Education

  • Putting a future within reach for refugee and displaced students around the world

    Conflict, forced relocation and climate change have disrupted the lives of millions of people around the world. In Ukraine, for example, a year of armed conflict has resulted in the displacement of more than 13 million people and the destruction of much of the nation’s infrastructure, including schools and universities. As a result, the education of many young Ukrainians has been interrupted, as has their ability to build their futures.

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  • Four ways to improve climate education in the U.S.

    Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing humanity, and it is only getting worse. To protect the future of all living things, we need to take collective action. Scientists and policymakers must implement a systemic response to the immediate needs, but it’s also imperative that educators equip young people to tackle the crisis.

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  • High-growth careers require soft skills, too

    The Dominican Republic has one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America, yet its employers are struggling to find qualified applicants for jobs such as software development and nursing. Furthermore, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 face high unemployment rates.

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  • Migrant farmworkers in the U.S. need a medical safety net

    Agricultural workers in the U.S. have one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation. 

    The millions of migrant farmworkers in America — and their children — deserve comprehensive health care services so that they and their children can thrive. Furthermore, doing so benefits everyone by ensuring that food continues to arrive in grocery stores, restaurants, businesses and schools. 

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  • Easing the transition to lower secondary school: Promising approaches from Guatemala

    In Guatemala, 81% of students complete primary school, but only 65% enroll in lower secondary school — the equivalent of grades seven through nine in the United States.1

    This is consistent with the global trend of high dropout rates among students transitioning from primary to lower secondary school. As students progress through the education system, physical, economic and social barriers to attendance and achievement intensify, and the trade-off between employment and continued education becomes more significant.

    The benefits of secondary education extend beyond the individual. At the secondary level of schooling, students develop the critical thinking and collaboration skills to participate in modern economies and democratic institutions. Secondary education also contributes to improved health, lower infant mortality and greater equality.

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  • Reentry in America

    One of the first things I learned as a probation/parole officer was that even when a person completes their sentence, it doesn’t always mean that their punishment is over. I served as a probation/parole officer for seven years, and I saw firsthand the lasting stigma of being involved with the justice system.

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  • We need a new narrative about who excels at STEM

    During middle school, I was fascinated with the natural world. At home, I enjoyed playing outside and finding bugs and butterflies. When my parents called me in for dinner, they often had to coax me out of a tree. In school, I was equally curious. I remember the excitement I felt in my sixth-grade biology class when my teacher dissected a cow’s lung. I patiently waited in line to put my entire right arm into the esophagus.

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  • Green jobs are the future

    The 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) has brought renewed attention to the concept of “green jobs” — those where workers produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources and those in which workers’ duties involve making production processes more environmentally friendly.

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  • Community schools support students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic

    For the past six years, FHI 360 has worked with community schools in New York City and Hempstead, Long Island. When COVID-19 hit earlier this year, the way we did our work immediately shifted away from focusing on in-person supports for students and families. Our first hurdle was bridging the digital divide, that gap between who has access to technology and the internet— and the skills to use them — and who doesn’t.

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  • Model shows intersecting secondary impacts of COVID-19 in the United States

    The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has been unlike anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Conditions such as stay-at-home orders, wearing masks in public and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression affect all of us in different ways.

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