normal

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Schools’ Going Back To ‘Normal’ Won’t Work For Students Of Color, Here’s Why

National test results released in September 2022 show unprecedented losses in math and reading scores since the pandemic disrupted schooling for millions of children. In response, educational leaders and policymakers across the country are eager to reverse these trends and catch these students back up to where they would have been. But this renewed concern seems to overlook a crucial fact: Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools were failing to adequately serve children of color. As a scholar of racial equity in K-12 education, I see an opportunity to go beyond getting students caught up. Rather than focus only on trying to close pandemic-related gaps, schools could seek to more substantially improve the quality of education they offer, particularly for students of color, if they...

What Trans Moms Worry About When Things Go Back To ‘Normal’ And Discuss Their Unique Parenting Challenges During The Pandemic

20May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ

What Trans Moms Worry About When Things Go Back To ‘Normal’ And Discuss Their Unique Parenting Challenges During The Pandemic

Between 25% and 50% of transgender adults in the U.S. have children. Some have kids before coming out as trans, others adopt or foster, and some use egg or sperm cells they’ve frozen – usually before starting hormone replacement therapy. As a sociologist who studies inequality and reproduction, I noticed that there are few discussions of how trans people – particularly trans women – experience parenthood. So in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I interviewed 50 transgender women – both current and prospective parents – from across the country and from diverse racial and class backgrounds. Some obstacles brought on by the pandemic affect transgender and cisgender – or nontrans – parents alike. For example, many struggle to balance child care and employment or have designed new parenting...

Climate Normal – Warming Is Clearly Visible In US

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Climate Normal – Warming Is Clearly Visible In US

Anyone who listens to weather reports has heard meteorologists comment that yesterday’s temperature was 3 degrees above normal, or last month was much drier than normal. But what does “normal” mean in this context – and in a world in which the climate is changing? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released updated “climate normals” – datasets that the agency produces every 10 years to give forecasters and the public baseline measurements of average temperature, rainfall and other conditions across the U.S. As the state climatologist and assistant state climatologist for Colorado, we work with this information all the time. Here’s what climate normals are, how they’ve changed, and how you can best make sense of them. What are the new normals? NOAA’s National Centers...

Shrinking Glaciers Consistent Ice Loss For The Foreseeable Future A New Normal For Greenland’s Ice Sheet

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Shrinking Glaciers Consistent Ice Loss For The Foreseeable Future A New Normal For Greenland’s Ice Sheet

Greenland is the largest island on Earth, and about 80% of it is covered by a giant sheet of ice. Slowly flowing glaciers connect this massive frozen reservoir of fresh water to the ocean, but because of climate change, these glaciers are rapidly retreating. As Greenland’s glaciers retreat, they are losing ice at a faster and faster rate. Michalea King, CC BY-ND I’m an earth scientist who studies how changes to Greenland’s glaciers affect the stability of the ice sheet as a whole. Healthy glaciers are stable in size and shape and act as drains for the ice sheet, transporting ice into the sea. They maintain a balance where the ice added each year roughly equals the ice lost to the sea. But because of warming caused by climate change, that dynamic has changed. For years, scientists have w...