Learning al fresco

Dear reader,??

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Along with fears about learning loss, another constant post-pandemic refrain involves student mental health concerns. As we continue writing about this topic, we love hearing about potential solutions and ideas for helping students recover. Outdoor pre-school appears to be among them, as Jackie Mader reports from Maryland, noting that outdoor learning can lower stress while fostering traits like leadership, problem-solving and perseverance.?

Yet like many topics we report on, there’s an equity gap: many of these schools are run as private, half-day programs, drawing from predominantly white, higher-income families.??

This week, we are also fascinated by the state of virtual schools post-pandemic, reporting from inside a New Mexico program that some parents still prefer, despite enrollment declines.?

With the school year winding down, we’ll still find out way onto campuses and classrooms to bring you stories and sharp opinion pieces we hope you will read and share. Please remind others to sign up for our newsletters and consider becoming a member.?

Liz Willen , Editor

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Main idea:??

For preschoolers after the pandemic, more states say: Learn outdoors?

Maryland is among the states moving to expand and diversify the naturalist approach to teaching preschool?

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Story list:??

How success coaches anticipate and tackle college students’ challenges?

Dallas College is implementing more intensive advising in efforts to get students to the finish line?

Most families have given up virtual school, but what about students who are still thriving online??

School districts that created online academies to cater to families who preferred virtual education are struggling to keep them open as enrollment drops and costs rise?

School support staffers stuck earning poverty level wages?

Aides, bus drivers, and others are essential to schools, but shortages are widespread?

This LA teen is suing her school district — and the USDA — to promote nondairy milk?

A growing number of students nationwide are fighting the government’s mandate to serve cow’s milk in public schools?

STUDENT VOICE: As an Asian student leader, I support affirmative action in college admissions?

All students will lose if the Supreme Court removes race as a factor in college admissions?

OPINION: We can and must do better to help Black students enroll in college and succeed?

It is our responsibility to address staggering enrollment drops and create paths to upward mobility?

‘J-O-B degree’ for rural students?

New recommendations for serving rural college students include pathways to employment??

Nixed textbooks, bans on faulty methods: How reading instruction is changing?

At least 14 states have introduced bills to overhaul literacy instruction?