Journalism courses remain scarce in New York City, with only 90 out of roughly 400 high schools offering such classes to just 1% of the city's public high school students. The inaugural annual report from the Department of Education, mandated by recently passed Local Law 27, highlights this limited access and underscores inequities in student journalism opportunities. Educators and advocates stress that journalism classes teach reporting skills and give students platforms to express themselves and engage with their communities, especially in underresourced schools where such opportunities can have a transformative impact.

Alabama is setting a new standard for education by integrating data literacy into the curriculum for grades 6-12, recognizing the growing importance of data science skills in the job market. The state has trained more than 1,400 teachers in data science, reaching 10,000 students through a partnership with Quanthub, and the state's Data Scholars Internship Program offers high schoolers hands-on experience.

The Boise Public Library has joined the national "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten" initiative, encouraging families to read 1,000 books with their children before they start school. The program aims to build essential literacy skills from an early age, with recent test scores showing a rise in reading proficiency among young children to 71%.

Students in Juneau, Alaska, participated in a field trip organized by the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program to learn about the Lingit culture through foraging and food processing. Activities included picking Hudson Bay tea, filleting salmon and making jam. Teachers say the trip provides hands-on learning and strengthens cultural skills.

Miah Daughtery of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt highlights the need for continued literacy support beyond elementary school, citing a study by the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund showing that 44% of grade 3-8 teachers report students struggling with reading instructional materials. Daughtery suggests discipline-specific reading and writing instruction, collaboration among educators, building background knowledge and ongoing teaching of fluency, vocabulary and syntax.

School food-literacy programs are facing significant challenges as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education ends in October, affecting 90 million low-income Americans. FoodCorps has had to cut its budget by more than 40% and reduce its workforce as it loses AmeriCorps funding, while The Charlie Cart Project may see reduced sales as schools face funding shortages. Meanwhile, Pilot Light and the Edible Schoolyard Project remain unaffected due to diversified funding sources.

The Smithsonian offers free educational programs for teachers and students nationwide, enhancing lessons with authentic learning experiences. Notable initiatives include the Smithsonian Stars program, which aims to provide telescopes and astronomy lessons to rural schools, and the Democracy in Dialogue Virtual Exchange program, which fosters civic understanding among students from different states.

A North Carolina State University study suggests that performance feedback can significantly improve writing fluency among students with disabilities, even in virtual settings. The research, led by assistant professor Kristen Mahony-Atallah, involved three students and showed notable gains in writing fluency, though improvements in writing quality were mixed. Mahony-Atallah highlights the need for larger studies and integrating performance feedback with other instructional methods to enhance fluency and quality.