Author: Norah Rami

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S.Nearly 40 Philadelphia teens toting drums half their size marched onto the Samuel Fels High School stage one day this summer. After performing covers of popular songs, what came next was unusual.Some 20 musicians in the advanced group in the third annual Summer Drumline Showcase performed a rhythmic composition written not by a veteran professional musician, but by a fellow participant in the program, Christian Borges. The program’s director and the school’s band director, Brian Morris, had asked Borges to compose a piece…

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S.Roughly half of middle and high schoolers report losing interest in math class at least half the time, and 1 in 10 lack interest nearly all the time during class, a new study shows. In addition, the students who felt the most disengaged in math class said they wanted fewer online activities and more real-world applications in their math classes.Those and other findings published Tuesday from the research corporation RAND highlight several ongoing challenges for instruction in math, where nationwide student achievement has…