Students at Mount Vernon Library in Raleigh, N.C., pose with free books after their book fair. School librarian Julia Stivers started the free book fair eight years ago, in an effort to make the traditional book fair more equitable. Alternative versions of book fairs have been cropping up as a way to help students' build their own personal library, without the costs associated with traditional book fair models.
Teacher Monica Villegas, an exchange teacher from Mexico, instructs students at the Twin Falls School District's migrant summer school at Oregon Trail Elementary School in Twin Falls, Idaho, on June 1, 2016. A migrant summer school helps fill education gaps while keeping children out of farm fields.
Ahenewa El-Amin speaks with students during her AP African American Studies class at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., on March 19, 2024. State leaders in Kentucky are pushing the message of making sure all students feel they belong in school including by offering ethnic studies courses.
Fourth-grader Sammiayah Thompson, left, and her brother third-grader Nehemiah Thompson work outside in their yard on laptops provided by their school system for distance learning, in Hartford, Conn., on June 5, 2020. Some districts kept virtual programs as an option after schools reopened, but many of those are now considering cuts to them as budgets tighten.
