President Obama rode into the White House on a wave of support that included America’s two largest teachers unions. But more recently, the administration’s relations with the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have soured.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Obama Loses Support of Teachers’ Unions

Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Teachers

The latest X-Prize Foundation multimillion-dollar engineering and invention contest will tackle the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with entrants proposing solutions to shorelines and open water sullied by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which has been gushing since April 20, 2010.

Read More

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

Tags: Competition, Competitions for Students, Competitions for Teachers, Energy and Environmental Technology, Environmental Engineering, Organizations, Science Contest

Six Kentucky districts are testing a new inquiry-based math teaching method called “formative assessment.” The teaching and testing program was designed by experts to emphasize classroom activities that help teachers gauge the learning needs of individual students.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Schools Test Inquiry-based Math

Tags: Education Policy, Math, Math teachers, Mathematics

Who better to test the gaming aspects of a new online investment platform than 10- and 11-year-olds who have grown up with Wiis in one hand and PS3s in the other? At a school in Potomac, using “virtual” money, fifth graders tested the platform. Most students made money–and a few made a bundle.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Fifth Graders Score in Online Investing

Tags: Classroom Technology, Technology for Learning

High school graduates from low- to middle-income families are finding it harder to enroll in four-year, public universities because the costs of attending the schools are rising well beyond what federal, state, and institutional grants will cover, the Department of Education reports.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Four-year College Out of Reach for Many

Tags: College, Education Policy, Public Policy, Research on Learning

LaMar Queen, a teacher at the Los Angeles Academy, has boosted his eighth-graders’ math grades by his use of rap music — which he writes and performs — to help them learn the rules of algebra.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | 2 Comments »

Tags: Education Policy, Math, Math teachers, Mathematics, Teaching Aids

At the annual meeting of the International Society for Technology in Education, attendees were told that in classrooms of the not-too-distant future, each student will be armed with a handheld digital education device, teachers will encourage tweeting and texting, and more lessons will be taught using computer games.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Teachers Glimpse A Digital Future

Tags: Classroom Technology, Education Policy, Teaching Aids, Technology for Learning

A bipartisan group of senators is pressing to give states a financial incentive to incorporate engineering education in K-12 curricula, letting them compete for grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Kids Are ‘Natural Engineers,’ Lawmakers Say

Tags: Corporations, Education Policy, Organizations, Public Policy

In 2006, Microsoft bet it could overhaul education using technical innovation, reform-minded teachers, and a $63 million investment. Over the past four years, its School of the Future, in Philadelphia’s Parkside district, has experienced real struggles. But now, all 117 seniors in the 2010, first graduating class will continue with some form of post-secondary education.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Philadelphia Experiment Finally Yields Results

Tags: Corporations, Technology for Learning