems in the first place.

There are many problems in public schools today, but identifying those issues is half the battle. With a laundry list of challenges to face, now is the time for educators, parents and lawmakers to come together and begin to find solutions – for the benefit of all students in public schools today. Questions? Contact us on Twitter. @publicschoolreview

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Sonoma county’s approach to career and technical education and pathways, todd smith and stacey ocander on pathways strategies to address the healthcare workforce shortage in nebraska and beyond, futures thinking in education, recent releases.

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About Getting Smart

Getting smart collective, impact update, 7 real-world issues that can allow students to tackle big challenges.

Ever since I started teaching in 1990, I have been a student voice advocate. Whether it was as a media/English teacher, student leadership advisor or a site leader. I have always believed that students not only have good ideas, but that they may just have new, unique or even better ones. In an effort to find their own voice and place in the world, they may see things that we don’t see or have long been paralyzed to do anything about. In 1999, I saw students address a school’s racial divide and cultural issues by creating a school-wide learning experience (see Harmony at Buchanan High School ). Ever since then, I have believed that projects with real-world outcomes hold some of the greatest potential for helping students become driven, empathetic and engaged citizens. The outpouring of student voice  in the wake of the recent tragedy in Parkland, Florida, is a great example.

When we begin the project design process in PBL, we can start either with a challenging problem or question and then tie it to our standards, or we can start with our standards and connect them to a real-world challenge. This second approach is more foundational to project based learning, for many reasons, including student engagement, student voice, relevance and authenticity. But beyond that, we also do it because this is where jobs are. Jobs are created and grown as we work to address the real problems facing our world and peoples. Our students are ready to tackle the problems facing our world. They have a voice. They have the tools and resources. And they are not afraid to collaborate and form new communities poised for the problem-solving work that needs to be done.

As an educator, parent and advocate for an engaged/empowered citizenry, I could not be prouder of how the students in Parkland, Florida – along with their peers across the nation – have both found their voice, as well as changed the narrative. These students, as well as many others across the nation, are not afraid to collaborate, and use new technologies and form new professional networks in order to address our current and future challenges. Let’s be honest, our best hope of improving the status of our planet’s many issues truly lie with our youth.

With all of this in mind, there are a number of current and ongoing real-world challenges that we currently face (and probably will for a long time). I don’t like the term “problem-solving” in this context, as it implies that we can fix, cure or eradicate a problem or challenge, but by going after our problems with new solutions, we can certainly move progress forward. And in that movement, there is magic. There is innovation. There is change. There is our collective human mission: how can we creatively collaborate, critically think and communicate in ways that make our world a better place to live.

New Pathways Handbook

Over the last few years, we’ve shared hundreds of stories about connecting students to work (and skills) that matters through our blog, podcast, and various publications. To synthesize these key learnings, we compiled the New Pathways Handbook, a great jumping-off point to our numerous resources and launchpad for getting started with pathways.

Our students are ready to exercise their collective voices and create calls to action. The following seven ideas are not ranked, but are rather my go to “top seven” that naturally lend themselves to projects that excite student interest, rely on available resources, and maintain relevance and authenticity. Moreover, they are not subject-specific. Indeed, there are many opportunities for English, science, social science, math and others to connect to these project challenges. They are:

1) Climate Change – Climate Change will have a significant impact on our students’ lives. Indeed, there may not be one issue that will impact them more comprehensively. Students have seen the data and witnessed the changes, and are listening to the science community. They know that this an urgent issue that will affect almost everything, including, but not limited to, weather, sea levels, food security, water quality, air quality, sustainability and much more. Many organizations – such as NASA , The National Park Service , National Center for Science Education , National Oceanic Atmospheric Association  and SOCAN  to name a few – are working to bring climate change curriculum and projects to teachers and students.

2) Health Care  – Since this has become a prominent topic in the national debate, students are becoming aware of the issues in our country related to rising costs, access, quality and equity. They are beginning to understand the importance both individually and societally. Like the aforementioned topic of climate change, students are also (and unfortunately) learning that we are not necessarily leading the world in this area. They know that this problem is connected to profits, insurance, bureaucracy and more, but they also have a fresher sense of how it could be different, and how we could learn from others around the world. The work on this topic, like many others, is being led by our universities. Institutions such as University of Michigan , Johns Hopkins  and Stanford are leading the way.

3) Food Insecurity   – as our students become more aware of their surrounding communities, as well as the peers they interact with daily, they begin to see differences. Differences in socioeconomic status, opportunities for growth, housing, security, support services and more. And since 13 million young people live in food-insecure homes, almost all of our students, as well as educators, know someone who is hungry on a daily basis. This may often start with service-based projects, but can also lead to high quality project based learning complete with research, data analysis, diverse solutions and ultimately a variety of calls to action. If you want to see how one teacher and his students transformed not only their school, but entire community related to food insecurity, check out Power Of A Plant author Stephen Ritz and the Green Bronx Machine .

4) Violence  – This is a natural given current events taking the nation by storm. However, the related topics and issues here are not new. And yes, they are politically charged, but young people care about these issues . They care about their collective safety and futures, but also know something can be done. In addition to the specifics related to school violence and safety, students can study details of how to advocate, organize, campaign and solicit support, learn that this is a complex problem that has many plausible causes, and, perhaps most importantly, hope for progress. They also know that although they are concerned about attending school in safe environments, our society and culture have violence-related problems and issues that they want to see addressed. Following the recent incident in Florida and the subsequent response from students, the New York Times has compiled a list of resources  for educators on this topic.

5) Homelessness  – We often hear the expression “think globally, act locally.” The topic of homelessness has garnered more attention than ever as more and more communities wrestle with a growing homeless population. In addition to opportunities for our students and schools to partner with local non-profit organizations dealing with homelessness, this topic, like others, is also a great way to elicit empathy in our students. We often hear from educators, employers and others that we want to raise adults that are able to solve problems, improve our communities, and have the ability to see beyond themselves. This topic can provide a number of options for helping students develop those skills. Finally, we also have a growing population of homeless students. So, the relevancy and urgency are all there. Many have laid the groundwork for us to address this within our curriculum. Organizations like Bridge Communities , National Coalition For The Homeless , Homeless Hub  and Learning To Give  are some of the many leading the way.

6) Sustainability  – This is an extremely global issue that affects everything from energy, to food, to resources, economics, health, wellness and more. Students are becoming more and more aware that our very future as a species depends on how we address sustainability challenges. They are aware that this challenge requires new ways of thinking, new priorities, new standards and new ways of doing things. Sustainability is all about future innovation. Students have tremendous opportunities to collaborate, think critically, communicate, and be creative when questioning if a current practice, method, resource or even industry is sustainable without dramatic change and shifts. Students who tackle these challenges will be our leaders – business, political and cultural – of the future. Educators and students can find almost infinite resources and partners. A few of these are Green Education Foundation , Green Schools Initiative , Strategic Energy Innovations , Facing the Future  and Teach For America .

7) Education  – It seems that each and every day, more and more of us (though maybe still not enough) are moving closer to realizing that our educational systems are seemingly unprepared to make the big shifts needed to truly address the learning needs of 21st-century students. The related challenges are many – new literacies, skills, economic demands, brain research, technology, outcomes and methodologies. It’s a good thing that more and more people – both inside and outside of education – are both demanding and implementing change. However, one of the continued ironies within education is that we (and I recognize that this is a generalization) rarely ask the primary customer (students) what they think their education should look, feel and sound like. We have traditionally underestimated their ability to articulate what they need and what would benefit them for their individual and collective futures. One of the many foundational advantages of project based learning is that we consult and consider the student in project design and implementation. Student “voice & choice” creates opportunities for students to have input on and make decisions regarding everything from the final product, to focus area within a topic or challenge, and even whom they may partner with from peers to professionals. It’s this choice that not only helps elicit engagement and ownership of learning, but offers opportunities for students to enhance all of the skills that we want in our ideal graduates. As one might guess, there is not a lot of formal curriculum being developed for teachers to lead students through the issue of education reform. This may need to be an organic thing that happens class by class and school by school. It can start as easily as one teacher asking students about what they want out of their education. Some other entry points are The Buck Institute for Education , Edutopia’s Five Ways To Give Your Students More Voice & Choice , Barbara Bray’s Rethinking Learning  and reDesign .

This is not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list. However, these seven broad topics present hundreds of relevant challenges that our students can and should have opportunities to address. If they do, they will not only be more prepared for their futures, but also poised to positively impact all of our futures.

For more, see:

• High Quality PBL Case Study: School21
• In Broward County, Student Voice Impacts the Classroom and Beyond
• Introducing a Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning

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The Education Crisis: Being in School Is Not the Same as Learning

First grade students in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province are learning the alphabet through child-friendly flash cards. Their learning materials help educators teach through interactive and engaging activities and are provided free of charge through a student’s first learning backpack. © World Bank 

THE NAME OF THE DOG IS PUPPY. This seems like a simple sentence. But did you know that in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, three out of four third grade students do not understand it? The world is facing a learning crisis . Worldwide, hundreds of millions of children reach young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a transaction, reading a doctor’s instructions, or understanding a bus schedule—let alone building a fulfilling career or educating their children. Education is at the center of building human capital. The latest World Bank research shows that the productivity of 56 percent of the world’s children will be less than half of what it could be if they enjoyed complete education and full health. For individuals, education raises self-esteem and furthers opportunities for employment and earnings. And for a country, it helps strengthen institutions within societies, drives long-term economic growth, reduces poverty, and spurs innovation.

One of the most interesting, large scale educational technology efforts is being led by EkStep , a philanthropic effort in India. EkStep created an open digital infrastructure which provides access to learning opportunities for 200 million children, as well as professional development opportunities for 12 million teachers and 4.5 million school leaders. Both teachers and children are accessing content which ranges from teaching materials, explanatory videos, interactive content, stories, practice worksheets, and formative assessments. By monitoring which content is used most frequently—and most beneficially—informed decisions can be made around future content.

In the Dominican Republic, a World Bank supported pilot study shows how adaptive technologies can generate great interest among 21st century students and present a path to supporting the learning and teaching of future generations. Yudeisy, a sixth grader participating in the study, says that what she likes doing the most during the day is watching videos and tutorials on her computer and cell phone. Taking childhood curiosity as a starting point, the study aimed to channel it towards math learning in a way that interests Yudeisy and her classmates.

Yudeisy, along with her classmates in a public elementary school in Santo Domingo, is part of a four-month pilot to reinforce mathematics using software that adapts to the math level of each student. © World Bank

Adaptive technology was used to evaluate students’ initial learning level to then walk them through math exercises in a dynamic, personalized way, based on artificial intelligence and what the student is ready to learn. After three months, students with the lowest initial performance achieved substantial improvements. This shows the potential of technology to increase learning outcomes, especially among students lagging behind their peers. In a field that is developing at dizzying speeds, innovative solutions to educational challenges are springing up everywhere. Our challenge is to make technology a driver of equity and inclusion and not a source of greater inequality of opportunity. We are working with partners worldwide to support the effective and appropriate use of educational technologies to strengthen learning.

When schools and educations systems are managed well, learning happens

Successful education reforms require good policy design, strong political commitment, and effective implementation capacity . Of course, this is extremely challenging. Many countries struggle to make efficient use of resources and very often increased education spending does not translate into more learning and improved human capital. Overcoming such challenges involves working at all levels of the system.

At the central level, ministries of education need to attract the best experts to design and implement evidence-based and country-specific programs. District or regional offices need the capacity and the tools to monitor learning and support schools. At the school level, principals need to be trained and prepared to manage and lead schools, from planning the use of resources to supervising and nurturing their teachers. However difficult, change is possible. Supported by the World Bank, public schools across Punjab in Pakistan have been part of major reforms over the past few years to address these challenges. Through improved school-level accountability by monitoring and limiting teacher and student absenteeism, and the introduction of a merit-based teacher recruitment system, where only the most talented and motivated teachers were selected, they were able to increase enrollment and retention of students and significantly improve the quality of education. "The government schools have become very good now, even better than private ones," said Mr. Ahmed, a local villager.

The World Bank, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UK’s Department for International Development, is developing the Global Education Policy Dashboard . This new initiative will provide governments with a system for monitoring how their education systems are functioning, from learning data to policy plans, so they are better able to make timely and evidence-based decisions.

Education reform: The long game is worth it

In fact, it will take a generation to realize the full benefits of high-quality teachers, the effective use of technology, improved management of education systems, and engaged and prepared learners. However, global experience shows us that countries that have rapidly accelerated development and prosperity all share the common characteristic of taking education seriously and investing appropriately. As we mark the first-ever International Day of Education on January 24, we must do all we can to equip our youth with the skills to keep learning, adapt to changing realities, and thrive in an increasingly competitive global economy and a rapidly changing world of work.

The schools of the future are being built today. These are schools where all teachers have the right competencies and motivation, where technology empowers them to deliver quality learning, and where all students learn fundamental skills, including socio-emotional, and digital skills. These schools are safe and affordable to everyone and are places where children and young people learn with joy, rigor, and purpose. Governments, teachers, parents, and the international community must do their homework to realize the promise of education for all students, in every village, in every city, and in every country. 

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3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools, table of contents.

• Problems students are facing
• A look inside the classroom
• How teachers are experiencing their jobs
• How teachers view the education system
• Satisfaction with specific aspects of the job
• Do teachers feel trusted to do their job well?
• Likelihood that teachers will change jobs
• Would teachers recommend teaching as a profession?
• Reasons it’s so hard to get everything done during the workday
• Staffing issues
• Balancing work and personal life
• How teachers experience their jobs
• Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Major problems at school
• Discipline practices
• Policies around cellphone use
• Verbal abuse and physical violence from students
• Addressing behavioral and mental health challenges
• Teachers’ interactions with parents
• K-12 education and political parties
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

• 48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
• 49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

• Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
• Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
• Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

• 61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
• 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
• 34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.  

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

• 67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

• 31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
• On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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• What problems are we really trying to solve in education? Seven suggestions

The quest to improve education systems has become an industry. Governments and schools promise improved student performance, excellence and academic rigor. Some want a broken education system fixed, but is there enough reflection or debate about what excellence means for education and what education’s underlying problems are? Debates about funding, homework, teacher pay, discipline and test scores will persist, but do we really think the next generation will flourish on the basis of these issues alone being solved? With all the money in the world, what should student learning look like; how should teachers practice their craft to support it, and how should schools and systems operate to make it sustainable?

It is tempting to propose solutions, including technology, without digging deeper into what actually needs to be solved.

More than one ‘school of the future’ has carried forward unspoken education problems or assumptions of the past. Some well-meaning political leaders have championed the need for increased education funding without a clear idea of how it might be spent, and scores of education departments have invested in technology that didn’t make a difference because it automated old approaches rather than transforming them, for example, interactive whiteboards that can in some cases reinforce a teacher’s role as information-giver in a world that calls for information seekers, or computer labs built on the old idea that students need to learn about, rather than with, computers. Here are seven education problems that seek solutions. They speak to the growing demands and sophistication of our global community.

1. Ownership

Ownership, as in who take responsibility for the learning, is a problem in many school settings. It is not uncommon for students to be ‘spoon-fed’ knowledge from K to 12 to ‘get through the content’ in time for the test. But who is owning the learning as children grow into young adults? It often appears the teacher works harder than the student, having to ‘perform the lesson’ well beyond the stage when students should be developing their ability to learn independently, to be more self-directed in their learning, to learn with agency. In homes too, many parents take homework tasks more seriously than their children. We have a new category of ‘turn-it-in’ software on the market to police a generation of learners who perhaps skimped on information literacy skill development because the teacher needed to ‘give the lesson’ as students sat and received. Another pattern is where teachers own the learning throughout a unit of study and students take eleventh-hour ownership by cramming.

2. Relevance

Is the problem one of relevance as the world reframes itself in the digital age, yet many classrooms merely tack on digital elements?  Do we interpret the curriculum as a set of topics to be ‘covered’ or are we immersing students in the real-world problems to be solved? When students ask the question “why do I need to know this?” or worse, “do I need to know this for the test?”, are they picking up on the issue of relevance, and how do we fix that?

3. Compliance versus quality

Too often, compliance limits rather than drives quality. In some parts of the world, children study long hours in ‘exam factories’ to support the machine-readable PISA or standardized test goals of their respective jurisdictions. Factory compliance may be good business for text book and testing resource companies, but it is can be at odds with students learning to co-construct meaning and apply higher-order thinking to solve learning challenges geared to today’s environment. This takes us back to the issue of relevance. Successful education systems are self-aware of potential testing pitfalls. Such systems seek to secure good PISA results as a bi-product of students mastering a wider set of soft-skills. In other words, there is an important distinction to be made about PISA success as an indicator of a dimension of a effective education, not the singular goal of an education system. We have to ask ourselves, are we really doing OK as a nation just because a sample of our 15 year old students are good test-takers? Do we need to look at more longitudinal indicators such as university and vocational education completions, employment outcomes and levels of entrepreneurship and patent registration rates? If we seek to make schools accountable, have we fully thought through what are the most important measures of success?

4. It’s political

Perhaps the problem is that the electoral mainstream feel they know what’s best for education. Everyone feels they are an expert on education as most people went to school, though few are formally qualified as educators, therefore, education policy often reflects popular ideas about what makes ‘a good education’, not necessarily grounded in research. More often than not, those popular ideas reflect learning in a world that no longer exists.

5. Leadership

Good leadership makes all the differince. Schools invest in technology plans, exam preparation and curriculum development, but how many leaders are driving efforts to define, enhance and model more effective approaches to learning and teaching? Are leaders articulating and celebrating what truly makes an excellent teacher; clarifying how that is measured and setting incentives and rewards accordingly? Is the status of teachers being promoted by government leaders and the media? Countries such as Finland and Singapore afford teachers a very high status in the community and not surprisingly, their graduates enjoy high levels of academic, social, entrepreneurial and artistic success.

6. Confusing ends and means

Are we aspiring to produce and market ‘modern’ shiny schools with all the latest technology, or are we looking at the quality of the learning environment and learning design, as in what student are actually doing in their day to day learning, how the technology is being used and for what purpose? Some school marketing departments promote IT and sporting facilities to parents to attract enrolments, but the articulation of approaches to learning an teaching can provide a marketing challenge.

7. Are we asking the wrong questions?

Is there no problem at all, just the opportunity to improve? Schools vary. Some are further along in their pedagogical or heutagogical (as in self-directed learning) journey for a range of reasons. Perhaps we need to be more thoughtful as to what makes for a good education; more critical of what makes for a ‘top school’, and careful of what we wish for in education, clarifying real problems before jumping to solutions.

What do you see as the major problems we are trying to solve in education today? Do the ideas above resonate with you?

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7 big problems–and solutions–in education

Solving these problems could be a key step to boosting innovation

Education has 99 problems, but the desire to solve those problems isn’t one. But because we can’t cover 99 problems in one story, we’ll focus on seven, which the League of Innovative Schools identified as critical to educational innovation.

While these aren’t the only challenges that education faces today, these seven problems are often identified as roadblocks that prevent schools and districts from embracing innovation.

Problem No. 1: There exist a handful of obstacles that prevent a more competency-based education system

( Next page: Problems and solutions )

Today’s education system includes ingrained practices, including policy and decades-old methods, that prevent schools from moving to competency-based models.

Solutions to this problem include:

• Creating and making available educational resources on competency-based learning. These resources might be best practices, rubrics or tools, or research.
• Convening a coalition of League of Innovative Schools districts that are working to build successful competency-based models.
• Creating a technical solution for flexible tracking of competencies and credits.

Problem No. 2: Leadership doesn’t always support second-order change, and those in potential leadership roles, such as teachers and librarians, aren’t always empowered to help effect change.

• Promoting League of Innovative Schools efforts to enable second-order change leadership
• Creating a framework, to be used in professional development, that would target and explain second-order change leadership discussions
• Schedule panel discussions about second-order change leadership

Problem No. 3: Communities and cultures are resistant to change, including technology-based change

• Identifying new and engaging ways to share cutting-edge and tech-savvy best practices with school and district stakeholders and community members
• Involve business leaders in technology-rich schools and create school-business partnerships
• Look to influential organizations to spearhead national ed-tech awareness campaigns

Problem No. 4: Education budgets aren’t always flexible enough to support the cost, sustainability, or scalability of innovations

• Build relationships with local businesses and career academies, and create incentives for companies to hire students, in order to create a revenue stream for schools
• Look to competitive pricing and creative solutions
• Leaders must not be afraid to take risks and support the changes needed to bring about this kind of budgeting

Problem No. 5: Professional development in the U.S. is stale and outdated

• Identifying best practices from other industries or sectors, and learn more about adult learning
• Create a community for teachers to access immediate help
• Personalize professional development
• Create and strengthen K-12 and higher education partnerships
• Create alternative modes of certification and reward forward-thinking practices

Problem No. 6: School districts do not have evidence-based processes to evaluate, select, and monitor digital content inclusive of aligned formative assessments

• Creating a marketplace or database to help educators identify and evaluate, as well as take ownership of, digital content
• Involve students in digital content evaluation
• Identify schools or districts to test digital content evaluation and storage systems

Problem No. 7: Current and traditional instructional methods leave students less engaged and less inclined to take ownership of their learning

• Creating working groups, within education organizations, with the aim of advancing authentic student learning
• Leverage the internet to create online tools and resources that offer innovative teaching strategies to help engage students
• Help teachers understand and practice authentic teaching and learning to help students master skills and standards

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Students with mental health struggles linked to absenteeism and lower grades, showing clear need for more in-school  support

Research Scientist and Co-Director of the Center for Applied Research in Education (CARE), University of Southern California

Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern California

Disclosure statement

Amie Rapaport, Ph.D. receives funding from the Hewlett, Smith Richardson, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and from the Institute of Education Sciences.

Morgan Polikoff receives funding from the Hewlett, Smith Richardson, Overdeck Family, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, as well at the National Institutes of Health.

University of Southern California provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

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Parents are reporting worse mental health for their children than they did a decade ago, but different groups of children are struggling with mental health in markedly different ways .

That’s what our team at the University of Southern California’s Center for Applied Research in Education found using a widely used mental health screening measure. More specifically, we found that preteen boys – the subgroup with the worst scores – struggle more in areas that include externalizing behaviors like hyperactivity, inattentiveness and conduct problems. For teen girls – the subgroup with the second-worst scores – struggles were especially pronounced in more internal problems like anxiety and depression.

These results confirm an upward trend in student mental health concerns that began before the pandemic but was likely exacerbated by school shutdowns, social isolation and other child and family stressors brought on by COVID-19.

Additionally, we found these mental health screener scores – which we refer to as “difficulties scores” here – are linked in important ways to grades and attendance. That is to say, those who had lower grades and lower attendance were much more likely to have difficulties scores in the highest, most concerning range.

Among students with good attendance at the halfway point in the school year, only about 1 in 14 had a high difficulties score. But among students who were chronically absent at the halfway point, nearly 1 in 4 had a high difficulties score.

Similarly, students who earn some Cs in schools are three to four times more likely to have a high difficulties score compared with students earning all As and Bs – 19% vs. 6%, respectively.

As high scores on the mental health screener are predictive of specific types of mental health diagnoses – like anxiety, mood or conduct disorders – these results provide new insights into the complex relationships between mental health and school outcomes.

Why it matters

Children are struggling with mental health in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Various data sources have highlighted the increased rates of teen suicides , emergency room visits and anxiety and depression in school-age children. They are also struggling academically , while rates of chronic absenteeism continue to be higher than ever .

There are opportunities for schools to address these trends by providing school-based mental health services. These services include one-on-one counseling or therapy, case managers who can coordinate various services for students in need, and referrals to outside resources. And in fact, our research shows almost three-quarters of parents whose students use school-provided services are satisfied and find them helpful.

But many schools are not offering these supports – or at least, parents are unaware of them. Our study found that 59% of high-income respondents reported that mental health resources were available in their children’s schools, compared with 37% of low-income respondents. Yet low-income students are more likely to take up those supports when they are available. Over half of respondents from the lowest income group reported that their child made use of mental health services when available, compared with 11% of respondents from the highest income group.

There is considerable unmet student need for mental health supports, as 20% of parents whose children are in schools without such supports say they would use them if offered. These results suggest there is an opportunity for schools to invest in not only supplying mental health services, but ensuring they reach the students most in need.

What still isn’t known

While our research confirms important links between children’s mental health and their school outcomes, we do not yet know which is causing the other. For instance, some students may be staying home from school more because of anxiety and depression, while other students who miss school for illness or other reasons may develop anxiety over time as a result.

What’s next

For schools and families to address worsening child mental health and academic outcomes, researchers must seek to better understand the underlying causes of increasing mental health concerns and absenteeism in children. Research is also needed to explore differences in the relationship between mental health and school outcomes for different subgroups of students – by income level or by racial subgroups. This can potentially inform how schools to respond to problems that threaten student well-being.

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Top 8 modern education problems and ways to solve them.

| September 15, 2017 | 0 responses

In many ways, today’s system is better than the traditional one. Technology is the biggest change and the greatest advantage at the same time. Various devices, such as computers, projectors, tablets and smartphones, make the process of learning simpler and more fun. The Internet gives both students and teachers access to limitless knowledge.

However, this is not the perfect educational system. It has several problems, so we have to try to improve it.

•  Problem: The Individual Needs of Low-Achievers Are Not Being Addressed

Personalized learning is the most popular trend in education. The educators are doing their best to identify the learning style of each student and provide training that corresponds to their needs.

However, many students are at risk of falling behind, especially children who are learning mathematics and reading. In the USA, in particular, there are large gaps in science achievements by middle school.

Solution: Address the Needs of Low-Achievers

The educators must try harder to reduce the number of students who are getting low results on long-term trajectories. If we identify these students at an early age, we can provide additional training to help them improve the results.

• Problem: Overcrowded Classrooms

In 2016, there were over 17,000 state secondary school children in the UK being taught in classes of 36+ pupils.

Solution: Reduce the Number of Students in the Classroom

Only a smaller class can enable an active role for the student and improve the level of individual attention they get from the teacher.

• Problem: The Teachers Are Expected to Entertain

Today’s generations of students love technology, so the teachers started using technology just to keep them engaged. That imposes a serious issue: education is becoming an entertainment rather than a learning process.

Solution: Set Some Limits

We don’t have to see education as opposed to entertainment. However, we have to make the students aware of the purpose of technology and games in the classroom. It’s all about learning.

• Problem: Not Having Enough Time for Volunteering in University

The students are overwhelmed with projects and assignments. There is absolutely no space for internships and volunteering in college .

Solution: Make Internships and Volunteering Part of Education

When students graduate, a volunteering activity can make a great difference during the hiring process. In addition, these experiences help them develop into complete persons. If the students start getting credits for volunteering and internships, they will be willing to make the effort.

• Problem: The Parents Are Too Involved

Due to the fact that technology became part of the early educational process, it’s necessary for the parents to observe the way their children use the Internet at home. They have to help the students to complete assignments involving technology.

What about those parents who don’t have enough time for that? What if they have time, but want to use it in a different way?

Solution: Stop Expecting Parents to Act Like Teachers at Home

The parent should definitely support their child throughout the schooling process. However, we mustn’t turn this into a mandatory role. The teachers should stop assigning homework that demands parental assistance.

• Problem: Outdated Curriculum

Although we transformed the educational system, many features of the curriculum remained unchanged.

Solution: Eliminate Standardised Exams

This is a radical suggestion. However, standardised exams are a big problem. We want the students to learn at their own pace. We are personalizing the process of education. Then why do we expect them to compete with each other and meet the same standards as everyone else? The teacher should be the one responsible of grading.

• Problem: Not All Teachers Can Meet the Standards of the New Educational System

Can we really expect all teachers to use technology? Some of them are near the end of their teaching careers and they have never used tablets in the lecturing process before.

Solution: Provide Better Training for the Teachers

If we want all students to receive high-quality education based on the standards of the system, we have to prepare the teachers first. They need more training, preparation, and even tests that prove they can teach today’s generations of students.

• Problem: Graduates Are Not Ready for What Follows

A third of the employers in the UK are not happy with the performance of recent graduates. That means the system is not preparing them well for the challenges that follow.

Solution: More Internships, More Realistic Education

Practical education – that’s a challenge we still haven’t met. We have to get more practical.

The evolution of the educational system is an important process. Currently, we have a system that’s more suitable to the needs of generations when compared to the traditional system. However, it’s still not perfect. The evolution never stops.

Author Bio:   Chris Richardson is a journalist, editor, and a blogger. He loves to write, learn new things, and meet new outgoing people. Chris is also fond of traveling, sports, and playing the guitar. Follow him on Facebook and Google+ .

Tags: solutions

100+ global problems worth solving

Of course this list is far from being complete. It’s just a tiny start.

CONTRIBUTE And you can add to this list of “global problems worth solving” on our Google Drive . Feel free to add yourself to the contributor list. Do not spam it – please. We will update this post once in a while.

(1) Building a platform that collects problems, anybody can contribute and be curated by the community.

ENVIRONMENT

(2) Inventing new material or techniques to replace plastic (3) Inventing new techniques, and materials to replace paper (4)Inventing new techniques and products, recycling any given material (5) Inventing new materials replacing plastic bottles and cups (6) Creating new ways to package food (100’s of varieties of food) environmentally friendly (7) Finding artificial, yet environmentally friendly replacement for wood to reduce deforestation (8) Inventing new motors that neither use electricity nor fuel

(9) Finding ways to augment education in conventional schools and universities with highly relevant education (10) Creating social education programs that can run in parallel to schools, universities or jobs (11) Offering classes for undergrads, how to get successful and rich (12) Providing better base education programs on political know how (13) Providing better education programs on the general concept of economies (14) Providing better education on how wars are started and how peace is achieved and maintained today (15) Creating more tangible lifelong learning concepts (16) Creating more universally applicable career guidance mechanisms or platforms (17) Creating solutions to shift from an “all learn – all work” model to a more balance model

(18) Exploring new ways to generally reduce and safe energy (19) Providing a more transparent and plausible energy consumption prediction for the scenario that most people on earth are out of poverty, living in newly developed countries (20) New ways to harvest energy from bio thermal energy sources (21) New ways to harvest solar energy (22) New ways to harvest hydro energy (23) Finding ways to transmit energy created on the moon, down to earth (24) Identifying new ways to harvest energy from unidentified sources (25) Finding all new ways to store electric energy in bigger volume and less in size and weight (26) Smart energy re-distribution for those who produce excess energy that can be provided to others

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

(27) Lower cost reliable Internet connections (28) Independent and reliable “News & Information Publishing” organization (29) Better, social media integrated search engines (30) All new and modern operating systems (31) Fully integrated business application tools (32) Meteorology technology provider not only for weather forecasts but for everything agricultural (33) Generally available intelligent traffic lights, connected to a traffic flow system, but autonomous features (34) Low cost mini satellites to explore earth and space, provide data hubs, accessibility and more (35) Omnipresent, inexpensive and easy mobile payment system (36) Building robots for all kinds of dedicated tasks such as cleaning shoes, planting crops, cleaning windows, etc. (37) The whole range of wearable products counting, watching, recording, measuring all kinds of things underway (38) Situation dependent automatically changing materials to turn a lofty t-shirt into a rain covering shirt (39) Smart materials that change their behavior based on environmental conditions i.e, taking the carbon out of carbon dioxide and returning the dioxide back to air (40) Smart Contract development for cryptocurrency agnostic blockchain like media (41) Universal low voltage power connection system that handles everything from a single wall plug to staggering distribution (42) Creating universal ultra small IOT devices that allows any product to be programmed by a smartphone including remote controls, refrigerators, heaters, air conditioner, lights – anything. One interface for any product in the future. (43) New better zipper that do not stuck, break or derail WATER & SANITATION

(44) New ways to get to clean water (45) Better ways to turn salt water into sweet water (46) New ways to manage waste water in rural areas (47) Cheaper ways to produce sanitation products i.e. toilets (48) All new toilette models alleviating paper use (49) More efficient ways for flushing toilets than using precious water (50) New product for cleaning replacing bathtubs and showers or make their use a less used luxury (51) More water consumption sensitive products such as water cranes, showers, garden watering systems

FOOD & DIET 

(52) New ways to offer unified insights into the ingredients of food in any supermarket (53) Ways to eradicate factory farming (mass animal farming) (54) More scientifically proven and generally understood advice to a healthy diet (55) New ways to provide food portions in smaller sizes to stimulate reduction of food consumption and reduction of food waste RESEARCH, DATA & INFORMATION

(56) Finding new ways to research all the facts and sources of climate change (57) Finding new ways to deal with climate change and leverage the development so far (58) Finding ways to predict climate change more precisely for the next 50 years and provide meaningful indications for the agricultural industry (59) Better ways to organize research in general, creating more unbiased data. (60) Catalog of things that could be done with AI and inspires developer (61) An AI development system that could be used by virtually anybody (62) Research for a more rational view of the evolving powers of Artificial Intelligence (63) Creating algorithms that focus on environmental dependencies of new technologies (64) Identify new ways that help certain countries to get off of the data protection hysteria (65) New suggestions for data privacy models that give more power to the individual (66) Developing ways to deal with the general risk of eradicating life through asteroids (67) Developing scenarios to evacuate earth if needed, even though we would probably take 1,000 years to find the technical possibilities. (68) New tools and platforms to interact with governments and communities (69) New apps that cover all of the problems, allow to contribute in all kinds of ways and see reports (70) 3-D printing companies, producing unique products, spare-parts, artificial organs, and more (71) Cyber security improvements to significantly reduce or even alleviate hack attacks (72) Data ownership mechanisms, rules and technology that makes sure that personal data are controllable by its owner

(73) Providing better technology for customer experience management (74) Providing a new value system for corporate balance sheets involving employee contribution (75) Providing new ways to offer equity to highly innovative employees (76) Develop new systems that can track the degree of innovation development (77) Design new systems for customer interaction with corporations (78) Design new corporate employee education systems including lifelong learning (79) Create a fortune 100,000 leader board with indexes addressing environmental, employee and other key aspects (80) Creating all new insurance business models that provide much more contract transparency and easier to deal with (81) Online grocery stores with home delivery like a few in Germany or Switzerland (82) New media business models, disrupting the user unfriendly monopolies (83) Much easier booking systems for public transportation anywhere in the world (84) Creating systems that alleviate waiting (in line, at doctors, at shops, at bus stops….)

(85) More effective ways to deal with birth control in times where we help more people to survive (86) Starting large scale research that can only be done with tens of thousands of supporters (87) Finding better ways to deal with migration, integration and return mechanisms (88) Finding ways to replace prisons with socially effective methods of societal reintegration (89) Finding new policies to deal with people ignoring the generally accepted rules of societal coexistence (90) Finding solutions to get to a broader reach of well being for all humans (91) Developing new political concepts or new varieties of democracy that is more applicable in today’s world (92) Developing new job concepts for people who work on social or macro economic solutions to be financed (93) Developing new concepts for city creation addressing the bigger problems of today’s cities (94) Developing new and holistic ways to reduce traffic congestion in larger cities (95) Developing new logistical concepts to bring the huge amount of products directly to the citizens (96) Developing new techniques to transport the remaining waste to the designated areas without the current waste disposal chain (97) Finding new methods to alleviate corruption in government and other large organizations (98) Finding new mechanisms to make governments more accountable, providing rewards and punishment solutions based on their achievements relative to their promises

(99) New ways to provide a more balanced healthcare for the various developed nations (100) New ways to provide healthcare in the first place for developing nations (101) New ways for mental health care (102) New ways to produce cheaper medicine or secure living without medicine

This list of “global problems worth solving” will sooner or later grow much bigger. We are looking forward to your inputs.

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Peter DeWitt's

Finding common ground.

A former K-5 public school principal turned author, presenter, and leadership coach, Peter DeWitt provides insights and advice for education leaders. Former superintendent Michael Nelson is a frequent contributor. Read more from this blog .

12 Critical Issues Facing Education in 2020

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Education has many critical issues; although if you watch the nightly news or 24/7 news channels, you will most likely see very little when it comes to education. Our political climate has taken over the news, and it seems as though education once again takes a back seat to important political events as well as salacious stories about reality-television stars. It sometimes make me wonder how much education is valued?

Every year around this time, I highlight some critical issues facing education. It’s not that I am trying to rush the holiday season by posting it well before the 1 st of the new year. It’s actually that I believe we should have a critical look at the issues we face in education, and create some dialogue and action around these issues, and talk about them sooner than later.

Clearly, the fact that we are entering into 2020 means we need to look at some of these issues with hindsight because we have seen them before. Have the issues of the past changed or do they continue to impact our lives? As with any list, you will notice one missing that you believe should be added. Please feel free to use social media or the comment box at the end of this blog to add the ones you believe should be there.

12 Issues Facing Education

These issues are not ranked in order of importance. I actually developed a list of about 20 critical issues but wanted to narrow it down to 12. They range from issues that impact our lives in negative ways to issues that impact our lives in positive ways, and I wanted to provide a list of issues I feel educators will believe are in their control.

I have spent the better part of 2019 on the road traveling across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Australia. The issues that are highlighted below have come up in most of those countries, but they will be particularly important for those of us living in the U.S. There are a couple that seem to be specifically a U.S. issue, and that will be obvious to you when you see them.

Health & Wellness - Research shows that many of our students are stressed out , anxiety-filled, and at their breaking point. Teachers and leaders are experiencing those same issues. Whether it’s due to social media, being overscheduled, or the impact of high-stakes testing and pressure to perform, this needs to be the year where mindfulness becomes even more important than it was in 2019. Whether it’s using mindfulness apps and programs or the implementation of double recess in elementary school and frequent brain beaks throughout the day, it’s time schools are given the autonomy to help students find more balance.

Literacy - We have too many students not reading with proficiency, and therefore, at risk of missing out on the opportunity to reach their full potential. For decades there have been debates about whole language and phonics while our students still lag behind. It’s time to put a deep focus on teaching literacy with a balanced approach.

School Leadership - Many school leaders enter into the position with high hopes of having a deep impact but are not always prepared for what they find. School leadership has the potential to be awesome. And when I mention school leadership, I am also referring to department chairs, PLC leads, or grade-level leaders. Unfortunately, not all leaders feel prepared for the position. Leadership is about understanding how to get people to work together, having a deep understanding of learning, and building the capacity of everyone around them. This means that university programs, feeder programs, and present leaders who coach those who want to be leaders, need to find ways to expose potential leaders to all of the goodness, as well as the hardships, that come with the position.

Our Perception of Students - For the last year I have been involved in some interesting dialogue in schools. One of the areas of concern is the perception educators (i.e. leaders, teachers, etc.) have of their students. Sometimes we lower our expectations of students because of the background they come from, and other times we hold unreachable expectations because we believe our students are too coddled. And even worse, I have heard educators talk about certain students in very negative ways, with a clear bias that must get in the way of how they teach those students. Let 2020 be a year when we focus on our perception of students and address those biases that may bleed into our teaching and leading.

Cultures of Equity - I learned a long time ago that the history I learned about in my K-12 education was a white-washed version of it all. There is more than one side to those stories, and we need all of them for a deeper understanding of the world. Read this powerful guest blog by Michael Fullan and John Malloy for a deeper look into cultures of equity.

Additionally, we have an achievement gap with some marginalized populations (i.e., African American boys), and have other marginalized populations (i.e., LGBTQ) who do not feel safe in school. Isn’t school supposed to be a safe place where every student reaches their full potential?

Students and the schools they attend need to be provided with equitable resources, and we know that is not happening yet. My go-to resource is always Rethinking Schools .

District Office/Building-Level Relationships - There are too many school districts with a major disconnection between the district office and building level leaders. 2020 needs to be the year when more district offices find a balance between the top-down initaitives that take place, and creating more space to engage in dialogue with building leaders and teachers. School districts will likely never improve if people are constantly told what to do and not given the opportunity to share the creative side that probably got them hired in the first place.

Politics - It’s an election year. Get ready for the wave of everything that comes with it. Negative campaigns and bad behavior by adults at the same time we tell students to be respectful to each other. It’s important for us to open up this dialogue in our classrooms, and talk about how to respectfully agree or disagree. Additionally, we have to wonder how the campaigns and ultimate presidential decision will impact education because the last few education secretaries have not given us all that much to cheer about.

Our Perception of Teachers - Over the last few decades there has been a concerted effort to make teachers look as though they chose teaching because they could not do anything else. Whether it be in political rhetoric or through the media and television programs, our dialogue has not been kind, and it has led to a negative perception of teachers. This rhetoric has not only been harmful to school climates, it has turned some teachers into passive participants in their own profession. Teachers are educated, hardworking professionals who are trying to help meet the academic and social-emotional needs of their students, which is not always easy.

Vaping - Many of the middle and high schools in the U.S. that I am working with are experiencing too many students who vape, and some of those students are doing it in class. In fact, this NBC story shows that there has been a major spike in the use of vaping among adolescents. Additionally This story shows that vaping is a major health crisis , and it will take parents, schools, and society to put a dent in it.

Time on Task vs. Student Engagement - For too long we have agreed upon words like “Time on task,” which often equates to students being passive in their own learning. It’s time we focus on student engagement, which allows us to go from surface to deep level learning and on to transfer level learning. It also helps balance the power in the room between adults and students.

Teachers With guns - I need to be honest with you; this one was not easy to add to the list, and it is very much a U.S. issue. I recently saw this story on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt that focused on teachers in Utah being trained to shoot guns in case of an active shooter in their school. This is a story that we will see more of in 2020.

Climate Change - Whether it’s because they were inspired by Greta Thunberg (Time Person of the Year) or the years of hearing about climate change in school and at home, young people will continue to rise up and make climate change a critical issue in 2020. We saw thousands of students strike this year and that will surely rise after Thunberg’s latest recognition.

In the End - It’s always interesting to reflect on the year and begin compiling a list of critical issues. I know it can be daunting to look at, and begin to see where we fit into all of this, but I have always believed that education is about taking on some of this crucial issues and turning them around to make them better. Anyone who gets into teaching needs to believe that they can improve the educational experience for their students, and these are just a few places to start.

Peter DeWitt, Ed.D. is the author of several books including Coach It Further: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve School Leadership (Corwin Press. 2018), and Instructional Leadership: Creating Practice Out Of Theory (Corwin Press. 2020). Connect with him on Twitter , Instagram or through his YouTube station .

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

The opinions expressed in Peter DeWitt’s Finding Common Ground are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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The Morning

Schools have a tech problem.

We explore some of the tech challenges faced by educators.

By Natasha Singer

I cover technology in schools.

As the new school year begins, school districts across the United States are cracking down on cellphones in classrooms. Teachers are tired of constantly pressing students to stop watching TikTok and messaging friends during class. In many schools, students have also used phones to threaten or bully their classmates.

As a result, as I note in a story today , at least eight states, including Indiana and Pennsylvania, have adopted measures this year to limit cellphones in schools.

But the phone crackdowns illustrate a larger issue. Technology rules and safeguards in schools often lag far behind student use and abuse of digital tools.

And it’s not just phones — school-issued laptops, tablets and classroom apps can also become sources of distraction and bullying. In today’s newsletter, I’ll highlight some of the tech challenges schools are facing.

Student cellphone bans

Schools have been trying to limit student phone use for decades. Maryland banned students from bringing pagers and “cellular telephones” to school in the late 1980s as illegal drug sales boomed. In the 1990s, as mobile phones gained traction, some schools barred the devices to stop the chirping from disrupting class.

Since the 2000s, though, it’s also gone the other way. As school shootings became more common, many districts began allowing mobile phones as a safety measure. And, after the rise of iPhones, some schools that had barred cellphones reversed the bans in part because some lower-income students who did not own laptops used them for schoolwork.

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The Smart Way To Talk to Teachers

Talking to your child's teacher isn't just beneficial, it's essential for their academic success. Here's how to talk to teachers as a parent.

As a parent or caregiver, you want your child to succeed in school and life. In order to help them achieve academic success, you should make an effort to be in touch with their teachers. After all, your child spends more time in school than anywhere else. (Well, anywhere aside from home.) And while you may not know how to talk with your child's teacher, keeping the line of communication open is key.

Here's what to know about talking to teachers as a parent and get tips on the best ways to talk to your child's teacher to build rapport, collaborate, and solve problems if they arise.

Maskot / Getty Images

General Tips for Talking With Your Child's Teacher

If you're a first-time parent or just starting out in the world of school as a parent or caregiver, it can feel intimidating to talk with teachers—what do you even say? Here are a few smart ways to get the conversation started. Remember: Teachers want to work with you to help your child succeed. The more you're open to communication, the better your child's school experience will be.

• Make an appointment . While it may seem easier to approach your child's teacher at drop-off, pick-up, or in the schoolyard, you can and should make time to speak with them. Scheduling an appointment gives you both time to compose your thoughts and allows for privacy.
• Organize your thoughts . Make a note of what you want to discuss. Jot down a few pointed questions. These notes will help steer the conversation and help you problem-solve and arrive at a solution.
• Communicate effectively . Be prepared to convey your thoughts concisely and effectively. Give examples when possible and listen. The key to effective communication is for it to be two-way.
• Discuss next steps . If a problem was identified during your meeting, work with your child and child's teacher on a solution. Actionable plans with small, tangible goals are best.

How To Talk With Your Child's Teacher About Specific Problems

Is your child struggling in school socially, emotionally, or academically? Below are effective strategies for helping solve some of the most common school-related problems.

Schoolwork struggles

School struggles can be a symptom of a wide variety of issues. "Your child could be distracted by a family problem, or maybe they're not getting enough sleep and can't pay attention," says Marian C. Fish, PhD , professor in the school psychology program at Queens College in Flushing, New York.

"Or they've missed learning something the previous year—they were out sick when the teacher introduced subtraction—and they've never gotten the hang of it," says Dr. Fish.

Ask the teacher for specifics so you can judge what kind of help your child needs: Are they having trouble in every subject or just one? Did they score poorly on a couple of tests or many? Are they not doing the work, or are they frustrated and unable to handle it?

Always get your child's take on the problem. Say, "Your teacher is concerned that you're having a hard time with subtraction. What do you think?" Ask them how you can help, and brainstorm solutions with their teacher, too.

During this process, check over your child's homework to discuss mistakes with them and work closely with the teacher to make sure they're improving. Meet with the teacher for a progress report after your child has gotten a few weeks of extra help.

If there's been little or no improvement, consider getting extra tutoring or consulting with a counselor or the school's psychologist to make sure that they don't have a learning disability.

Misbehavior

So, your child's teacher says that they are acting out in class . Your first step is to find out what your child is doing. Are they interrupting? Running around? Making noises? Young kids can't always articulate their feelings, so bad behavior can be a sign that your child is anxious. Ask the teacher whether they're disruptive at the same time every day, which can help you identify the trigger.

For example, if your child misbehaves just before gym class, they could be scared kids will make fun of them because they're bad at sports. It's also possible your child isn't getting enough attention from the teacher or the other students and being loud is their way of grabbing the spotlight.

Or you may have a high-energy kid who can't control themselves during circle time or other quiet moments. If this is a first, one worry you can probably cross off the list is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "If your child hasn't had behavior issues in the past, chances are that ADHD isn't the problem," says Michael Reiff, MD, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

If you suspect performance anxiety is the culprit, say, "Your teacher mentioned that they gave you a time-out before gym again. Would it help if you and I practiced jumping rope together?" Reassure your child that everyone thinks they're bad at some things, and talk up their best skills.

If your child is just peppy, ask the teacher whether there are ways they could release some energy before quiet times. Maybe they could erase the board or do some other activity before they have to settle down. To handle an attention seeker, remind them that the best way to get noticed is to follow the rules and do well in their work.

Ask the teacher for a list of class rules so you can go over them with your child. Suggest other ways they can get attention, like doing something nice for a classmate or participating regularly in class discussions.

After putting a plan together and trying it out for a bit, meet with the teacher to make sure your child has settled down. If they're still acting up, see your pediatrician. "If your child's teachers have said every year that they're disruptive in class and now they're more restless than ever, they should be tested for ADHD ," says Dr. Reiff.

Anxiety and stress

Has your child's teacher expressed concerns that your child seems anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed? School-related anxiety can begin at any age. It is important to understand the teacher's definition of anxiety. Ask about the symptoms your child is displaying:

• Are they complaining of stomachaches and asking to go to the nurse?
• Are they having emotional outbursts like crying or tantrums?
• Are they crying at certain times of the day?
• Are they blurting out in class more frequently than usual?
• Are they avoiding social interactions or doing work?

"If your child has started biting their nails , it may just be a bad habit. But if they always liked school and now you learn that they're crying in class every afternoon, there may be a bigger problem," says Dr. Reiff.

Perhaps your child is being bullied or they're intimidated by a particular teacher. You can say something like, "I bet it's scary when the music teacher asks you to sing a line in front of the class." Then ask how you can help them with their anxious feelings and introduce them to mindfulness exercises such as deep breathing.

Being bullied

If your child is afraid of a bully, first reassure them that the bullying isn't their fault. "Tell your child that bullying is never OK and that by talking to a parent and their teacher about the bullying, they're helping to solve the problem," says Dr. Fish.

This encourages your child to open up so you can get more details: Was the kid threatening them physically? Calling them names? The teacher and the administration should step in (most schools have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying), and they often recommend getting the other child's parents involved.

Keep in touch with the teacher and the school to make sure your child is more at ease. If they still seem worried, ask the teacher what else you can do to help and consider contacting a mental health professional .

Bullying others

But what if you find out that your child has been bullying another kid? First, get the details. Did it happen once—maybe a classmate pressured your child to hit another, and now they feel bad about it? Or have they been repeatedly taunting other classmates by calling them names or hurting them physically?

If it was one incident and your child feels bad about it, talk about what caused them to behave so badly and have them apologize to the other child. If a friend told them to do it, discuss the dangers of peer pressure .

"Role-playing is helpful here because kids think it's fun," says Dr. Fish. "Let your child say, 'I dare you to hit that girl on the head.' Then you can model a good response, such as 'I don't like getting hit, and I don't hit other people. It's not funny.' Then switch roles and have them give a response."

If the harassment has been part of a pattern of bullying behavior , seek help from the school psychologist or an outside counselor. Continue to check in regularly with your child's teacher. If your child is still struggling, continue counseling or ask whether the school offers services that help kids improve their social skills.

Key Takeaways

Teachers are superheroes; there is no doubt about that. If your child is struggling in school—or if you just want to touch base to ensure your child is OK—don't be afraid to talk to their teacher. You can also reach out to your child's school counselor, principal, or dean of students to help solve potential problems. Being your child's biggest advocate happens one conversation at a time.

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AG Drummond to Ryan Walters: Release security money to school districts immediately

In what he called an "expedited" opinion issued Sunday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the Oklahoma State Department of Education must immediately send school districts security funds that have been withheld by the agency because of a legal disagreement with the state Legislature.

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, who leads the education agency, requested the opinion Aug. 12 after news reports surfaced that the OSDE was refusing to let school districts keep unused dollars from the School Security Revolving Fund. The Legislature created the fund, which is part of the School Resource Officer Program , after a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Under the initiative, the education agency was directed to distribute $50 million annually to school districts over a three-year period.

Drummond’s formal opinion carries the force of law, absent a court ruling. It supports the contention of legislative leaders that districts can carry over the funds from one year to the next. As of July 1, the revolving fund has a balance of $128 million, Drummond said.

An attorney for the agency, in a memo, had said the bill that approved the revolving fund for the money did not provide for the money to be rolled over year-to-year. Walters’ request for Drummond’s opinion came 14 months after the bill became law.

In a letter to Walters that accompanied the letter, Drummond had harsh words for his fellow Republican: “Those wasted months have resulted in school districts not receiving millions of dollars in funds they could have used to bolster security and protect students,” Drummond wrote. “I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.

“The opinion I have issued is legally binding and requires you to act immediately to deliver these funds. I will not tolerate further delay.”

Walters pushed back against the premise that his actions could have negatively affected student safety.

"Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and at NO time have our schools gone without security funding in any way," Walters said. "Due to ambiguity in the statute passed by the Legislature, there was a question of whether some districts that did spend certain security funds in the previous fiscal year could legally roll over that money to this year. The legislature considered, but did not pass, an amendment that would have removed any doubt about the rollover issue. To get clarity on these legal issues, I requested this opinion from the Attorney General and our agency may now move forward."

Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, praised Drummond for the speed in which the attorney general issued his opinion.

"I appreciate Attorney General Drummond for issuing a concise and expedited opinion on this matter,” Treat said. “The legislative intent was clear and shouldn’t have needed an attorney general’s opinion. Regardless, the circumstances we are facing made it necessary. While I will let the attorney general’s opinion speak for itself, I am going to remain focused on ensuring the money to protect children is distributed to school districts as intended and immediately. Lawmakers spoke loud and clear when we passed this legislation. It is now my hope there are no further delays complying with the law.”

As first reported by Oklahoma City television station KFOR, the state Department of Education tried to take away the security funds, even though the agency’s website originally said districts would be able to keep the money. In his opinion, Drummond said the agency “arbitrarily and without notice, reversed course and zeroed out the district balances.”

House Bill 2904 passed in 2023 with overwhelming support in the Legislature. The measure created the revolving fund, in which every school district in the state would receive approximately $96,000 per year for three years to make the improvements. Some districts had planned to save money from their first-year funds to pay for items that might cost more than $96,000, but then learned the state agency was not letting them roll over that unused money from the first year of the program.

Drummond’s opinion gave three reasons the carryover of funds is allowed. First, the law placed no fiscal-year restrictions on use of the funds. Second, relevant statutes only use “expend” or “expenditure” when addressing the state Department of Education, meaning that the state agency is the only entity to have restrictions. Third, no constitutional fiscal-year limitations restrict the ability to carry the funds forward into a subsequent fiscal year.

“A plain reading of the statute demonstrates legislative intent to provide ($50 million) in each of the three years of the Program,” Drummond wrote in the opinion. “Any distribution from the Revolving Fund that would give a school district the funding it should have received in a previous fiscal year would not create an inequality of expenditures or unequal division of the funds.

“This [opinion] corrects the Department’s mismanagement that prevented school districts from receiving an equal distribution of Program Fund and an error that, in [Superintendent Walters’] own words, concerns and puts at risk the safety of schoolchildren.”

Other financial issues involving education department under scrutiny

The state Department of Education also is locked in another legal dispute with the Legislature. Last week, The Oklahoman reported the agency was sitting on $250,000 designated by the Legislature in 2023 to purchase albuterol inhalers and spacers for each of Oklahoma's 509 school districts, despite pleas from Wallace and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Chuck Hall, R-Perry.

The agency said there were problems with the bill, including language the agency said would violate the Central Purchasing Act and legislative intent. The agency also claimed the plan would run afoul of the medical licensure board and cause problems with sole source contracts. Walters has also asked Drummond to weigh in on the dispute.

Other financial questions have been raised in recent days about the agency not fully implementing paid maternity leave for school employees mandated in a 2023 law and the agency failing to implement a pay raise for teachers in school districts that don’t receive funding for teacher pay from the state ― " off the formula ," in Capitol parlance.

There also have been questions about the agency's slow pace in informing districts of their projected allocations of Title I money, which is passed to districts through the agency from the federal government. Title I money is allocated based on the number of low-income students served by families.

Those numbers, provided to districts by the agency’s past administrations in late spring or early summer, are vital in helping districts plan budgets and determining how many teachers they can hire. The fiscal year began on July 1.

The agency didn’t announce Title I allocation notices until Thursday, in a caustic email that referred to the issue as a “fake controversy."

The financial issues have led House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and state Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellson, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, to convene an investigation into the agency to be conducted by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency . On Friday, Walters called on McCall to convene a House impeachment hearing immediately, but McCall declined.

These Convenient Handbags Solve Problems You Didn't Know You Had

Staff Writer

Call it a purse, pocketbook, handbag or tote — a trusty pack can take you (and all your things) places. If you’re in the market for a new bag and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on something so small it can’t hold your phone then, well, you came to the right place.

To help you carry your things and make life in general a little bit easier, we curated a list of helpful bags that all have different qualities that make them handy.

From waterproof bags to bags with a water bottle holder, here are a bunch of bags that are so much more than bags . We hope you find your next daily carrier and maybe something for travel too.

HuffPost and its publishing partners may receive a commission from some purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently curated by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change.

After seeing a friend use this effortlessly cool, versatile Baggu crescent bag, I got one for myself. It's the perfect size and can carry a book or water bottle without feeling clunky or cumbersome, but the best feature is the adjustable strap that can be worn over one shoulder like a purse or as a crossbody. It's perfect for casual days and dressy nights alike and truly will be the only bag you need. Best of all, you can throw it in the wash.

Finally, a work bag that's good-looking enough to go to dinner or drinks. This leather tote looks like a purse but has an internal laptop sleeve, an internal zippered container and other internal pockets. It has a top zip closure, keeping all your things secure, and comes in four colors of leather. Amazon customer Medical Professional wrote , "I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to find THE ONE and this is it!"

About half the price of the Lululemon Everywhere belt bag , this crossbody option has a simple, flat front and isn’t covered in extra zippers or frippery. It comes in a ton of fun colors (all of which are in stock) and offers many of the same features as the Everywhere bag, including an adjustable strap, an easy-to-open main zipper, a main compartment with mesh sections and a pocket in the back to keep valuables close. HuffPost readers love this versatile pick.

The TikTok viral Bogg bag is best described as a Croc in tote bag form. It's made from a waterproof and washable EVA material that's perfect for Little League games, lake days and long shifts at the hospital or school. Like Crocs, the bag's perforations lend themselves to accessorizing: In the holes, you can add a holder for a water bottle, carabiner clips for your keys or sunglasses , and a neoprene holder for a Stanley cup or other 40-ounce drink container . It comes in a bunch of colors so you can let your personality show.

Another staff pick, this super spacious carry-on bag is beloved by shopping writer Tessa Flores. If you're only allowed one bag on a flight or are trying to be more organized on the go, this bag has four external pockets including a space for your water bottle, as well as a computer sleeve, internal pockets and a large zipper compartment at the bottom that's perfect for storing shoes. It has an adjustable shoulder strap and two handles, and it comes with a clean toiletry bag that's ready for takeoff. This comes in five colors.

With a slash-resistant strap and inner lining and an RFID-blocking organizer, this angular bag is ideal for running around the city or exploring new places while keeping your stuff extra-safe. It's water-resistant, has both interior and exterior pockets, and has a water bottle holder on each side.

HuffPost shopping writer Haley Zovickian has and loves this incredibly handy water bottle sling from CalPak calling it , "An expandable, insulated pocket for bottles and thermoses, which could even hold my large 40-ounce bottle."

Zovickian notes the external pockets, namely the zippered one that's perfect for holding keys, ear buds, a phone, and a wallet as well as body items like lip balm or a mini sunscreen. It comes in a bunch of colors with an adjustable and detachable shoulder strap that can be worn over the shoulder or as a crossbody. "I’ve found it works beautifully for walks around the neighborhood, shopping, errands and day trips while traveling ," Zovickian said. "Plus, if you do get some spillage, the insulated inner liner will hold everything in so the rest of your belongings won’t get wet."

L.L. Bean's signature Boat & Tote is possibly the best out there for going to the farmer's market, food shopping or otherwise hauling a bunch of stuff. Originally invented to haul large quantities of ice, it's made from a heavyweight canvas that can stand up on its own and hold up to a whopping 500 pounds. If you're looking to conserve space or like products with multiple uses, this is ideal for a beach bag, travel carry-on or to take while running errands during the day. Find it in options with short and long handles, in four sizes and a bunch of colors.

Keep your credit cards extra secure with this compact Baggallini crossbody that comes with an RFID-protected wristlet. It's water-resistant, plus it has a bunch of internal organization, a slot to quickly grab your phone and an adjustable strap so you can wear it on one shoulder or as a crossbody. This bag is great for traveling or everyday wear and comes in a bunch of fun colors and patterns.

It's a cool black leather tote. It's a diaper bag. It's a cool black leather tote diaper bag . For new parents, grandparents, favorite aunties and babysitters, this magic bag looks and functions like a purse while still having internal pockets for bottles, diapers, snacks and more. It has a large insulated pocket to keep things temperature-regulated, as well as internal pockets and zipper pockets, giving all your adult and baby things a spot. This comes in five colors. (Clip the coupon for an additional 15% off.)

It's time to retire your overworked reusable grocery bag that's tearing at the seams and straps. Say hello to this utility canvas tote that's meant to carry anything from groceries to laundry to a picnic to craft supplies. It has a water-resistant vinyl lining and comes in a bunch of fun colors and patterns. The tote has a soft frame that gives it integrity but it can be folded down for easy storage and comfortable carrying.

Commuters, students or anyone who travels with a computer knows how drab some laptop bags can be. Say hello to this super chic, personalizable leather laptop bag with an adjustable strap and two exterior pockets to help you never forget your charger again. It's good-looking enough that you'll almost want to use it as a purse and can be carried via the handles or worn over your shoulder.

HuffPost shopping writer Haley Zovickian put us on to this budget-friendly crossbody phone holder for its convenience and ease.

" It has been a mainstay in my life," she said. "I’m able to talk on speakerphone hands-free; I can easily listen to music with my corded headphones without it being a pain; and best of all, I never drop my phone — if I do fumble it, my cell is caught by the strap before hitting the ground."

If you haven't been to a concert or large sporting event lately, you may not realize that the NFL (and many major arenas and venues) now limits you to a clear bag that does not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches. A modern take on a traditional pocketbook, this option has a fold-over flap with one main compartment and a turn clasp. It measures 10.2 inches by 7.8 inches by 2.7 inches with a top handle and detachable adjustable crossbody strap. This comes in four different colors for the handle and strap.

Bring your lunch in style or keep your afternoon Diet Coke nice and cold with this insulated faux-leather crossbody bag that's also a cooler. It's 10.5 by 8 inches, holds up to four cans of seltzer or soda, and has an adjustable strap. Reviewer LisaHE wrote: "I love this cooler so much that I ordered 3 more for gifts! It is great for holding 4-5 cans to go to the pool or to carry your lunch! Love the gold interior! So chic!"

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Android Police

Moto g 5g 2024 problems and how to solve them.

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Thanks to powerful speakers, a 120Hz panel, robust performance, and battery life, the Moto G 5G is one of the top affordable Android phones . Still, it isn't perfect. From battery drain to software hiccups, these problems can put a damper on your My UX (Motorola's Android skin). This troubleshooting guide helps you diagnose and fix those pesky problems to get the most out of your Moto G 5G 2024.

Moto G 5G (2024) review: Great price with a few caveats

Budget isn't a bad word

Common problems with the Moto G 5G 2024

Here are common glitches you may face with the Moto G 5G:

• Abnormal battery drain
• App crashes, performance glitches, and random shutdowns
• Notifications not working
• Audio not working
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and problems with network settings
• Camera freezing, not working, or launching

Go through the basics first

Before you follow the troubleshooting tricks below, go through the basics to overcome common glitches.

Restart your Moto G 5G

If your Moto G 5G feels unresponsive, reboot it once and try again. Press and hold the power button and tap Restart from the Power menu. It takes around 10 seconds to complete the reboot process.

Update your Moto G 5G

While Motorola doesn't have a stellar update policy, the company releases occasional updates to fix glitches. Here's how to install the latest Android update on your Moto G 5G:

• Open Settings .
• Scroll to System updates .
• Tap Check for updates .
• Download and install pending updates on your Moto G.

Moto G 5G battery drain

Although the Moto G 5G comes with a 5000mAh battery, many have complained about unusual battery drain on their devices. If you experience unusual battery drain, look for the culprits in the Battery menu and restrict them in the background. Here's how:

• Launch Settings and scroll to Battery .
• Select Battery usage .
• Look for an app that consumes a high battery percentage on your phone and select it.
• Tap the radio button beside Restricted .

Select Optimized to run the app in the background with limited activity.

If you run into slow charging speeds or erratic power off, follow these steps to recalibrate the battery:

• Reboot your phone.
• Plug it into a charger.
• Charge it to 100%.
• Let it charge for an additional hour.

Moto G 5G performance issues

Are there performance glitches or random app shutdowns on your Moto G 5G? Android apps collect cache in the background, and a corrupt cache can lead to such issues. It's time to clear the app cache and try again.

• Find the troubling app on the home screen or the app drawer menu.
• Long press the app and open the info menu.
• Select Storage & cache and tap Clear cache .

You can also reinstall the app and try again.

How to clear app cache on Android & why you should

It's not a miracle cure, but it does have its uses

Notification delay doesn't work on your Moto G 5G

Notification delay on your Moto G 5G can break your workflow. You may miss important messages, emails, and updates on your device. You must give these apps unrestricted access. Then, they can run in the background without issues.

• Long press an affected app and open the app info menu .
• Select App battery usage .
• Tap the radio button beside Unrestricted .

You should also turn off DND or any such DND automation on your Moto G 5G.

The Moto G 5G's sound doesn't work

Do you experience microphone issues with apps on your Moto G 5G? Give the required microphone permission to these apps and try again. If the sound doesn't work, modify the volume settings on your phone using these steps:

• Go to Settings and open Sound & vibration .
• Use the ring volume slider and tweak other volume settings.

You can also go to Device Help > Device diagnosis > Hardware test > Speaker menu and follow the on-screen instructions.

Your Moto G 5G's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth doesn't work

Do you keep running into Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or network glitches on your Moto G 5G? Temporarily activate Airplane mode and turn it off after some time. If the issue persists, reset the network settings on your device and try again. The option is in the Settings menu. Check our dedicated guide to reset network settings on your Moto G 5G .

The camera doesn't work on the Moto G 5G

Camera errors on your Moto G 5G can spoil your experience in no time. You can restart the camera app and try again. If the issue persists, Motorola recommends clearing the camera cache.

• Long press the Camera app icon and open the info menu .
• Select Storage and cache and tap Clear cache from the following menu.

You must also allow camera permission to all your preferred social media and IM apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

Perform a factory reset on your Moto G 5G

The tricks above troubleshoot most problems on your Moto G 5G. If you still run into errors, reset your Moto G 5G to factory settings and try again.

• Open Settings and scroll to System .
• Tap Reset options .
• Select Erase all data and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the job.

You can also reset your Moto G 5G using the Recovery mode. It can come in handy if you can't access the Settings menu.

• Turn off your Moto G 5G.
• Press the volume down and power button simultaneously until your phone switches on.
• Press the volume down button until Recovery mode appears.
• Press the power button.
• Use the volume button to navigate to Wipe data/factory reset .
• Select it using the power button.
• Scroll to Reboot system now .
• Press the power button to start the reset process.

Get your Moto G 5G back on track

While Motorola's My UX software skin leaves a lot to desire , you don't need to sweat when you run into common glitches. Use these tricks to solve your problem and set your Moto G 5G up and running quickly. When none of these tricks work, contact Motorola support . You can also follow the top tips to speed up your Moto mid-ranger .

Moto G 5G (2024)

The Moto G 5G (2024) is a $200 smartphone that offers solid performance, excellent audio, and good battery life. However, in order to reach such an affordable price, some caveats must be made, including a dim display with a passable camera.