The school-reform enthusiasm that saw states compete for federal Race to the Top funding and change the way teachers are evaluated seems to have cooled. Anticipating cuts in state funding, school officials across the country are bracing for a pushback against reforms, including efforts to bolster STEM programs.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Research on Learning

Even as more schools adopt new technology to boost student learning, researchers are voicing concern about what the stream of stimuli from computers and cellphones is doing to young brains. “The worry is we’re raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently.”

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Tags: Research on Learning, Technology

An panel convened by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education is calling for an overhaul of teacher preparation in the United States, with training programs operating more like medical schools and setting tougher admission and graduation standards.

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Tags: Education Policy, Higher Education, Research on Learning, Teacher Training, Teachers

A survey commissioned by Intel finds that, “contrary to perceptions that American teenagers are apathetic about math and science, students highly value the importance of these subjects and understand the role of math and science to their futures.”

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Tags: Math, Mathematics, Research on Learning, Science

The long-documented achievement gap between black and white students turns out to be wider than is generally known. According to a new study focusing on young African American males, 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

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Tags: African-American Students, Education Policy, Minority Group Students, Public Policy, Research on Learning

In the ongoing push to fix America’s public schools, policymakers are overlooking principals, argues New York Times Columnist Andrew J. Rotherham. He says principals should come under closer scrutiny, and they “play a critical role” in education, but are “evaluated almost as an afterthought.”

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Tags: Education Policy, Principals, Research on Learning, School Budgets

Tuition continues to rise at public four-year colleges and universities — increasing this school year by an average 7.9 percent – but record increases in federal grant aid will help provide some relief for students, according to a new report from the College Board.

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

Slate magazine invites educators and members of the public to join a conversation to help Slate design a better classroom for the 21st century. The event takes place at the Newseum in Washington, DC, on November 8, 2010.

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Tags: Programs for Teachers, Research on Learning

Countries with top-performing schools and students — think Singapore, Finland, and South Korea — recruit their teachers from the top third of college graduates, according to a new study. Yet only 23 percent of U.S. teachers come from the top third of graduates. Salary may be a key component.

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Tags: Education Policy, International K-12 Education, Research on Learning, Teacher Training