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Current Issues Blog & More

 

The Close Up Current Issues Blog, updated weekly throughout the school year, helps teachers connect current events to their students and classrooms. We know that teaching the news can be time-consuming; by the time you find important issues and identify how to teach them, they are old news. That’s where our blog comes in: unpacking issues in the headlines by providing relevant context, links to classroom-ready news items, and suggested prompts for thoughtful discussion.

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Page 8 of 23

Exploring Education Policy Issues: School Choice and Educational Equity

Videos | February 3, 2022

During this #CloseUpConversations webinar we focus on school choice as well as equity and justice issues in education with guest speaker Jordan Banegas of The Institute for Justice.


What Is Happening in Ukraine?

Post | January 26, 2022

President Joe Biden has ordered the Pentagon to put 8,500 U.S. troops on heightened alert for a possible deployment to Europe.1 And the State Department has told the families of U.S. diplomats in Ukraine to leave the country as the possibility of a Russian invasion increases.2 So, what is the situation in Ukraine? Background on […]


Another Hot One: 2021

Post | January 18, 2022

It’s official: 2021 was either the fifth or sixth hottest year on record, depending on who you ask. On January 13, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued reports saying that 2021 was the sixth hottest year ever recorded, going back to when record-keeping began in 1880.1 Earlierin the week, the Copernicus […]


The Great Resignation

Post | January 13, 2022

Across the United States, towns and cities are flooded with “Help Wanted” signs on business doors. The U.S. job market has seen its share of ups and downs over the last two years, but 2021 was a year of record-breaking highs in many categories. The two most important: record-breaking quits and record-breaking new job openings. […]


Build Back Better Stalls, Maybe for Good

Post | January 4, 2022

Already facing the enormous challenge of addressing spiking cases of COVID-19 due to the Omicron variant, President Joe Biden’s administration was presented with a new challenge when Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced that he would not support the $2 trillion spending plan known as Build Back Better Bill. Citing concerns over the level of spending […]


Bill of Rights Day 2021: A Conversation on Freedom of Religion

Videos | December 16, 2021

During this #CloseUpConversations webinar, sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, we discuss internships and career pathways that drive policy-making on Capitol Hill.


Omnicron

The COVID-19 Omicron Variant

Post | December 9, 2021

On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization announced the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant in South Africa. The same day, President Joe Biden closed the borders to travelers from South Africa and seven nearby nations (Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi) in the hope of slowing the spread of the variant […]


Capitol Hill: Internships, Careers & Opportunities

Videos | November 23, 2021

During this #CloseUpConversations webinar, sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, we discuss internships and career pathways that drive policy-making on Capitol Hill.


CNN/KKTV 1

The Infrastructure Bill: What It Includes and What Remains To Be Done

Post | November 22, 2021

On November 15th, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The bill represents the culmination of months of negotiations between House Democrats and Republicans as well as within the two parties. The goal of this US infrastructure bill is to significantly revitalize and modernize American infrastructure – the various systems, equipment, and […]


Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center via MDPI

Indian Boarding Schools: The Truth and Healing Commission

Post | November 9, 2021

In September 2021, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives reintroduced the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, which would establish a commission to “investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government’s Indian Boarding School Policies.”1 The Truth and Healing Commission would use its findings […]


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