June 4, 2014
Education Week, Vol. 33, Issue 33
IT Infrastructure & Management
Student-Login Chaos Fueling Software Password Upgrades
Schools are exploring "single sign-on" technologies that allow both teachers and students to access multiple software programs with just one set of login information.
Student Well-Being
Taking Competency-Based Learning From Policy to Reality
Fred Bramante, an entrepreneur and former chairman of the New Hampshire board of education, is trying to help institutionalize real-world learning at schools across the Granite State.
Education Funding
Georgia Battles to Beat Race to Top Head Winds
Nearly four years after winning its Race to the Top grant, Georgia still has a rocky climb to the education-redesign summit outlined in the state's application for the federal grant program.
Education Funding
Innovation Fund a Standout in Ga.'s Race to Top
The state is providing grants to help schools try out new approaches to college readiness and STEM instruction, and to broaden the pipeline for high-quality educators.
School & District Management
NEA Aims to Revive Organizing as Membership Drops
The national teachers' union is imploring local affiliates to better engage current and potential members, and has launched a Center for Organizing to provide tools and training.
School & District Management
Costs, Quality on Radar as Dual Enrollment Rises
With the programs surging in popularity, policymakers and advocates are wrestling with how to pay the costs and promote broader access to college for disadvantaged youths.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
How Can Teachers Foster Curiosity?
Schools must be free to spark curiosity in students too distracted by other issues to come by it naturally, Erik Shonstrom says.
Early Childhood
Opinion
A Black Father's Search for a Diverse Preschool
H. Richard Milner's search for a high-quality, diverse preschool for his daughters revealed early-education inequities.
School & District Management
Letter to the Editor
Student Milestones Should Be About Discovery, Not Tests
To the Editor:
I found Marc Prensky's Commentary "The Goal of Education Is Becoming," very insightful.
I found Marc Prensky's Commentary "The Goal of Education Is Becoming," very insightful.
Special Education
Letter to the Editor
All Students Deserve Appropriate Challenges
To the Editor:
The author of the letter to the editor "'Gifted' Label Is Crucial to Ensure Access to Much-Needed Services," which critiqued our Commentary failed to respond to our main point—that the positives of gifted education can be accomplished even more effectively without first "identifying" a class of people known as "gifted" students.
The author of the letter to the editor "'Gifted' Label Is Crucial to Ensure Access to Much-Needed Services," which critiqued our Commentary failed to respond to our main point—that the positives of gifted education can be accomplished even more effectively without first "identifying" a class of people known as "gifted" students.
School Climate & Safety
Letter to the Editor
Education 'Product' and 'Process' Are Linked, Yet Separate
To the Editor:
Often concepts come as complements to each other, where the word is defined as "something that completes or makes perfect." The classic example are the concepts "being" and "becoming." The educational philosopher Maxine Greene once told me: "I am what I not yet am," and I think this is as good an explanation of complements as we could wish for.
Often concepts come as complements to each other, where the word is defined as "something that completes or makes perfect." The classic example are the concepts "being" and "becoming." The educational philosopher Maxine Greene once told me: "I am what I not yet am," and I think this is as good an explanation of complements as we could wish for.
Assessment
Letter to the Editor
Implementing Common Core: Allow 'Time to Do It Right'
To the Editor:
Despite the negative coverage that the Common Core State Standards regularly receive, believe it or not, there are stories of promising practice related to them.
Despite the negative coverage that the Common Core State Standards regularly receive, believe it or not, there are stories of promising practice related to them.
Federal
Letter to the Editor
New Hampshire State Schools Chief: Federally Funded Research Crucial
To the Editor:
I'm writing in response to the online Commentary " Making the Most of Federal Ed. Research," which questioned the utility of federally funded research in the day-to-day work of educators.
I'm writing in response to the online Commentary " Making the Most of Federal Ed. Research," which questioned the utility of federally funded research in the day-to-day work of educators.
Assessment
Report Roundup
Classroom Engagement
Kindergartners learn more math in classrooms with higher average levels of student engagement, concludes a study in the current issue of the American Journal of Education.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Maryland Districts Dominate Per-Student Expenditures
Among the 100 largest public school systems, Maryland boasts more districts than any other state that rank among those with the highest per-pupil-spending rates in fiscal 2012, according to new school finance data.
Assessment
News in Brief
Both Sides Say Tenure Law Working in New Jersey
A majority of charges against tenured teachers filed by school boards in New Jersey since a new law took effect have been upheld by state arbitrators assigned to hear them.
Accountability
News in Brief
Dallas to Link Teacher Pay to Educators' Evaluations
Dallas school board members have approved a plan that will tie all teachers' pay raises to their classroom-evaluation results.
Education Funding
News in Brief
N.C. Plan Would Institute Pay-for-Tenure Swap
A budget plan unveiled by North Carolina lawmakers would offer teachers an average pay raise of 11 percent in exchange for voluntarily giving up tenure.
Education Funding
News in Brief
Facebook Founder and Wife Give $120M to Calif. Schools
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating $120 million to San Francisco area public school systems.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
GAO Asked to Evaluate School Integration Policies
Three federal lawmakers have asked a congressional watchdog agency to examine school district policies and their impact on racial and socioeconomic integration.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
N.M. Court Orders Halt to Contract for Common-Core Testing
A judge in New Mexico has ordered state officials to review a protest filed by a research and testing organization that alleges an unfair and biased bidding process before going forward with a potentially lucrative, multistate contract for online common-core-testing work.
Classroom Technology
News in Brief
Geographic Systems' Player Donates Software to Schools
The dominant player in the world of geographic information systems is making free accounts to its advanced mapping software available to an estimated 100,000 U.S. schools.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Childhood Obesity Rises Nearly 50 Percent Globally
From 1980 to 2013, childhood obesity rose by 47.1 percent across the globe, says a study published online last week in the journal The Lancet.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Storm Shelters Rejected for Oklahoma Schools
A year after seven children were killed when a tornado hit Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, the Oklahoma Senate ended its session with a rejection of a proposal for school storm shelters.
Assessment
Report Roundup
Study: Teachers Getting More Scrutiny
Increasingly, states are factoring teacher performance into decisions about whether to grant tenure and which teachers to lay off, according to a recent comprehensive analysis of state policy by the Education Commission of the States.
Education Funding
Report Roundup
Research Report: Digital Learning
An estimated $3.2 billion in new funds are needed to realize President Barack Obama's goal of providing all students with high-speed wireless Internet connections inside their schools and libraries by 2018, concludes a new analysis.
Early Childhood
Report Roundup
Schooling Trends
Nearly two-thirds of American 3- to 5-year-olds were enrolled in preschool in 2012, and 60 percent of them were in full-day programs, according to an annual report that tracks developments and trends in the U.S. education system.
Professional Development
Report Roundup
Pre-K Teachers
Depression among child-care providers is associated with problems such as aggression and sadness in the young children they care for, in part because these adults create a poor quality child-care environment, according to a report.