Below are some of my favorite stories from this year. 

Helping kids who are feeling isolated and anxious after schools shut down 

As the U.S. adjusted to a new reality of social distancing and life in quarantine, the move from brick-and-mortar classrooms to an online world — or no school at all — sparked anxiety and fear, not just for kids and teens but also for their parents and caregivers. Experts suggested finding unique ways to connect to help kids cope, including video conferences and even snail mail.  

Best practices for remote learning, according to experts 

What should quality remote learning look like during a pandemic? With so much confusion and anxiety surrounding the issue, both education experts and parents have urged schools to get creative with existing strategies to engage students and parents, while also making remote learning as simple as possible.   

Project-based learning gets its moment during the coronavirus 

Shelby County Public Schools in Kentucky trained all of its teachers in project-based learning seven years ago. During school closures, the district saw higher student engagement thanks to strategies that let kids work at their own pace. 

A parent-led effort to close the digital divide 

For English language learners, who make up more than 5 million students in U.S. public schools, the transition to remote learning has been particularly hard. A Nevada parent launched her own initiative to help Spanish-speaking families get technology for remote learning. 

Hotspots no silver bullet for rural remote learning 

Across the country, more than 9 million kids lack reliable internet connectivity in their homes. Many districts have addressed this “homework gap” by handing out personal hotspot devices. But in many areas, both rural and urban, a hotspot is useless if “there's nothing for it to connect to” in places with limited cellular service. 

Student seeks to create the ‘Netflix of online learning’ 

High school student Sophia Joffe created a database of more than 300 online learning tools after wondering why it wasn’t already happening. Her database answered a pandemic-era demand: About a quarter of families and teachers want more online instructions and resources to help them use online learning tools.  

Just 3% of scientists and engineers are Black or Latina women. Here’s what teachers are doing about it. 

Schools across the country have used culturally responsive teaching practices in English and history classrooms. However, it’s a fairly new idea in science and math. But experts say finding better ways to teach STEM, especially to students of color and girls, is urgent.  

Teachers forced to ‘MacGyver’ their own tech solutions 

Teachers have long spent their own money to outfit their classrooms. Now, the pandemic has increased what teachers must buy as they attempt remote teaching.  

When Olympic athletes coach students on perseverance and self control 

While social and emotional learning has become a buzzword of sorts, low-income and rural schools often face barriers to bringing in and trying innovative models. One program aimed at high-poverty schools helps kids learn social-emotional skills online from Olympic athletes who learned perseverance, self-management and other skills in their training.  

These next three stories are longer features that were published on the Hechinger website. Some of them appeared in this newsletter as well. 

Ed tech companies promise results, but their claims are often based on shoddy research 

Misleading research claims are increasingly common in the world of education software. A Hechinger Report review found dozens of companies promoting their products’ effectiveness on their websites, in email pitches and in vendor brochures with little or shoddy evidence to support their claims. 

Khan Academy plunged into classrooms, then classrooms went online 

Khan Academy, a nonprofit online learning platform, began working in the classroom with Las Vegas-area schools in fall 2019. If it went well, Khan Academy would prove teachers are critical to the successful use of technology and also solve a stubborn problem in education: math achievement. Now, the experiment continues from home. 

Remote learning has been a disaster for many students. But some kids have thrived 

Remote learning has been a struggle for teachers and is expected to set back the learning gains of a generation of students. But a small number of students have done unexpectedly well. For some students who were distracted, bored or anxious in school, online learning has brought benefits. Some educators are now wondering how the experiences of kids who have done better during remote learning can be applied to improve in-person learning in the future. 

If you’ve enjoyed reading these stories, I hope you will share them with colleagues, friends or family who might be interested in this newsletter. They can subscribe here! And, as always, we love hearing from our readers.  Email me at salman@hechingerreport.org with your feedback or any questions or ideas you may have about the Future of Learning.