7 minutes
ئاقسۇ، قەشقەر، قىزىلسۇ ۋە خوتەن قاتارلىق جايلاردا 143 مىڭدىن ئارتۇق ئۇيغۇر بالا ئاتا-ئانىسىدىن ئايرىۋېتىلگەن.
ئاقسۇ، قەشقەر، قىزىلسۇ ۋە خوتەن قاتارلىق جايلاردا 143 مىڭدىن ئارتۇق ئۇيغۇر بالا ئاتا-ئانىسىدىن ئايرىۋېتىلگەن.
9 minutes
Coloradans who live in Montezuma County and want to buy certain types of guns will not be able to get a newly required eligibility card from their local sheriff, the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday. Instead, they will need to travel to another county and likely pay an out-of-county resident fee to get that […]
Coloradans who live in Montezuma County and want to buy certain types of guns will not be able to get a newly required eligibility card from their local sheriff, the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday. Instead, they will need to travel to another county and likely pay an out-of-county resident fee to get that […]
9 minutes
OKLAHOMA CITY — About $1.5 million in private donations are being used to train literacy coaches in 10 locations across Oklahoma as part of an effort to improve students’ reading proficiency, officials announced Tuesday. The State Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday unveiled a plan, named the Oklahoma Literacy Initiative, which supporters said will boost the […]
OKLAHOMA CITY — About $1.5 million in private donations are being used to train literacy coaches in 10 locations across Oklahoma as part of an effort to improve students’ reading proficiency, officials announced Tuesday. The State Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday unveiled a plan, named the Oklahoma Literacy Initiative, which supporters said will boost the […]
11 minutes
As Generative AI’s popularity increases, it’s time to start thinking more deeply about how we harm the environment by using it. The post Breaking down the cost of AI on energy and the environment appeared first on rabble.ca.
As Generative AI’s popularity increases, it’s time to start thinking more deeply about how we harm the environment by using it. The post Breaking down the cost of AI on energy and the environment appeared first on rabble.ca.
11 minutes
Mais de 60 organizações afirmam que não aceitarão publicidade de um setor que, segundo elas, está alimentando uma epidemia nacional e exige um escrutínio independente. The post Veículos de notícias brasileiros dizem que estão rejeitando anúncios de apostas esportivas para preservar a independência appeared first on LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center.
Mais de 60 organizações afirmam que não aceitarão publicidade de um setor que, segundo elas, está alimentando uma epidemia nacional e exige um escrutínio independente. The post Veículos de notícias brasileiros dizem que estão rejeitando anúncios de apostas esportivas para preservar a independência appeared first on LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center.
12 minutes
Chalkbeat Ideas is a section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Sign up for the Ideas newsletter to follow our work.It’s well known that college-educated workers earn more money, on average, than those with just a high school diploma. And there are few middle-class jobs available for workers without a degree, as I found in a recent data analysis.So does that mean more people should go to college?The Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli is skeptical. Many people who don’t attend college “were nowhere near college ready at the end of high school,” he wrote in response to my piece. Sending academically underprepared students to college does them no favors, Petrilli continues. Only 40% or so of high school students have demonstrated college readiness, he says. Pushing the other 60% to college could just lead them to debt without a degree. I was curious about this myself. Should college be limited to those who do relatively well in high school? To get a better sense, I dug into the research. The findings surprised me.It is genuinely complicated to determine the value of college and who should attend. While degreed workers make more money, we don’t know if that’s because they went to college. Fortunately, researchers have developed a clever strategy to see whether four-year college makes a difference: tracking students who just managed to get into college and comparing them to similar peers who didn’t get that opportunity.An influential 2014 study by Yale University economist Seth Zimmerman focused on Florida International University, a large four-year public college that provided a sharp admissions advantage to students whose GPAs were above 3.0. Zimmerman compared students right above and right below that threshold. The intuition is that someone with a 3.01 GPA is essentially identical to someone with a 2.99 average, except one person receives an admissions edge and the other doesn’t. This creates a natural experiment.The students who just managed to get into FIU were not academic standouts — far from it. Their SAT scores, just over 800 out of 1600, were at the 21st percentile of high school seniors planning to attend college. For many, if they didn’t get into FIU, they wouldn’t have gone to a four-year college at all.Zimmerman found a clear advantage for students who got the opportunity to attend FIU. Roughly a decade later, those students earned 22% more than similar students who didn’t get in. These earnings gains were well worth the cost of tuition.Only about half of these marginal FIU students went on to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years. By comparison, the national graduation rate for four-year nonprofit colleges is roughly two-thirds. The study isn’t able to distinguish the effects on graduates versus non-graduates. It can only speak to the average effect. It’s possible that many non-graduates did not benefit or were even harmed. But they may have developed skills in college that helped them in the future, even though they didn’t earn a degree.This was one paper in one particular setting, but the findings have shown up in other contexts too.A Georgia study found students who just got into the state’s four-year public university system eventually earned 17% more annually by age 30 than similar non-admitted students. These were students at about the 30th percentile of SAT performance.Research in Massachusetts found that low-income students who just got into state colleges there received large economic benefits years later. In high school, these students’ test scores were slightly below the average for high school graduates.A Texas paper, using test-score admissions cutoffs across 35 public colleges, found a clear economic edge for students who won admission to a four-year school. These studies generally look at students who otherwise would have attended a two-year college rather than no college at all. A different Texas study showed a clear hierarchy: Students fared better in four-year colleges than two-year schools, but a two-year program was better than no college at all. The two-year college advantage was for students at roughly the 30th percentile of high school test performance in the state. (One wrinkle: Another recent study in the state found marginal students didn’t seem to benefit from transferring to a four-year college from a two-year school.)This body of research should be interpreted with some degree of caution. It looks at specific places and specific groups of students, who typically entered college decades ago. The papers find positive effects on average, but they don’t imply that everyone benefited. The studies can’t speak to whether AI will change the value of a degree, as some predict. The research also doesn’t show whether students are developing skills in college that help them succeed or whether they are getting hired because employers use a college education as a signal of skill.Still, these papers find that even students who don’t excel in high school often stand to gain from attending college. Many, perhaps most, of these students would not have been categorized as “college ready” by traditional benchmarks. If anything, the research suggests that some states have set college admissions cutoffs that are too high, not too low.“Given the population of people who want to go, we would benefit from helping more of them go, at least somewhat,” says Zimmerman, the Yale professor. Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat Ideas is a section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Sign up for the Ideas newsletter to follow our work.It’s well known that college-educated workers earn more money, on average, than those with just a high school diploma. And there are few middle-class jobs available for workers without a degree, as I found in a recent data analysis.So does that mean more people should go to college?The Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli is skeptical. Many people who don’t attend college “were nowhere near college ready at the end of high school,” he wrote in response to my piece. Sending academically underprepared students to college does them no favors, Petrilli continues. Only 40% or so of high school students have demonstrated college readiness, he says. Pushing the other 60% to college could just lead them to debt without a degree. I was curious about this myself. Should college be limited to those who do relatively well in high school? To get a better sense, I dug into the research. The findings surprised me.It is genuinely complicated to determine the value of college and who should attend. While degreed workers make more money, we don’t know if that’s because they went to college. Fortunately, researchers have developed a clever strategy to see whether four-year college makes a difference: tracking students who just managed to get into college and comparing them to similar peers who didn’t get that opportunity.An influential 2014 study by Yale University economist Seth Zimmerman focused on Florida International University, a large four-year public college that provided a sharp admissions advantage to students whose GPAs were above 3.0. Zimmerman compared students right above and right below that threshold. The intuition is that someone with a 3.01 GPA is essentially identical to someone with a 2.99 average, except one person receives an admissions edge and the other doesn’t. This creates a natural experiment.The students who just managed to get into FIU were not academic standouts — far from it. Their SAT scores, just over 800 out of 1600, were at the 21st percentile of high school seniors planning to attend college. For many, if they didn’t get into FIU, they wouldn’t have gone to a four-year college at all.Zimmerman found a clear advantage for students who got the opportunity to attend FIU. Roughly a decade later, those students earned 22% more than similar students who didn’t get in. These earnings gains were well worth the cost of tuition.Only about half of these marginal FIU students went on to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years. By comparison, the national graduation rate for four-year nonprofit colleges is roughly two-thirds. The study isn’t able to distinguish the effects on graduates versus non-graduates. It can only speak to the average effect. It’s possible that many non-graduates did not benefit or were even harmed. But they may have developed skills in college that helped them in the future, even though they didn’t earn a degree.This was one paper in one particular setting, but the findings have shown up in other contexts too.A Georgia study found students who just got into the state’s four-year public university system eventually earned 17% more annually by age 30 than similar non-admitted students. These were students at about the 30th percentile of SAT performance.Research in Massachusetts found that low-income students who just got into state colleges there received large economic benefits years later. In high school, these students’ test scores were slightly below the average for high school graduates.A Texas paper, using test-score admissions cutoffs across 35 public colleges, found a clear economic edge for students who won admission to a four-year school. These studies generally look at students who otherwise would have attended a two-year college rather than no college at all. A different Texas study showed a clear hierarchy: Students fared better in four-year colleges than two-year schools, but a two-year program was better than no college at all. The two-year college advantage was for students at roughly the 30th percentile of high school test performance in the state. (One wrinkle: Another recent study in the state found marginal students didn’t seem to benefit from transferring to a four-year college from a two-year school.)This body of research should be interpreted with some degree of caution. It looks at specific places and specific groups of students, who typically entered college decades ago. The papers find positive effects on average, but they don’t imply that everyone benefited. The studies can’t speak to whether AI will change the value of a degree, as some predict. The research also doesn’t show whether students are developing skills in college that help them succeed or whether they are getting hired because employers use a college education as a signal of skill.Still, these papers find that even students who don’t excel in high school often stand to gain from attending college. Many, perhaps most, of these students would not have been categorized as “college ready” by traditional benchmarks. If anything, the research suggests that some states have set college admissions cutoffs that are too high, not too low.“Given the population of people who want to go, we would benefit from helping more of them go, at least somewhat,” says Zimmerman, the Yale professor. Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.
12 minutes
Clayton County authorities say a boil water advisory and low water pressure may have been part of a multistate cyber campaign targeting water infrastructure that could be linked to Iran. Rex Democratic state Rep. Sandra Scott said she’s heard from constituents upset about the incident. “It is critical that they truly get to the bottom […]
Clayton County authorities say a boil water advisory and low water pressure may have been part of a multistate cyber campaign targeting water infrastructure that could be linked to Iran. Rex Democratic state Rep. Sandra Scott said she’s heard from constituents upset about the incident. “It is critical that they truly get to the bottom […]
13 minutes
危地馬拉首都附近的福埃哥火山（Volcán de Fuego）爆發後，當局已開始疏散周圍居民。福埃哥火山被認為是中美洲最活躍的火山，於周一清晨開始噴發，並在周二凌晨活動加劇。滾滾熔岩順着山坡傾瀉而下，巨大的氣體和火山灰柱直衝雲霄。當局發出最高級別-紅色警報。
13 minutes
危地馬拉首都附近的福埃哥火山（Volcán de Fuego）爆發後，當局已開始疏散周圍居民。福埃哥火山被認為是中美洲最活躍的火山，於周一清晨開始噴發，並在周二凌晨活動加劇。滾滾熔岩順着山坡傾瀉而下，巨大的氣體和火山灰柱直衝雲霄。當局發出最高級別-紅色警報。
13 minutes
危地马拉首都附近的福埃哥火山（Volcán de Fuego）爆发后，当局已开始疏散周围居民。福埃哥火山被认为是中美洲最活跃的火山，于周一清晨开始喷发，并在周二凌晨活动加剧。滚滚熔岩顺着山坡倾泻而下，巨大的气体和火山灰柱直冲云霄。当局发出最高级别-红色警报。
13 minutes
危地马拉首都附近的福埃哥火山（Volcán de Fuego）爆发后，当局已开始疏散周围居民。福埃哥火山被认为是中美洲最活跃的火山，于周一清晨开始喷发，并在周二凌晨活动加剧。滚滚熔岩顺着山坡倾泻而下，巨大的气体和火山灰柱直冲云霄。当局发出最高级别-红色警报。
14 minutes
ئامېرىكا دۆلەت بىخەتەرلىكى مىنىستىرلىقى يەنە 43 خىتاي شىركىتىنى بايقۇت تىزىملىكىگە كىرگۈزگەنلىكىنى جاكارلىدى.
ئامېرىكا دۆلەت بىخەتەرلىكى مىنىستىرلىقى يەنە 43 خىتاي شىركىتىنى بايقۇت تىزىملىكىگە كىرگۈزگەنلىكىنى جاكارلىدى.
17 minutes
Don’t worry about it, folks, slick online promotion advises, just think of hyperscale AI data centres as ‘digital refineries’! The post Alberta government publishes pro data centre propaganda appeared first on rabble.ca.
Don’t worry about it, folks, slick online promotion advises, just think of hyperscale AI data centres as ‘digital refineries’! The post Alberta government publishes pro data centre propaganda appeared first on rabble.ca.
18 minutes
More than 60 organizations say they won't accept advertising from an industry they argue is fueling a national epidemic and demand independent scrutiny. The post Brazilian news outlets say they’re rejecting sports betting ads to preserve independence appeared first on LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center.
More than 60 organizations say they won't accept advertising from an industry they argue is fueling a national epidemic and demand independent scrutiny. The post Brazilian news outlets say they’re rejecting sports betting ads to preserve independence appeared first on LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center.
19 minutes
一場彙集了多名法國樂壇巨星的慈善音樂會將於8月27日在波爾多附近的弗洛拉克阿爾凱亞（ARKEA ARENA - FLOIRAC）體育館舉行，這場名為“SOS 救助災民”的慈善活動完全是民間發起的。音樂會演出出入全部將捐給災民、觀眾也被邀請向災民提供資助。
19 minutes
一場彙集了多名法國樂壇巨星的慈善音樂會將於8月27日在波爾多附近的弗洛拉克阿爾凱亞（ARKEA ARENA - FLOIRAC）體育館舉行，這場名為“SOS 救助災民”的慈善活動完全是民間發起的。音樂會演出出入全部將捐給災民、觀眾也被邀請向災民提供資助。
19 minutes
一场汇集了多名法国乐坛巨星的慈善音乐会将于8月27日在波尔多附近的弗洛拉克阿尔凯亚（ARKEA ARENA - FLOIRAC）体育馆举行，这场名为“SOS 救助灾民”的慈善活动完全是民间发起的。音乐会演出出入全部将捐给灾民、观众也被邀请向灾民提供资助。
19 minutes
一场汇集了多名法国乐坛巨星的慈善音乐会将于8月27日在波尔多附近的弗洛拉克阿尔凯亚（ARKEA ARENA - FLOIRAC）体育馆举行，这场名为“SOS 救助灾民”的慈善活动完全是民间发起的。音乐会演出出入全部将捐给灾民、观众也被邀请向灾民提供资助。
20 minutes
(The Center Square) – Taxpayers have covered millions of dollars in fraudulent homecare charges to Medicaid and Medicare since pandemic-era grants flooded the industry without proper oversight, federal investigators said Tuesday. That money was paid to beneficiaries who were on international vacations, behind bars or working for ride share and food delivery apps. In other instances, homecare workers repeatedly billed government insurance for 400 shifts exceeding 24 hours per day. The findings came from the Northeast Healthcare Fraud Strike Force, which said on Tuesday it has expanded into Philadelphia, where it will charge 19 defendants for scamming the Medicaid and Medicare system to the tune of $4 million. “We will no longer tolerate fraud against our most vulnerable citizens and our most important health programs, and to anyone engaged in healthcare fraud of any kind, of any size, we see you, and we are doing everything we can to bring you to justice,” said Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice. “The era of getting rich off the backs of our programs for our sick, elderly, and disabled is over.” Scammers often game the system by reporting together as caregivers and patients to claim payments for care that was never given or received. Dr. Mehmet Oz, administer of the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, said Pennsylvania ranks fifth nationally in average monthly payments to both beneficiaries and providers, totaling an average $50,000 per person. Worse, he said, 96% of personal care claims are for unspecified illnesses, making them harder to track. He blames funds paid during the COVID-19 pandemic as the catalyst for “this corruption to be weaponized.” “We have no tolerance for anyone who invents hours, invents a disability, invents a workforce at the expense of people who depend on these programs,” he said. “And if you love these most vulnerable Americans, you should care as well.” The task force said Tuesday’s charges are an extension of the work done in California, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
(The Center Square) – Taxpayers have covered millions of dollars in fraudulent homecare charges to Medicaid and Medicare since pandemic-era grants flooded the industry without proper oversight, federal investigators said Tuesday. That money was paid to beneficiaries who were on international vacations, behind bars or working for ride share and food delivery apps. In other instances, homecare workers repeatedly billed government insurance for 400 shifts exceeding 24 hours per day. The findings came from the Northeast Healthcare Fraud Strike Force, which said on Tuesday it has expanded into Philadelphia, where it will charge 19 defendants for scamming the Medicaid and Medicare system to the tune of $4 million. “We will no longer tolerate fraud against our most vulnerable citizens and our most important health programs, and to anyone engaged in healthcare fraud of any kind, of any size, we see you, and we are doing everything we can to bring you to justice,” said Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice. “The era of getting rich off the backs of our programs for our sick, elderly, and disabled is over.” Scammers often game the system by reporting together as caregivers and patients to claim payments for care that was never given or received. Dr. Mehmet Oz, administer of the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, said Pennsylvania ranks fifth nationally in average monthly payments to both beneficiaries and providers, totaling an average $50,000 per person. Worse, he said, 96% of personal care claims are for unspecified illnesses, making them harder to track. He blames funds paid during the COVID-19 pandemic as the catalyst for “this corruption to be weaponized.” “We have no tolerance for anyone who invents hours, invents a disability, invents a workforce at the expense of people who depend on these programs,” he said. “And if you love these most vulnerable Americans, you should care as well.” The task force said Tuesday’s charges are an extension of the work done in California, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
21 minutes
A coalition of Maine-based attorneys and legal nonprofits are arguing that the state had the right to deny federal immigration agents covert license plates and that the lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s administration should be dismissed. In a friend of the court brief filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, the coalition argues that […]
A coalition of Maine-based attorneys and legal nonprofits are arguing that the state had the right to deny federal immigration agents covert license plates and that the lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s administration should be dismissed. In a friend of the court brief filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, the coalition argues that […]
22 minutes
Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.The national literacy nonprofit Reading Partners came to Newark two years ago to help tackle the city’s literacy gap. This past school year, the group recruited 500 volunteer tutors to provide one-on-one support to Newark’s youngest readers online or in person across city libraries. The tutors were trained in research-backed methods like the science of reading to prepare for the summer sessions. But only about 200 students signed up for tutoring, and program leaders say making parents aware of the program has been a challenge. The Reading Partners program provides reading support to kindergarten through fourth grade students and enrolls students on a rolling basis. The group said there’s still time to join, and any parent can sign their child up for one or two 45-minute tutoring sessions per week this summer or throughout the school year. The summer reading program ends Aug. 31 and in-person and virtual tutoring during the school year restarts on Sept. 28. Daniela Palacios, the founder of Para KIDS! set a goal to sign up at least 15 students for its first bilingual summer camp. She got eight. At the Van Buren Branch Library in the East Ward, Christopher, a rising fifth grader at Ann Street School whose family is from Brazil, spelled out the word “generous” in English and Spanish.Three years ago, only 19% of public school third graders read on grade level, prompting Mayor Ras Baraka to launch a 10-point action plan built on community partnerships, local initiatives, and city events. Reading Partners and Para KIDS! are among the organizations struggling to get students through the door for tutoring despite the clear need. Both say filling seats has been difficult this summer.Last spring, only 34% of Newark Public Schools’ students in grades 3-9 passed the state’s English Language Arts test. Although that was an improvement from levels right after the pandemic, students are still behind. City leaders continue to raise concerns about low reading rates, but if programs built to close literacy gaps can’t fill their own seats, the challenge isn’t a lack of resources. It’s getting families to use them.Naima Ricks, managing director of partnerships and growth for Reading Partners, said part of the challenge is that the organization is fairly new to the city. Reading Partners came to Newark in 2024 with funding from the GreenLight Fund Greater Newark, which recruited the national nonprofit to fill the city’s need to offer free, personalized tutoring outside of schools, said Tish Johnson, the fund’s executive director. Ricks isn’t sure why more parents aren’t signing their kids up. Summer can be a tough enrollment time for academic programs nationwide as vacations and work schedules can make it difficult to convince parents and their kids to practice their reading skills during the summer months. Lower-income families are also less likely to participate in summer learning opportunities or day camps due to cost and a lack of awareness about what’s available. Mateo, a rising first grader at Lafayette Street School, is reading with Mideademide Johnson, a junior at Penn State University, at the Reading Partners program at Newark Public Library Van Buren Branch in Newark, N.J.“We’re still figuring out the best ways to connect with parents and other caregivers to get their students signed up for tutoring,” Ricks said. Reading Partners recruits college students, retirees, and anyone who wants to support students learning to read. The program started a new partnership with the Newark library this year and expanded to all city libraries this summer. It tutored 300 students this past school year and has roughly 200 this summer, according to Ricks. But that’s just a fraction of the more than 20,000 kindergarten through fourth graders enrolled in Newark charter and public schools in 2025, according to the New Jersey Children’s Foundation data explorer tool. Palacios, a Newark Public Schools alum and Columbia University graduate, thinks the current political landscape could be a factor. She started the bilingual camp to help students embrace their multicultural backgrounds and practice English and Spanish with their peers. She specifically targeted East Ward families for the program, an area where the majority of residents speak Spanish or Portuguese. But ongoing immigration enforcement in the East Ward has made some parents afraid to visit the library at all, Palacios said. Just last week, three staff members at the Van Buren Branch library told Chalkbeat they saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrest someone in front of the building. Ariana, a rising fifth grader who’s homeschooled, said she loves the bilingual summer camp because it helps her practice her Portuguese so she’s able to talk with her grandparents, who don’t speak English.A student is reading with her tutor at the Reading Partners program at Newark Public Library Van Buren Branch in Newark, N.J.Like Reading Partners, Palacios shared flyers about the program, posted videos on social media, contacted school principals in the area, and tapped East Ward Councilman Michael Silva to raise awareness about her program. She still fell short of her enrollment goal. “I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity here in Newark, and it’s just a matter of making (parents) feel comfortable during these times, like feeling like, oh, this was made for me,” Palacios said. Johnson, of the GreenLight Fund Greater Newark, wants to find better ways to connect families to literacy support and other resources like housing and food assistance. “I think there’s just a lack of knowledge that these things exist and a lack of coordination to help families get access to multiple services,” Johnson said.Maylin Vargas said her mom wanted more reading opportunities for her brother Mateo, a rising first grader at Lafayette who attends Reading Partners, this summer. Her mom learned about the program from another parent at school. Mateo doesn’t struggle much with reading, so he wasn’t eligible for mandatory summer school, but his mom wanted him to keep up reading skills during the summer. Paula White, executive director of JerseyCAN, a statewide education advocacy organization, and member of Reading Partners’ advisory board, said getting parents to understand the importance of tutoring is key to filling seats for summer reading programs. She wants to move up the timeline for releasing state test results and integrate those scores into report cards so parents can better understand their child’s performance and needs.“I do think that it really starts with an engaged parent community,” White said. “So that means making sure that parents are engaged and educated to the greatest extent possible around what the curriculum demands are and where their child sits relative to those demands.” Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
22 minutes
Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.The national literacy nonprofit Reading Partners came to Newark two years ago to help tackle the city’s literacy gap. This past school year, the group recruited 500 volunteer tutors to provide one-on-one support to Newark’s youngest readers online or in person across city libraries. The tutors were trained in research-backed methods like the science of reading to prepare for the summer sessions. But only about 200 students signed up for tutoring, and program leaders say making parents aware of the program has been a challenge. The Reading Partners program provides reading support to kindergarten through fourth grade students and enrolls students on a rolling basis. The group said there’s still time to join, and any parent can sign their child up for one or two 45-minute tutoring sessions per week this summer or throughout the school year. The summer reading program ends Aug. 31 and in-person and virtual tutoring during the school year restarts on Sept. 28. Daniela Palacios, the founder of Para KIDS! set a goal to sign up at least 15 students for its first bilingual summer camp. She got eight. At the Van Buren Branch Library in the East Ward, Christopher, a rising fifth grader at Ann Street School whose family is from Brazil, spelled out the word “generous” in English and Spanish.Three years ago, only 19% of public school third graders read on grade level, prompting Mayor Ras Baraka to launch a 10-point action plan built on community partnerships, local initiatives, and city events. Reading Partners and Para KIDS! are among the organizations struggling to get students through the door for tutoring despite the clear need. Both say filling seats has been difficult this summer.Last spring, only 34% of Newark Public Schools’ students in grades 3-9 passed the state’s English Language Arts test. Although that was an improvement from levels right after the pandemic, students are still behind. City leaders continue to raise concerns about low reading rates, but if programs built to close literacy gaps can’t fill their own seats, the challenge isn’t a lack of resources. It’s getting families to use them.Naima Ricks, managing director of partnerships and growth for Reading Partners, said part of the challenge is that the organization is fairly new to the city. Reading Partners came to Newark in 2024 with funding from the GreenLight Fund Greater Newark, which recruited the national nonprofit to fill the city’s need to offer free, personalized tutoring outside of schools, said Tish Johnson, the fund’s executive director. Ricks isn’t sure why more parents aren’t signing their kids up. Summer can be a tough enrollment time for academic programs nationwide as vacations and work schedules can make it difficult to convince parents and their kids to practice their reading skills during the summer months. Lower-income families are also less likely to participate in summer learning opportunities or day camps due to cost and a lack of awareness about what’s available. Mateo, a rising first grader at Lafayette Street School, is reading with Mideademide Johnson, a junior at Penn State University, at the Reading Partners program at Newark Public Library Van Buren Branch in Newark, N.J.“We’re still figuring out the best ways to connect with parents and other caregivers to get their students signed up for tutoring,” Ricks said. Reading Partners recruits college students, retirees, and anyone who wants to support students learning to read. The program started a new partnership with the Newark library this year and expanded to all city libraries this summer. It tutored 300 students this past school year and has roughly 200 this summer, according to Ricks. But that’s just a fraction of the more than 20,000 kindergarten through fourth graders enrolled in Newark charter and public schools in 2025, according to the New Jersey Children’s Foundation data explorer tool. Palacios, a Newark Public Schools alum and Columbia University graduate, thinks the current political landscape could be a factor. She started the bilingual camp to help students embrace their multicultural backgrounds and practice English and Spanish with their peers. She specifically targeted East Ward families for the program, an area where the majority of residents speak Spanish or Portuguese. But ongoing immigration enforcement in the East Ward has made some parents afraid to visit the library at all, Palacios said. Just last week, three staff members at the Van Buren Branch library told Chalkbeat they saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrest someone in front of the building. Ariana, a rising fifth grader who’s homeschooled, said she loves the bilingual summer camp because it helps her practice her Portuguese so she’s able to talk with her grandparents, who don’t speak English.A student is reading with her tutor at the Reading Partners program at Newark Public Library Van Buren Branch in Newark, N.J.Like Reading Partners, Palacios shared flyers about the program, posted videos on social media, contacted school principals in the area, and tapped East Ward Councilman Michael Silva to raise awareness about her program. She still fell short of her enrollment goal. “I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity here in Newark, and it’s just a matter of making (parents) feel comfortable during these times, like feeling like, oh, this was made for me,” Palacios said. Johnson, of the GreenLight Fund Greater Newark, wants to find better ways to connect families to literacy support and other resources like housing and food assistance. “I think there’s just a lack of knowledge that these things exist and a lack of coordination to help families get access to multiple services,” Johnson said.Maylin Vargas said her mom wanted more reading opportunities for her brother Mateo, a rising first grader at Lafayette who attends Reading Partners, this summer. Her mom learned about the program from another parent at school. Mateo doesn’t struggle much with reading, so he wasn’t eligible for mandatory summer school, but his mom wanted him to keep up reading skills during the summer. Paula White, executive director of JerseyCAN, a statewide education advocacy organization, and member of Reading Partners’ advisory board, said getting parents to understand the importance of tutoring is key to filling seats for summer reading programs. She wants to move up the timeline for releasing state test results and integrate those scores into report cards so parents can better understand their child’s performance and needs.“I do think that it really starts with an engaged parent community,” White said. “So that means making sure that parents are engaged and educated to the greatest extent possible around what the curriculum demands are and where their child sits relative to those demands.” Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
22 minutes
The mayor of Kentucky’s largest city is calling on city council members to pass a temporary ban or moratorium on data center construction within the city while the local government mulls over potential regulations restricting the siting and impacts of large data centers. In a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that […]
The mayor of Kentucky’s largest city is calling on city council members to pass a temporary ban or moratorium on data center construction within the city while the local government mulls over potential regulations restricting the siting and impacts of large data centers. In a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that […]
22 minutes
د امریکا ولسمشر ډونالډ ټرمپ وایي، غیرقانوني کډوالي او د انرژۍ پالیسۍ هغه دوه مهم عوامل دي چې اروپا یې له جدي ستونزو سره مخ کړې ده.ټرمپ د دوشنبې په ورځ په سپینه ماڼۍ کې خبریالانو ته وویل، اروپایي هېوادونه باید د غیرقانوني کډوالۍ د مخنیوي لپاره جدي ګامونه پورته کړي.
د امریکا ولسمشر ډونالډ ټرمپ وایي، غیرقانوني کډوالي او د انرژۍ پالیسۍ هغه دوه مهم عوامل دي چې اروپا یې له جدي ستونزو سره مخ کړې ده.ټرمپ د دوشنبې په ورځ په سپینه ماڼۍ کې خبریالانو ته وویل، اروپایي هېوادونه باید د غیرقانوني کډوالۍ د مخنیوي لپاره جدي ګامونه پورته کړي.
23 minutes
古巴周二宣布，在周日晚至周一凌晨發生的全國性大停電後，已恢複電網供電。這是今年古巴第六次大停電，而此次停電正值該國面臨嚴重的能源危機和美國實施的石油封鎖之際。
23 minutes
古巴周二宣布，在周日晚至周一凌晨發生的全國性大停電後，已恢複電網供電。這是今年古巴第六次大停電，而此次停電正值該國面臨嚴重的能源危機和美國實施的石油封鎖之際。