Kavitha Cardoza

Advocates have been calling for changes in the field. They say these jobs are exhausting, with low wages, little respect and little career growth. "We need a complete transformation," one expert says.

Educators tell NPR that the stress of teaching through the pandemic has affected their health and their personal lives. "It's like nothing I've experienced before," one teachers says.

For children learning English, speaking the language can be a way to fit in. But teachers worry that remote learning means some students aren't hearing even casual English outside their classes.

The pandemic is a major reason, but the number of international students has been falling for years.

Davon McNeal was one of several children killed by gun violence over the July Fourth weekend while doing everyday things: playing in the yard, walking through a mall, watching fireworks.

With schools moved online and kids cooped up at home, soccer coaches, dance instructors and other leaders of extracurricular activites are finding creative ways of keeping kids active and engaged.

Camp Mariposa in Dayton, Ohio, is designed just for them. The program lets these children share their experiences, learn coping strategies and, most importantly, get to be kids.

With 40 percent of its students at risk of failing, one radical new high school in Washington, D.C., wrestles with whether to lower its own high expectations.

In a radical new high school in Washington, D.C., the push for academic success sometimes clashes with providing young men the love and support they need to thrive.

When this new boys-only, public school in Washington, D.C., opened its doors in August 2016 to a class of roughly 100 freshmen of color, NPR and Education Week were there. All. Year.