Parents and Education

South Philly Charter School Musical Sensory Garden: Design, Funding, and Inclusive Purpose The transformation of a small, tucked-away courtyard into a vibrant educational landscape at the South Philly Charter School demonstrates how intentional design fosters Creative Learning and supports diverse learners. This project, fueled by a grant from a local nonprofit, reimagined an underused space …

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Using a Parents’ Address for School Enrollment: Legal and Ethical Landscape in 2025 Many families face a difficult choice when their neighborhood school district does not meet expectations. One tempting option is to list a relative’s home — often a parent’s address — on enrollment paperwork so a child can access a different school. That …

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Policy Implications for Moving Special Education Oversight: Educational Policy and Reform Strategies A shift of Special Education oversight beyond the traditional Education Department raises immediate questions about Educational Policy coherence, legal obligations, and long-term accountability. Consider Ava, a fictional special education coordinator in the Midvale School District, who must interpret new federal guidance when authority …

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The Growing Teacher Shortage and Its Immediate Education Impact Educators across urban and rural districts are sounding an alarm about a mounting crisis: persistent staffing shortages are eroding the capacity of schools to deliver consistent, high-quality instruction. A combination of unfilled vacancies, budget pressures and a failure to replace departing staff has left many institutions …

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Federal Oversight of Special Education in New Orleans: A Guest Perspective on the Consent Decree As both an advocate and a parent, I have watched the arc of public education in New Orleans shift dramatically since Hurricane Katrina. That storm did not just displace families and teachers; it also exposed deep, systemic failures in how …

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Strengthening Mental Well-Being for Rural Left-Behind Children through Needs-Based Rural Education The phenomenon of left-behind children in rural settings is both widespread and complex, shaped by economic migration and structural barriers. In many regions, parents migrate to urban centers for work, leaving children in the care of grandparents or other kin. National statistics in recent …

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Ukraine’s children confront a fourth school year amid invasion and widespread education challenges As Ukraine enters its fourth school year under the strain of a full-scale invasion, the human story behind the numbers becomes central to any plan for recovery. For many families the day begins with an air raid alarm rather than a school …

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Why Chinese mothers choose family relocation to Silicon Valley for Ivy League dreams The decision to uproot a family for education is rarely spontaneous. For many in our profile, led by the example of Joanna Gao, the move from Shanghai to Palo Alto in 2018 was calculated around a singular objective: improving their children’s odds …

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How CalKIDS Scholarship Works: Eligibility and Qualification for Over 5 Million California Children The launch of the CalKIDS program in 2022 represented a major policy move to expand early access to education funding across California. The program set up an initial scholarship account for every child born in the state on or after July 1, …

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Why Chinese mothers relocate entire families to Silicon Valley for elite education Melody Xu and her mother Doris Zhou became a familiar example in Palo Alto: they represent a wave of Chinese mothers who have chosen family relocation to pursue elite education opportunities for their children. The decision to move is rarely spontaneous; it follows …

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