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Before the pandemic, the district of 7,700 on California’s Central Coast served breakfast and lunch to around a quarter of its students each day. But that percentage shot up during the pandemic, when schools nationwide could give free meals to all kids. And it rose again last year, when California launched the nation’s first statewide […]

Statewide policies like these are new, but the practice of providing universal free meals isn’t. And researchers have been studying this for years. That means we have a good sense of what these state policies will mean for students, families, and schools. In short, research suggests that universal school meal programs accomplish their main goal: […]

A school bus driver strike could disrupt the beginning of the school year, Chancellor David Banks warned parent leaders this week. “We’re currently negotiating with the [Amalgamated Transit Union] around buses and there’s some real concerns around a potential bus strike,” Banks told members of his parent advisory council on Thursday. “Certainly hopeful that we […]

New York City’s fifth and eighth graders will have to take this spring’s state tests — for English, math, and science — on computers, giving schools a nine-month runway to prepare 140,000 students to make the switch from pen and paper. A substantial amount of work may be ahead to ensure the transition goes smoothly. […]

In January, all New York City’s public school kindergartners will receive a seed investment of $100 in their city-sponsored college savings accounts. It’s the second year that 5-year-olds citywide will automatically get the NYC Scholarship Accounts — a giant experiment aiming to help thousands of families who historically have faced steep barriers to postsecondary education. […]

This past year, a child in my preK class had major surgery and was out for several weeks. When he returned, we transformed a corner of the classroom into a doctor’s office. He played there every day for a week, administering bandages and shots to his curious patients. The nearby water table became a place […]

Next month, New York City will begin providing subsidized child care to low-income, undocumented families, who typically can’t access such services because of their immigration status. The $10 million initiative, called Promise NYC, is expected to serve 600 children over the next six months, city officials announced Wednesday. It also aims to help the influx […]