Education Lab: Project Rebound, chronic absenteeism + Clovis kids will soon return to school
Hello education readers,
This week the Ed Lab released its second story in our Pipeline: Mental Health, Students and Police series. Our higher education reporter Ashleigh Panoo took a deeper look at a program in the California state school system that is reversing the school-to-prison pipeline by helping students who have served prison time achieve their goals.
“Project Rebound” helps formerly incarcerated students by providing them with mentorship, support and individualized resources. You can read more about the program and how it works here.
In photo above: Khoi Quach, 28, immigrated from Vietnam to California with his family when he was 10. He participated in Project Rebound and is now a graduate student at UC Berkeley.
Chronic absenteeism
Fresno Unified has a chronic problem of absenteeism, and it has gotten worse during the pandemic. One of the problems: Many students — especially low-income students — have connectivity issues such as low to no internet access.
Almost 16,000 Fresno Unified students are considered chronically absent so far. K-12 reporter Monica Velez looked further into this issue, why it happens and whether there is a solution to chronic absenteeism.
Reopening
Schools around Fresno County have successfully applied and been approved for re-opening waivers with restrictions.
The waivers may be needed as COVID-19 cases are on the rise once again in Fresno County.
Fresno is in the “red tier” of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening plan. Schools don’t need a waiver to reopen in the red tier, but many schools have applied for waivers as a safety measure in case Fresno County slides back into the most restrictive “purple tier.”
Some Fresno County schools will be returning to classes sooner, while others won’t go back to in-person learning till the new year.
Schools in Clovis began bringing small student cohorts to campus on Wednesday and said more students would be phased in slowly in the coming weeks with a near full return expected in mid-January.
Fresno’s Central Unified schools won’t begin returning students to classrooms until after the new year.
The digital divide: Tell us your story
Does your household have enough broadband? The Education Lab is exploring a series of stories about the digital divide in Fresno County.
Last spring, readers told us about shortages of laptops and tablets among local students. Now we are asking community members, teachers, professors and students to help us once again with our reporting.
The Ed Lab has created this short survey to understand the broadband situation teachers students and professors face. Please fill out and share with others.
Thanks for helping to tell this story.
• • •
Ayuda al Fresno Bee Laboratorio de Educación entender como el acceso a internet está afectando los estudiantes y educadores de Fresno con llenar esta encuesta. Puedes llenar la encuesta en ingles o español.
Si prefieres llenar la encuesta en español por favor llena la aquí.
Ask the Ed Lab
Do you have an education question you’d like for us to answer? Have a story tip? Contact the Ed Lab team at edlab@fresnobee.com.
Like this newsletter? Forward to a friend. They can sign up here.