Nearly a decade of graduation exams, “adequate yearly progress,” and other test-based accountability systems has produced little or no positive effect on student learning, a blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies concludes in a new report. Moreover, there are insufficient safeguards against gaming the system.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | 1 Comment »

Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy

Ever stumble with students’ names? Or struggle to perk up class participation? Most schools view cellphones as disruptive nuisances, but a new iPhone app called Pikme could turn them into powerful tools for educators.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on New App Aids Class Participation

Tags: Teacher Resources, Technical Communications, Technology, Technology for Learning

It’s been a banner spring for STEM this year. First, a Maryland science teacher draws White House honors as national Teacher of the Year. Now, the School of Science and Engineering Magnet high school in Dallas, Texas, has soared to the head of the latest Washington Post Challenge Index of more than 1,900 high schools nationwide.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Science & Engineering H.S. Best in Nation

Tags: Education Policy, Research on Learning, STEM education

New Census figures reveal that the nation’s overall spending on education grew at a significantly slower pace in 2009 than at any other time in more than a decade. State and local revenues supplied all but 9.5 percent of the nation’s total $590.9 billion education tab. New York topped the class at $18,126 per student, with D.C. a close second at $16,408. Utah spent the least: $6,356.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on N.Y., D.C. Top Per-Student Spending

Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy

The foundation launched by Microsoft founder Bill Gates is spending millions of dollars to enlist educators and experts in promoting sweeping changes to public education. Teachers hired by Gates-funded advocacy group Teach Plus helped persuade Indiana lawmakers this spring to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | 1 Comment »

Tags: Corporations, Education Policy, Organizations, Public Policy

Ever since the Wright brothers ushered in the aerospace era a century ago, America has ruled the skies. Now, a unique Arizona industry and education partnership aims to lift the country’s future aviation expertise by building a seamless high-school-to-career STEM pipeline focused on off-board pilot technology and autonomous flight.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on “Innovation Campus” Links K-12, Colleges & Industry

Tags: Aerospace, Curriculum

A group of North Carolina students is literally on the fast track to going green. On May 19, design teams from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools raced their biofuel-powered vehicles in the annual Go Green Go-Kart Competition hosted by the school system’s career center. The contest drew a whopping 24 teams, up from 11 teams last year.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on N.C. Students Rev Their Green Engines

Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Cars, Competitions for Students, Contest, Environmental Engineering, Events, Green, Green Technology, Programs for Students

Forget politics and budget battles. Digital learning, not legislatures, represents the biggest threat to teachers’ unions, argues Stanford political science professor Terry Moe in his new book, Special Interest. Part history, part analysis of education trends, the book details the rise of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on Will Tech Doom Teachers’ Unions?

Tags: Education Policy, Teachers, Technology, Technology for Learning

Cheering crowds. An ESPN crew. Who knew math could generate as much excitement as the NBA playoffs? Ask Scott Wu. On May 7, the Baton Rouge, La., eighth grader beat 223 other middle-school “mathletes” from around the country to win the 2011 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS national competition in Washington, D.C.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Mathlete of the Year

Tags: Competitions for Students, Contest, Events, Mathematics, Programs for Students