America's school attendance crisis can overlook what's going on at home

+ climate science jargon decoded US Edition - Today's top story: Why student absences aren't the real problem in America's 'attendance crisis' [View in browser]( US Edition | 27 October 2021 [The Conversation]( When I got a press release back in 2017 from a high school that boasted about how 100% of its students had been accepted to college, I had this subtle sense that something was askew – that maybe the news was too good to be true. As it turns out, my misgivings about Ballou High School in Washington, D.C. were correct. Later that year, news broke that many students at Ballou were graduating despite the fact that they had been chronically absent. As troublesome as that was, the scandal exposed some of the many challenging and chaotic home circumstances that were preventing students from coming to school. It’s those things, education researchers Jaymes Pyne, Elizabeth Vaade and Eric Grodsky say in a new piece about school absenteeism, that are the [real reason why some students struggle in school, not the fact that they are missing school itself](. The problem, they point out, is that current policies and practices don’t seem to take such student circumstances into account. Also today: - [Biden can benefit from meeting the Pope, much as Reagan did]( - [The colorful – and often commercial – roots of Day of the Dead]( - [How climate change is affecting fall foliage]( Jamaal Abdul-Alim Education Editor Economic hardships, lack of transportation and family crises can keep kids out of school. Fertnig/E+ Collection via Getty Images [Why student absences aren’t the real problem in America’s ‘attendance crisis’]( Jaymes Pyne, Stanford University; Elizabeth Vaade, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison The problem with chronic absenteeism isn’t so much that kids are missing instruction time; it’s that unexcused absences may indicate crises at home, new research suggests. Environment + Energy - [A quick guide to climate change jargon – what experts mean by mitigation, carbon neutral and 6 other key terms]( Wändi Bruine de Bruin, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences The language around climate change can feel overwhelming. A psychology and public policy expert breaks it down in plain English. - [Climate change is muting fall colors, but it’s just the latest way that humans have altered US forests]( Marc Abrams, Penn State Warm autumn weather has produced dull leaf colors across the eastern US this year, but climate change isn’t the only way that humans have altered trees’ fall displays. - [COP26: billions are being spent tackling climate change – where is it all going? Climate Fight podcast part 1]( Jack Marley, The Conversation Listen to the first episode of a new series ahead of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow. Education - [College cost calculators aren’t precise, but they could easily be made better]( Aaron Anthony, University of Pittsburgh; Lindsay Page, Brown University Net price calculators – online tools meant to estimate what students will actually pay for college – can produce varying results for students in similar economic situations, researchers find. Ethics + Religion - [In Biden’s visit with the pope, a page from Reagan’s playbook?]( Steven P. Millies, Catholic Theological Union Joe Biden may be only the country’s second Catholic president, but a long line of U.S. leaders have met with popes over the years. - [How commercialization over the centuries transformed the Day of the Dead]( Mathew Sandoval, Arizona State University A Mexican-American scholar writes that in the 1700s, Day of the Dead generated the largest annual market in Mexico City. Politics + Society - [Sudan’s generals have torn up the transition playbook. But don’t count out the masses]( David E Kiwuwa, University of Nottingham Sudan has needed and will require compromise and principled political goodwill to realise a difficult transition from military rule. Trending on site - [How ‘managed retreat’ from climate change could revitalize rural America: Revisiting the Homestead Act]( Hillary A. Brown, City College of New York; Daniel R. Brooks, University of Toronto If rural communities plan carefully – and some already are – they can reinvent themselves as the perfect homes for people fleeing wildfire and hurricane zones. - [An infectious disease expert explains new federal rules on ‘mix-and-match’ vaccine booster shots]( Glenn J. Rapsinski, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences As boosters are authorized for all three COVID-19 shots available in the US, the ability to swap out vaccine types looks to be a boon to the immune system. - [Evacuations ordered as a powerful storm heads for California’s wildfire burn scars, raising risk of mudslides – this is what cascading climate disasters look like]( Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine Studies show climate change is raising the risk of cascading hazards that alone might not be extreme but add up to human disasters. Communities and government agencies aren’t prepared. - --------------------------------------------------------------- Today’s graphic [A chart showing what gender children draw a political leader as. There is one line for boys and one line for girls. The x axis corresponds to age, while the y axis corresponds to the likelihood of drawing the political figure as a man.]( From the story, [Girls learn early that they don’t have much of a place in politics]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](