The problem Chalkbeat described was a place to sleep.
Hope helps people start. Infrastructure helps them stay.
During her first semester at Chicago’s Malcolm X College, Harrell was moving among family members’ homes and sometimes could afford only one meal a week, Chalkbeat reported. A concerned friend suggested she see the school’s therapist, who connected her with Depaul USA’s Dax Program, which provides housing for students facing homelessness or housing risk for as long as two years, according to Chalkbeat.
The adults did not stop at encouragement. They built something with rules, money, routes, rooms, agreements, and follow-through.
Hope helps people start. Infrastructure helps them stay.
A Denver house turns college persistence into a housing plan
Depaul USA opened Denver’s first Dax student residence near the Capitol building, and the house can serve up to 15 students, Chalkbeat reported. The program works with Metropolitan State University of Denver and Regis University and wants to expand to other local colleges and universities, according to Chalkbeat.
The national Dax Program began in 2015 and has housed 494 students in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York, Chalkbeat reported. With the Denver site, the program expects to serve roughly 110 students a year, and Depaul USA says about 95% of residents find permanent housing after participating while about 84% remain in school or graduate, according to Chalkbeat.
Students in the house must work at least 10 hours per week, be in good academic standing, and pay reduced-cost monthly rent, Chalkbeat reported. They also receive supports including food access on site, financial-literacy help, job support, and referrals for physical and behavioral health care, according to Chalkbeat.
Career programs need rides, not just seats
Career and technical education adds a transportation problem because students may need to move from a high school to another high school, an area technical center, or a community technical college during the school day, Education Week reported. Alisha Hyslop of the National Association for Career and Technical Education told Education Week that students rely on transportation across those models.
West-MEC offers career and technical education to over 37,000 students drawn from 48 Phoenix-area high schools and operates six campuses where students attend technical classes, Education Week reported. In the 2023-24 school year, West-MEC received a two-year state grant that supported buses, We Rides, individual Uber rides, and gas reimbursements for parents, according to Education Week.
After that grant ended, West-MEC built intergovernmental agreements with school districts: West-MEC covers half the bus driver’s salary and benefits, while a partner district covers the other half and provides the bus or van, Education Week reported. There are currently five such agreements, according to Education Week.
West-MEC also bought land outside Agua Fria High School in a partner district to build a new CTE campus, Education Week reported. Superintendent Scott Spurgeon put the strategy plainly: “If the students can’t get to us, we’re going to get our campuses closer to the students.”
Debt relief can help early educators remain in the field
Vermont’s Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program for Early Childhood Educators provides up to $4,000 annually to full-time educators with an early childhood-related degree, The 74 reported. Lawmakers created the program in 2021, and reimbursements started the next year, according to The 74.
The state has issued more than 275 awards to 196 recipients, totaling more than $1.8 million, and the total student loan debt held by awardees exceeds $9 million, The 74 reported. Applicants need an early-childhood or related degree, make under $60,000 a year, and intend to work for 12 months at a licensed center- or home-based child care program or Head Start program in Vermont, according to The 74.
Massachusetts began a student loan repayment program for early childhood educators in 2026 with plans to award up to $7,500 per year, and more than 400 early educators applied, The 74 reported. Massachusetts gives preference to applicants working in communities with many high-need children and families, or in areas where early education and care slots are scarce, according to The 74.
Recovery planning has to include the adults
The Principal Recovery Network, made up of current and former school leaders who have experienced gun violence tragedies in their schools, updated its 2022 guide on supporting students and staff after a violent attack, Education Week reported. The new guide adds sections on staff needs after an attack, according to Education Week.
Patricia Greer, a member of the network and former principal of Marshall County High School in Benton, Ky., was part of the 19-member team that wrote the guide, Education Week reported. Greer was principal in 2018, when a shooting at the school left two classmates dead and a dozen others injured before law enforcement apprehended the student, according to Education Week.
The guide recommends that principals work with districts before a tragedy to vet counseling support and establish formal agreements with trusted national school behavioral health organizations, Education Week reported. Education Week’s tracker counted 19 school shootings so far in 2026, already more than the 18 shootings in all of 2025.
Ask for the plan before anyone needs it. In a crisis, a school should not have to invent its support system while people are hurting.
Play can be a serious routine
A 2022 review of nearly 40 studies found that, for children up to age 8, guided play outperformed direct instruction on early math, shape knowledge, and task-switching, Education Week reported. Education Week visited an early childhood program in Lakeland, Fla., run by WonderHere, to show how play-based activities can build independence and life skills among young children.
That belongs in the same conversation as housing, transportation, debt relief, and recovery planning. The scale is different, but the principle is the same: children and educators do better when adults design the conditions instead of admiring the struggle.