October 11, 2017
Education Week, Vol. 37, Issue 08
Ed-Tech Policy
Opinion
10 Disruptions That Will Revolutionize Education
Artificial intelligence, learning avatars, and other innovations will be game-changers for education in the coming years, writes researcher Peter W. Cookson Jr.
Curriculum
Opinion
Civics Education Shouldn't Put Students to Sleep
Strengthening our democracy requires students understand some basic facts about government, including how it works, argue two civics-education advocates.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
5 Things to Consider Before Posting Cops in Schools
School resource officers can be an asset to communities, but only with the right training, writes educator John Rosiak.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Why This Juvenile-Court Judge Worries About School Resource Officers
Overreacting to student misbehavior can aggravate matters and even push students to drop out, notes Steven C. Teske.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Budget Tangles Ensnare Key Early-Childhood Programs
Congress let the popular Children's Health Insurance Program and a home-visiting program expire at the end of the fiscal year and faces bipartisan pressure to fund them.
School & District Management
Could Democrats, Trump Team Up on K-12 Issues?
The recent unexpected deal between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump on the federal debt ceiling raises the tantalizing question of what education policy areas might offer common ground.
Law & Courts
Ruling Sends Kansas Back to Square One on K-12 Funding
The ruling striking down the state's school aid formula reignites years of fighting over how to assure an 'adequate' and 'equitable' public education.
Early Childhood
Kindergarten Assessments Begin to Shape Instruction
Schools are looking for ways they can use the kindergarten entry tools to tailor classroom practices with children's academic, social, and physical development needs in mind.
Classroom Technology
Hacked Twitter Accounts a New Headache for Schools
Recent incidents represent a convergence of issues that are increasingly bedeviling K-12 systems: inappropriate social media use and cybersecurity threats.
Education
News in Brief
Transitions
President Donald Trump recently tapped three men for top posts at the U.S. Department of Education.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Shootings Claim Educators' Lives
The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history occurred last week when a gunman opened fire at an outdoor country-music festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 58 people and injuring hundreds of others. At least eight who died were educators or school-based personnel.
College & Workforce Readiness
Report Roundup
Graduation Rates
The high school dropout rate among Hispanic students is at an all-time low, says a new study by the Pew Research Center.
English Learners
Report Roundup
Language Learning
Bilingual people may be better equipped to learn new languages than those who only speak one language, finds a study in the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
Classroom Technology
Report Roundup
Social-Emotional Development
Friendship is valuable to teenagers online and off, finds to a new review of studies of teenagers' virtual social interactions.
Teaching Profession
Report Roundup
Teachers' Perspectives
Nine out of 10 math and English/language arts teachers say having state standards is good for classroom instruction, according to a survey released last week by the RAND Corp.
Equity & Diversity
Report Roundup
Early Education
Preschools attended by low-income and minority children provide on average less free-choice and high-quality curricula than those attended by higher-income and white peers, concludes a study out late last month in the American Educational Research Journal.
Education
News in Brief
Authorities Probing Possible Tainting of Flutes Given to California Districts
State and federal officials are investigating how batches of plastic flutes believed to be contaminated with semen were distributed in the spring to schools in Southern California.
Equity & Diversity
News in Brief
Calif. Panel Adopts History Texts With LGBT-Inclusive Themes
California has moved a step closer to approving a set of social studies textbooks in grades K-8 that includes discussion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Delaware Loosens Zero-Tolerance Policy Involving Most Weapons in Schools
Local schools boards in Delaware have been given more discretion in how to handle incidents involving students bringing weapons other than guns to school.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Lion's Share of Ohio Districts Rank No Teachers as 'Ineffective'
About 94 percent of Ohio school districts did not rate a single teacher as "ineffective," the lowest rating on the state's four-rung teacher-evaluation scale, according to the 2016-17 state report card.
Teaching Profession
News in Brief
Lawmakers Relax Requirements for Teaching in Illinois Schools
Illinois lawmakers and officials have in recent years eliminated some key requirements would-be teachers needed to get licensed, allowing applicants to bypass some coursework and exams before heading straight to the classroom, a Chicago Tribune analysis has found.
School Climate & Safety
News in Brief
Seizures of Weapons in N.Y.C. Schools Increase by Nearly Half, Police Say
The number of weapons seized in New York City schools has risen nearly 50 percent so far this year, the city's police department said last week.
Classroom Technology
News in Brief
First Online Charter School in Indiana to Close After Years of Failing Grades
Indiana's first full-time online charter school will shut down at the end of the school year—a rare occurrence for an online charter even with continually failing grades.
Law & Courts
News in Brief
Appeals Court Strikes Down Rules for Speakers at Board Meetings
A federal appeals court last week struck down a Georgia district's policy limiting public input at its board meetings, ruling that the policy gave "unbridled discretion" to the superintendent in a way that could lead to censorship of potential critics.
Federal
Betsy DeVos Finds 'Bully Pulpit' No Easy Perch
Controversy and protests surrounding U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos often threaten to drown out the policy message she’s trying to deliver.
School Climate & Safety
Storm Recovery Remains Painful as Texas, Florida Schools Reopen
Educators in Florida and Texas still face a heavy lift as students and staff return to schools in communities devastated by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Reading & Literacy
Is 'The Cat in the Hat' Racist?
A spat over first lady Melania Trump’s donation of Dr. Seuss books to schools points up the existence of culturally insensitive images in many well-loved children’s classics.
Every Student Succeeds Act
No State Will Measure Social-Emotional Learning Under ESSA. Will That Slow Its Momentum?
States heeded cautions from advocates and researchers that measures of students' social-emotional skills for school accountability would be unreliable and unusable.