Your back-to-school study guide

Summer is coming to an end, and the school year has already begun for many K-12 students and parents. Others are likely counting down until the first day of class. One way to calm your back-to-school jitters: refreshing your understanding of education news with this collection of our recent reporting.

1. Teachers are rethinking word problems in math: To help students solve these, teachers are increasingly asking students to first identify what the problem is asking them to do, also known as the “schema”...?

Why schools are teaching math word problems all wrong

Teachers are trying new strategies that move away from focusing on ‘key words’

2. This might be another difficult school year: Eighth grade students, most of whom were fourth graders when the pandemic first erupted in March 2020, now need nine months of additional school to catch up...?

Why are kids still struggling in school four years after the pandemic?

Researchers from three testing companies release updates on academic recovery and offer possible explanations

3. That report card may be too good to be true: In an analysis of 33,000 high school transcript grades, researchers found that over 40 percent were higher than they should have been…

PROOF POINTS: Nearly 6 out of 10 middle and high school grades are wrong, study finds

Report cards typically don’t correspond to a student’s skills and mastery of topics

4. Expanded summer learning options could last at least another year: Districts have until the end of September, with some exceptions, to spend the remaining $34.1 billion Congress provided for pandemic recovery. Some money has gone to summer programs that could be available next summer too…

Schools are embracing summer learning — just as the money dries up

Summer learning options swelled after the pandemic, including in Massachusetts, where the rich-poor gap widened more than in any other state. They have yet to make a significant dent in Covid-related learning loss.

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5. Districts are experimenting to get students to come to school. After Oakland Public Schools started paying some of their students $50 weekly for coming to school every day, more than 60 percent improved their attendance…

Millions of kids are still skipping school. Could the answer be recess — and a little cash?

Schools are trying simple solutions to educate parents about their kids’ attendance, like postcards that compare a child’s attendance with peers

6. Math has become a global challenge. Scores on an international math test fell a record 15 points between 2018 and 2022 — the equivalent of students losing three-quarters of a school year of learning…

Mathematics test scores in some countries have been dropping for years, even as the subject grows in importance

Persistence, motivation, and digital device use are among the concerns raised by a survey of students around the world

7. Conservatives are reimagining public schools. A growing number of states have either expanded or started voucher programs that steer taxpayer money toward microschools or other alternative school models…

COLUMN: Conservatives are embracing new alternative school models. Will the public?

In the post-pandemic landscape, more calls for choice, freedom and `microschools’ – but evidence behind them is scant

8. High schoolers need literacy education, too. Between 2019 and 2022, more than 200 laws to reform reading instruction were enacted in 45 states. But high schools were least affected by this legislation…

Many kids can’t read, even in high school. Is the solution teaching reading in every class?

Some high schools and states are experimenting with ways to integrate literacy instruction across all classes

Have a burning back-to-school question? Leave us a comment or send an email to [email protected] .