The Obama administration is developing a new formula to hold schools accountable for student performance as it works to revise the eight-year-old No Child Left Behind law. Changes may include eliminating the 2014 deadline for universal proficiency for all groups.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Administration Eyes New Accountability Formula for Schools

Getting middle school students to spend a precious Saturday morning back in school—studying STEM topics, no less—may sound like an exercise in frustration. But, a program developed by the Salisbury, Maryland school district is having great success doing exactly that.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Make It Exciting, and They’ll Come on Saturday

Tags: After School, Computer Programming, Grades 6-8, Programs for Students, Science

Berkeley, California is one brainy town. Along with UC-Berkeley, Berkeley High School excels, especially in science. However, Berkeley is home to a large concentration of low-income residents, mainly African Americans and Latinos, whose math and English proficiency scores are woefully behind those of white students. In order to try and halt this trend, the school plans to cut portions of its AP science program in favor of helping struggling students.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Cuts in AP Science Roil Berkeley High

Tags: African-American Students, Latino Students

Elementary school girls start to fear mathematics at an early age. But, is math anxiety contagious? It could be. In fact, it’s possible that young girls pick up their unease with numbers from female teachers who are anxious about their own math skills, a new University of Chicago study found.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Study: Teachers Transmit Math Anxiety to Students

Tags: Girls Education, Math, Mathematics, Research, Research on Learning, Women in Engineering

A National Academies committee has begun a two-year study aimed at creating a framework for developing national standards for science education. The committee will evaluate evidence to determine how well standards-based educational reform has worked, including the redesign of Advanced Placement courses by the College Board.

Read More

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

Tags: Research, Research on Learning, Science

Girls in high-school science classes generally were “bored, disengaged and stressed . . . compared to boys,”a recent Northern Illinois University study found. That was despite the fact that all of the students invested the same amount of time to the classes, and that the boys and girls received similar grades, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Read More

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

Tags: Programs for Girls, Research on Learning, Women in Engineering

Last week, 40 states and the District of Columbia applied for the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. The Obama Administration’s pet education program, the competition will award grants to states that overhaul and upgrade their schools systems to encourage more classroom innovation. It gives priority to those states whose reforms emphasize STEM education.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on 40 States apply for Race to the Top

Tags: Competition, Education Policy, Grant Opportunities, School Budgets

The Northeast Indiana Engineers Week Committee and the Anthony Wayne Chapter of the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers holds their annual Student Bridge Competitions for middle and high school students on Feb. 13 and Feb. 20 respectively. Students build a variety of different bridge models, and then their designs are tested by applying weight loads.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Engineer’s Week Bridge Building Contest

Tags: Architectural, Bridge building, Competitions for Students, Contest

Thirteen years ago, the University of Texas, Austin, started a program called UTeach that allowed math and science majors to simultaneously earn teaching certificates. It worked so well at UT-Austin that the school set up the National Math and Science Initiative to help the program spread to other universities across the country. Now the Obama administration wants to put the project into overdrive.

Read More

Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on UTeach Gets a Boost

Tags: College, Grant Opportunities, Programs for Teachers, Teacher Training