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These are some of the things we’ve been reading about:

Racism can affect young children’s mental health.

Lack of Internet access makes it tough for some teenagers to do homework.

New York City hires 100 coordinators to work with the city’s growing population of homeless students.

To read more, click on the following links.

Research & Practice

Report: Long-Term Coaching Critical in Retaining Principals
Education Dive: The NYC Leadership Academy recently published new research on the impact of coaching principals. The research indicates that New York City principals who have worked with leadership coaches for at least five years remained at their schools twice as long as the national average; improved their ability to “supervise staff, distribute leadership, communicate, and lead with resilience;” avoided the complacency that sometimes comes with long-term leadership; and developed beneficial and trusting relationships with their coaches.

The Top Three Challenges Research-Practice Partnerships in Education Face, and How to Overcome Them
Ed Week Bridging Research and Practice Blog: A recent survey and interview study of 27 Research-practice Partnerships across the US conducted by the National Center for Research in Policy and Practice suggests that partnerships are likely to encounter at least one of three common challenges: turnover of partnership members, differences in the timelines of researchers’ and educators’ work, and having the “right people at the table” to be able to act on the partnership’s findings.

Evidence Mounts for Culturally Responsive Teaching—But More Research is Needed
New America: A growing body of research is confirming what teachers have known for a while: culturally responsive practices work. These strategies—which include using culturally relevant curriculum, affirming students’ cultural identity, and other actions—have been shown to move the needle on a host of student outcomes, from attendance to grade point average. Now a recently released study published in School Psychology Review unveils another potential benefit: improved behavior. 

Study: Racism Affects Even Young Kids’ Mental and Behavioral Health
California Health Report: Young children who experience discrimination are at heightened risk for mental health and behavior problems, but less so if they have a strong sense of racial and ethnic identity, a new study published in the Journal of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology suggests. 

There’s Worrying New Research About Kids’ Screen Time and Their Mental Health
Time.com: Young people who spend seven hours or more a day on screens are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety than those who use screens for an hour a day, finds a new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports.

Policy

Countdown to EDlection2018: As Midterms Approach, Here’s What the Latest Polls Show in 16 Key Races with Big Stakes for Schools
The 74 Million: It has been a whiplash two years in American politics, and that has trickled down to education policy, from the controversial appointment of Betsy DeVos as education secretary to heated debates about school safety that have arisen in the wake of several mass school shootings. Now, with midterm elections only days away, it’s time for voters to weigh those policy choices and decide whether they’d like to make a change. See related articles: NPR “Education Is A Top Issue In Midterms, And Professors Promise To Encourage Voting” and Ed Week Politics K-12 Blog “Midterms Could Mean Big Changes for State ESSA Plans: Which Races to Watch.” 

Betsy DeVos Shifts School Choice, Privacy Offices at Education Department
Ed Week Politics K-12 Blog: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team are moving forward with parts of a department-wide reorganization proposal unveiled earlier this year, including elevating the office charged with helping to advocate for the private school community within the federal bureaucracy, and changing the way privacy policy is handled. The office of nonpublic education, which was previously part of the soon-to-be-defunct office of innovation and improvement, will now report directly to the office of the secretary. 

Report on Title III Implementation Highlights Key Data Points in EL Education
New America: The U.S. Department of Education released a report highlighting the educational landscape for English learners (ELs) and how Title III funds are being used to support their learning. The report contains data from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years, which includes accountability provisions that have since been updated with the passage of ESSA in 2015.Even though the data are a few years old, they still present a picture of states’ progress in meeting key objectives in three areas: the percentage of ELs making progress in learning English, the percentage of ELs attaining English proficiency each year, and the progress ELs are making on state standardized assessments in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Results are middling at best with only one state, Alabama, meeting all these benchmarks across both years. Just six states reached all three targets in SY 2012 as did five states in SY 2013.

Around the Nation

Why Millions of Teens Can’t Finish Their Homework
The Atlantic: Despite the seemingly ever-growing embrace of digital learning in schools, access to the necessary devices remains unequal, with a new report from the Pew Research Center finding that 15% of U.S. households with school-age children lack high-speed Internet at home. The problem is particularly acute for low-income families: One in three households that make below $30,000 a year lacks Internet access.

School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
Education Week: School shootings—terrifying to students, educators, parents, and communities—always reignite polarizing debates about gun rights and school safety. To bring context to these debates, Education Week journalists will track shootings on K-12 school property this year that result in firearm-related injuries or deaths.

Carranza: New York City Will Hire 100 New Coordinators to Serve Record Number of Homeless Students
Chalkbeat: With the number of homeless students surging to another record high last year, the education department will hire 100 new community coordinators to help schools better serve this vulnerable population of children. Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced the new hires in response to parent questions at a town hall in Harlem. He said the coordinators will work in schools that enroll a high proportion of homeless students.

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