New analytics breakthrough shows U.S. schools can adopt later start times without raising costs
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Dec-2025 21:11 ET (20-Dec-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)
Black youth in the United States disproportionately experience fatal drowning at rates up to five times higher than their White peers. These statistics relate to historical and structural barriers Black youth face in learning to swim. In efforts to overcome these inequities, an innovative summer swimming program in Evanston, IL, was offered to Black kids entering third through fifth grades. After the three-week program, participants demonstrated significant improvement in objective and parental-reported swim skills, according to an evaluation study published in the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education.
A team of international researchers and educators created an educational framework called “River Literacy” to help communities better understand and protect their rivers. Inspired by the well-established framework of “Ocean Literacy,” this new approach highlights the vital roles rivers play in our daily lives, cultures, and ecosystems. Their study on this topic has just been published in the scientific journal Earth.