Education

New Hampshire students are learning faster than in 2019, helping close COVID learning gap

BY: - July 24, 2023

New Hampshire students are learning at a faster pace in 2023 than in 2019, new figures suggest – an indication that schools and teachers are beginning to turn around learning loss from COVID-19. Data from the New Hampshire Student Assessment System shows that New Hampshire students in third to eighth grade are learning at a […]

A stop sign on a school bus

With new law, withdrawing from a cooperative school district just became easier

BY: - July 11, 2023

For Mason, New Hampshire, entering a regional cooperative school district was far easier than leaving it.  In 1961, schools across the Granite State were consolidating, taking advantage of an expansion in the 1947 state law creating “cooperative school districts.” Mason was part of that; it joined with Greenville, Lyndeborough, New Ipswich, and Wilton to create […]

Campus diversity will be a struggle without race-based admissions, history shows

BY: - July 6, 2023

States that have tried to enroll more Black and Hispanic students in state universities without using race-based admissions policies have seen the numbers of those students slip – especially at elite institutions. Nine states had affirmative action bans before last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking it down nationwide. Those states and others have tried […]

State House under a cloudy sky

Sununu vetoes eating disorder bill after upheaval at national organization

BY: - July 3, 2023

It was a simple idea: a bill requiring the National Eating Disorders Association helpline to be added to New Hampshire student identification cards. But in the months since House Bill 35 was introduced to lawmakers in January, the national organization that runs that hotline has faced major turmoil. In May, it announced it would be […]

A view of Earth from the observatory

‘This is the existential crisis’: A push for climate change education

BY: - June 29, 2023

When wildfires and smoke swept through Oregon in 2020, Lyra Johnson’s family made plans to evacuate their home near Portland. Johnson, then 14, was told she might have to quickly learn to drive – despite not having a license – in order to get her grandmother to safety. Thankfully, the danger passed before Johnson was […]

An empty classroom

Competency-based learning standard for NH schools takes center stage in rules debate

BY: - June 28, 2023

This story was updated on June 28 at 12:00 p.m. to correct the title of Manchester Superintendent Jennifer Gillis. At the Parker-Varney school in Manchester, grades are not part of the curriculum. “Mastery” is. Students work their way through individual concepts, like long division or the mathematical order of operations. There are no letter grades […]

State to continue program training educators to teach chess

BY: - June 19, 2023

New Hampshire will extend a program this summer to train educators to teach chess in schools, seizing on what officials say is an increased interest in the game among students.  On Wednesday, the Executive Council approved a $60,000 federally funded contract to allow the company Chess in Education to host training programs this summer and […]

NH ranks first in the country in kids’ well-being but needs more child care

BY: - June 14, 2023

When it comes to overall well-being, New Hampshire’s children lead the country, according to a new analysis from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  However, health policy and advocacy group New Futures noted that the latest Kids Count Data Book also contains a less positive statistic: Nearly 14 percent of New Hampshire children under 5 lived […]

‘The keepers of this story:’ How a Birmingham center trains educators to teach the Holocaust

BY: - June 14, 2023

Logan Greene, a teacher in Hoover City Schools in Alabama, had his students read “Four Perfect Pebbles,” a memoir of a Holocaust survivor. He heard there was an opportunity for the author to come speak to students. But it would require them to raise $1,000 in around two weeks. “I told the kids there’s no […]

Manchester School District headquarters

Lawmakers balk at Medicaid direct certification despite push by anti-hunger advocates

BY: - June 8, 2023

Senate lawmakers Wednesday voted 13-11 against a floor amendment to the budget that would have required the state to enroll in Medicaid direct certification as a pilot program, a move that disappointed advocates. As a compromise to Senate Republicans, the direct certification amendment would have applied only to municipalities in which Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program […]

Students may see more civics education next year

BY: - June 6, 2023

A new state civics textbook is one step closer to reaching the desks of New Hampshire students after the Senate Finance Committee approved a budget provision of $1 million last week for its creation.  The provision would fund the Commission on New Hampshire Civics, which would contract with outside experts to develop the textbook content. […]

Five ways the Senate budget would affect school funding

BY: - May 31, 2023

New Hampshire came a step closer to passing a two-year budget Tuesday, after the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance its proposed budget. Along the way, the committee has made some major proposed changes to education funding.  The spending plan will go next to the full Senate for a vote, and then to negotiations between […]