Acer’s Iconia W510, released in November, is a tablet PC that can be used in three different modes: tablet, productivity, and presentation.

Pity the poor laptop. The darling of the tech world just a couple of years ago, laptops have become one of the biggest casualties of the tablet phenomenon. For consumers enamored of touch-screen tablets, laptops suddenly seem like stale, clunky gadgets whose basic clamshell design hasn’t changed all that much in two decades.

It opens. It shuts. Yawn.

But this week at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the laptop is attempting a comeback. The stodgy clamshell is being cast aside by manufacturers who are trying to create a new category of device that combines the feel and functions of tablets and laptops.

Call them hybrids. Call them convertibles. These new computers fold. They twist. They slide. They detach.

And, more importantly, they are spawning like crazy. This wild burst of experimentation is being driven by a number of trends that suddenly converged: thinner designs, better touch screens, and the arrival in October of Windows 8, Microsoft Corp.’s new operating system designed for touch screens.

But there’s another crucial element: desperation. Industry insiders say laptops have to change quickly or face a long, slow decline.

(Next page: A roundup of ‘multi-mode’ devices)

“Today’s court ruling affirms [the district's] position that we did make reasonable accommodation to the student,” the district said.

The parents of 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez had requested a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the school district from transferring their daughter from her San Antonio high school while the lawsuit on whether she should be forced to wear the ID tracking badge went through federal court.

Last fall, the Northside Independent School District began experimenting with a “locator” chip in student ID badges on two campuses, allowing administrators to track the whereabouts of 4,200 students with GPS-like precision.

Administrators say the chips make students safer and will help boost attendance records that are used to calculate badly needed state funding. They say the technology could bring in an additional $1.7 million in funding.

(Next page: What the ruling said)

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Educators need a practical system that organizes school data in a way that is easily understood.

Educators and administrators are collecting an enormous amount of data about the progress of their students and schools. Now that this information has been collected, how can it be used to improve education?

What administrators and teachers need is a practical system that organizes school and student data in a way that is easily understood and readily available during the school day, according to a collaboration by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and Gartner Inc.

School districts are looking to purchase student information systems and learning management systems to help them with this task.

Watch CoSN CEO Keith Krueger’s interview with Comcast Newsmakers (aired on CNN):

(Next page: A closer look at the collaborative’s goals—and nine templates it has created to help educators leverage school data)

New innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year.

New research helps to unveil the science of the school turnaround, revealing that improving schools dramatically isn’t about working miracles—it’s about having the right tools and the right focus.

Administrators today carry higher expectations on their shoulders than any generation before. With so much at stake, many school leaders question how they can possibly accomplish what’s being asked—to not only raise student achievement, but in some cases to double, triple, or quadruple student success rates.

However, research conducted by Dr. Steven Shaha of the Center for Public Policy and Administration shows that new innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year. The numbers tell a story of dramatic, lasting improvement in student achievement being made every day, all over the country.

Dr. Shaha’s research is compiled in a study called “Predictors of Success,” where student outcomes in 734 schools in 211 districts across 39 states were analyzed year over year to measure the impact of School Improvement Network’s educator effectiveness system on student learning and educator effectiveness.

The results show that whenever educators used the tools effectively in the educator effectiveness system, student test scores increased many times over, year after year.

(Next page: What the research says)

“This is a great asset that I would highly recommend to anyone in a computer lab situation,” one teacher said.

NetSupport School is a classroom management software program that gives teachers the ability to instruct and visually or audibly monitor, as well as interact with, their students—either individually, as a pre-defined group, or with the whole class.

Rising to the challenges and requirements of today’s modern classroom, NetSupport School enables teachers to deliver lesson content, simultaneously monitor all student PCs, and work collaboratively, ensuring that complete student attention and focus is maintained at all times.

There are no hidden extras; all features are included as standard benefits, including a customized testing suite, dedicated technician console, digital student revision aids, lesson planning tools, and the option for teachers to reward students for good effort.

“Since using NetSupport School, we are able to keep the students more focused on their task during the short time frame that we have them each week. When they come in, I have the computers locked down so that I have their full attention while giving them instructions for their daily lessons. Then when I unlock them, I can monitor them from one central location without the fear of [students] going off track. 

“NetSupport has also been a great resource for being able to demonstrate new lessons and activities from my computer to theirs. This also helps in time management when the students don’t even have to look away from their monitors to get instruction. One of the most valuable assets, I feel, is the ability to control each student’s computer. This is great for individual help with a student or to be able to control that off-task student. There are many other great features, such as the test module and lesson plan module. This is a great asset that I would highly recommend to anyone in a computer lab situation.”

—A teacher at Stanford Elementary School in Kentucky

(Next page: How the latest version helps teachers with assessment)

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“Although OS and device data can be faked, the unique IP footprint leading back to Apple’s Cupertino campus leads us to believe this is not one of those attempts,” the website said.

Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt, however, expects the next version of the iconic smartphone to be called iPhone 5S and not iPhone 6…

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