Kavitha Cardoza

About 20 years ago, Arkansas started weighing children in school and sending home letters to try to combat obesity. Even though obesity rates only have risen, many other states picked up the policy.

Districts store all kinds of sensitive student data, which means the consequences of a school cyberattack can follow pupils well into adulthood. And it's not just their credit that's at risk.

School systems of every size have been hit by cyberattacks. "It's not Johnny in his room trying to break in and change his grades anymore," says one superintendent.

State and federal governments have made hundreds of millions of dollars available to pay for Grow Your Own teacher programs. But researchers say it's unclear whether they actually work.

Puerto Rico, the nation's sixth-largest school district, is in crisis. It's both uniquely vulnerable to natural disasters and unusually ill-equipped to help children recover from them.

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.