What this school year meant

When Paste BN's education reporter Alia Wong visits a school, she has to go through multiple rounds of security checks: ID check, bag check, metal detector, questionnaire, and escort.

The constant checks serve as a reminder to Wong of the world students live in today. The legacy of school shootings has turned these buildings from spaces of wonderment to security, ushering in a new era for young people and educators alike. Wong sees this transformation firsthand in her work keeping track of trends in education and explaining what they mean in context for Paste BN readers.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Paste BN education reporter Alia Wong about her takeaways on the 2023-2024 school year for elementary, high school and higher education students.

But first, Your Week readers shared the names of the 2024 graduates in their lives. Congratulations to Ella Bilberry, Hannah Paradis Brown, Kayleigh Rose Antonelli, Molly Mozurak, Cheney Bonaudi, Adam Swedlund, Kelli Hopkins, Jake Juenger, Elodie Cox, Jacob Chovanec, Aiden Hoppe, Ethan Christmas, Hayden Conklin, Jacob Noah Kunda and Oliver James Rosenquist! 🎓

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A school year of 'fits and starts'

When this year's graduates started high school and college four years ago, the world had plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. They didn't meet new teachers or sit next to potential friends. They logged on to Zoom class, shifting their education to a completely digital setting.

Juxtapose this virtual world with the crowds of students attending graduation ceremonies in person this month, gathering without social distancing to celebrate years of achievement amid unprecedented struggle.

Paste BN Education Reporter Alia Wong is thinking about this moment. She says that while the education world steps out from the shadow of the pandemic, the entrails of this monumental moment still shade schools and students. She's been working to spell out these effects for readers like you on the elementary, high school and university levels. Here's a breakdown of what she's noticed in the past nine months:

Elementary school students remain absent

One of the biggest issues affecting the youngest students is chronic absenteeism. Kids simply aren't showing up in school, Wong said, despite hopes that the return to in-person learning would bring back normal attendance levels. In some cases, rates of absenteeism are even worse than before the pandemic, she found in her interviews with experts and educators.

"With the pandemic came a different mindset about the importance of going to school," Wong said. "When I continue to talk to schools, that's a stubborn problem."

The youngest learners also don't keep up with math and reading aims at the same time educators are busy debating the best ways to teach the basics (like arguing over phonics vs. comprehension as the best way to get kids reading).

"They're not catching up at the rate that we would have hoped and that's been complicated by the fact this is the last school year that pandemic-era relief funding was available for schools to spend on enrichment programs like tutoring," Wong said. As help faces an expiration date, school faculty are more burned out than ever trying to close gaps in resources.

Culture wars clash in high school classrooms

For older students, this school year was defined by culture war clashes, Wong said. From public schools banning books that involve social justice topics to attacks on AP African American history curriculum.

High schoolers are also facing "chaos" over this unusual college admissions season, Wong said. Not only is this the first year Affirmative Action does not play a role in admissions, omitting race from acceptance decisions, but also the process of seeking federal financial aid for college has been more complicated, and dissuading, than ever (here's a guide if you're looking to submit this year).

"It's been a year unlike any other with obstacles and FAFSA complications," Wong said. "That was the story of this spring. The broken technology and confusion over the roll-out of this (FAFSA) has made a meaningful impact on the number of kids going to college, making a major barrier ... If you're someone who doesn't have parents who can navigate the system that's really going to color your impression of how doable college is."

College students want relief

While high schoolers are battling to receive federal student aid, college-aged students have seen a year defined by confusion over what to do with repayments for the relief they're already receiving.

"This has been a school year marked by fits and starts in the student loan forgiveness world," Wong said. "It was the first year in which borrowers have had to return to paying off those loans. There's now a striking percentage of borrowers who are now in default or are trying to figure out if they can get forgiveness."

And for college-aged students, many of whom are able to vote in the 2024 presidential election, the issue of student loan forgiveness will motivate their decision between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Wong said. While Biden has championed student loan relief, his delivery on this campaign promise has been dogged and confusing. And as students decried Biden on their campuses amid protests against the Israel-Hamas war, campus attitudes are increasingly important indicators for the country's future, Wong said.

Across all three levels of education, Wong said teachers are more burned out than ever. The tension between educators and students is strained by the weight of decisions a teacher must make and the resources they're able to use in those moments. As schools empty for summer, she said teachers will get a much-needed rest. But Wong says the extent to which things will change for the better, rather than worse, in the time being is unclear. For now, she'll continue to watch the classrooms she visits, watching the small moments of growth and joy amid all the change.

Read Alia Wong's latest coverage of the education world:

• Is college worth it? The answer for half of Americans is striking.
•  Here's why parents are joining their kids on the stage at graduation.
• School segregation continues to divide students by income.
• 1 in 4 teachers say guns forced their schools into lockdown last year.

Thank you

It gives me so much joy to celebrate the graduates in your lives. I'm grateful for their hard work and the leadership of their educators. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you. 

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert