The Developing Country Pandemic, Evaluating Special Education Services, and More

Germany moves toward deep decarbonization, the benefits and harms of special education programs, and COVID-19 spikes in developing nations.

View in browser June 1, 2021 COVID-19 is a developing country pandemic   Though the beginning of the pandemic hit developed countries hard, 2021 is seeing a drastic shift in mortality rates in developing countries. Indermit Gill and Philip Schellekens take a look at recent data and write that the demographic advantage of younger populations in developing countries may have been entirely offset by higher infection prevalence and age-specific infection fatality.   Read more Special education: Beneficial to many, harmful to others   Those who require special education (SE) services greatly benefit from receiving these services. But what about those, especially Black students, who are misclassified for SE services? Briana Ballis and Katelyn Heath argue that while appropriately identifying students for SE is a difficult process, further investigating ways to improve evaluation criteria is likely to have long-term benefits for all public school students.   Read more Germany is becoming ground zero for the challenges of deep decarbonization   The German Federal Constitutional Court recently made history, ruling that Germany's Climate Action Law does not sufficiently protect the freedoms of the youth and future generations. Samantha Gross explains how this ruling makes Germany a key test case in the energy transition, with very rapid emissions reductions now enshrined in law.   Read more Help support Brookings with a donation   Brookings is committed to making its high-quality, independent policy research free to the public. Please consider making a contribution today to our Annual Fund to support our experts' work. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brookings Institution campus in Washington, D.C. is currently closed and all events are virtual only. For more information on the Institution's response, read our full guidance here. The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Unsubscribe Manage your newsletter preferences | Receive the Brookings Brief less often