The Iron Range offers a window into communities reckoning with how their identities must change for the betterment of future generations as schools increasingly collaborate.

Date: September 25 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time

Public schools are key to ensuring children have consistent meals.

Boys overall are held back more than girls

But buildings are closing and enrollment is trending downward

Date: September 25 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time

Date: September 25 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time

Boys overall are held back more than girls

Cheryl Phillips, Director, Big Local News at Stanford Journalism, and Scott Klein, Founder, Open Journalism

Ninth graders in N.C. are held back more often than students in other parts of the country. How can schools ensure they're ready to move on?

More than a decade of data from schools across the U.S. shows stark divides in who is held back: Boys are more likely than girls to repeat a grade, and Black boys are held back at nearly three times the rate of white boys. Overall, schools are holding back fewer students than they were more than a decade ago, according to data from 2011-12 to 2021-22 analyzed by Big Local News at Stanford University, in partnership with The Hechinger Report. Despite retention rates falling, the gap between Black boys and white boys stayed consistent.

Ninth graders in N.C. are held back more often than students in other parts of the country. How can schools ensure they're ready to move on?

Fewer students are being held back, according to a Big Local News/Hechinger Report analysis. Research on the impact on students is mixed

Date: September 25 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time

Mississippi has one of the highest third grade retention rates.

Hawaiʻi has held back high school freshmen at a higher rate than nearly any other state.

Mississippi has one of the highest third grade retention rates in the country. A related policy was a key part of the state's 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act.

Hawaiʻi has held back high school freshmen at a higher rate than nearly any other state. 

The rate at which students were held back fell across the U.S. from the 2011-12 to 2021-22 school years, according to a Big Local News/Hechinger Report analysis.

From emergency shelters and food banks to sports and church services, school buildings across Mat-Su serve as important community connectors, residents and officials said.

High school came with more responsibility and less accountability for Josiah Ulukita. Courses were much harder, teachers were less strict about attendance, and it was easier to skip school with friends or go on his phone during class, said 16-year-old Ulukita, who attends Kaimuki High School in Honolulu. He went from easily passing middle school to failing freshman English and social studies. After missing roughly half of his freshman year due to poor attendance, he found out he needed to repeat ninth grade. Ashamed, he began to skip more school, he said — until his counselor warned him that he may not graduate on time.

Fewer students are being held back, according to a Big Local News/Hechinger Report analysis. Research on the impact on students is mixed

USDA doesn’t know when facility will be able to handle the most dangerous pathogens

The Public Safety Scanner Tool, or PSST, sends automated alerts of urgent scanner traffic in real time and will be free for newsrooms.

Society of Professional Journalists, improving and protecting journalism since 1909

A campaign finance agent by Big Local News. Asks the FEC bulk data in plain English, shows its work.

A campaign finance agent by Big Local News. Asks the FEC bulk data in plain English, shows its work.

Two interns are joining Big Local News this summer, working on several data-driven collection and reporting projects.

A campaign finance agent by Big Local News. Asks the FEC bulk data in plain English, shows its work.

Getting breaking news election results out in local counties has become what feels like Bay City News reporter Ciara Zavala’s “life’s work.” The work has had its ups and downs—in 2024, her pipeline…

Getting breaking news election results out in local counties has become what feels like Bay City News reporter Ciara Zavala’s “life’s work.” The work has had its ups and downs—in 2024, her pipeline…

AB 1821 would allow any state or local agency to sue members of the public for the simple act of filing a public records request.

Date: June 5 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time Zoom link: Join the call (Password: 970592)

Date: June 5 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Time Zoom link: Join the call (Password: 970592)

Research shows that Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs can help struggling high school boys improve attendance rates, test scores, and graduation rates. But these schools aren’t available e...

Data, tools and collaborations that empower journalists to better cover their community. A project at Stanford University.

Search California public records about law enforcement violence and misconduct.

Search California public records about law enforcement violence and misconduct.

Search California public records about law enforcement violence and misconduct.

The California Reporting Project is a multi-newsroom collaborative formed to research and report on law enforcement documents that became public Jan. 1, 2019 under California’s new transparency law.

The database, which includes about 12,000 cases detailing police misconduct and serious use of force from hundreds of agencies, is the first of its kind in California.

Search California public records about law enforcement violence and misconduct.