Are the kids alright? The end of the child tax credit and the fight to stop masking kids

Parents say the child tax credit helped cover basic needs. Plus, a new school masking debate emerges.

View this email online January 30, 2022 This week, we looked at the end of the child tax credit, the fight to stop masking kids and the new SAT. Plus, 52 world records in 52 weeks. Hi all, The Expanded Child Tax Credit is over – but how did it help? Cory here. Thanks for reading this. I hope you have a nice, hot coffee in your free hand.  It’s the end of January, which means it’s been a month since families received the last of six monthly payments under the new (yet already scuttled) child tax credit expansion. Beginning in July, millions more families qualified for an increased benefit to help cover the costs of raising kids. With the policy abandoned by a deadlocked Congress, I wondered: What did we lose? Turns out, the data say a lot. By December, the credit was reaching 61.2 million children, and the monthly child poverty rate had dropped by roughly 30%.  How did the money help families on a day-to-day basis?  Odessa Davis, a public school paraeducator living in suburban Washington, D.C. with her son, says the monthly $250 benefit gave her peace of mind, especially over the summer when she wasn’t earning a steady school paycheck. “Any unexpected expense that came, I was able to pay it without any worry of, like, ‘I don't have any money to cover this.’ ” Davis used the payment to cover gas costs and school supplies for her son – and she’s not unique. 91% of low-income families used their monthly benefits on basic needs like rent, utilities, clothing, or groceries. That trend holds even when you look at families earning up to $150,000 – basic needs spending still topped the list. Opponents of the benefit worried the extra money would motivate parents to quit their jobs. But that doesn’t appear to have happened. In fact, in interviews parents and caregivers say this benefit helped cover costs that made working easier, by paying for childcare or transportation. “$500 a month isn't enough reason to quit looking for a job,” says Jess Hudson, a single mother of two in the San Francisco Bay area. “I can't live on that. It was enough to give me childcare help so that I could finish school, so I could get a job, so I can participate in the economy in the ways that I want to do.” You can read the full story here, and follow me on twitter @NPRCoryTurner. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images The new school masking debate Anya here. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, a new camp is emerging in the school mask debate – people who are pro-vaccine, pro-evidence-based restrictions, but against masking kids. They’re a growing chorus of pediatricians, neuroscientists, special education teachers, and parents who are concerned about the effects of prolonged masking on children. The U.S. is an outlier in masking kids as young as two years old. The World Health Organization doesn’t recommend masking children under five, and the European Center for Disease Control does not recommend them for kids under 12. I spoke to some experts who are increasingly concerned that masks are doing more harm than good for young kids. Research increasingly shows that cloth masks are less effective against omicron. Yet it’s hard to upgrade kids’ masks. There are no pediatric N95 masks, and high-quality KN94s and KN95s are hard to find and may not fit well. It’s also difficult for some kids to wear masks, especially young children or those with special needs. Brittany Gonzalez teaches special education to second and third graders in Lee County, Florida. Her students aren’t required to wear masks, but she said those who do “take it off all day.” “It is a foreign piece of cloth on their face,” Gonzalez said, “And not all of them have the level of understanding as to why we’re doing it and what it means and how to wear it.” Scientists also have questions about prolonged masking and brain development and nonverbal communication, especially in young children. Manfred Spitzer is a psychiatrist and a cognitive neuroscientist in Germany. He says the negatives of masking are particularly clear for young children. “Kids need to train up their face recognition,” Spitzer says. “Babies were never designed just to see the upper half of the face and to infer the lower half; even adults have a hard time doing this.”  You can read the full story here, and follow me on Twitter @Anya1Anya. Read More Newsletter continues after sponsor message Now, let’s get into some news …  The SAT will go entirely online in 2024. Starting in 2023 for international students and in 2024 in the U.S., the new digital SAT will shrink from three hours to two, include shorter reading passages and allow students to use a calculator on the math section. Testing will still take place at a test center or at a school, but students will be able to choose between using their own devices — including a tablet or a laptop — or the schools' devices. Read the full story here. — Elissa Nadworny, Correspondent, NPR Ed A Tennessee school district has voted to ban Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust. The 10-member McMinn County School Board voted unanimously earlier this month to remove Maus from its curriculum and replace it with an alternative, which hadn't yet been decided at the time of the vote. News of the vote trickled out this week as the world was preparing to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945. The board’s decision prompted blowback from critics who say it's essential to teach children about the genocide. Read the full story here. — Joe Hernandez, Reporter, NPR News COVID-19 cases rise on college campuses as spring semester begins. In the first week of spring semester, the University of Georgia reported nearly 1,000 positive cases, more than any week so far in the pandemic. At Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, the last 7 days saw 1,196 confirmed cases. Cases are spiking on college campuses because, despite the rapid spread of the omicron variant, most schools are beginning their spring semesters in-person. Read the full story here.  — Elissa Nadworny, Correspondent, NPR Ed — Anya Steinberg, Intern, NPR Ed And before you go, have you heard? Jennifer Rush 52 weeks, 52 Guinness World Records. David Rush of Idaho spent 2021 breaking a new world record every week. From stacking wet bars of soap to catching fruit and marshmallows in his mouth, Rush did it all. Catch the full story by Rachel Treisman here.   See you next week. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WBEZ (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: npred@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Politics, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Education emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy