what is problem of education

The Education Crisis: Being in School Is Not the Same as Learning

First grade students in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province are learning the alphabet through child-friendly flash cards. Their learning materials help educators teach through interactive and engaging activities and are provided free of charge through a student’s first learning backpack. © World Bank 

THE NAME OF THE DOG IS PUPPY. This seems like a simple sentence. But did you know that in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, three out of four third grade students do not understand it? The world is facing a learning crisis . Worldwide, hundreds of millions of children reach young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a transaction, reading a doctor’s instructions, or understanding a bus schedule—let alone building a fulfilling career or educating their children. Education is at the center of building human capital. The latest World Bank research shows that the productivity of 56 percent of the world’s children will be less than half of what it could be if they enjoyed complete education and full health. For individuals, education raises self-esteem and furthers opportunities for employment and earnings. And for a country, it helps strengthen institutions within societies, drives long-term economic growth, reduces poverty, and spurs innovation.

A global learning crisis

As a result, it is hard for them to do anything about it. And with uncertainty about the kinds of skills the jobs of the future will require, schools and teachers must prepare students with more than basic reading and writing skills. Students need to be able to interpret information, form opinions, be creative, communicate well, collaborate, and be resilient. The World Bank’s vision is for all children and youth to be learning and acquiring the skills they need to be productive, fulfilled, and involved citizens and workers. Our focus is on helping teachers at all levels become more effective in facilitating learning, improving technology for learning, strengthening management of schools and systems, while ensuring learners of all ages—from preschool to adulthood—are equipped for success.

Change starts with a great teacher

A growing body of evidence suggests the learning crisis is, at its core, a teaching crisis. For students to learn, they need good teachers —but Fortunately for many students, in every country, there are dedicated and enthusiastic teachers who, despite all challenges, enrich and transform their lives. They are heroes who defy the odds and make learning happen with passion, creativity and determination.

One such hero works in the Ecoles Oued Eddahab school in Kenitra, Morocco. In a colorful classroom that she painted herself, she uses creative tools to make sure that every child learns, participates, and has fun. In her class, each letter in the alphabet is associated with the sound of an animal and a hand movement. During class she says a word, spells it out loud using the sounds and the movement, and students then write the word down. She can easily identify students who are struggling with the material and adjust the pace of the lesson to help them get on track. Children are engaged and attentive. They participate and are not afraid to make mistakes. This is a teacher who wants to make sure that ALL children learn. 

One of the most interesting, large scale educational technology efforts is being led by EkStep , a philanthropic effort in India. EkStep created an open digital infrastructure which provides access to learning opportunities for 200 million children, as well as professional development opportunities for 12 million teachers and 4.5 million school leaders. Both teachers and children are accessing content which ranges from teaching materials, explanatory videos, interactive content, stories, practice worksheets, and formative assessments. By monitoring which content is used most frequently—and most beneficially—informed decisions can be made around future content.

In the Dominican Republic, a World Bank supported pilot study shows how adaptive technologies can generate great interest among 21st century students and present a path to supporting the learning and teaching of future generations. Yudeisy, a sixth grader participating in the study, says that what she likes doing the most during the day is watching videos and tutorials on her computer and cell phone. Taking childhood curiosity as a starting point, the study aimed to channel it towards math learning in a way that interests Yudeisy and her classmates.

Yudeisy, along with her classmates in a public elementary school in Santo Domingo, is part of a four-month pilot to reinforce mathematics using software that adapts to the math level of each student. © World Bank

Adaptive technology was used to evaluate students’ initial learning level to then walk them through math exercises in a dynamic, personalized way, based on artificial intelligence and what the student is ready to learn. After three months, students with the lowest initial performance achieved substantial improvements. This shows the potential of technology to increase learning outcomes, especially among students lagging behind their peers. In a field that is developing at dizzying speeds, innovative solutions to educational challenges are springing up everywhere. Our challenge is to make technology a driver of equity and inclusion and not a source of greater inequality of opportunity. We are working with partners worldwide to support the effective and appropriate use of educational technologies to strengthen learning.

When schools and educations systems are managed well, learning happens

Successful education reforms require good policy design, strong political commitment, and effective implementation capacity . Of course, this is extremely challenging. Many countries struggle to make efficient use of resources and very often increased education spending does not translate into more learning and improved human capital. Overcoming such challenges involves working at all levels of the system.

At the central level, ministries of education need to attract the best experts to design and implement evidence-based and country-specific programs. District or regional offices need the capacity and the tools to monitor learning and support schools. At the school level, principals need to be trained and prepared to manage and lead schools, from planning the use of resources to supervising and nurturing their teachers. However difficult, change is possible. Supported by the World Bank, public schools across Punjab in Pakistan have been part of major reforms over the past few years to address these challenges. Through improved school-level accountability by monitoring and limiting teacher and student absenteeism, and the introduction of a merit-based teacher recruitment system, where only the most talented and motivated teachers were selected, they were able to increase enrollment and retention of students and significantly improve the quality of education. "The government schools have become very good now, even better than private ones," said Mr. Ahmed, a local villager.

The World Bank, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UK’s Department for International Development, is developing the Global Education Policy Dashboard . This new initiative will provide governments with a system for monitoring how their education systems are functioning, from learning data to policy plans, so they are better able to make timely and evidence-based decisions.

Education reform: The long game is worth it

In fact, it will take a generation to realize the full benefits of high-quality teachers, the effective use of technology, improved management of education systems, and engaged and prepared learners. However, global experience shows us that countries that have rapidly accelerated development and prosperity all share the common characteristic of taking education seriously and investing appropriately. As we mark the first-ever International Day of Education on January 24, we must do all we can to equip our youth with the skills to keep learning, adapt to changing realities, and thrive in an increasingly competitive global economy and a rapidly changing world of work.

The schools of the future are being built today. These are schools where all teachers have the right competencies and motivation, where technology empowers them to deliver quality learning, and where all students learn fundamental skills, including socio-emotional, and digital skills. These schools are safe and affordable to everyone and are places where children and young people learn with joy, rigor, and purpose. Governments, teachers, parents, and the international community must do their homework to realize the promise of education for all students, in every village, in every city, and in every country. 

The Bigger Picture: In-depth stories on ending poverty

The global education crisis – even more severe than previously estimated

Ellinore carroll, joão pedro azevedo, jessica bergmann, matt brossard, gwang- chol chang, borhene chakroun, marie-helene cloutier, suguru mizunoya, nicolas reuge, halsey rogers.

In our recent   The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery report (produced jointly by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank), we sounded the alarm: this generation of students now risks losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, or about 14 percent of today’s global GDP, because of COVID-19-related school closures and economic shocks. This new projection far exceeds the $10 trillion estimate released in 2020 and reveals that the impact of the pandemic is more severe than previously thought . 

The pandemic and school closures not only jeopardized children’s health and safety with domestic violence and child labor increasing, but also impacted student learning substantially. The report indicates that in low- and middle-income countries, the share of children living in  Learning Poverty  – already above 50 percent before the pandemic – could reach 70 percent largely as a result of the long school closures and the relative ineffectiveness of remote learning.

Unless action is taken, learning losses may continue to accumulate once children are back in school, endangering future learning.

Figure 1. Countries must accelerate learning recovery

Severe learning losses and worsening inequalities in education

Results from global simulations of the effect of school closures on learning are now being corroborated by country estimates of actual learning losses. Evidence from Brazil , rural Pakistan , rural India , South Africa , and Mexico , among others, shows substantial losses in math and reading. In some low- and middle-income countries, on average, learning losses are roughly proportional to the length of the closures—meaning that each month of school closures led to a full month of learning losses (Figure 1, selected LMICs and HICs presents an average effect of 100% and 43%, respectively), despite the best efforts of decision makers, educators, and families to maintain continuity of learning.

However, the extent of learning loss varies substantially across countries and within countries by subject, students’ socioeconomic status, gender, and age or grade level (Figure 1 illustrates this point, note the large standard deviation, a measure which shows data are spread out far from the mean). For example, results from two states in Mexico show significant learning losses in reading and in math for students aged 10-15. The estimated learning losses were greater in math than reading, and they disproportionately affected younger learners, students from low-income backgrounds, and girls.

Figure 2. The average learning loss standardized by the length of the school closure was close to 100% in Low- and Middle-Income countries, and 43% in High-Income countries, with a standard deviation of 74% and 30%, respectively.

While most countries have yet to measure learning losses, data from several countries, combined with more extensive evidence on unequal access to remote learning and at-home support, shows the crisis has exacerbated inequalities in education globally.

• Children from low-income households, children with disabilities, and girls were less likely to access remote learning due to limited availability of electricity, connectivity, devices, accessible technologies as well as discrimination and social and gender norms.
• Younger students had less access to age-appropriate remote learning and were more affected by learning loss than older students. Pre-school-age children, who are at a pivotal stage for learning and development, faced a double disadvantage as they were often left out of remote learning and school reopening plans.
• Learning losses were greater for students of lower socioeconomic status in various countries, including Ghana , Mexico , and Pakistan .
• While the gendered impact of school closures on learning is still emerging, initial evidence points to larger learning losses among girls, including in South Africa and Mexico .

As a result, these children risk missing out on much of the boost that schools and learning can provide to their well-being and life chances. The learning recovery response must therefore target support to those that need it most, to prevent growing inequalities in education.

Beyond learning, growing evidence shows the negative effects school closures have had on students’ mental health and well-being, health and nutrition, and protection, reinforcing the vital role schools play in providing comprehensive support and services to students.

Critical and Urgent Need to Focus on Learning Recovery

How should decision makers and the international community respond to the growing global education crisis?

Reopening schools and keeping them open must be the top priority, globally. While nearly every country in the world offered remote learning opportunities for students, the quality and reach of such initiatives varied, and in most cases, they offered a poor substitute for in-person instruction. Stemming and reversing learning losses, especially for the most vulnerable students, requires in-person schooling. Decision makers need to reassure parents and caregivers that with adequate safety measures, such as social distancing, masking, and improved ventilation, global evidence shows that children can resume in-person schooling safely.

But just reopening schools with a business-as-usual approach won’t reverse learning losses. Countries need to create Learning Recovery Programs . Three lines of action will be crucial:

• Consolidating the curriculum – to help teachers prioritize essential material that students have missed while out of school, even if the content is usually covered in earlier grades, to ensure the curriculum is aligned to students’ learning levels. As an example, Tanzania consolidated its curriculum for grade 1 and 2 in 2015, reducing the number of subjects taught and increasing time on ensuring the acquisition of foundational numeracy and literacy.
• Extending instructional time – by extending the school day, modifying the academic calendar to make the school year longer, or by offering summer school for all students or those in need. In Mexico , the Ministry of Public Education announced planned extensions to the academic calendar to help recovery. In Madagascar , the government scaled up an existing two-month summer “catch-up” program for students who reintegrate into school after having left the system.
• Improving the efficiency of learning – by supporting teachers to apply structured pedagogy and targeted instruction. A structured pedagogy intervention in Kenya using teachers guides with lesson plans has proven to be highly effective. Targeted instruction, or aligning instruction to students’ learning level, has been successfully implemented at scale in Cote D’Ivoire .

Finally, the report emphasizes the need for adequate funding. As of June 2021, the education and training sector had been allocated less than 3 percent of global stimulus packages. Much more funding will be needed for immediate learning recovery if countries are to avert the long-term damage to productivity and inclusion that they now face.

Learning Recovery as a Springboard to an Accelerated Learning Trajectory

Accelerating learning recovery has benefits that go well beyond short-term gains:  it can give children the necessary foundations for a lifetime of learning, and it can help countries increase the efficiency, equity, and resilience of schooling. This can be achieved if countries build on investments made and lessons learned during the crisis—most notably, with a focus on six areas:

• Assessing student learning so instruction can be targeted to students’ learning levels and specific needs.
• Investing in digital learning opportunities for all students, ensuring that technology is fit for purpose and focused on enhancing human interactions.
• Reinforcing support that leverages the role of parents, families, and communities in children’s learning.
• Ensuring that teachers are supported and have access to practical, high-quality professional development opportunities, teaching guides and learning materials. 
• Increasing the share of education in the national budget allocation of stimulus packages and tying it to investments mentioned above that can accelerate learning.
• Investing in evidence building - in particular, implementation research, to understand what works and how to scale what works to the system level.

It is time to shift from crisis response to learning recovery. We must make sure that investments and actions for learning recovery lay the foundations for more efficient, equitable, and resilient education systems—systems that truly deliver learning and well-being for all children and youth. Only then can we ensure learning continuity in the face of future disruption.

The report was produced as part of the  Mission: Recovering Education 2021 , through which the  World Bank ,  UNESCO , and  UNICEF  are focused on three priorities: bringing all children back to schools, recovering learning losses, and preparing and supporting teachers.

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What Are Some of the Current Challenges in Quality Education?

Around the world, millions of children face significant barriers to receiving the quality education they deserve — from overcrowded classrooms to undertrained teachers; from lack of access for students with disabilities to gender inequity; from the massive impact of pandemic-related school closures to lack of family support for education .

Time in School Doesn’t Equal Time Spent Learning

In Rwanda, where these obstacles are the reality for many children, a student can expect to complete roughly 6.9 years of school by the time they turn 18. However, when this figure is adjusted to factor in what they have learned, this actually only equates to 3.9 years (Source: Human Capital Index 2020 ). This is why Wellspring focuses not only on ensuring that children have access to school — an area in which great progress has been made in Rwanda — but on building the capacity of teachers and leaders to provide children with a quality education .

Ill-Equipped Teachers

There is a great need for teachers to be equipped with skills that improve the quality of students’ learning, and this is particularly true in this season of mass teacher recruitment. Alongside the building of thousands of new classrooms across Rwanda, over 20,000+ new teachers have been recruited, many of whom have no background as educators. Wellspring has had a key role to play in developing resources and providing support that will set these new educators up for success.

Language Barriers in Teaching and Learning

Another challenge faced by teachers and students alike is the requirement that lessons are taught in English, rather than in Kinywarwanda — the native tongue of most teachers and students in Rwanda . This presents a significant obstacle to teaching and learning, and a great deal of support is needed to ensure that lessons are being absorbed and understood.  

Prioritizing Pre-Primary

There is an increasing awareness too of the importance of quality education at the pre-primary level, and this is leading Wellspring to engage more intentionally and strategically in early childhood education. The challenge is that access to, and enrolment in, pre-primary education remains low in Rwanda. The Rwandan government is proactively promoting greater enrolment to ensure that young children are as ready as they can be for their formal primary and secondary education. 

The Road Ahead

This pursuit of quality education for every child —which is also the focus of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 —and work towards removing the obstacles children face in accessing this kind of education is worth our investment and will make a difference for generations to come. This takes capacity-building work at the grassroots level and advocacy work at the systemic level, and Wellspring is privileged to play a part in both.

Other Foundational Pieces

We are sharing these Foundational Pieces to help you learn more about who we are and what we do.

What do we mean by Quality Education?

What are Barriers to Girls’ Education?

Why Does Education Matter?

The alarming state of the American student in 2022

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, robin lake and robin lake director, center on reinventing public education - arizona state university travis pillow travis pillow innovation fellow, center on reinventing public education - arizona state university.

November 1, 2022

The pandemic was a wrecking ball for U.S. public education, bringing months of school closures, frantic moves to remote instruction, and trauma and isolation.

Kids may be back at school after three disrupted years, but a return to classrooms has not brought a return to normal. Recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed historic declines in American students’ knowledge and skills and widening gaps between the highest- and lowest-scoring students.

But even these sobering results do not tell us the whole story.

After nearly three years of tracking pandemic response by U.S. school systems and synthesizing knowledge about the impacts on students, we sought to establish a baseline understanding of the contours of the crisis: What happened and why, and where do we go from here?

This first annual “ State of the American Student ” report synthesizes nearly three years of research on the academic, mental health, and other impacts of the pandemic and school closures.

It outlines the contours of the crisis American students have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and begins to chart a path to recovery and reinvention for all students—which includes building a new and better approach to public education that ensures an educational crisis of this magnitude cannot happen again.

The state of American students as we emerge from the pandemic is still coming into focus, but here’s what we’ve learned (and haven’t yet learned) about where COVID-19 left us:

1. Students lost critical opportunities to learn and thrive.

• The typical American student lost several months’ worth of learning in language arts and more in mathematics.

• Students suffered crushing increases in anxiety and depression. More than one in 360 U.S. children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.

• Students poorly served before the pandemic were profoundly left behind during it, including many with disabilities whose parents reported they were cut off from essential school and life services.

This deeply traumatic period threatens to reverberate for decades. The academic, social, and mental-health needs are real, they are measurable, and they must be addressed quickly to avoid long-term consequences to individual students, the future workforce, and society.

2. The average effects from COVID mask dire inequities and widely varied impact.

Some students are catching up, but time is running out for others. Every student experienced the pandemic differently, and there is tremendous variation from student to student, with certain populations—namely, Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, as well as other vulnerable populations—suffering the most severe impacts.

The effects were more severe where campuses stayed closed longer. American students are experiencing a K-shaped recovery, in which gaps between the highest- and lowest-scoring students, already growing before the pandemic, are widening into chasms. In the latest NAEP results released in September , national average scores fell five times as much in reading, and four times as much in math, for the lowest-scoring 10 percent of nine-year-olds as they had for the highest-scoring 10 percent.

At the pace of recovery we are seeing today, too many students of all races and income levels will graduate in the coming years without the skills and knowledge needed for college and careers.

3. What we know at this point is incomplete. The situation could be significantly worse than the early data suggest.

The data and stories we have to date are enough to warrant immediate action, but there are serious holes in our understanding of how the pandemic has affected various groups of students, especially those who are typically most likely to fall through the cracks in the American education system.

We know little about students with complex needs, such as those with disabilities and English learners. We still know too little about the learning impacts in non-tested subjects, such as science, civics, and foreign languages. And while psychologists , educators , and the federal government are sounding alarms about a youth mental health crisis, systematic measures of student wellbeing remain hard to come by.

We must acknowledge that what we know at this point is incomplete, since the pandemic closures and following recovery have been so unprecedented in recent times. It’s possible that as we continue to dig into the evidence on the pandemic’s impacts, some student groups or subjects may have not been so adversely affected. Alternatively, the situation could be significantly worse than the early data suggest. Some students are already bouncing back quickly. But for others, the impact could grow worse over time.

In subjects like math, where learning is cumulative, pandemic-related gaps in students’ learning that emerged during the pandemic could affect their ability to grasp future material. In some states, test scores fell dramatically for high schoolers nearing graduation. Shifts in these students’ academic trajectories could affect their college plans—and the rest of their lives. And elevated rates of chronic absenteeism suggest some students who disconnected from school during the pandemic have struggled to reconnect since.

4. The harms students experienced can be traced to a rigid and inequitable system that put adults, not students, first.

• Despite often heroic efforts by caring adults, students and families were cut off from essential support, offered radically diminished learning opportunities, and left to their own devices to support learning.

• Too often, partisan politics, not student needs , drove decision-making.

• Students with complexities and differences too often faced systems immobilized by fear and a commitment to sameness rather than prioritization and problem-solving.

So, what can we do to address the situation we’re in?

Diverse needs demand diverse solutions that are informed by pandemic experiences

Freed from the routines of rigid systems, some parents, communities, and educators found new ways to tailor learning experiences around students’ needs. They discovered learning can happen any time and anywhere. They discovered enriching activities outside class and troves of untapped adult talent.

Some of these breakthroughs happened in public schools—like virtual IEP meetings that leveled power dynamics between administrators and parents advocating for their children’s special education services. Others happened in learning pods or other new environments where families and community groups devised new ways to meet students’ needs. These were exceptions to an otherwise miserable rule, and they can inform the work ahead.

We must act quickly but we must also act differently. Important next steps include:

• Districts and states should immediately use their federal dollars to address the emergent needs of the COVID-19 generation of students via proven interventions, such as well-designed tutoring, extended learning time, credit recovery, additional mental health support, college and career guidance, and mentoring. The challenges ahead are too daunting for schools to shoulder alone. Partnerships and funding for families and community-driven solutions will be critical.

• By the end of the 2022–2023 academic year, states and districts must commit to an honest accounting of rebuilding efforts by defining, adopting, and reporting on their progress toward 5- and 10-year goals for long-term student recovery. States should invest in rigorous studies that document, analyze, and improve their approaches.

• Education leaders and researchers must adopt a national research and development agenda for school reinvention over the next five years. This effort must be anchored in the reality that the needs of students are so varied, so profound, and so multifaceted that a one-size-fits-all approach to education can’t possibly meet them all. Across the country, community organizations who previously operated summer or afterschool programs stepped up to support students during the school day. As they focus on recovery, school system leaders should look to these helpers not as peripheral players in education, but as critical contributors who can provide teaching , tutoring, or joyful learning environments for students and often have trusting relationships with their families.

• Recovery and rebuilding should ensure the system is more resilient and prepared for future crises. That means more thoughtful integration of online learning and stronger partnerships with organizations that support learning outside school walls. Every school system in America should have a plan to keep students safe and learning even when they can’t physically come to school, be equipped to deliver high-quality, individualized pathways for students, and build on practices that show promise.

Our “State of the American Student” report is the first in a series of annual reports the Center on Reinventing Public Education intends to produce through fall of 2027. We hope every state and community will produce similar, annual accounts and begin to define ambitious goals for recovery. The implications of these deeply traumatic years will reverberate for decades unless we find a path not only to normalcy but also to restitution for this generation and future generations of American students.

The road to recovery can lead somewhere new. In five years, we hope to report that out of the ashes of the pandemic, American public education emerged transformed: more flexible and resilient, more individualized and equitable, and—most of all— more joyful.

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Recognizing and Overcoming Inequity in Education

About the author, sylvia schmelkes.

Sylvia Schmelkes is Provost of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

22 January 2020 Introduction

I nequity is perhaps the most serious problem in education worldwide. It has multiple causes, and its consequences include differences in access to schooling, retention and, more importantly, learning. Globally, these differences correlate with the level of development of various countries and regions. In individual States, access to school is tied to, among other things, students' overall well-being, their social origins and cultural backgrounds, the language their families speak, whether or not they work outside of the home and, in some countries, their sex. Although the world has made progress in both absolute and relative numbers of enrolled students, the differences between the richest and the poorest, as well as those living in rural and urban areas, have not diminished. 1

These correlations do not occur naturally. They are the result of the lack of policies that consider equity in education as a principal vehicle for achieving more just societies. The pandemic has exacerbated these differences mainly due to the fact that technology, which is the means of access to distance schooling, presents one more layer of inequality, among many others.

The dimension of educational inequity

Around the world, 258 million, or 17 per cent of the world’s children, adolescents and youth, are out of school. The proportion is much larger in developing countries: 31 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 21 per cent in Central Asia, vs. 3 per cent in Europe and North America. 2  Learning, which is the purpose of schooling, fares even worse. For example, it would take 15-year-old Brazilian students 75 years, at their current rate of improvement, to reach wealthier countries’ average scores in math, and more than 260 years in reading. 3 Within countries, learning results, as measured through standardized tests, are almost always much lower for those living in poverty. In Mexico, for example, 80 per cent of indigenous children at the end of primary school don’t achieve basic levels in reading and math, scoring far below the average for primary school students. 4

The causes of educational inequity

There are many explanations for educational inequity. In my view, the most important ones are the following:

• Equity and equality are not the same thing. Equality means providing the same resources to everyone. Equity signifies giving more to those most in need. Countries with greater inequity in education results are also those in which governments distribute resources according to the political pressure they experience in providing education. Such pressures come from families in which the parents attended school, that reside in urban areas, belong to cultural majorities and who have a clear appreciation of the benefits of education. Much less pressure comes from rural areas and indigenous populations, or from impoverished urban areas. In these countries, fewer resources, including infrastructure, equipment, teachers, supervision and funding, are allocated to the disadvantaged, the poor and cultural minorities.
• Teachers are key agents for learning. Their training is crucial.  When insufficient priority is given to either initial or in-service teacher training, or to both, one can expect learning deficits. Teachers in poorer areas tend to have less training and to receive less in-service support.
• Most countries are very diverse. When a curriculum is overloaded and is the same for everyone, some students, generally those from rural areas, cultural minorities or living in poverty find little meaning in what is taught. When the language of instruction is different from their native tongue, students learn much less and drop out of school earlier.
• Disadvantaged students frequently encounter unfriendly or overtly offensive attitudes from both teachers and classmates. Such attitudes are derived from prejudices, stereotypes, outright racism and sexism. Students in hostile environments are affected in their disposition to learn, and many drop out early.

It doesn’t have to be like this

When left to inertial decision-making, education systems seem to be doomed to reproduce social and economic inequity. The commitment of both governments and societies to equity in education is both necessary and possible. There are several examples of more equitable educational systems in the world, and there are many subnational examples of successful policies fostering equity in education.

Why is equity in education important?

Education is a basic human right. More than that, it is an enabling right in the sense that, when respected, allows for the fulfillment of other human rights. Education has proven to affect general well-being, productivity, social capital, responsible citizenship and sustainable behaviour. Its equitable distribution allows for the creation of permeable societies and equity. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. One hundred eighty-four countries are committed to achieving this goal over the next decade. 5  The process of walking this road together has begun and requires impetus to continue, especially now that we must face the devastating consequences of a long-lasting pandemic. Further progress is crucial for humanity.

Notes  1 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization , Inclusive Education. All Means All , Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 (Paris, 2020), p.8. Available at https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2020/inclusion . 2 Ibid., p. 4, 7. 3 World Bank Group, World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education's Promise (Washington, DC, 2018), p. 3. Available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2018 .  4 Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación de la Educación, "La educación obligatoria en México", Informe 2018 (Ciudad de México, 2018), p. 72. Available online at https://www.inee.edu.mx/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1I243.pdf . 5 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization , “Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4” (2015), p. 23. Available at  https://iite.unesco.org/publications/education-2030-incheon-declaration-framework-action-towards-inclusive-equitable-quality-education-lifelong-learning/   The UN Chronicle  is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.   

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Sailors for Sustainability: Sailing the Globe to Document Proven Solutions for Sustainable Living

Most of the solutions we have described are tangible examples of sustainability in action. Yet our sailing journey also made us realize that the most important ingredient for a sustainable future is sustainability from within. By that we mean adopting a different way of perceiving the Earth and our role in it.

Documents and publications

• Yearbook of the United Nations 
• Basic Facts About the United Nations
• Journal of the United Nations
• Meetings Coverage and Press Releases
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What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?

3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools, table of contents.

• Problems students are facing
• A look inside the classroom
• How teachers are experiencing their jobs
• How teachers view the education system
• Satisfaction with specific aspects of the job
• Do teachers feel trusted to do their job well?
• Likelihood that teachers will change jobs
• Would teachers recommend teaching as a profession?
• Reasons it’s so hard to get everything done during the workday
• Staffing issues
• Balancing work and personal life
• How teachers experience their jobs
• Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Major problems at school
• Discipline practices
• Policies around cellphone use
• Verbal abuse and physical violence from students
• Addressing behavioral and mental health challenges
• Teachers’ interactions with parents
• K-12 education and political parties
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

• 48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
• 49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

• Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
• Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
• Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

• 61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
• 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
• 34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.  

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

• 67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

• 31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
• On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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More From Forbes

America’s education crisis is costing us our school leadership. what are we going to do about it.

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It’s not just teachers who are reeling from two years of pandemic learning. School leaders and counselors are facing extreme burnout, too—and they need their communities to rally.

Record numbers of school leaders are considering exiting the profession

For two years now, America’s teachers have coped with virtual/hybrid pandemic school, Covid-19 learning slide, societal unrest and deep political polarities, alongside their own personal challenges. As a result, a significant number are about to call it quits and leave the profession for good.

Education is heading for a crisis of epic proportions —and in many places, it’s already started. Teachers clearly need their community’s support, but they’re not the only ones struggling with the extreme strain of these times. Counselors and school leaders—administrators, superintendents and principals—are facing their own set of challenges. An October survey found that 63% have considered quitting as a result of the high-stress, no-win stakes of leading education today.

I was honored to connect with Dr. Shawn Bishop, superintendent of Harbor Beach Community Schools in Michigan, to talk about it from the perspective of a school leader in the trenches. Here’s what he had to share.

The burnout is real, and it’s not just from the pandemic

Dr. Bishop, whose career in education spans more than 25 years, says he’s never seen such universal levels of exhaustion—and never dreamed he would. “For almost two full years now, administrators have been caught in the crosshairs of political, social, emotional, ethical and academic battles that were brought to their doorstep,” he says.

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So just how bad is it? In January Dr. Bishop asked his supervisory and administrative staff to rate their current level of social-emotional need from 1 (low) to 5 (high). The survey found:

• 61% of teaching staff rated their personal need as 4 or 5
• 100% of administrative staff (principals and supervisors) rated their personal need as 4 or 5
• Nearly all of the administrative staff said they can’t sleep at night and at least occasionally take medication to help
• 100% of administrative staff said their spouse has commented that their job is interfering with their relationships at home

Unfortunately, the issues raised by the pandemic are just the tip of the iceberg. “The pandemic was a catalyst that increased the rate and intensity of enormously important and often controversial issues in our communities,” Dr. Bishop says. “Because our schools are a direct reflection of the communities they serve, these topics were very literally brought into our offices, halls, school boardrooms and classrooms.

“School administrators are expected to ‘make everyone happy,’ and at the same time make sure all needs are met so learning can take place for all regardless of belief. They are expected to sew together all these various groups, with their variety of stances, into a cohesive student body and a cohesive staff. They must do all of that while being public figureheads who are directly in the public eye.”

It’s little wonder that so many of them are quitting. But stress isn’t the only reason.

Is it worth it anymore?

Most educators chose their profession because they wanted to make a positive difference in the world. It’s what drives them to give so much, every day, even when they don’t see an immediate return. But the past two years are taking their toll.

The long hours. The mental and physical exhaustion. The enormous scrutiny and public criticism. Teachers and administrators alike are starting to wonder if it’s all worth it.

It wasn’t that way when the pandemic started. “At the beginning, the thought was ‘you don’t leave your children/community when the storm starts,’” says Dr. Bishop. “I for one felt the very real obligation to stay and not abandon my kids.”

But the pandemic has dragged on for longer than anyone expected and now, says Dr. Bishop, there is a very real feeling that fulfilling a higher purpose through education is no longer worth the fight. “Like the dogs in the 1960s Martin Seligman experiment, they’ve reached a level of ‘learned helplessness,’” he says.

And then, there’s the constant barrage of communication. “The expectation that as a school leader you should be accessible 24 hours a day every day adds to the pressure and inability to pause to regroup or re-energize,” says Dr. Bishop, who’s taken just two vacation days during the past two years. “I personally receive phone calls, texts, instant messages and emails from 4am to midnight during holiday breaks and weekends.

“The expectation is that you answer and respond. And if you don’t, there’ll be communication to those who hold your job security in their hands.”

The trickle-up effect

As school leaders exit the profession, there’s concern about a “trickle-up” effect on those replacing them. “There is strong data to support less quantity and less quality of candidates moving into teaching,” Dr. Bishop says. “Thus, from a much smaller and potentially less qualified pool, schools attempt to draw their next leaders.

“Teachers see firsthand the pressure, hours and lack of positive feedback their leaders experience. As a result, these potential school leaders see low resources and high levels of critique and wonder if a change to school leadership is worth it.”

What’s the trickle-up result of all this? “Well-intended people will be taking positions that they are not qualified or experienced enough to hold,” explains Dr. Bishop. “When that happens, the organization can no longer move forward. Visionary, forward-thinking projects and programs cannot form under leaders that don’t possess the skills to rally people, resources and energy.

“Progress becomes a thing of the past, and survival of the moment is what’s left.”

Strengthening internal partnerships

In some organizations, the constantly changing demands of the pandemic have shattered trust among the different departments. When I asked Dr. Bishop how administrators, counselors and teachers could rebuild it, he gently pushed back against the assumption that all such partnerships are lacking trust. “As with any agency/business, some run with more conflict and some with great trust and cohesiveness,” he says.

But where trust has been compromised, Dr. Bishop believes the first thing needed is time to recover. “Teachers, school leaders, counselors, custodians, secretaries, bus drivers, food service workers and others—we all need time to regroup and recenter,” he says. “Nothing in my past has been to the same level as we have now, however it’s been my experience that working with what we have in common is the place to begin.”

Dr. Bishop believes that the keys to future success are founded in four critical attitudes:

1. Hope: “We must believe there is hope for achieving success and hope that we can make a difference in the world through our kids.”

2. Forgiveness: “We must also forgive ourselves and those around us for any mistakes, bad days and missteps of the past. We can’t hold mistakes of the past close to our heart but instead must leave space for kindness, progress and even laughter to make its way in.”

3. Focus on a common good. “Our efforts now must be toward stripping away differences and focusing on the bigger picture commonalities,” he says. “The basic reasons we became educators is a good place to start—as an example, the belief that through our children we can change the future for the better. The vast majority of teachers and school leaders would say they have this central calling inside. So from that common point we begin building.”

4. Assumption of positive intent. One example of when to assume positive intent is when a leader falls back on giving self-care advice to their staff. “There is no course, master’s program, webinar, or book you can reference that indicates how to motivate, inspire and provide therapy for adults who have gone through prolonged deep levels of trauma,” says Dr. Bishop. “That doesn’t completely excuse things, but perhaps giving leaders a little space for their intent and recognizing that they want to know better and do better.

“If the person on the receiving end can assume positive intent, then they could step back and realize the administrator bringing up self-care is truly trying to help,” he continues. “Most school leaders want all the best things for their staff and the students they work with each day. Perhaps at the moment they are just trying to survive. Many leaders gladly follow the Maya Angelou saying: ‘ Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better .’”

What we can do

In light of all these challenges, I wanted to know what communities and individuals can do to support their schools and educational leadership. Dr. Bishop shared four phrases that everyone, from every side of the education system, can implement to start moving forward together.

1. Part of the problem or part of the solution? “We must remember to stay positive and rally people around the concept that we can be part of the problem or part of the solution.”

2. Assume positive intent (again): “We must dig deeper and model in every way possible that we assume each person has positive intent when they come to us,” he says. “We need to model this way of thinking and talk about this way of thinking to others.”

3. Treat others as you’d like to be treated: “Leaders need to look inward first and ask ourselves if we are treating others as we’d like to be treated,” says Dr. Bishop. “The pressures on others are real; treat them as such.”

4. Seek to understand before being understood: “Before leaders try to provide advice, examples and reasoning, they must step back and truly listen,” urges Dr. Bishop. “They must block the inner voice thinking about what to say next, and block the inner desire to solve things for people, and instead truly be in the moment and listen.”

What else do superintendents need right now? Time, training and funding—and for funding, not another round of competitive grants, notes Dr. Bishop. “There simply isn’t time for this in a day already overloaded.”

Moving forward together

As the stresses of the past two years bleed into yet another school year, visionary leadership in our education system has never been more critical. And yet, such leaders have never been so embattled. As communities and individuals, we need to rally around the counselors, superintendents, principals and administrators who remain at their post even when things seem darkest.

Let’s be part of the solution, not the problem. Let’s assume positive intent, treat others as we’d like to be treated and seek to understand what the education community is facing. For everyone with a stake in the future of education in America, there’s common ground to find and build on—if we look for it.

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Children living in poverty face many barriers to accessing an education. Some are obvious — like not having a school to go to — while others are more subtle. Like the teacher at the school not having had the training needed to help children learn effectively.

Increasing access to education can improve the overall health and longevity of a society , grow economies , and even combat climate change . Yet in many developing countries, children’s access to education can be limited by numerous factors. Language barriers, gender roles, and reliance on child labor can all stall progress to provide quality education. The world’s most vulnerable children from disadvantaged communities are more likely to miss out on school. This includes young girls and children with disabilities,

Here are 10 of the greatest challenges in global education that the world needs to take action on right now to achieve Global Goal 4 : Quality Education by 2030. 

1. A lack of funding for education

Girls walk to an UNRWA school for the first day school year in Gaza City, Aug. 29, 2018. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are starting their school year in the Gaza Strip amid a major budget crunch for the UN agency that funds many schools. Girls walk to an UNRWA school for the first day school year in Gaza City, Aug. 29, 2018. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are starting their school year in the Gaza Strip amid a major budget crunch for the UN agency that funds many schools. Image: Felipe Dana/AP

Developing countries can’t rely solely on their own financing for education — there’s also a need for more foreign aid.

Only 20% of aid for education goes to low-income countries, according to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). But it costs an average of $1.25 a day per child in developing countries to provide 13 years of education.

Read More: How to Get Tickets to Global Citizen Festival 2019 in NYC

If each developing country invested just 15 cents more per child, it could make all the difference. There is currently a $39 billion gap to providing quality education to all children by 2030. GPE encourages developing countries to contribute 20% of their national budget to education, and allocate 45% of it to primary education. 

2. Having no teacher, or having an untrained teacher

Teacher effectiveness has been found to be the most important predictor of student learning. GPE is determined to fight the global teacher crisis at hand. 

There aren't enough teachers to achieve universal primary or secondary education. And many of the teachers that are currently working are untrained. As a result, children aren’t receiving a proper education. There are 130 million children in school who are not learning basic skills like reading, writing and math.  

Lean More: The 2019 Global Citizen Festival in New York

Globally, the UN estimates that 69 million new teachers are required to achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030. To offer every child primary education, 25.8 million school teachers need to be recruited . Meanwhile, in 1 out of every 3 countries, less than three-quarters of teachers are trained to national standards.

3. No classroom

Students try to get the teacher's attention to answer a question in Sudan. Students try to get the teacher's attention to answer a question in Sudan. The girls are sitting outside in the sweltering heat because their classroom made of local materials fell down in a recent storm. Image: Kelley Lynch/GPE

A child cannot learn without the right environment. Children in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are often squeezed into overcrowded classrooms, classrooms that are falling apart, or are learning outside.  They also lack textbooks, school supplies, and other tools they need to excel.

In Malawi, for example, there are an average of 130 children per classroom in first grade. It’s not just a lack of classrooms that’s the problem, but also all the basic facilities you would expect a school to have — like running water and toilets. 

Read More: Nigeria Says It Has the Highest Number of Out-of-School Children in the World

In Chad, only 1 in 7 schools has potable water, and just 1 in 4 has a toilet; moreover, only one-third of the toilets that do exist are for girls only — a real disincentive and barrier for girls to come to school.

When girls don’t have access to safe toilets, they are often harassed or attacked when looking for a private place to go. Girls also miss or drop out of school when they begin menstruating if they don’t have the sanitation facilities or sanitary products to manage their periods with pride and dignity.

4. A lack of learning materials

Outdated and worn-out textbooks are often shared by six or more students in many parts of the world. In Tanzania, for example, only 3.5% of all sixth grade pupils had sole use of a reading textbook. In Cameroon, there are 11 primary school students for every reading textbook and 13 for every mathematics textbook in second grade. Workbooks, exercise sheets, readers, and other core materials to help students learn their lessons are in short supply. Teachers also need materials to help prepare their lessons, share with their students, and guide their lessons. 

Read More: Half of All Child Refugees Aren't in School: Why This Is a Massive Problem

5. The exclusion of children with disabilities

A visually impaired student reads braille in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. A visually impaired student reads braille in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. Image: Silvia Izquierdo/AP

Despite the fact that education is a universal human right, being denied access to school is common for the world’s 93 to 150 million children with disabilities. In some of the world’s poorest countries, up to 95% of children with disabilities are out of school.

Students with disabilities have lower attendance rates and are more  likely to be out of school or leave school before completing primary education. They are suspended or expelled at a rate  more than double  the rate of their non-special education peers.

A combination of discrimination, lack of training in inclusive teaching methods among teachers, and a lack of accessible schools leave this group uniquely vulnerable to being denied their right to education.

Read More: 72 Guidelines for Students With Disabilities Have Been Rescinded by the US Dept. of Education

6. Being the ‘wrong’ gender

A Pakistani girl lines up among boys for their morning assembly where they sing the national anthem at a school in Islamabad, Pakistan on Oct. 11, 2013. In Pakistan, the Taliban stops more than 25 million children from going to school. A Pakistani girl lines up among boys for their morning assembly where they sing the national anthem at a school in Islamabad, Pakistan on Oct. 11, 2013. In Pakistan, the Taliban stops more than 25 million children from going to school. Image: Anja Niedringhaus/AP

Put simply, gender is one of the biggest reasons why children are denied an education. Despite recent advances in girls’ education, a generation of young women has been left behind. Over 130 million young women around the world are not currently enrolled in school. One in 3 girls in the developing world marries before the age of 18, and usually leaves school if they do.

Read More: World Leaders Warn Failure to Educate Girls Will Cause 'Catastrophes'

Keeping girls in school benefits them and their families, but poverty forces many families to choose which of their children to send to school. Girls often miss out due to belief that there’s less value in educating a girl than a boy. Instead, they are sent to work, forced into marriage , or made to stay at home to look after siblings and work on household chores. Girls also miss days of school every year or are too embarrassed to participate in class, because they don’t have appropriate menstrual hygiene education or toilet facilities at their school to manage their period.

7. Living in a country in conflict or at risk of conflict

First-grade students attend a basement school in besieged East Ghouta, Rural Damascus in the Syrian Arab Republic. First-grade students attend a basement school in besieged East Ghouta, Rural Damascus in the Syrian Arab Republic. Here, the children work together at desks while colourful paintings and cartoons decorate the walls. Image: Amer Al Shami/UNICEF

There are many casualties of any war, and education systems are often destroyed. Children exposed to violence are more at risk of under-achieving and dropping out of school. The impact of conflict cannot be overstated. Nearly 250 million children are living in countries affected by conflicts. More than 75 million children and young people aged 3 to 18 are currently in urgent need of educational support in 35 crisis-affected countries,  with young girls 90% more likely to be out of secondary school in conflict areas than elsewhere.

Read More: UN: Nearly 1 Billion Kids Will Be Jobless If Education Aid Stays Flat

Teachers and students often flee their homes during conflicts, and continuity of learning is greatly disrupted. In total, 75 million children have had their education disrupted disrupted by conflict or crisis, including natural disasters that destroy schools and the environment around them. Less than half of the world’s refugee children are enrolled in school, according  to the UN Refugee Agency. Worryingly, education has thus far been a very low priority in humanitarian aid to countries in conflict — and less than 3% of global humanitarian assistance was allocated to education in 2016.

Without support, conflict-affected children lose out on the chance to reach their full potential and rebuild their communities.

8. Distance from home to school

Two girls walk back home after attending an ad-hoc learning center set up in a local mosque in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir on Oct. 20, 2016. Two girls walk back home after attending an ad-hoc learning center set up in a local mosque in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir on Oct. 20, 2016. Image: Dar Yasin/AP

For many children around the world, a walk to school of up to three hours in each direction is not uncommon . This is just too much for many children, particularly children living with a disability, those suffering from malnutrition or illness, or those who are required to work around the household. Imagine having to set off for school, hungry, at 5 a.m. every day, not to return until 7 p.m. Many children, especially girls, are also vulnerable to violence on their long and hazardous journeys to and from school.

9. Hunger and poor nutrition

The impact of hunger on education systems is gravely underreported. Being severely malnourished, to the point it impacts on brain development, can be the same as losing four grades of schooling. It is estimated that around 155 million children under the age of five are estimated to be stunted . Stunting –– impaired growth and development that children experience from poor infection, and inadequate stimulation –– can affect a child’s cognitive abilities as well as their focus and concentration in school. As a result, stunted children are 19% less likely to be able to read by age eight. Conversely, good nutrition can be crucial preparation for good learning.

Read More: Worst Places for Education Around The World

10. The expense of education 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes clear that every child has the right to a free basic education, so that poverty and lack of money should not be a barrier to schooling. In many developing countries, over the last several, decades, governments have announced the abolition of school fees and as a result, they have seen impressive increases in the number of children going to school. 

Read More: Bloomberg Just Donated $1.8 Billion to Help Low-Income Students Afford College

But for many of the poorest families, school remains too expensive and children are forced to stay at home doing chores or work themselves. Families remain locked in a cycle of poverty that goes on for generations. In many countries throughout Africa education is theoretically free. In practice “informal fees” see parents forced to pay for “compulsory items” like uniforms, books, pens, extra lessons, exam fees, or funds to support the school buildings. In other places, the lack of functioning public (government-supported) schools means that parents have no choice but to send their children to private schools. Even if these schools are “low-fee,” they are unaffordable for the poorest families who risk making themselves destitute in their efforts to get their children better lives through education.

The 2019 Global Citizen Festival in New York will be presented by Citi and Cisco and in association with our Production Partner, Live Nation. MSNBC, Comcast NBCUniversal, and iHeart will serve as Presenting Media Partners and will air a live simulcast of the Festival on MSNBC and on iHeart Radio Stations. The Festival will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Twitter, presented by Johnson & Johnson. 

Proud partners of the 2019 Global Citizen Festival include Global Citizen’s global health partner and major partner Johnson & Johnson, and major partners P&G, Verizon, and NYC Parks.

Defeat Poverty

10 Barriers to Education That Children Living in Poverty Face

Aug. 13, 2019

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What research says about preventing school shootings

Cory Turner

Jeffrey Pierre

Students and residents mourn those who lost their lives near the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

Wednesday's violence at a Georgia high school and the arrest of a 14-year-old suspect follow a familiar pattern of previous school shootings. After every one, there's been a tendency to ask, "How do we prevent the next one?"

For years, school safety experts, and even the U.S. Secret Service, have rallied around some very clear answers. Here's what they say.

It's not a good idea to arm teachers

There's broad consensus that arming teachers is not  a good policy. That's according to Matthew Mayer, a professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He's been studying school violence since before Columbine, and he's part of a group of researchers who have published several position papers about why school shootings happen.

Law enforcement had prior warning about suspect in fatal Georgia high school shooting

Mayer says arming teachers is a bad idea "because it invites numerous disasters and problems, and the chances of it actually helping are so minuscule."

In 2018, a Gallup poll  also found that most teachers do not want to carry guns in school, and overwhelmingly favor gun control measures over security steps meant to "harden" schools. When asked which specific measures would be "most effective" at preventing school shootings, 57% of teachers favored universal background checks, and the same number, 57%, also favored banning the sale of semiautomatic weapons such as the one used in the Parkland attack.

Raise age limits for gun ownership

School safety researchers support tightening age limits for gun ownership, from 18 to 21. They say 18 years old is too young to be able to buy a gun; the teenage brain is just too impulsive. And they point out that the school shooters in Parkland, Santa Fe, Newtown, Columbine and Uvalde were all under 21.

School safety researchers also support universal background checks and banning assault-style weapons . But it's not just about how shooters legally acquire firearms. A 2019 report  from the Secret Service found that in half the school shootings they studied, the gun used was either readily accessible at home or not meaningfully secured.

Of course, schools don't have control over age limits and gun storage. But there's a lot they can still do.

Schools can support the social and emotional needs of students

A lot of the conversation around making schools safer has centered on hardening schools by adding police officers and metal detectors. But experts say schools should actually focus on softening  to support the social and emotional needs of students .

"Our first preventative strategy should be to make sure kids are respected, that they feel connected and belong in schools," says Odis Johnson Jr., of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Safe and Healthy Schools.

That means building kids' skills around conflict resolution, stress management and empathy for their fellow classmates — skills that can help reduce all sorts of unwanted behaviors, including fighting and bullying.

In its report, the Secret Service found most of the school attackers they studied had been bullied.

The School Shootings That Weren't

Jackie Nowicki has led multiple school safety investigations at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She and her team have identified some of things schools can do to make their classrooms and hallways feel safer, including "anti-bullying training for staff and teachers, adult supervision, things like hall monitors, and mechanisms to anonymously report hostile behaviors."

The Secret Service recommends schools implement what they call a threat assessment model, where trained staff — including an administrator, a school counselor or psychologist, as well as a law enforcement representative — work together to identify and support students in crisis before they hurt others.

Earlier this year, the National Association of Secondary School Principals released new guidance for preventing school violence.

It noted that ensuring that educators, parents and students have access to mental health services is a "critical component" in preventing violence and increasing school safety. And the organization called for congressional action to provide support for those services.

This story has been updated from an earlier version published on May 26, 2022.

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UNLV: Sam Boyd Stadium copper theft, homeless problem factors as sale to county looms

UNLV says it’s time to sell Sam Boyd Stadium, as it has become a burden to upkeep, with the closed facility targeted by copper wire thieves and the homeless.

Speaking Friday to the Nevada Board of Regents, UNLV President Keith Whitfield said maintaining and securing the stadium has become a problem since the Rebel football team stopped playing there in 2019 after their move to Allegiant Stadium in 2020.

“One of the first things that we experienced was … multiple visits by some bad doers to take the copper,” Whitfield said Friday during a Board of Regents meeting in Carson City. “More recently, and I think this has been a bigger issue in the valley due to the extreme heat, it has made that one of the places some of the homeless people actually go to. We are having to provide additional security to be able to make sure there is nothing that is going on.”

The meeting item was for informational purposes only and the matter will have to be heard again at a future Board of Regents meeting for a potential vote on the transaction.

Ensuring incidents don’t happen within the stadium that would leave UNLV liable for damage or injury is a big driver of the added security at Sam Boyd Stadium, Whitfield said.

“It’s a losing proposition,” Whitfield said.

‘Good opportunity’

Under the joint use agreement with the Raiders for Allegiant Stadium, the Rebels are no longer permitted to use Sam Boyd Stadium for events.

“It’s an extremely good opportunity for us, because we can’t use it,” Whitfield said. “We did use it one time since 2019, which was for a graduation. There was some concern that we weren’t supposed to use it, even for that.”

The university hopes to sell the aging facility, which sits on 69 acres, to Clark County for $5 million. In 1971 Clark County gained ownership of Sam Boyd Stadium from the Bureau of Land Management, and UNLV played there as a tenant. The county transferred ownership in 1985 to UNLV for free.

UNLV and Clark County carried out separate independent appraisals of the land with UNLV’s coming in at just over $10 million and Clark County’s being $0. The county’s came in at $0 largely due to the deed on the land, which is surrounded by BLM land, requiring it be used for public purposes. That limits the amount of potential suitors who might be able to purchase the land, Whitfield noted. With UNLV being a prior owner of the site, they are one of few that would be able to acquire it.

The suggested $5 million sale price is the two sides meeting in the middle.

UNLV reported that they are spending $500,000 annually on the upkeep of the stadium, including beefing up security to patrol the site. The cost of upkeep was factored into the potential $5 million the county would pay UNLV.

“We have characterized that payment (to UNLV) not as a purchase, we characterize it as a consideration for this transaction, coming from the reimbursement of maintenance expenses that have been forwarded by UNLV over the course of time,” Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said during the meeting.

Possible future development

Clark County Manager Kevin Schiller said they would consider infrastructure needs for possible future development on the site, including water reclamation. The county is not currently considering repurposing the stadium for events, he said.

That previous zero-cost deal when the county transferred the land to UNLV and the county and UNLV working together on other land deals and infrastructure projects is why the two sides hope the Board of Regents approves the sale at a future meeting.

“It has been an important part of my service to work collaboratively with the university in an effort to overcome a number of challenges we’ve had in the past,”Gibson said.

If the deal is approved UNLV plans to use the $5 million toward a wide variety of uses.

“Including improving campus infrastructure and enhancing student support services,” Whitfield said. “This aligns with strategic goals of increasing access, closing the achievement gap, and supporting workforce development and research.”

Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.

In a letter to Katie Williams, District Attorney Steve Wolfson said his office “shall commence a proceeding to declare the office vacant” because Williams, the letter says, doesn’t live in her district or Nevada.

The Clark County district attorney determined that School Board member Katie Williams no longer lives in the district that elected her.

A representative for the Nevada Board of Regents has come under fire over posting controversial tweet aimed at Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Clark County Police Department has six dogs in its K-9 unit, which do daily checks at high schools.

The Clark County School District Police Department said expanded reporting is the reason for the weapons figures reported for August.

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said Clark County is not prioritizing needed repairs to school air conditioning.

Thomas Elementary School marks the last of 14 Clark County schools created using the same exact structure.

Jerusalem Garcia, 20, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Friday for contacting or attempting to contact a minor for sex.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto visited Paradise Elementary School and discussed proposed legislation to fund job training programs to prepare the next generation of English language educators.

If the transaction is successful, UNLV would use the funds to boost infrastructure, student financial aid and support programs.

Republican House panel subpoenas Gov. Walz in investigation of Minnesota nonprofit that ran a Covid aid scheme

WASHINGTON — The House Education and Workforce Committee issued subpoenas Wednesday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for how they responded to what federal prosecutors have called the largest pandemic fraud scheme s in the country.

The subpoenas, obtained first by NBC News, demand that Walz, Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong turn over documents concerning oversight of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which is alleged to have misused millions of dollars intended to feed children during the pandemic.

Walz's record has faced new scrutiny since Vice President Kamala Harris tapped him as her running mate last month, though this new request by the Republican-led committee is part of an investigative effort that goes back to 2022.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the committee chair, wrote in a letter to Walz that the committee is requesting this information to show "the extent of your responsibilities and actions addressing the massive fraud that resulted in the abuse of taxpayer dollars intended for hungry children."

A Walz spokeswoman called the alleged fraud "an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program," adding: “The state department of education worked diligently to stop the fraud and we’re grateful to the FBI for working with the department of education to arrest and charge the individuals involved.” 

According to a June state audit report , the Minnesota Education Department failed to properly oversee Feeding Our Future, saying the department's "actions and inactions created opportunities for fraud."

State education officials are tasked with overseeing federal programs that reimburse groups like Feeding Our Future for providing free, nutritious meals to children. The state audit called the Minnesota Education Department's oversight "inadequate."

Jett, the top education official, submitted a written response to the report that put the blame on the individuals involved in the scheme. “What happened with Feeding Our Future was a travesty — a coordinated, brazen abuse of nutrition programs that exist to ensure access to healthy meals for low-income children," he wrote. "The responsibility for this flagrant fraud lies with the indicted and convicted fraudsters.”

Following the report, Walz said there was no “malfeasance” at the state level. “There’s not a single state employee that was implicated in doing anything that was illegal,” Walz said at a press conference in June according to The Minnesota Star Tribune . “They simply didn’t do as much due diligence as they should have.”

In December 2022, Walz announced the addition of an inspector general position at the state department of education, “a critical step to ensuring proper oversight of federal funds,” he said in a statement at the time. 

Prosecutors allege that Feeding Our Future opened more than 250 sites throughout Minnesota and submitted fraudulent attendance rosters of the names of fake children they claimed were receiving the meals.

The U.S. Justice Department has charged 70 individuals in connection to the scheme. Eighteen have pleaded guilty and five were convicted in June.

The state education department reported Feeding Our Future to the FBI in April 2021 on fraud suspicions, according to the audit . The FBI started an investigation the next month. 

Prior to that, the education department had notified the USDA inspector general’s office in the fall of 2020 during President Donald Trump's administration about concerns over the growth of Feeding Our Future but the agency did not take action, the audit said.

Foxx, along with the Republican leaders of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Agriculture Committee, first requested documents from the U.S. Agriculture Department in September 2022 after federal charges were unsealed in the case concerning Feeding Our Future. At that point, Republicans were in the minority in the House so they did not control committees.

Once in the majority in 2023, Foxx and her fellow committee chairs followed up with USDA. The group of Republicans also requested documents from Jett in June.

Foxx said in letters accompanying the subpoenas that both the USDA's and the Minnesota Education Department's "production of information has been neither timely nor fully responsive."

The top Democrat on the committee criticized the timing of the subpoena and noted in a timeline that it marks the first public outreach to Walz by Republicans. “The timing of the Republican’s subpoena to Governor Walz is weird,” Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said.

Walz and the state and federal officials have until Sept. 18 to provide the requested documents, according to the subpoenas, though none of them are required to testify.

NBC News has reached out to all of the individuals subpoenaed for comment.

Kyle Stewart is a field producer covering Congress for NBC News.

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What we know so far about the victims of the Apalachee school shooting in Georgia

Hundreds gathered in downtown Winder for an ecumenical prayer vigilafter a 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school and killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said. (AP video by Erik Verduzco)

Mark Gorman holds a candle during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A person kneels in front of flowers that are placed outside the entrance to Apalachee High School on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Winder, Ga., a day after deadly shootings at the school. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

People gather at the flagpole outside the entrance to Apalachee High School on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024 in Winder, Ga., a day after deadly shootings at the school. (AP Photo/Sharon Johnson)

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WINDER, Ga. (AP) — A 14-year-old Georgia high school student has been charged as an adult with using an assault-style rifle to kill two students and two teachers in the hallway outside his algebra classroom, according to authorities.

The shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta, was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut ; Parkland, Florida ; and Uvalde, Texas .

Here’s what’s known about the victims of Wednesday’s shooting :

Christian Angulo, 14

Christian’s sister, Lisette, wrote in a GoFundMe fundraiser seeking donations to help with funeral costs that they were heartbroken by the loss of her “baby brother.”

“He was a very good kid and very sweet and so caring. He was so loved by many. His loss was so sudden and unexpected,” she wrote. “He really didn’t deserve this.”

Mason Schermerhorn, 14

A neighbor described watching Mason grow into a first-year high school student from an inquisitive little boy of about 4 who would rush to the neighbor’s yard when his parents brought him outside.

“He’d come over and say, `What are you doing? What are you doing?’ It was so fun to see him like that, as a little kid,” Tommy Pickett said.

Mason’s death left Pickett shaken and his daughter, who’d seen Mason at the bus stop that morning, in tears.

“She actually saw him get on the bus that day and he ain’t coming back on the bus,” Pickett said. “That really bothered her.”

“I just can’t believe he’s gone like that. Why? Why him?” Pickett said. “He always was smiling. He always was funny, you know, he just laughed and stuff. When he talked to you, he smiled and stuff. I mean, why him? What did he do to deserve that?”

Louis Briscoe told The New York Times that when he learned of the shooting, he called the boy’s mother, a friend and co-worker. She told him “Mason’s gone,” and his heart dropped.

“Nobody should have to go through this type of pain,” Briscoe said.

Cristina Irimie, 53

Silvia Pasch told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she got to know Irimie, a math teacher, when they volunteered at Saints Constantine and Helen Church in Lilburn, which holds festivals to celebrate Romanian culture. She said Irimie’s practice with the children’s dance group this spring included a lesson for a student struggling with an algebra concept. Pasch said she listened in as she chopped vegetables in the kitchen “because I thought I might learn something.” Without Irimie, the next festival will be hard, Pasch said.

“I bet when we are cutting potatoes and vegetables we will talk about her,” she said.

Nicolae Clempus told the newspaper Irimie made him feel welcome when he moved to the United States in 2001. She was active in the expat community after immigrating from Romania a few years earlier. The priest at Saint Mary Romanian Orthodox Church in Dacula described Irimie as someone “you know you can count on” and who always volunteered at events by cooking or dancing.

Irimie, who was part of a traditional Romanian dance group from the Transylvania region when she was younger, later became an instructor and had a gift for working with young people, Clempus said.

Richard Aspinwall, 39

Apalachee High School football coach Mike Hancock told the Athens Banner-Herald the team’s defensive coordinator, who was also a math teacher, was a great man and father who loved his daughters and wife, loved football and was well-respected.

“He worked his tail off,” Hancock said. “He coached old-school ways, but he loved those kids.”

Junior and former football player Jay Garcia, attended a prayer vigil at a downtown Winder park Wednesday to remember the coach and teacher who helped him a lot, both in learning football and in life.

“You can’t bring back the dead,” Garcia said. “I understand some people won’t be here tomorrow and just never forget who they are and what they meant to you.”

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Cristina Irimie’s first name.

U.S. Jobs Report Shows Hiring Has Shifted Into Lower Gear

Ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting to set interest rates, employers added 142,000 jobs in August, fewer than economists had expected, and previous months were revised downward.

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Monthly change in jobs

+142,000 jobs

Lydia DePillis

What to know about the latest report.

The labor market appears to have shifted into a lower gear, reinforcing concerns that businesses have little appetite to hire as interest rates weigh on investment and the path of consumer demand remains uncertain.

Employers added 142,000 jobs in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, a weaker-than-expected showing for the second consecutive month. And totals for June and July were revised downward.

The unemployment rate, however, dropped to 4.2 percent, after rising to 4.3 percent in July.

Here’s what else to know:

Revisions add to the cooler vibe: June and July were revised down by a combined 86,000 jobs, bringing the three-month average to 116,000 jobs. Over the year before last month, employers added an average of 202,000 jobs per month.

Wages came in stronger than expected: Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent in August from the previous month, or 3.8 percent from a year earlier, muddying a picture of declining labor demand. The average workweek also ticked up, indicating that workers are getting more hours.

People are still working at high rates: Labor force participation for people in their prime working years, ages of 25 to 54, ticked down slightly in August, to 83.9 percent. The July rate of 84 percent was the highest since 2001.

July’s unemployment rate was a blip: The July jump to 4.3 percent was mostly because of temporary layoffs. That number dropped back to its normal rate in August, bringing the unemployment rate to 4.2 percent along with it.

By another measure, slack is increasing: A broader measure of underemployment that includes people working part time who would rather be working full time ticked up to 7.9 percent in August, the highest level since October 2021.

Sector growth has narrowed even more: The industries adding significant numbers of jobs in August were health care and social assistance, food and drinking establishments, and construction, which has remained surprisingly resilient in the face of high interest rates. Manufacturing has not been so resilient, and shed 24,000 jobs.

What it means for the Fed: The latest report comes at a critical time for Federal Reserve officials . They have shifted their attention from inflation, which has fallen markedly, to the health of the labor market. The Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell, has said he doesn’t want to see opportunities for workers diminish further, and has signaled that the central bank will begin lowering interest rates in mid-September. The question is by how much.

Danielle Kaye

Stocks are selling off, perhaps reflecting nervousness about the economy. Led by a decline in tech stocks, the S&P 500 is down about 1.6 percent after remaining relatively flat right after the jobs report. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down more than 2 percent.

S&P 500

Jeanna Smialek

Chris Waller, a Fed governor, gave a speech today with a little something for everyone. He avoided clearly committing to a big rate cut in September, but he did say that cooling data “requires action,” that he is open to “front-loading” rate cuts if “appropriate,” and that he is “open-minded about the size and pace of cuts.”

In short, Waller is alert to the fact that the job market is cooling, but he is holding off on committing the Fed to either a big or a small rate cut.

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The jury is still out, but Lauren Goodwin of New York Life Investments said she expects the Fed to go with a smaller, quarter-point rate cut this month, partly due to the risk that a bigger move could spook the market. “At this point, the biggest risk to the economy, which is of course what the Fed is worried about, is the market itself,” she said.

Sydney Ember

In a statement, President Biden hailed the August jobs data. “Thanks to our work to rescue the economy, nearly 16 million new jobs have been created, wages and incomes are rising faster than prices, businesses are investing in America, and millions of entrepreneurs are opening small businesses,” he said. “With inflation back down close to normal levels, it is important to focus on sustaining the historic gains we have made for American workers.”

He also used the opportunity to nod at the upcoming presidential election, saying that “the last thing we should do is turn back to the failed trickle-down economics pushed by Congressional Republicans.”

Republicans attacked the report as evidence that the economy was weakening and tried to tie that to Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. “Job growth was much lower than expected in August, while revisions over the previous two months indicate gaping holes in Kamala’s economy,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement.

Ben Casselman

Downward revisions could be a warning sign.

Job growth picked up in August, but June and July’s figures were revised down.

If that sentence sounds familiar, there’s a reason: There has been a consistent pattern of negative revisions in recent job reports.

Back in February, for example, the Labor Department reported that employers had begun the year with a bang, adding 353,000 jobs in January . That has since been revised down to a still-healthy but less impressive gain of 256,000.

The following month was revised down too, from an initially reported gain of 275,000 to a more modest increase of 236,000. Only once this year have the numbers been revised higher from their initial estimate to the latest reading, and that was a modest 7,000 upward revision to the March number.

Revisions, in themselves, are not unusual. The monthly job numbers are based on a survey of roughly 119,000 employers. Not all the employers respond in time, so government statisticians make assumptions to fill in the blanks for the preliminary estimate. Over the next two months, more people respond to the survey, and the government updates its estimates accordingly. The recent revisions haven’t been particularly large by historical standards.

The recent pattern of downward revisions could be a bad sign, however. When the economy is at a turning point — heading into a recession, or beginning to emerge from one — the statistical assumptions that are used to fill in the blanks can be wrong. Ordinarily, for example, if a business doesn’t respond to the survey, that probably means someone forgot to submit the data; in a recession, such a failure to respond might mean the business has closed.

The monthly revisions aren’t the final word on the job numbers. Once a year, the government updates its data to reconcile the survey results with more reliable but less timely figures from state unemployment offices. Last month, the Labor Department released a preliminary version of that revision, which showed that there were 818,000 fewer jobs in March than previously reported. That change won’t be reflected in revised month-by-month statistics until early next year.

Joe Rennison

As markets opened for the day, stocks wobbled with the S&P 500 settling to trade roughly flat. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite fell more meaningfully, down 0.3 percent.

Some important context on the unemployment rate, via a note from Capital Economics: While the rounded version shows a decline, more precisely speaking it slipped from 4.25 percent to 4.22 percent.

This jobs report — with hiring below expectations (bad) but unemployment ticking down (good) — could support either a quarter- or half-point rate cut from the Fed later this month, said Josh Jamner of ClearBridge Investments. “Investors will focus on next week’s inflation data as the final clue,” he said.

Investors now see a 50-50 chance of either a large (half point) or a normal (quarter point) Fed rate cut in September, as they assess this jobs report. The Fed official who is currently speaking -- the New York Fed president, John Williams -- seems to be avoiding committing either way.

If nothing changes between now and Sept. 18, this could make for a very exciting Fed meeting later this month! It’s pretty rare to go into a Fed meeting without knowing what to expect.

John Williams, the New York Fed president, said that today’s jobs report is “consistent with what we’ve been seeing: a slowing economy, a cooling off in the labor market” and that the Fed wants the data broadly to “be in balance, and stay in balance.”

He said that the Fed would have to look at the entirety of the data. In short, he did not really tell us how the central bank is going to react to these numbers.

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, writes in a reaction note that between the hiring number, the lower unemployment and the decent average hourly earnings, this report is “not likely enough” for Fed officials to make a half-point rate cut later this month. It would’ve needed to be weaker.

“August delivered decent job gains, wage growth beating price growth, and an important tick down in the unemployment rate. Simply put, we’ve got jobs and wages up, and inflation and unemployment down,” Jared Bernstein, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in an email.

On a slightly more positive note, the average hourly workweek ticked up by 0.1 hour, to 34.3 hours in August. Economists are watching this measure closely for underlying signs of weakness among employers that could affect how much money is in workers’ pockets.

Talmon Joseph Smith

Some financial analysts who typically avoid policy prescriptions are speaking out in favor of the Fed going for a larger-than-expected first interest rate cut. That includes Omair Sharif of Inflation Insights, who just wrote a note titled “Time to Cut 50bps” — which in monetary terms (a half-point cut) would be a more aggressive response to current weakness.

The yield curve, a recession indicator that investors vociferously debate the efficacy of , has flirted with turning positive recently and it looks as if the jobs report may be what does it. But what does that mean?

It means longer-dated government bond yields are once again higher than shorter-dated yields. And that typically comes before the Fed starts to cut interest rates. The reason that is seen as worrying is that the Fed often cuts interest rates as the economy is weakening.

The unemployment rate ticked down in August, as companies brought back workers who had been on temporary layoff in July. But over the slightly longer term, joblessness has been rising gradually. The unemployment rate was 4.2 percent last month, up from a low of 3.4 percent as recently as April 2023.

The Unemployment Rate Ticked Down

Unemployment rate

John Williams, the New York Fed president, is speaking now at the Council on Foreign Relations. The text of his speech, which was obviously written before this report, does not comment on rate cut size, but there will be a Q. and A. session when he finishes reading the speech. That’s the thing to watch (and we’ll keep you posted on what he says).

For the Federal Reserve, a sign that the job market is cooling but not imploding.

Year-over-year percentage change in earnings vs. inflation

+3.8% in Aug.

+2.9% in July

Consumer Price Index

Avg. hourly earnings

Federal Reserve officials are moving toward their first rate cut since the 2020 pandemic downturn as they try to keep the economy from cooling too much. Friday’s fresh jobs data gave them reasons for both comfort and concern.

Unemployment eased slightly to 4.2 percent in August, from 4.3 percent in July — a sign that joblessness has not started a relentless march upward, which is welcome news for both American workers and Fed officials. But hiring was weaker than economists had expected, with 142,000 jobs added in August.

Altogether, the report suggested that the job market was slowing, but not imploding, more than two years into the Fed’s campaign to slow the economy with higher interest rates. That has kept Fed officials noncommittal and investors guessing about just how much the Fed will cut rates this month.

Fed policymakers raised interest rates starting in 2022 to tap the brakes on a hot economy. At the time, hiring was rapid and wage growth robust, and officials worried that a burst of rapid inflation would not fade on its own against that backdrop. They ultimately lifted borrowing costs to a more-than-two-decade high of 5.3 percent, where they remain.

But inflation has been cooling notably and wage gains have been steadily moderating, so Fed officials have become increasingly wary of overdoing it. They wanted to return the job market and economy to a sustainable pace, but they do not want to cause either to crash.

That is why the Fed is poised to lower interest rates. The question has been whether policymakers will cut rates by a quarter percentage point or a half percentage point at their Sept. 17-18 gathering. That was one reason that Wall Street was intently focused on Friday’s jobs report: If it showed clear cracks in the labor market, investors expected it to prod the Fed toward a bigger rate cut.

But because the report contained both good and bad news, it did not seal the deal on either a small or a large rate cut. Two important Fed officials noted that the labor market was slowing and that rates needed to come down, while keeping the possibility of a move of either size on the table.

John C. Williams, president of the influential Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spoke shortly after the data came out.

The fresh jobs data was “consistent with what we’ve been seeing: a slowing economy, a cooling-off in the labor market,” he said. He later told reporters that he did not have a personal view on the size of the rate cut yet.

Christopher J. Waller, a Fed governor, offered similar comments, although the way he framed them left some Wall Street analysts with the impression that he would favor a quarter-point reduction in September.

“The labor market is continuing to soften but not deteriorate, and this judgment is important to our upcoming decision on monetary policy,” he said.

“As of today, I believe it is important to start the rate cutting process at our next meeting. If subsequent data show a significant deterioration in the labor market, the FOMC can act quickly and forcefully to adjust monetary policy,” he added.

Because of the way he sequenced that line — first signaling that rate cuts should start, then suggesting that they could speed up if needed — some economists thought he meant that rate cuts would start small and then adjust.

Stocks sank after Mr. Waller spoke, perhaps in part because investors were disappointed that rate cuts might take longer. Bets for a quarter-point rate cut in September increased after his remarks.

Still, Mr. Waller’s comments stopped well short of a firm commitment. The door remains open to a move of either size.

Once the Fed starts to cut borrowing costs, those lower interest rates should slowly trickle out through the economy to keep growth from slowing as much. Already, mortgage rates have started to nudge down thanks to expectations for lower Fed borrowing costs.

That could shore up demand and help to prevent the job market from slowing a lot more.

“We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during a speech in late August.

He also said the Fed “will do everything we can to support a strong labor market as we make further progress toward price stability.”

Treasury yields dropped even further after the report, as investors ponder whether the weaker-than-expected numbers are enough for a bigger interest rate cut from the Fed later this month.

Somewhat curiously, the likelihood of a larger rate cut in September has increased after the numbers, despite other measures of rate expectations falling. Sometimes these moves can take a little while to shake out.

The downward revisions are part of a recent pattern. The initially reported numbers have tended to be revised down in subsequent months — and preliminary data released last month suggests the numbers will be revised down by even more in annual updates released next year.

A consistent pattern of revisions in either direction often suggests the economy is at a turning point, and that government data is struggling to adjust to shifting patterns. So the recent downward revisions are yet another sign that the job market is weakening.

In good news for workers at this moment of anxiety about the economy, average hourly earnings for private employees grew at a faster pace than expected: 0.4 percent on a monthly basis and 3.8 percent on a yearly basis.

Some sectors showed signs of weakness, including manufacturing, which lost 24,000 jobs in August.

Growth is Led by Education and Health

Change in jobs in August 2024, by sector

Education and health

+47,000 jobs

Leisure and hospitality

Construction

Business services

Manufacturing

But hiring in construction has continued to hold up despite high interest rates, with employers adding 34,000 jobs.

For the Federal Reserve, today’s jobs report is a mixed one. Central bankers have been wary that the labor market might be beginning to crack. This suggests things are definitely slowing, but not falling apart.

“We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions,” Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, said last month .

The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates at its meeting on Sept. 17-18, its first reduction since early in 2020. The question has been how big that will be, a typical quarter point or a larger half point. This number may not be enough to clearly resolve that. But two Fed officials are speaking today — they may clear it up.

Stocks are struggling to pick a direction in response to the report. A weaker labor market might encourage the Fed to cut rates more quickly, which is seen as positive for the market. But the only reason the Fed would do that is because the economy, or at least the labor market, is flagging more than expected.

The Ongoing Challenges, and Possible Solutions, to Improving Educational Equity

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Schools across the country were already facing major equity challenges before the pandemic, but the disruptions it caused exacerbated them.

After students came back to school buildings after more than a year of hybrid schooling, districts were dealing with discipline challenges and re-segregating schools. In a national EdWeek Research Center survey from October, 65 percent of the 824 teachers, and school and district leaders surveyed said they were more concerned now than before the pandemic about closing academic opportunity gaps that impact learning for students of different races, socioeconomic levels, disability categories, and English-learner statuses.

But educators trying to prioritize equity have an uphill battle to overcome these challenges, especially in the face of legislation and school policies attempting to fight equity initiatives across the country.

The pandemic and the 2020 murder of George Floyd drove many districts to recognize longstanding racial disparities in academics, discipline, and access to resources and commit to addressing them. But in 2021, a backlash to such equity initiatives accelerated, and has now resulted in 18 states passing laws restricting lessons on race and racism, and many also passing laws restricting the rights and well-being of LGBTQ students.

This slew of Republican-driven legislation presents a new hurdle for districts looking to address racial and other inequities in public schools.

During an Education Week K-12 Essentials forum last week, journalists, educators, and researchers talked about these challenges, and possible solutions to improving equity in education.

Takeru Nagayoshi, who was the Massachusetts teacher of the year in 2020, and one of the speakers at the forum, said he never felt represented as a gay, Asian kid in public school until he read about the Stonewall Riots, the Civil Rights Movement, and the full history of marginalized groups working together to change systems of oppression.

“Those are the learning experiences that inspired me to be a teacher and to commit to a life of making our country better for everyone,” he said.

“Our students really benefit the most when they learn about themselves and the world that they’re in. They’re in a safe space with teachers who provide them with an honest education and accurate history.”

Here are some takeaways from the discussion:

Schools are still heavily segregated

Almost 70 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, most students attend schools where they see a majority of other students of their racial demographics .

Black students, who accounted for 15 percent of public school enrollment in 2019, attended schools where Black students made up an average of 47 percent of enrollment, according to a UCLA report.

They attended schools with a combined Black and Latinx enrollment averaging 67 percent, while Latinx students attended schools with a combined Black and Latinx enrollment averaging 66 percent.

Overall, the proportion of schools where the majority of students are not white increased from 14.8 percent of schools in 2003 to 18.2 percent in 2016.

“Predominantly minority schools [get] fewer resources, and that’s one problem, but there’s another problem too, and it’s a sort of a problem for democracy,” said John Borkowski, education lawyer at Husch Blackwell.

“I think it’s much better for a multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy, when people have opportunities to interact with one another, to learn together, you know, and you see all of the problems we’ve had in recent years with the rising of white supremacy, and white supremacist groups.”

School discipline issues were exacerbated because of student trauma

In the absence of national data on school discipline, anecdotal evidence and expert interviews suggest that suspensions—both in and out of school—and expulsions, declined when students went remote.

In 2021, the number of incidents increased again when most students were back in school buildings, but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels , according to research by Richard Welsh, an associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education.

But forum attendees, who were mostly district and school leaders as well as teachers, disagreed, with 66 percent saying that the pandemic made school incidents warranting discipline worse. That’s likely because of heightened student trauma from the pandemic. Eighty-three percent of forum attendees who responded to a spot survey said they had noticed an increase in behavioral issues since resuming in-person school.

Restorative justice in education is gaining popularity

One reason Welsh thought discipline incidents did not yet surpass pre-pandemic levels despite heightened student trauma is the adoption of restorative justice practices, which focus on conflict resolution, understanding the causes of students’ disruptive behavior, and addressing the reason behind it instead of handing out punishments.

Kansas City Public Schools is one example of a district that has had improvement with restorative justice, with about two thirds of the district’s 35 schools seeing a decrease in suspensions and expulsions in 2021 compared with 2019.

Forum attendees echoed the need for or success of restorative justice, with 36 percent of those who answered a poll within the forum saying restorative justice works in their district or school, and 27 percent saying they wished their district would implement some of its tenets.

However, 12 percent of poll respondents also said that restorative justice had not worked for them. Racial disparities in school discipline also still persist, despite restorative justice being implemented, which indicates that those practices might not be ideal for addressing the over-disciplining of Black, Latinx, and other historically marginalized students.

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Diabetic Attacks and Emergencies

Understanding blood sugar, diabetic ketoacidosis, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, increased risk of infections, diabetic coma, preeclampsia, heart attack or stroke.

A diabetic attack occurs when your blood sugar spikes too high or drops too low. This can cause a medical emergency.

A number of different conditions and factors can lead to a diabetic emergency, including ketoacidosis , hyperglycemia , and hypoglycemia . Each of these needs to be handled in a specific way to reduce the risk of long-term consequences.

This article explains types of emergencies that can result from diabetic attacks, their symptoms, and treatment options. It also covers possible complications and how to prevent attacks and problems.

Diabetes is a chronic condition where the blood sugar level is too high. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas , removes sugar from the blood and moves it into cells for the body to use. In people with type 1 diabetes , their pancreas doesn’t make any insulin; in those with type 2 diabetes , it doesn’t make enough.

Having high blood sugar for a long period of time puts people with diabetes at risk for other health problems, such as kidney disease, heart disease , stroke , and nerve damage.

A diabetic emergency happens when blood sugar is too high or too low for too long. This is a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical treatment. There are a few types of diabetic emergencies, and some conditions may increase the risk of a diabetic emergency.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) occurs when the body begins burning fat, instead of sugar, for fuel. This happens when there isn’t enough insulin to deliver sugar to cells for energy.

To make up for this, the liver begins breaking down fat too quickly for the body to process. This can lead to a buildup of ketones (a type of acid) in the blood, which can become poisonous.

Symptoms of DKA can include:

• Rapid breathing
• Flushed face
• Nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain
• Decreased alertness
• Frequent urination or thirst that lasts for a day or more
• Dry skin or mouth
• Muscle stiffness or aches
• Dehydration
• Fruity breath

DKA is most common in individuals with type 1 diabetes. It can sometimes be the first sign of type 1 in those who are not diagnosed. Causes of DKA in type 1 diabetes include infection, injury, serious illness, missed insulin doses, or stress due to surgery.

DKA is less common in people with type 2 diabetes. If it occurs, it is typically less severe. Causes of DKA in type 2 diabetes include uncontrolled high blood sugar for a long period of time, missing medicine doses, or a severe illness or infection. It can also be a side effect of some medications for diabetes, such as sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.

When you eat too much sugar, the excess is stored in the muscles and liver. When blood sugar decreases, the liver releases what it has stored, raising the amount of sugar in the blood. For some, especially those with diabetes, their blood sugar doesn’t go up enough and is below 70 mg/dL, causing hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

Possible symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

• Fast breathing
• Sweating or chills
• Fast heartbeat
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Irritability
• Color draining from the skin
• Blurred vision
• Tingling or numbness in the lips, tongue, or cheeks
• Coordination problems

Hypoglycemia can happen to anyone, but for people with diabetes, hypoglycemia can occur as a side effect of the medicine they’re taking. Eating foods high in carbohydrates usually helps raise your blood sugar to normal levels.

If hypoglycemia happens too often, they need to consult with their healthcare provider to see if they need to change their treatment plan.

Hyperglycemia is blood glucose greater than 125 mg/dL while fasting, which is defined as not eating for at least eight hours.

It can occur in people with diabetes if they’re eating too many carbohydrates, taking their medicine incorrectly, or if their medication is not as effective as it should be.

Stress and the dawn phenomenon (a surge of hormones that leads to high blood sugar in the morning), could also lead to hyperglycemia.

  Symptoms of hyperglycemia can include:

• Increased urination or thirst
• Slow-healing cuts and sores

Hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome (HHS) can occur if you have a high blood sugar level for a long time. Signs of HHS can include:

• Blood sugar over 600 mg/dL
• Extreme thirst or dry mouth
• Confusion, hallucinations, drowsiness, or passing out
• Fever over 100.4 degrees F
• Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
• Frequent urination

HHS usually develops in people who do not have their type 2 diabetes under control and who have an infection, stopped taking their medications, have a heart attack or stroke, or take medicine that can cause this condition, such as steroids and diuretics.

High blood sugar can negatively affect the immune system. It can lower the ability of white blood cells to come to the site of an infection and kill what is causing the infection. Nerve damage and difficulty breaking down and storing fats can contribute to an increased risk of infection.

People with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are vulnerable to infections that can become life-threatening, including:

• Fungal infections, such as jock itch, athlete’s foot, ringworm , and vaginitis
• Urinary tract infections
• Bacterial infections of the skin and soft tissue that won’t heal

Signs of infection can include fever, chills, sore throat or mouth sores, redness or swelling, or pain with urination.

A diabetic coma , where a person passes out due to extremely low or high blood sugar, is an emergency that requires immediate medical attention. Extreme hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia can cause a diabetic coma, so symptoms of these two conditions could be warning signs of this diabetic emergency.

Other circumstances can also increase the risk of diabetic coma, such as:

• Surgery or other bodily trauma
• Illness or infection
• Drinking alcohol
• Skipping insulin doses
• Poor diabetes management

Diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia are more likely to cause a diabetic coma in those with type 1 diabetes, while HHS places people with type 2 diabetes more at risk of this condition.

When to Call Your Healthcare Provider

You should call your healthcare provider or 911 if you have diabetes and the following:

• Your blood sugar is 300 mg/dL or higher two times in a row for an unknown reason.
• You have low blood sugar that has not come up after three treatments.

Preeclampsia is pregnancy-induced high blood pressure ( hypertension ) and liver or kidney damage. It often occurs after the 20 th week of pregnancy. The risk of preeclampsia is two to four times higher among people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes , a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy, also increases your risk of developing preeclampsia.

The exact cause of preeclampsia is unknown. It is estimated to occur in about 3% to 7% of all pregnancies.  

Women with preeclampsia often do not feel sick, but symptoms in the early stages could include:

• Swelling of the hands and face or eyes
• Sudden weight gain over one to two days or more than two pounds a week
• Headache that does not go away or becomes worse
• Trouble breathing
• Belly pain on the right side, below the ribs
• Not urinating very often
• Nausea and vomiting
• Vision changes, such as temporary blindness, seeing flashing lights or spots, sensitivity to light, and blurry vision
• Feeling lightheaded or faint

Even when diabetes is controlled, high blood sugar can still damage the blood vessels and nerves of the heart over the years. The longer you have diabetes, the higher the chances that you will develop heart disease . This increases the risk of heart attack or stroke.

Signs of a heart attack can include:

• Pain or pressure in your chest that lasts longer than a few minutes or goes away and returns
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, or the shoulders, back, neck, or jaw
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating or lightheadedness
• Feeling extreme fatigue
• Indigestion or nausea

Women are more likely to experience nausea or vomiting, back or jaw pain, and shortness of breath as heart attack symptoms.

Signs of a stroke are:

• Sudden numbness or weakness on one side of the body
• Trouble seeing or walking
• Sudden severe headaches with no known cause
• Confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding speech

If you experience any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.

To avoid a diabetic emergency, you must manage your diabetes as well as possible. Check your blood sugar often, and get into the habit of recognizing the early signs that levels are rising or dropping toward a dangerous range.

Other tips to prevent a diabetic emergency include:

• Eat regularly and avoid foods that are processed or have added sugar
• Stay active and exercise regularly
• Take medications as prescribed

It’s also a good idea to carry snacks that you can eat to quickly get sugar into your blood to treat hypoglycemia. These might include raisins, candy, or glucose tablets.

For hyperglycemia, exercise will lower your blood sugar, but if your blood sugar is above 240 mg/dL, you need to check your urine for ketones. Exercising with a high ketone level will raise your blood sugar even higher.

If you are pregnant, your healthcare provider may recommend that you take daily low-dose aspirin to help prevent preeclampsia and its related complications. It is started between 12 to 28 weeks of pregnancy, but it is best to start before 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Diabetic attacks can be caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), which can cause medical emergencies. Too little insulin can also cause an emergency condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis. During pregnancy, high blood pressure can also put you at risk for a diabetic attack.

Uncontrolled diabetes results in more than a diabetic attack, though. It also increases susceptibility to infections and puts you at risk for suffering from a diabetic coma.

There are steps you can take to reduce your risk and maintain a stable sugar level.

A Word From Verywell

Managing diabetes and the possibility of diabetic emergencies can feel overwhelming, but these emergencies are largely preventable by keeping your condition under control.

Eating healthy, taking medicines as prescribed, exercising regularly, and recognizing the early signs of rising or falling blood sugar levels can help you keep these emergencies at bay and become prepared in the event that they do occur.

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American Diabetes Association. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) .

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National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Hypoglycemia .

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Stoner GD. Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state . Am Fam Physician ; 96(11):729-736.

Carey IM, Critchley JA, DeWilde S, Harris T, Hosking FJ, Cook DG. Risk of infection in type 1 and type 2 diabetes compared with the general population: a matched cohort study . Diabetes Care . 2018;41(3):513-521. doi:10.2337/dc17-2131

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Know the signs and symptoms of an infection .

Cleveland Clinic. Diabetic coma .

Weissgerber TL, Mudd LM. Preeclampsia and diabetes . Curr Diab Rep . 2015;15(3):9. doi:10.1007/s11892-015-0579-4

MedlinePlus. Preeclampsia .

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke .

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stroke signs and symptoms .

American Diabetes Association. Eating well .

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Aspirin use to prevent preeclampsia and related morbidity and mortality: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement .

By Carisa Brewster Brewster is a freelance journalist with over 20 years of writing experience specializing in science and healthcare content.