Elissa Nadworny

You're reading NPR's weekly roundup of education news.

An end to the Denver teacher strike

Denver teachers returned to the classroom this week after the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools reached a tentative labor agreement Thursday morning. Teachers in Denver had been on strike since Monday.

Getting students to show up is one of the biggest challenges schools face: How can someone learn at school if they're not there in the first place?

A new study suggests living in a high-crime area, or simply passing through one on the way to school, can impact how often students show up to class.

For many college students, a crucial step on the path to a good job — or career — is the internship. It's a chance to gain vital experience and prove yourself to employers.

But to get that internship, you need a network, and a good resume. Both are things many students struggle with, especially those at community colleges.

Students like Kelcei Williams. She attends Northern Virginia Community College in Woodbridge, Va. When she got to campus, her only experience was at Dunkin' Donuts and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Updated July 26, 2019

Did your college require you to take classes that didn't count toward your degree — classes that were supposed to help you catch up and get ready for college courses?

These are sometimes called remedial, developmental or intervention classes. We're not talking about general education classes that you may have been required to take in order to graduate.

NPR is looking into just how common these classes are — and how helpful they are for students.

A new musical duo is being hailed across the country as "brilliant" and "mesmerizing." One fan says their work "transcends all ages," and many more are begging them to go on tour.

But to do that, the singers would have to quit their day jobs. They're not professional musicians — they're school administrators in Michigan. Their breakout hit? A video announcing a snow day.

The teachers union in Denver has voted to approve a strike that could begin as soon as Jan. 28. It would be the first time the city has seen a teacher strike in almost 25 years.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association finished voting late Tuesday after more than a year of negotiations between the union and the district, which have failed to yield an agreement.

Updated 9:38 a.m. ET Thursday

Union members in Los Angeles voted to approve a deal with the city's school district on Tuesday, ending a six-day teacher strike. Teachers headed back to class on Wednesday.

According to a Wednesday news release, 81 percent of United Teachers Los Angeles members who cast a ballot voted in favor of the agreement.

"I couldn't be prouder to be a teacher tonight," said UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl at a Tuesday news conference in which he announced the preliminary results.

As parents across Los Angeles dropped their kids off at school Monday morning, they were greeted by picket lines of teachers, many dressed in red ponchos and holding red umbrellas.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, educators in LA are on strike.

"Teachers want what students need," a crowd outside Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School in Boyle Heights chanted in the pouring rain.

Updated Saturday at 1:08 p.m. ET.

On Friday, Los Angeles teacher Rosa Jimenez started her U.S. History class with a question for her students:

"What does a labor union do?"

The juniors inside the library at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools flip through their notes. From the back of the room, a student named Ingrid shoots up her hand:

"A labor union is an organization of workers that's formed for the purpose of benefiting the workers," she explains. They deal with "wages and benefits and working conditions."

College students across the country struggle with food insecurity.

Tuition and books, plus many hours away from a job, can be a huge financial burden on students — and for many, skipping meals can be a last-minute solution to a bad financial situation.

A new government report finds that millions of college students are very likely struggling. And the report — which is from the Government Accountability Office — concludes that the federal systems in place could do a better job of helping them.

There are hundreds of books about picking the best college. But let's face it: Most of them are written for high schoolers. In reality, 40 percent of college students are 25 or older — well out of high school — and many have kids, full-time jobs or both. (We've written about this before.)

Now, a new book by Rebecca Klein-Collins offers advice and guidance for the adult student looking to go to college.

Two students share a laptop in the atrium of the chemistry building at the University of Michigan. One, Cameron Russell, is white, a freshman from a rice-growing parish in Louisiana; the other, Elijah Taylor, is black, a senior and a native of Detroit.

They are different, yes, but there is much that unites them.

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