North America

The worry nagged at Roxann Harvey from the time her children were in kindergarten. They couldn’t name all their letters, much less equate them with sounds. Teachers offered tepid assurances…

A chronically underfunded system riddled with egregious conflicts of interest. That’s one way to describe the state-by-state system that governs U.S. coroners, reports Samantha Young of Kaiser Health News. The meshwork is…

Anisa Heming has been working on making schools more sustainable for a decade and a half, now as director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building…

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are home to more than 322,000 students who attend 635 schools. In its nearly 200-year-long history, Chicago’s schools have faced segregation, fiscal crises, and calls for “real equity.” In…

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole nation for close to three years. The impact of this protracted public health emergency has not been uniform—with some localities experiencing more-significant outbreaks,…

Nicotine vaping is one of the most common types of substance use for teenagers in 2022, according to results of a new national study. Among 8th grade students, 7% vaped…

Agrowing body of evidence indicates that poor health early in life can leave lasting scars on adult health and economic outcomes. While much of this literature focuses on childhood experiences,…

Economic policy leaders and researchers were kept busy in 2022 by high inflation, a volatile labor market, crypto crashes, and major legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act. We asked five…

As 1.25 million people in state prisons navigate their sentences, many are eager to find hope for a better life after release. They may seek out ways to work and…

Even during economic expansions and periods of robust employment growth, millions of workers in the United States face economic insecurity and precarious working conditions. Low pay, safety hazards, lack of bargaining power, unstable schedules, discrimination and harassment…

It has been quite a year for Jews — and for Jewish philanthropy. Two weeks into 2022, a gunman took a rabbi and three congregants hostage at Temple Beth Israel…

Refugee education is more critical than ever. Centering refugee voices and resolving key tensions in policy and programming will be critical for ensuring that all refugee students and teachers receive…