As America prepares to head into the fourth week of the longest federal government shutdown in history, school districts are making plans to cope with the impacts on students, families, and school operations, including school lunch and after school programs. Read all about this story and more in this week’s EdNews Round Up.

The importance of such opportunities has filtered down to the high school level for both college-bound students and those who will be directly entering the workforce after graduation—especially those participating in a career and technical education (CTE) program. Understanding work experience can be the difference in success for a student.

When college entrance exams are used as a measure for state and federal accountability, all students must take the tests, and the exams are provided at no cost to them. This removes both a financial and logistical hurdle from the process of applying to college, and it also can help identify college-ready students who wouldn't have opted into taking the test. An article from Chalkbeat, a nonprofit education news organization, cites a study that examined Michigan's ACT testing mandate, which uncovered that college attendance increased by nearly 2 percent after the mandate and by 1 percent for low-income students.