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This month, children across the U.S. are heading back to class. Their educations will be shaped by the decisions of nearly 13,000 school boards. Anna Deese, a PhD student and former school board member from Montana, breaks down some of the biggest misconceptions.

A coalition of educators from 10 states and led by CU Boulder has released a new series of free science curricula for high school students—touching on issues critical to the lives of young people, from wildfires to rising sea levels and cancer biology. The new curricula, called OpenSciEd High School, is a three-year high school science program designed by a consortium of developers led by the inquiryHub, a research-practice partnership.

In 2023, the American Library Association documented attempts to remove more than 4,000 books from schools and libraries across the U.S. In one of the first comprehensive analyses of book bans in the U.S., Katie Spoon, a PhD candidate in computer science and a master’s student in the School of Education, and collaborators revealed that these bans disproportionally target women authors of color and books that feature characters of color.

This year, schools across Colorado experienced an influx of students, many of them migrants from Latin and South America. A small but dedicated group of scholars at the CU Boulder School of Education are helping teachers meet the needs of these new arrivals.

In the heart of Cuba, New Mexico, an impactful collaboration aims to confront systemic inequities in education by centering student voices. Launched in the summer of 2021, the collaboration brings together CU Boulder education researchers and Cuba Independent School District students, teachers and stakeholders during an annual six-week summer program focused on educational equity.

K-12 schools across the country are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence tools into the classroom. Alex Molnar, one of the directors of the National Education Policy Center in the CU Boulder School of Education, gives his take on why these tools could pose risks for students, and what concerned parents and others can do about it.

An estimated 95% of U.S. cities provide economic development tax incentives to woo corporate investors, taking billions away from schools. A new three-month investigation by CU Boulder's Kevin Welner and colleagues in The Conversation shows how that cash drain is not equally shared by schools in the same communities, often hurting the poorest students the most.

Edited by a trio of CU Boulder education researchers, a new book titled Schools of Opportunity: 10 Research-Based Models of Equity in Action tells the stories of nine U.S. high schools that flourished despite the odds—overcoming tough challenges to offer students from a wide range of backgrounds rich and even joyful educational experiences.

Each year, the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting represents the world's largest gathering of education researchers and is a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative research. We are looking forward to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting that will take place in Chicago, IL, April 13-16 and virtually May 4-5. Use this guide to follow and support CU Boulder researchers and their work.

Kalonji Nzinga is a cultural psychologist exploring how millennials and post-millennials develop their ethical world views. Check out this second installment of the Renée Crown Wellness Institute's "Spotlight Stories" featuring Dr. Nzinga and his work as a trans-disciplinary researcher and storyteller.