Education News Trends: Mental Health, Scholarships and AI

A look at the education news from PR Newswire in January and February that you might have missed.

By Rocky Parker | Published March 4, 2024

It may not be back-to-school season per se, but once the holidays are over, it’s time to refocus on education as students head back to the classroom. The PR Newswire team is here to help you sort through all the headlines — we distributed over 1,500 education press releases in January and February alone — and keep track of the trending topics.

What did the headlines tell us? The mental health crisis among students remains a concern, as does the much-needed recovery in reading scores that were impacted by the pandemic. We also spotted a number of press releases tied to scholarship opportunities to help ease the burden of tuition and promote diversity and inclusion among the student population. Plus, AI continued its domination of the wire as brands developed new ways to integrate the technology in the classroom — and considered the issues of doing so.

In this post, we’ll dive into these trends and take a look at the most-read education press releases to begin 2024.

Popular Education Releases

Through January and February, readers flocked to these education-related press releases:

• Hanley House was crowned 2024 Miss America's Teen due, in part, to her platform "Passion to Profit" which “centers around instilling real-world skills that empower the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
• The Bronx’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine made big headlines when it announced a $1 billion gift that will enable the medical school to be tuition-free moving forward.
• IT certification and training body CompTIA unveiled its 2024 product vision, including an expansion of its learning and certification portfolio.
• The UCLA Anderson School of Management launched the UCLA Sports Leadership and Management Program, “designed to provide inspiration, education and access to graduate and undergraduate students, including student-athletes interested in pursuing careers in the global business of sports.”
• Podium Education acquired Untapped. Through the deal, over 1 million undergraduate students from Podium's 60+ partner universities will be linked with early career job and internship opportunities on the Untapped platform.

Education News Trends

Throughout January and February, several trends kept popping up among education news on the wire. Let’s take a closer look.

Student Mental Health

The beginning of the new year means many of us have been setting New Year’s resolutions to start the year off strong. As students returned from their winter breaks, a renewed focus was placed on improving mental health for students in the year ahead.

A large part of addressing student mental health is ensuring students are heard. “Youth voice and educational equity go hand in hand, so the more students that you’re able to hear from and understand their stories, the better of a chance we have ensuring every student is safe and feeling comfortable in their school environment and is successful in the future,” one mental health student facilitator told EdWeek.

January was also Mental Wellness Month and brands across the education industry took time to dive into the current state of student mental health and the ways parents and teachers can make an impact, whether their feelings are related to social media, standardized testing, or other stressors for students. Companies are also turning their focus to teachers' mental wellbeing and how they can help.

Catch up with these releases:

• New Survey Reveals Support Needed for Faculty and Staff on the Front Lines of the Student Mental Health Crisis
• tapouts Replaces Scrolling for Parenting Tips with Fun Mental Wellbeing Coaching for Kiddos
• Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Increases Mental Health Support for Students
• As Teacher Burnout Surges, TimelyCare Extends Virtual Mental Health and Medical Care for K-12 Educators and Staff

Scholarships

New research from the Institute for Higher Education Policy finds that “most students face a gap between what their families can afford and what they must pay to attend college.” That gap, the research shows, widens for students of color and students with lower incomes.

During January and February, as students began the second half of their school year, they were starting to consider the next steps and with them, the potential for scholarships. We spotted brands across industries sharing announcements regarding scholarships. The scholarships applied to students from a variety of backgrounds and regions, and were available for a range of education paths, from real estate to STEM, physical therapy and beyond.

In all, PR Newswire distributed over 200 education releases that mentioned “scholarship” in January and February, including:

• PG&E Encourages Northern and Central California Students Focused on STEM Education to Apply for College Scholarships of Up to $10,000
• New $2.5 Million Morehouse College "Finishing Well" Scholarship to Assist Scholars with Financial Needs
• Florida Realtors® Seeks Student Scholarship Winners
• Timken Awards $540,000 in Scholarships to 20 Future Leaders and Innovators
• ColorComm's 7th Annual NextGen Fellows Program Will Connect HBCU Students and Graduates with the Nation's Leading Companies
• MedStar Health and Marymount University Partner to Further Enhance Student Learning Opportunities and Provide Scholarships to Students Seeking Careers in Physical Therapy

Reading Improvements

Students and teachers continue the battle to bounce back from pandemic-induced declines in reading and math scores. At the end of January, the Education Recovery Scorecard was released. The data showed that in 2023, gains in reading achievement levels, although strong, made up only one-quarter of the loss in reading due to the pandemic. The improvements are also uneven, with most of them occurring in the wealthiest districts.

The second half of the 2023-2024 school year will continue this strong focus on recovery, since federal funding for academic recovery is set to expire in September. “States need to take leadership and ensure that every last dollar of the remaining federal relief is spent on academic recovery efforts, like summer school, high-quality tutoring, and after-school instruction next year," said Dr. Thomas Kane, Faculty Director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.

In January and February, our team spotted a few press releases from companies working to help students improve their reading skills, including these:

• Revolutionizing Reading Comprehension for the Digital Generation
• FUNetix and Page by Page Announce Partnership to Empower Underprivileged Children With Literacy Skills Amidst COVID Recovery
• Nonprofit ReadWorks is on a Mission to Improve Reading Comprehension
• WPS Announces Revolutionary Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention
• Savvas Learning Company Announces New Edition of its Leading myView Literacy Program Grounded in the Science of Reading

AI in Schools

AI dominated the headlines in 2023 and it looks like 2024 will be no different. Education technology leaders continue to develop new ways to integrate artificial intelligence in the classroom to make teachers’ lives easier and aid students in their studies.

One-third of K-12 teachers say they have used artificial intelligence-driven tools in their classroom, according to research from EdWeek. Teachers say they’ve used the technology to “create lesson plans, give students feedback on assignments, build rubrics, compose emails to parents, and write letters of recommendation.”

Despite the technology’s rapid growth, or because of it, educators are still cautious about using it in the classroom and want to ensure it’s used responsibly by teachers and students. It’s a trend that we’re sure will continue throughout the year and we’ll watch how it evolves.

During January and February, PR Newswire distributed over 250 education press releases that mentioned “AI” or “artificial intelligence.”

• Educational Innovation Through AI: Cognizant Signs Multi-Year Contract with Cambridge University Press & Assessment
• Bill Nye to Keynote ASU+GSV AIR Show: the AI Revolution in EDU, Live in San Diego
• R.test, AI-Powered SAT Learning platform, Boasts Score Improvements of 94.7 points on Average
• Ambow Education Presents HybriU at CES 2024, the First AI-Driven Plug-and-Play Education Solution
• Digital Learning Pulse Survey Reveals Higher-Ed Unprepared for Expected Impact of AI
• Thinking Nation to Unveil AI-Driven Advances in Social Studies Education at AASA's National Conference on Education
• Pearson to Expand Generative AI Study Tools to More Pearson+ eTextbooks

Looking Ahead

Student and teacher mental health will continue to be a focus throughout April, which is Stress Awareness Month. We’ll be watching to see how companies are helping to identify problem areas and develop tools to help students and teachers cope. We expect AI to continue its domination of the headlines this year and as we approach graduation season, we’re sure to see news of scholarship and grant recipients hit the wire.

About the Author

Rocky Parker is the Manager of Audience and Journalist Engagement at Cision PR Newswire. She's been with the company since 2010 and has worked with journalists and bloggers as well as PR and comms professionals. Outside of work, she can be found trying a new recipe, binging a new show, or cuddling with her pitbull, Hudson.