Improving student attendance

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Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has loomed large. Educators are seeking strategies and partners who can help tackle it. Well, getting kids back to school is one place where it’s long struck me that professional sports franchises could make a big difference. After all, professional athletes live daily with a show-up-early, work-hard routine. Indeed, of the teen and tween role models—like actors, social media influencers, and singers—athletes may be the ones with the most obvious ties to schools, colleges, and a grind-it-out ethos. The Cleveland Browns have spent a decade partnering with Ohio schools to improve attendance and launched the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network in 2019

Read all about this great program HERE

Hatcher developing tools to support people with Dyscalculia

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For Hatcher, this project started as a little bit of an experiment to see how he could use computers to help increase accessibility. He fell upon dyscalculia because as a disability that affects people’s computational processes, it seemed like a natural fit. Since few resources exist to help people with dyscalculia, he also reasoned that a strong, well-designed tool would be of great help to an underserved population. 

“I didn’t know it existed until I stumbled upon it,” he said. “I’ve heard an estimate that it’s about 50 years behind dyslexia in terms of research and funding…It’s a real need that’s being overlooked in a large population. The existing data suggests that it’s about as common as dyslexia is.”

Read the full interview HERE

UK parliament getting serious about Dyscalculia

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The House of Lords will discuss Dyscalculia on June 4th.

Dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty that affects the understanding of number-based information. Schools in England are responsible for identifying any special educational needs (SEN) arising from such learning difficulties, and initial teacher training from September 2025 will contain more content related to supporting children with SEN. However, campaigners highlight there remains no specific requirement for teachers to learn about dyscalculia and argue awareness of the learning difficulty remains low.

Read what they will discuss HERE

Let’s limit distractions

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Distractions have a huge impact on learning. In this article the cognitive psychologist links sensory perception and children’s learning.

Nora Turoman is a cognitive psychology researcher at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Nora studies how different types of distraction affect children’s learning. She is investigating whether and how children differ from adults with respect to how easily distracted they are. Annie Brookman-Byrne talks with Nora about how her own sensory experiences fuelled her interest in perception, and what she’s learnt from unexpected findings.

Read the full article HERE

Scary report cards

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In case you missed it, Understood has a great article on how to help your child with their anxieties over the scary report card.

Report cards can be a big deal for both parents and kids, especially at the end of the school year. For struggling students, getting a report card can feel like a make-or-break moment. They may dread seeing the report card comments.

Read about their solutions HERE