Extra, Extra

Throwing Grade Shade: “There was once a time when America’s lowest-performing students were improving just as much as the country’s top students. Despite their low scores, these students at the bottom made slow but steady gains on national tests for much of the 2000s. It was one sign that the U.S. education system was working, perhaps not spectacularly, but at least enough to help struggling students keep pace with the gains of the most privileged and successful. Today, the country’s lowest-scoring students are in free fall.” NYT (Gift Article): The Pandemic Is Not the Only Reason U.S. Students Are Losing Ground. (You don’t need to have high test scores to understand that this will only increase our already massive income inequality.)

+ Work the Room: “Thousands of working people in New York City now live in shelters, unable to afford apartments despite holding down jobs that pay them $50,000 or more.” NYT (Gift Article): They Work All Day and Go Home to Shelters.

+ Hoop Dreams: Florida stuns Houston with late rally to win third men’s NCAA basketball championship. In the end, this March had very little madness.

+ Can You Hear Me Now: The Verge: How an unused nuclear power plant became home to a world-class acoustics lab.

+ Bully Pulpit: “Bull riding has been called the most dangerous eight seconds in sports, and the short bursts of gladiator-style peril feel divinely optimized for the attention economy—as evidenced by the short clips on the league’s YouTube channel with titles like ‘Godzilla Throws Mason Taylor to the Ground Like a Wet Paper Towel.’ The hind hooves of a bull can deliver a force about 30 times as powerful as a straight punch in Olympic boxing, and about 1 in 15 rides ends in injury.” GQ: Can Cowboy Fever Make Bull Riding the Next UFC?