Hurricane Harvey, teacher shortages, racial disparities in special education and other top stories in this week’s AcceliBEAT
September 1, 2017
This past week our hearts were heavy as tropical storm Harvey flooded Houston and the surrounding areas. Today we share how educators and local school leaders are responding in the wake of the devastating storm and how the damage will impact students. In other news, the national teacher shortage is real, with federal data showing shortages in every state across many key subject areas. Finally, a study published this week that analyzed NAEP scores found significant racial disparities in enrollment of minority students in special education compared to their white peers. All this and more in this week’s AcceliBEAT!
Teacher Shortages Affecting Every State as 2017-18 School Year Begins
The 2017-18 school year has started in many places across the country, and federal data shows that every state is dealing with shortages of teachers in key subject areas. Some are having trouble finding substitute teachers, too.
A School Counselor Takes To The Floodwaters To Rescue His Students And Their Families
Brandon McElveen’s Ford F150 pickup is lifted up about six inches. He says that’s just the style in the South, but this week, “it’s come in handy” for driving through up to four feet of water. McElveen’s a counselor at the KIPP Explore Academy elementary school in Houston. Within hours of the flooding this week, he began getting calls and messages asking for help. One was from a family with two girls on the middle school softball team he also coaches.
Harvey Forces More Than 220 District Closures as Damages Mount
Prayer, gratitude, and social media are what’s getting Texas elementary school principal Susan Brenz through the continued devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. “It is really challenging to mentally wrap your head around the fact that a large portion of our student body is without a home right now,” said Brenz, who leads Sadie Woodard Elementary in the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District.
Houston School Superintendent Says A Lot Of Work Ahead To Open Schools
This week was supposed to be the start of a brand-new school year for the 200,000, or so, students in the Houston Independent School District. Instead, kids, teachers and staff are dealing with the fallout from Harvey’s record-breaking rainfall and devastating floods. Richard Carranza, Houston schools superintendent, is trying to figure out when school can start — and where, in cases where high waters flooded out schools and homes. Even as he recognizes this school year will be very different, he says the focus will be on teaching kids, wherever Harvey has scattered them.
How Schoolchildren Will Cope With Hurricane Harvey
As floodwaters from tropical storm Harvey continue to rise in the nation’s fourth most-populous city, well over 100 districts across southeastern Texas remain shuttered during what for some would have been the opening days of the academic year. The closures affect hundreds of thousands of students.
Minority Students Still Missing Out on Special Education, New Analysis Says
The research team whose work runs counter to conventional wisdom about minority enrollment in special education has released a new study that looks at a different, larger data set and comes to the same conclusion as its previous work: black and Hispanic children, as well as children of other races, are enrolled in special education at rates significantly lower than those of their white peers.
Is It Time To Ditch The Autism Puzzle Piece?
Long associated with autism, new research is questioning whether or not the ubiquitous puzzle piece serves as a pro or con for organizations tied to the developmental disorder.
Seattle’s Push to End Lower Pay for Workers With Disabilities: Would It Help or Hurt?
A proposed ban on paying Seattle workers with disabilities less than minimum wage could take effect as soon as next month, but some worry the change would have unintended consequences for the people it’s trying to help.
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