Lauren Wagner

The Hechinger Report • 15th June 2024

A small rural town needed more Spanish-language child care. Here’s what it took.

Stuck at her job at a Tyson meatpacking plant. Stuck in a central Nebraska town after emigrating from Mexico roughly 15 years earlier with her husband. Instead of working in her dream role as an elementary school teacher, she spent her days hauling cow organs for inspection.

Then she learned about one group’s effort to expand access to high-quality child care here, specifically for families who speak little English, through free training and help navigating state licensing laws. The classes wou

Omaha World-Herald • 24th March 2024

Omaha Public Schools uses a reading intervention program that some call ineffective

The Omaha Public Schools uses a reading intervention program to help struggling students that schools in Nebraska and elsewhere dropped amid questions about whether it is effective.

The Omaha district in 2022 implemented Reading Recovery, a one-on-one tutoring program for first graders, at three of its lowest-performing elementary schools, all located in North Omaha. The first year produced few achievement gains, based on OPS numbers, but officials said they hope to see improvement as the program develops and even expands to more schools.

Omaha World-Herald • 21st January 2024

Nebraska schools slowly changing curriculum to improve how students are taught to read

It was a mild November afternoon when Jill Klich’s first grade class gathered in the front of the room to hear a story.

Klich began her lesson reviewing a list of vocabulary words — she would say them out loud, students would repeat it, then she would explain the definition to prepare them for when they heard the words in the story.

Omaha World-Herald • 8th January 2024

Nebraska works to require 'science of reading' in teacher colleges by next fall

The Elkhorn elementary school teacher recalls feeling unprepared to adequately teach reading in the classroom when she graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha seven years ago.

Because she had specialized in English as a second language, she only took a couple college classes on teaching reading. And even those classes, she felt, hadn't given her enough instruction.

“I really, really struggled with reading,” she said. “A lot of it literally was me YouTubing or asking older teachers on how to teach reading and that's how I got better.”

The 74 Million • 7th January 2024

When Getting Good Grades and Working at Grade Level Are Not the Same Thing

The school, which serves 400 students pre-kindergarten through second grade in Maryland’s Baltimore City Public Schools, is rethinking the way it operates to boost parental involvement, said first-grade teacher Kaylah Crawford.

Crawford, who is in charge of family engagement at Arundel, said every student will lead their own parent-teacher conference this year, giving their familie

The 74 Million • 13th November 2023

Bridging the Parent Perception-Child Performance Gap in St. Louis Schools

Ceira Ross-Porter didn’t realize her son couldn’t read until he began second grade this fall.

While her son, Roy, would ace spelling tests at the Leadership School in St. Louis, Missouri, his mom said, he would cry while doing homework because he couldn’t read any of the questions.

Ross-Porter’s realization solidified when she received a letter in the mail from his public charter

The 74 Million • 14th August 2023

Why 20 Missouri School Districts Are Seeking New ‘Innovation Waivers’ to Rethink the Way They Test Students

A network of 20 Missouri school districts is asking the state to implement a more responsive assessment system in order to personalize student learning.

The state Board of Education is considering the districts’ proposal to change testing at its Aug. 15 meeting. If approved, it would be the inception of a shift in Missouri’s education system that will “resurrect student engagement,” district leaders say.

The group of schools, part of the Success-Ready Students Network, want to move away from t

Omaha World-Herald • 31st March 2023

Are Nebraska schools making progress in serving students with dyslexia?

Heather Schmidt knew something was off when her daughter, Norah, was making gains in every subject — except reading — by the time she was in first grade.

“I asked her teacher, ‘Do you think she has dyslexia?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know, we don’t do that here,’” Schmidt said.

Omaha World-Herald • 13th March 2023

'I just love it': OPS driver decorates bus to spread joy to students

When a student boards Yvonne Johnson’s school bus for the first time, their eyes grow wide and fill with wonder.

Sometimes they even crack a smile, marveling at the twinkling lights, bright colors of paper, zigzagging streamers, stickers galore — all features of Johnson’s “Love Bus” that she drives five days a week for the Omaha Public Schools.

Omaha World-Herald • 12th February 2023

‘A nightmare’: How Nebraska’s special education system is failing its students and staff

Family and advocates say special education has always received the short end of the stick, from insufficient federal and state funding to staffing shortages that have spanned decades. But through the COVID-19 pandemic, the flaws in Nebraska’s special education system have worsened and become more evident.