Schools

Axios - A growing number of schools are rethinking homework — either assigning less of it or, in some cases, getting rid of it altogether, Axios' April Rubin reports. Concern for students' mental health, coupled with the ease of using AI chatbots to solve homework problems, have prompted schools to reevaluate how helpful it really is.

 37% of 13-year-old students said they had "no homework assigned" on the day before a National Center for Education Statistics survey in 2023. In 2020, that figure was 29%. In 2012, it was 21%.  MORE

Nice News -  The increased adoption of the new curriculum, called the science of reading, comes as the latest iteration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ report found that only about 1 in 3 fourth graders are reading at or above their grade level.  Per a 2023 report from Stanford researchers, the science of reading is “a process by which the sequential emphasis of five pillars — phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension — can improve overall literacy by building understanding of sounds, letters, words, sentences, and eventually paragraphs step-by-step.” 
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“It was a big shift in my teaching, in my understanding of how students learn to read,” New York City first grade teacher Melissa Jones-Diaz told CBS News.